Before I bike cross country, I need to figure out how to eat healthy when touring. Healthy to me means all my nutritional needs AND fiber to keep the ole poop chute happy. The joys of getting older...sigh.
I've been trying to find a way to pressure cook dried beans/lentils while bike touring. it's a challenge.
I've had one of these backpacking Keith multi cookers for a while when camping/backpacking. It only weighs 9 ounces and it prevents burning the rice to the bottom of the pot, which is super easy to do using backpacking stoves and titanium pots. The Keith multi cooker is like a lightweight double boiler that vents steam out a tiny hole in the top. Works great for steaming raw veggies too. But to cook dried beans that have soaked overnight, it would still take 45-90 minutes. That's way too long and would use way too much fuel.
Btw, Keith's website is cheaper than Amazon's $44 vs $70, for the multifunctional cooker, maybe Keith's shipping/handling makes up the difference, idk.
https://www.keith-ti.com/products/keith-titanium-ti6300-plastic-free-multifunctional-cooker
Keith recently came out with a pressure cooker too, but it's lower pressure than a typical pressure cooker 35kPA vs 80-90 kPa I think it would work great for cooking noodles/rice but not pre-soaked beans. I'd waste too much fuel, and it would take way too long cooking at camp.
https://www.keith-ti.com/products/keith-titanium-ti6302high-altitude-mountainpressure-cooker
Instead I'm thinking of a normal pressure pot, but a tiny one. A 1.5 liter Hawkins, which is also much cheaper, $45 vs $175 for the Keith pressure pot. Easier to get spare parts for it too.
The nice thing with the little Hawkins is that it would also work on the electric induction burner in my truck camper too, which means I can practice using it when truck camping. So I can start some beans in the instant pot, and then cook some rice in the little Hawkins, or vice versa. Or if it turns out to be a fail for bike touring, i can at least use it in the truck.
The hawkins does weigh more than the Keith pressure cooker, and it's more bulky. 520g vs 1200g. Or 1.1 lbs vs 2.6 lbs But I've lost 35lbs since I did the Erie Canal bike tour, so I'm pretty sure I can manage an extra pound or two. It's more the bulk of it. I suppose if I put dry rice/beans in it when traveling that'll help. I bought a 2nd old man mountain Divide rack to mount to my bike's front fork, so I can carry food and cooking stuff more easily.
If i presoak beans at least 8-10 hours, then it'll only take 6-8 minutes of high pressure cook time to cook the beans, and per some youtube reviews I watched, it only takes 3-4 minutes to get up to pressure. Fuel wise, that will mean high burn while getting up to pressure, and then reducing to medium to low during the 6-8 minutes of cooking.
I'm thinking I can also saute whatever i have in the pot before adding the soaked beans and water (ratio of 1:3 beans:water). So I can pick up a small onion, some carrots, garlic, jalapenos at a grocery store when touring; and that stuff will keep for 1-2 days without a fridge. And there's always bouillon cubes and/or spice powders.
While the beans cool, i can then cook rice in the Keith multifunction cooker that I already have In the Keith cooker, it takes 10-15 minutes to cook jasmine rice which will match the pressure pot cool down time. Also, just like the pressure cooker, I'm only on full burn until the steam starts venting out the top and then you lower the burn to simmer. Uses less fuel than you'd think. The keith multifunction cooker without the inner pot, also makes a nice tea mug. And I can use it for soaking beans during the day as long as I can pack it upright.
In the mornings, I can cook up some steel cut oats in the hawkins, and mix in some protein powder, milk powder, coconut powder and/or nuts after cooking. I'll have to pack it all in my kevlar ursack bag to keep the rodents and other critters out of my food stash. maybe i'll just pack my small plastic bear vault too.
Dehydrated meals are pricey, super salty, and lack in fiber. I suppose I could go that route and pack some metamucil to keep my gut happy, but then you have to worry about where to resupply. Most grocery stores don't carry backpacking meals, and I don't want to have to set up having care packages mailed.
And when you think about it, dehydrated meals take up a lot of space too. Small bags of rice, beans, oatmeal, etc and a tiny pressure pot aren't any more space, and far easier to find in any grocery store. If I can figure this out, I'm going to make a few youtube videos on it. Bikers and hikers love food, so there may be interest in some alternatives. I have my home dehydrator too. I could practice dehydrating veggies to add to my meals as well. I like cooking. Just another challenge, but this one has a fun prepper vibe to it, lol.
Oh, and I'll be using my primus omni stove, which runs best on Coleman/MSR white gas, but will run on gasoline too in a pinch; it just clogs faster on gasoline. I have a big 1 liter fuel bottle for it. It's trickier to use than the ultralight butane stoves thru-hikers use to boil water for dehydrated meals, but you can cook way longer, and it's far easier to refuel. Just find a gas station worst case.
I'm thinking I may bring stuff along when I do local rides. I'll just find a trailhead to cook lunch somewhere. Better to practice before I need the skills for bike touring.
No comments:
Post a Comment