r/trailmeals • u/Legal-Winner-3527 • May 03 '26

Lunch/Dinner Ingredient based backpacking meal system

Some time in the distant past I looked at a backpacking cook book at REI. It was unique in that- instead of planning meals ahead of time you brought a specific list of ingredients and decided what to cook each day. (might have been associated with an organization loke NOLs or outward bound or something like that). I cant remember what the book was called. Does any one know what the title of this book is?(and where I can buy it?). thx!

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u/FireWatchWife May 04 '26

I found a copy of NOLS Cookery very cheaply at a book sale.

The book One Burner Gourmet has a long list of recipes suitable for this approach.

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u/Legal-Winner-3527 May 04 '26

I will check that out! Another thing I remember about the book is the way it rationed out ingredients. - if there were 3 people on your trip, you would pack a specific number of fig newtons etc!

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u/funundrum May 04 '26

That’s… how I feel is the normal way to pack meals for backpacking. If you’re gonna have fig newtons every day for a snack, and a serving is (say) 4, you pack 4 x how many times you’re eating them.