The Well-Organized Camper Review

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(More customer reviews)I like to car camp and I like to backpack too. But I don't like getting ready! So many details, so much planning. This book has excellent organizational tips and lists that streamline the process. The author's philosophy is that "less is more" and she shows how to make that work in any camping situation. I was pleasantly surprised, after 20 years of camping, to find many new ideas for making my pack lighter, my camp food more interesting, and my feet happier (many good tips for foot care). I was also amazed by the dozens of uses to be gained from a bandana, dental floss, and a nylon net. I just wish I had had this book 20 years ago!

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Full of time-saving planning tips, this guide gets campers prepared for outdoor adventure by offering helpful advice on what to pack, how to organize gear, what to eat, how to plan a route, how to stay safe, and much more. A menu plan including home-dried one-pot meals makes eating on the trail fast and hearty. Handy master-packing lists help both novice and experienced campers pack only the necessary gear. This complete book will eliminate the obstacles that get in the way of outdoor fun whether readers are planning a backpacking trip, car camping fun, a camping trip with children, a paddle trip, a winter camping outing, or an international camping experience.

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More Backcountry Cooking: Moveable Feasts from the Experts (Backpacker Magazine) Review

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(More customer reviews)Eight hungry souls and myself were heading out for an 8-day trek through the Andes (Peru), and I was put in charge of menu selection. I searched Amazon.com books that would give me a hand in developing the menu for the group. I found "More Backcountry Cooking," and, overall, I impressed.
Though the book was not perfect, see my `problem' paragraph below, it did provide me with some good ideas to make the meals more ambrosian. I found Dorcas S. Miller's advice, especially her 17 "Hot Topics" (40 pages), to be informative and practical (choosing the right stove, carrying your kitchen in a pack, etc.)
She has great tips and many charts (charts-cooking time, salads, more) as well as great appendices. Most of her recipes are easy, appealing and clearly explained.
However some sections are better than others, and her breakfast selections, well, was as appealing as `tofu pancakes'.
My greatest problem with the book is that is designed for those in the US and I am backpacking in Peru, a developing (third world) country. Millers' recipes use `mucho' instant and dried ingredients. Here in the USA it is not such a problem to purchase them, but where I am going the markets do not carry instant or dried ingredients. That means I had to buy everything here and lug it to Peru. My bags were already full, and at their weight limit. Thus, many of the recipes were not practical. I point this out for those of you that will be heading to remote and faraway worlds.
That said, the book was still informative, helpful and I recommend it for any backpacker or camper who wants good food under the stars.

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How does ginger-cashew chicken and rice or sweet and sourpan-fried noodles with no-bake berry pie for dessert sound?The days of roughing it are gone and so are the days of long preptime for cooking something you actually like to eat. With asmorgasbord of information, Miller covers the basics aboutingredients, nutrition, fuel efficiency, dehydrating, andbackcountry baking. Most of the 140+ recipes take little effort toprepare on the trail. If you're willing to go the extra mile at homeand do a little prepreparation, the sky's the limit on what you cancreate for lip-smacking meals and snacks.

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High Trail Cookery: All-Natural, Home-Dried, Palate-Pleasing Meals for the Backpacker Review

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(More customer reviews)I was interested in this book because it advertised recipes for making your own dehydrated foods. But this book misses the point of wilderness tripping. The fact is most backcountry hikers want foods that can be mixed and matched as desired. All the recipes call for complex proteins such as eggs, milk, yogurt, meat that are prepared as a full meal (e.g., ham omelets) and then dehydrated. Because the egg and the ham are all mushed up with spices you can hardly choose to use the eggs in pancakes and the ham in chili stew. Instead, you must eat omelets. When I backpack I plan on dehydrating several basic goods: canned beans, green peppers, hamburger, etc. Then along with some common staples such as powdered eggs, flour, etc. I can vary my cooking as desired. This book has you cooking complex gourmet meals, dehydrating them and then eating exactly that on the trail.ALso, I don't know why the author would bother to dehydrate things such as eggs, yogurt, etc. One can easily buy powdered eggs and besides - have you ever tried dehyrating your own eggs? Your house will smell like a sewer! Finally, the book contains numerous recipes for muffins and breads. But all are prepared and baked at home. I have plenty of these recipes in my Joy of Cooking. What I would have been interested in is how to prepare such recipes infront of a campfire - but the author makes no mention of this.

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High Trail Cookery allows backpackers to cook hassle-free meals on the wilderness trail. Packing light-weight, delicious, home-dehydrated meals--featuring whole grains, beans, fresh vegetables, and fruits--is the nutritious and easy way to make camping fun. Many recipes are meatless or meat-optional.

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Fork in the Trail: Mouthwatering Meals and Tempting Treats for the Backcountry Review

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(More customer reviews)A Fork in the Trail: mouthwatering meals and tempting treats for the backcountry
By Laurie Ann March
I have really enjoyed A Fork in the Trail even though I am not a hiker and am rarely in the backcountry. I do, however, have a boat, and the recipes in this book fit my needs as a boater to a T. There is not much space on our boat to store consumables, and in the moist environment at the marina or on the river does not lend itself to longevity for prepared dishes, so the use of dehydrated items and those that are easy to carry and take up little space in storage is perfect for me. I am very grateful to Laurie Ann March for doing the thinking part of meal planning for those long boat trips.
Even though it is winter, and boating season is a few months off, I did try a few recipes from this book. It is my policy to cook from every book I review, and A Ford in the Trail was no exception. I even rehydrated dehydrated items to achieve authenticity. I first prepared March's Salmon Cakes, and found the addition of mozzarella cheese brilliant. We enjoyed them immensely on a Lenten evening with sides of buttered noodles, and green beans. (I had to resort to a fast food restaurant to get the packets of mayonnaise, but the recipe was worth the effort) Of course, people who hike and people who boat collect additional packets of sauces and seasonings whenever possible anyway. March's Breakfast Bread Pudding was an ingenious use of powdered egg mix, and quite good. Prepared in my kitchen it was quite easy. I cannot attest to the outback oven method, but it does seem quite doable.
I do recommend this cookbook to anyone preparing to hit the trails or water this summer. You may want to experiment, as I have, before the season starts so you will have an idea of how the dishes come out.


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Inspired by foods from all over the world and the guiding principle of "if you wouldn't eat it at home, why eat it in the backcountry," Laurie Ann March has created over 200 lightweight, taste-tested recipes to turn an ordinary backcountry outing into a gourmet adventure. In addition to the recipes, March covers menu planning, recipe creation, and meal planning for families and larger groups. Color photograph insert.

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Lipsmackin' Backpackin': Lightweight Trail-tested Recipes for Backcountry Trips Review

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(More customer reviews)We have 8 backpacking cookbooks including both of Christine's books. Lipsmackin' Backpackin' is by far our most used book in our kitchen. The recipes are easy to follow, use easy to obtain foodstuffs, are tasty, quick to prepare, and are even great out car camping where storage space is still at a premium in our little VW campmobile or for a quick busy nite at home dinner.
We bought this book in 2000 just before a 50 mile rim to rim extended hike in the Grand Canyon. Most of our older books dating back to the early 70's called out items that were hard to find early on and next to nonexistent now days. Freeze dried meals may be light but are expensive to use for the number of nites we spend out on the trail every year. Not to add 1 meal isn't enough and 1 for each of us is way too much, meaning that we have always had to repack 3 freeze dried meals into 2 meals or add extra ingredients to bulk them out. Rice mixes and couscous get old.
The recipes in Lipsmackin' Backpackin' were so yummy sounding that we packed a weeks worth of them into the Grand Canyon, without even trying them at home first. Every one of the recipes we tried has been a keeper. Except for a few recipes of our own that we have come up with over the years, or a few favorites, we have hardly used our other books since. It is our gift of choice for Christmas, wedding and birthday presents.
We are the backpacking coordinators for a local hiking club and the first thing we recommend to beginners trying to think of something to eat when backpacking, is to buy this book.
Note that while Christine makes good use of a dehydrator, we have found that preparedness stores carry a wide variety of dehydrated or freeze dried vegies, fruit, or meats to buy in bulk (even peanut butter powder and the ever elusive sour cream powder) so it is possible to produce many of the meals with a well stocked backpack foods pantry. On the other hand, we didn't buy our two dehydrators just to make apple rings with. With a little planning and a spring weekend of assembly line packing each year, we have a whole seasons worth of meals packed and ready to go down in our basement. Then all we have to do is make our minds up on which meals to take when we pack our packs. Cooking our meals usually does not take any longer than it takes our friends to cook what ever red or white glop they are making. Plus we can control portions so much easier and rarely have leftovers to pack out.

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Tasty backcountry cookbook filled with trail-tested recipes providing nutritional information, food preparation and meal-planning tips from experienced long-distance hikers.

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Backpack Gourmet: Good Hot Grub You Can Make at Home, Dehydrate, and Pack for Quick, Easy, and Healthy Eating on the Trail Review

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(More customer reviews)This was the first backcountry cookbook I bought. I was looking for recipes that could be mostly assembled at home, would be lightweight to transport, and were easy to cook over a backpacking stove.
On first glance, this book appeared to fit the bill. Most recipes are assembled at home, dehydrated, and then rehydrated as a one-pot meal. However, I tried several recipes this past summer while canoeing and camping in the BWCAW and found the texture and taste of most of the meals to be disappointing. Many of the same ingredients are used over and over in "different" recipes, so many meals taste the same. Also, since the recipes are twice-cooked, the texture is often mushy.
Shortly after purchasing this book, I also bought Lipsmackin' Backpackin'. I ended up using this book for almost all of our camping meals, supplemented by hummus and candied walnuts, and a few other random recipes from Backpack Gourmet. I don't think that the purchase of Backpack Gourmet was offset by the few recipes that we regularly use.
I would recommend buying a different backcountry cookbook if you are intersted in eating something with flavor and texture. If, however, you aren't interested in flavor, but are simply looking for a meal that can be made quickly at camp and has all the calories and nutrients you need, then this is probably the book for you.


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