Whos Hungry - Part 1 Beans & Rice w/ Fritos & Cheese

D.I.Y. Meals For The Trail

Over the last few years I have become frustrated by all the over priced, mediocre, sodium drenched meals, offered by the large outdoor meal makers.  

From this frustration grew the desire to see if I couldn't resolve this problem myself by making my own meals.  At first, I tried coming up with my own ideas and found that I didn't have the patience or the know-how to be the at-home, creative chef I imagined myself to be.  

Below is a picture of what happens to my feet after a week of meals heavy laden with salt, ya not good.

My impression of Fred Flintstone's foot

This realization sparked a desperate search of the internet for answers that can only be found within. ;)

Postings on the subject ranged from over complicated to ultra basic, some good, some not so good. My next few blog posts will be information and results of some of my favorites.

To start I must reiterate, these are not my meal creations, they come from sources that I found on the internet.  I will attach links to where I found them.

My first menu item comes from one of my favorite bloggers, Mr. Andrew Skurka, my hiking idol. Andrew has more hiking experience then your average trekker, in fact I doubt they're many that have come close. I recommend you check out his blog, link below. 

http://andrewskurka.com/blog/

Anyway, my first recipe comes from one of Andrew Skurka's 5 Favorites, in fact his favorite.

Andrew Skurka’s Favorite Recipies #1

Beans & Rice w/ Fritos & Cheese

Key Stats

• Recommended meal weight: 5.7 oz

• Total calories: 675

• Calories per ounce: 120

Ingredients

• 2.0 oz || Dried Re-fried Beans

• 1.5 oz || Minute Rice

• 1.0 oz || Fritos

• 1.0 oz || Cheese, preferably extra sharp cheddar

• 0.2 oz || Taco seasoning

• Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

At-home preparation

Andrew recommends for groups:

• Each group member is given one 2.5-oz snack bag of beans and rice mixture
• Fritos and cheese are kept together, and divided proportionally in the field
• Meals are individually seasoned with the taco seasoning and group spice kit

When solo: 

Do one of two things: 

If planning to have this meal several times on the same trip (or the same leg of a thru-hike), have a pre-spiced snack bag of beans and rice for each meal, and a supply of Fritos and cheese kept together but preferably somehow delineated so not to steal tomorrow’s calories from tonight’s dinner, e.g. divide the block of cheese equally but keep it all together. 

If planning to have this meal just once, use up to three bags (beans/rice, cheese, Fritos) or combine everything into one bag. It works out okay since the ingredients are fairly easy to separate in the field.

Personally I like to keep them separated into 3 bags, also because I don't like my cheese on the trail getting too warm and oily, I prefer eating this meal within the first few days on the trail.

Cooking instructions

Andrew likes his meals soupy. To each their own, it comes out great either way:

1. Add at least 12 oz of water to your pot.
1. Or for perfect at-home consistency, use 10 oz (300 ml) of water. To prevent burning, do not add beans, rice, and taco seasoning until water is boiling.
2. Pour in beans, rice, taco seasoning, and any other spices at anytime.
3. Cook, ideally to a simmer for about 60 seconds, stirring to avoid boil-over.
4. Let sit off heat for about 10 minutes to soften the rice and beans.
5. Cut cheese into dice-sized pieces and add to meal.
6. Add Fritos just before consumption. If added too early, they will soften.

Note:  Other than boiling water, all of this does work in a Zip Lock Freezer bag if that's how you prefer to do it, be sure to use a cozy either way to hold in the heat.

My Finished Product

My Measured Ingredients

My Rating

• 4 out of 5

What I liked:

• Tastes great. 
• Very filling. 
• Easy to make. 
• Really liked the texture created by the Fritos.

What I disliked:

• Personally not a big fan of Mexican food. 
• It takes a little long to rehydrate and thicken up. 
• It is a bit spicy which could be an issue for stomach concerns. 

What my fellow tasters thought:

• Every one thought it tasted great. 
• The portion was plenty for an adult, possibly too much for a younger or smaller hiker. 

My thoughts and recommendations:

• I really liked how this tasted even though I'm not a big fan of Mexican style food. 
• A little extra time is required for it to thicken up enough to reach the consistency I wanted and for the cheese to melt. 
• I usually like spicy but I think I would ease up in a camping situation, not wanting to have stomach issues out on the trail. 
• Personally I like to keep them separated into 3 bags, also because I don't like my cheese on the trail getting too warm and oily, I'd prefer eating this meal within the first few days on the trail.
• Big thank you to Andrew Skurka.