[pct-l] re: cold food and no-cook styles

[mardav at charter.net (Marion Davison)]

I was fascinated to hear that Scott Williamson subsisted on cold black 
bean soup for dinners.  The year before we took up llama packing, we did 
a 300 mile section hike in sec G and H, and didn't carry a stove or pots 
or fuel.  Our dinner was cold bean soup and granola with powdered soy 
milk.  We ate the same menu every day.  We were fine with that for 35 
days. 
The next year we had llamas to carry a stove, pots, and fuel.  We stuck 
to the same menu, but we brought an aluminum coffee pot and an msr 
stove.  We would bring a pot of water to boil, then pour it over the 
dinner in a plastic cup, put a lid on it and let it sit for 15 min, then 
eat it from the cup.  So we had no pots to wash.  Since then (that was 
97) I have come up with a lot of different boil water-rehydrate-eat 
recipes using various carbs as a base--beans, brown rice or ramen-- with 
tvp and seasonings.  I still don't cook.  Like Jeff, I don't want to 
spend precious wilderness time hovering over a stove or cleaning a dirty 
pot. 
I think any of my recipes would work in cold water if I let them sit 
long enough. 
Kool-aid powder is sometimes sold in a plastic container that makes a 
good hike-along and rehydrate container for letting food soak in your 
pack for several hours.
The no-cook or boil and wait  method are also good stealth methods that 
help keep bears out of camp.  Cooking sends odors into the air that 
attract bears.
Marion