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So I just discovered couscous...Perfect for the wilderness. What do you guys eat out in the wilds? Share your recipes and tricks!

I had a memorable couscous & elk sausage sauteed with red onions and porcini mushrooms in (appropriately) the Porkies. . . thanks for the memory.

1) Tortelini + maybe 2 tablespoons olive oil + parmesan cheese boiled in a ziplock bag on a bakepacker and eaten out of the bag. Very good, no mess, keeps you warm at night.

2) Idahoan dehydrated potatoes - 4 cheese flavor. Rehydrated in a ziplock with 2 cups water, add tuna packet and parmesan cheese. Very good.

Couscous has been a favorite for a while. My favorite is to get a package of garlic or parmesan flavored instant couscous, and a foil-pouch package of chicken, tuna, or salmon. Add water to the couscous, mix in the chicken or tuna and you have dinner for two. If you fill a small plastic container with olive oil (pref. extra virgin since it has more flavor) and add a tablespoon or two it improves the flavor and texture. This "recipe" weighs a little bit more than freeze dried as there's water in the the tuna/chicken/salmon that in theory could be frozen out, but it tastes and digests much more like real food. If you bring a little bit of parmesan or romano cheese, those also improve the flavor, and because they are dry cheeses and mostly fat/protein, both travel well and have a lot of energy content per unit weight. Dry salamis (e.g., Molinari brand) also can last days without refrigeration and add flavor.

And if you have gorp with almonds, and a fishing rod, there's nothing quite as tasty for breakfast or dinner than fresh caught Sierra trout sauteed in olive oil with almond slivers.

tyler4588 wrote:So I just discovered couscous...Perfect for the wilderness. What do you guys eat out in the wilds? Share your recipes and tricks!

though I've done my fair share of recipes with wilderness cooking...these days, my criteria is:
1. light weight
2. high calories

a lot of that kind of stuff you can find in gas stations...

....i find it's just more simple

cheers

Spaghetti or similar and rice.

We ate tapas made of French bread, tomatoes (half frozen) and cured ham on Mont Blanc summit in 2001

I'm liking this thread already. . . I've just been thinking about alternatives to the freeze-dried products. Yep, I know they're super-lightweight and simple, and I will continue to use them, but, I'd like some alternative, "real food," sometimes too, that is also relatively light and simple.
+1 on the Tortellini. My son and I ate that for a couple of nights in Rainier. Excellent. I even carried a small plastic container w/ tomato sauce that I mixed into it. Very delicious.
And salami, yes.
Keep 'em coming.

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream- "Triple Caramel Chunk"

+2 on tortellini

I invented a meal I call wretched pasta shit. I make it in an old coffee can. I brown 2 strips of bacon and cut them up, add water and 1 package of Alfredo style Pasta Roni, and let it boil. Contrary to the name it is actually quite tasty.

I also use spinach tortella's to wrap salami and pepperoni slices. I usually get the small vacuum packed stuff at the grocery store. And I add cheese to it. You can find the cheese in very small packets. It's very quick, easy, and portable.

A foil premixed tuna salad packet also works well with the spinach tortella.

I made a canned deviled spam sandwich once in May inside the Grand Canyon behind Ribbon Falls. The fat had separated from the meat, that was something I hadn't thought about at the time. Then the fresh bread dried out into two week old crusty bread as I was trying to eat it. This happened even though I was behind the waterfall! Anyway, never again!

I'm a big fan of couscous myself.... whoever mentioned the garlic and chicken and parmesan flavors... hell, yeah! Also dig pasta, as the noodles are pretty light and filling as well. Those super-expensive but tasty just-add-boiling-water meals also can have their place when it's like -20 out and you really don't feel too much like cooking. Sometimes the odd surprising snack is cool too... climbing in Bolivia one time I bought a big bag of cookies and chowed on them throughout the approach.

A favorite is canned trout in oil and a loaf of bread, you feel like you're Norman Clyde and it's so delicious. Baked potatoes with lots of butter and hot sauce is also delicious. I tend to pack a little heavier when it comes to food, I've found that a good meal can make or break a hike.

I've also been considering going stoveless and just packing bread, cheese, and salami. I suppose I'd lose out on the morale boost of a warm meal, but it might be simpler.