No cooking

Bmblbzzz

Thru Hiker
I was pedaling down the road in rural Quebec when a car pulled over in front of me. A man got out and waved for me to stop.

“Excuse me,” he said in a French accent. “Where do you eat?”

“I go to grocery stores,” I said.

“But you cook on a stove?" he asked.

“I don't have a stove,” I said. “I eat bread and cheese and simple things.”

The man broke into an enormous grin. “I always wanted to know this!” he said. “I will do this, I will bike with bread and cheese!” He shook my hand vigorously, got back in his car, and drove away. I got back on my saddle and kept pedaling toward Labrador.
https://www.adventurecycling.org/blog/feasting-without-a-stove/

I can see a few problems with this in the UK. There aren't so many roadside berries for a start and as for "a fresh loaf of local bread" well, you might as well ask for the moon (made of green cheese) on a (lolly) stick. Then there's the weather; it's good to have something hot to eat when it's cold and wet. And on occasions when she takes a jetboil anyway, why not use to cook something too?

But it's got to be said it eliminates at one stroke the entire weight of stove, pot, fuel. Plus, "I brake for blueberries" would make a good bumper (or mudguard) sticker!
 

Heltrekker

Section Hiker
Next year I'm hoping to do a pretty remote Tour de Mont Perdu circuit, all wild/stealth camping, 5 nights, no resupply points. I've been playing with various food options, but since it will be July/August, at the moment I'm looking at preparing 6 days worth of vacuum sealed keto bricks (500kcal per bar at around 85g each) plus saucisson, jerky, coconut chips etc.. I've calculated about 2kg total for all my food and leaving the cooking gear at home. It also means that on some of the higher sections where streams might be harder to come by, I won't have to carry excess water for rehydrating food. The downside is sacrificing my morning cuppa :(
 

Taz38

Thru Hiker
Food is something to look forward to after a long day despite the extra weight (stove, fuel) and hassle.
If there are pubs, cafes, shops on route you could get away with not cooking, but that's not always the case.
I remember a trip many years ago in Europe when we lived off bread, cheese, salami, bananas and crisps.
 

Heltrekker

Section Hiker
I've done no cooking for a few 2 day trips... Usually at the cost of carrying pre cooked food or dry cured./low moisture Foods.
I do really enjoy cooking on the fell though. The experience is soul feeding (and knowing my pack just got a lot lighter :biggrin:)
Cooked Merguez sausage and huevos rancheros for my son in an alpine valley below Aneto last summer, worth the added weight - unbeatable experience and tasted magnificent :DP1240091.jpg
 

EM-Chiseller

Thru Hiker
Cooked Merguez sausage and huevos rancheros for my son in an alpine valley below Aneto last summer, worth the added weight - unbeatable experience and tasted magnificent :DView attachment 32575
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Teepee

Thru Hiker
Going stoveless would be easy were it not for hot drinks. Personally, I often don't cook these days...sometimes don't eat but a hot drink is something I feel really hard done by if I don't get one.

Saying that, when I don't cook and just have one meal a day, a little 100g gas cart/box of hexy goes a long way and doesn't take up much space.

Roadside berries are quite plentiful all over the UK, but are covered in pollution from our busy roads and best avoided IMO. However our countryside is rich is foragable food. We have salad crops from spring through to summer, when the berries start coming out.

Blackberries, wild Strawberries, Raspberries, Garlic, Jack by the hedge, Hawthorn, Lime leaves, Plantain, Apples, Fireweed, Ground Elder, Dead nettle, Stinging nettle, all manner of tree nuts and many more adorn the lowlands.

Gorse flowers, Rowan, Blueberries, Mountain Cranberries, Cloudberries and Crowberries cover vast swathes of our uplands.

Food is plentiful on the shores of our rich seas.

If we just learn to look, food is everywhere and some of it delicious.


Having a load of fresh Blaeberries with some Cloudberries to finish is one of lifes great delights. :drool:
 

Shewie

Chief Slackpacker
Staff member
If you're cycling you're going to hit cafe's and resupply points more regularly than when hiking in the mountains so it's slightly different, especially in the UK, possibly different on the Silk Road race though. When I headed out on a bike trip around Argyll last year I packed the usual supplies I'd take hiking for a week, I hardly touched any of the food as I was dropping into villages every few hours, cake and pies were more tempting than dehydrated slops.

When I'm hiking I'd rather take a 200g cookset and enjoy a hot meal and drinks in camp, the no cook/cold soak thing doesn't appeal one little bit, but then I don't eat couscous or refried beans.

I met an old chap in a bothy on the TGO who just ate cheese and branston sandwiches all the way across, I think he was on his 14th challenge.
 

dovidola

Thru Hiker
I'm not a survivalist. I want cooked food when hiking. The benefits far outweigh the c350g (cook kit and 4 days fuel) as far as I'm concerned.

I understand there are those who don't share that view and, while admiring their stoicism etc, I'm content to admire from without than from within, as it were.

Each to their own - I prefer to achieve a lighter pack by not carrying a 20,000mAh Power Station than by giving my guts a hard time thanks.
 

Balagan

Thru Hiker
https://www.adventurecycling.org/blog/feasting-without-a-stove/

I can see a few problems with this in the UK. There aren't so many roadside berries for a start and as for "a fresh loaf of local bread" well, you might as well ask for the moon (made of green cheese) on a (lolly) stick. Then there's the weather; it's good to have something hot to eat when it's cold and wet. And on occasions when she takes a jetboil anyway, why not use to cook something too?

But it's got to be said it eliminates at one stroke the entire weight of stove, pot, fuel. Plus, "I brake for blueberries" would make a good bumper (or mudguard) sticker!
All she saves is stove and fuel because, from time to time, she likes to indulge in some hot food cooked over a campfire...

2021-06-27 13_11_11-Feasting Without A Stove _ Adventure Cycling Association.png
 
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problem_chimp

Summit Camper
Having a load of fresh Blaeberries with some Cloudberries to finish is one of lifes great delights. :drool:

My Norwegian father in law introduced me to cloudberries many years ago. After translating 'tyttebær' I confidently stated 'oh, I don't think we have them in Britain'. Haha, what an idiot I was.

Now we're out picking them every season. They're great on their own but with cream and sugar they are heavenly good!
 

Mole

Thru Hiker
For me, going stoveless wouldn't save any real weight at all.

Similarly to what @dovidola wrote, 5 days fuel and a stoveset/pot is only the weight of half a days food, and I think that weight would easily be saved by taking dehydrated food over ready to eat.

The only exception I guess might be if water was scarce. But that isn't really the case most of the time? For dry camps, one still needs to carry water to drink and at most, dried main meals need an extra 500ml of water, most less.
 

WilliamC

Thru Hiker
The only exception I guess might be if water was scarce. But that isn't really the case most of the time? For dry camps, one still needs to carry water to drink and at most, dried main meals need an extra 500ml of water, most less.
If circumstances allow it, eating your main meal close to the last water source of the day, rather than in camp, can save you carrying that extra 500g or so of water.
 

Teepee

Thru Hiker
For me, going stoveless wouldn't save any real weight at all.

Similarly to what @dovidola wrote, 5 days fuel and a stoveset/pot is only the weight of half a days food, and I think that weight would easily be saved by taking dehydrated food over ready to eat.

The only exception I guess might be if water was scarce. But that isn't really the case most of the time? For dry camps, one still needs to carry water to drink and at most, dried main meals need an extra 500ml of water, most less.

Pot + spoon+ fuel+ lighter/s+ground coffee/tea+stove+windshield?

For me, it would save around 500g for a 3 dayer and leave the pocket empty the stove set would go in.

It's not happening though. :D
 

Mole

Thru Hiker
Pot + spoon+ fuel+ lighter/s+ground coffee/tea+stove+windshield?

For me, it would save around 500g for a 3 dayer and leave the pocket empty the stove set would go in.

It's not happening though. :D
Didn't count tea/coffee - though don't use ground coffee backpacking apart from overnighters - tea is bulky enough.

What I meant is that whatever food I would replace my dehydrated main meals with would bound to be heavier than dried food - quite possibly 100g a day heavier. which would add up to 400-500g. This is more than the stoveset/pot/fuel, so no real weight saving for me by going stoveless. [Solo, at most, I use 42g of Esbit per day, so 5 days fuel is 210g maxplus say 10g for a bag. Plus 185g for complete cookset (580ml Evernew mug/lid/cone/burner/base/lighter/spoon/5ml dropperbottle of alcohol/J cloth plus stuffsac). so around 400g total.]
 
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Allsquare

Trail Blazer
Cold soaking works for some (all?) dehydrated meals. Of course you're carrying the water in your rehydration container (vs perhaps carrying the water anyway if camping away from a water source). And cold brewed coffee is great for breakfast.
 

ADz

Thru Hiker
I won't be cooking anything on next trip. Just taking Some Biltong, Keto bricks and nuts. I'll be taking a Esbit fuel stove setup purely for morning Coffe brews and possibly evening Chamomile tea. :pompus:
 
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