Boiled water meals

I know you all are creative with the buddy cooking, and I can make about anything with the Coleman stove, honda 2000, and such, but I am wondering what people eat if they only have hot water to add. Sometimes I head out last minute even if it’s just for a midweek metro lake evening to morning and all I want to bring is one shopping sized bag with my jetboil and minimal dishes/mess.

I feel like I’m in a rut with:
-Cocoa, tea, coffee (starbucks instant is the best IMO)
-Ramen in the foam cups for dinner
-Instant oatmeal packs in the AM

What other things are people doing?

Packit Gourmet, Camp Chow, Mountain House, Outdoor Pantry, Good To-Go and other freeze dried foods can be easily done with a MSR or JetBoil boiler.

I usually keep about a weeks worth of meals on hand just in case. Easy thing would be to go to REI and check out all the backpacking/hiking meals. During the summer Fleet Farm usually has a pretty good selection on hand.

Sammiches.
You can heat anything up with boiling water. Put what ever you want to heat up in a ziplock bag. Ive pre made breakfast burritos and heated them up this way.
Get a 64oz yeti rambler…hot soup or stew. That thing keeps soup hot for about 48 hours.

Beer and pretzels!

Frozen pizza and brats. Anything warm helps morale when evening comes.

beef stew in a bag, jet boil, love my jet

I bought a wide mouthed rtic stainless bottle. Boil veni brats/polish/dogs of your choosing and put them in the bottle. Fill with the boiling water and toss in your pack. It makes for an easy, hot and ready meal. Otherwise, I usually boil them on the ice. Easy peas.

I have a food saver vacuum sealer. I seal venison brats, hot dogs, etc. You can seal anything in their bags and then place them in boiling water. Cut open bag and enjoy. Really the options are endless what you want to vacuum seal stew, rice, whatever. Plus you can do it in advance and have meals ready to boil.

I think he’s asking about meals you add boiling water to….not meals you boil in water.

Off the top of my head, the first one I can think of is Velveeta shells and cheese. They come in little bowls/cups kinda like ramen cups.

You could also make Minute Rice, but would probably want something to go with it (and need a cup)

Stove Top stuffing is another easy one, but you’ll need a little chunk of butter to make it right (and need a cup) Man I love me some Stove Top

For a warm beverage, don’t overlook a packet of Swiss Miss mixed with a little lake water and a lot of peppermint schnapps

There’s also hot apple cider powder packages that are pretty good.

Yeah, but if you are boiling water to add, cant you use the boiling water to heat/cook your food? Im assuming he’s using a small pot to boil water.

B-man wrote:

I think he’s asking about meals you add boiling water to….not meals you boil in water.

He is, however it is so much easier to have the item already prepared in the bag, heat it up, open the bag and eat. Make the hot water do double duty by using the already hot water for a cup of tea, hot chocolate, etc.

phishingruven01 wrote:

Yeah, but if you are boiling water to add, cant you use the boiling water to heat/cook your food? Im assuming he’s using a small pot to boil water.

I assumed he’s using a one liter jetboil cup?

Yeah, youre right. I failed in reading and comprehending his last sentence about just wanting to bring his jet boil.

This thread brings back great memories of the “before time” (before I had a wife and kids and when I was a seasonal construction worker).

I used to ice fish almost every day, bounced around from lake to lake with the wheeler and portable for weeks on end.

In the back of the truck I always had a tote stocked with (frozen) bottles of water, plastic silverware, styrofoam cups, instant coffee, cream of wheat, Ramen noodle cups, instant coffee, stove top stuffing, chocolate powder, apple cider powder, instant coffee, oatmeal, etc etc (I drank a lot of instant coffee lol). I’d cut the frozen bottles in half and boil the ice on a single burner Coleman at the boat landing.

No dishes to do, no wife to please, no kids to entertain, no deadlines to meet.

I’d lose track of what day of the week it was. Didn’t matter if it was Saturday or Wednesday. Every day was Fishday.

Loved every minute and caught a ton of fish

Ahhhhh…..the good old days

I guess the biggest thing the OP is overlooking is cooking a “can of anything” directly on the jet boil burner.

Tons of options there to change it up. You’d just need a can opener and a spoon to mix it up while heating.

No pots or pans to clean

B-man wrote:

I guess the biggest thing the OP is overlooking is cooking a “can of anything” directly on the jet boil burner.

Fyi – Most food cans are lined with a “food safe” plastic coating. Melting that coating into your food while cooking may or may not be safe. Google the topic and make your own decision.

-J.

Vacuum seal pulled pork or chicken and heat it up in the boiling water. I used to make 3-4lbs of it in college and vacuum seal it in small portions and freeze it. Grab a bag and a few buns on your way out the door and you’re good to go.

Jon Jordan wrote:

Fyi – Most food cans are lined with a “food safe” plastic coating. Melting that coating into your food while cooking may or may not be safe. Google the topic and make your own decision.

-J.

Not to mention the food in the can.

I’ve heard of lots of different meals being made by placing plastic ziplock bag in boiling water, does the plastic bag not melt in the boiling water?

I take these meals on back country hunts out west and now use them for meals in the ice castle as well. They have great flavor and decent nutritional value. Just add boiling water and let sit for 10 minutes….I highly recommend them!

vhttps://peakrefuel.com/product/chicken-alfredo-pasta/

mnrabbit wrote:

I’ve heard of lots of different meals being made by placing plastic ziplock bag in boiling water, does the plastic bag not melt in the boiling water?

If you warm a can in boiling water it will not melt. If you put the can directly over burner it will melt. Try putting your ziploc bag over the burner. They are called jet boil. Not jet simmer.

This brought back memories of the Banquet boiling bag meals. When I was in the plating industry, we would hang these on the line in the hot water tanks that removed the buffing compound. By the time it got through the line it was done to perfection.
They weren’t bad either.
Sorry for getting off topic tindall.

Attachments:

1. 

   818F72CB-8BB8-491B-86DA-7840AF44FB22.jpeg
   

I know when I went elk hunting we ate those meals in a bag you cook in boiling water. We had like soups, and spaghetti and some other stuff that actually wasn’t that bad to eat. Granted I would never want to live on them, but out fishing or hunting and its your only option. A hot alternative like these are great.

I think they were like Mountain something was the brand name. We got them at fleet farm.

Here is what we eat on our multi-day hiking adventures:

MRE’s …great food but expensive
MAC and Cheese …you do not need milk or butter
Stuffing.
Idaho Instant mash potatoes … these are very very good in certain flavors
Smoked meat…take your pick and add to stuffing/potatoes
Oatmeal
Tea
Coffee w/ hot cocoa…makes a Mocha
Assorted snacks that have protein

Of course you do not need all of this for a simple meal on the ice but all the options can easily be made in/with a jetboil…we just run an MSR pocket-rocket with a stainless bowl on our trips. My favorites are easily smoked meat with potatoes.

Also, thanks for the reminder that I can just bring my cook-set for meals on the ice!

Thanks for the replies! I was asking about just adding hot water from a jetboil. I also have a msr iso stove and a white gas stove – it’s just that jetboil is so fast and easy.

I need to get some bulk mt. House – they are good but sometimes $10 a meal vs cents for ramen or oatmeal.

I buy Maggie and Mary’s chicken and dumpling soup mix, add stock, frozen pearl onions, and a part of a bag of rotisserie chicken chunks from Costco. Pretty good

I also keep a Mr Steak portable grill in my wheel house, because steak is life!

Mac and cheese with hotdogs. Gotta keep the kids happy!

Zip-lock omelets are good.

Chris Messerschmidt wrote:

I know when I went elk hunting we ate those meals in a bag you cook in boiling water. We had like soups, and spaghetti and some other stuff that actually wasn’t that bad to eat. Granted I would never want to live on them, but out fishing or hunting and its your only option. A hot alternative like these are great.

I think they were like Mountain something was the brand name. We got them at fleet farm.

That’s how we eat while hiking

Scott wrote:

I buy Maggie and Mary’s chicken and dumpling soup mix, add stock, frozen pearl onions, and a part of a bag of rotisserie chicken chunks from Costco. Pretty good

I also keep a Mr Steak portable grill in my wheel house, because steak is life!

That sounds great! What kind of grill do you use, exactly? I plan to buy a grill on my boat and choose from these reviews. I don’t have a lot of grilling experience, so if you shared your experience or told me which model you have, it would help me.