Summary Rating: 3 of 5 long handled spoons Ease of prep: 4 of 5 (two soaks, but they are short) Possible hacks: add a packet of soy or teriyaki sauce, pineapple
The bag
This is edible but not great, from the comfort of home. I immediately added soy sauce because that helps anything, but this has 59% of the daily allowance of sodium so that’s probably not a great idea. Though if I have been sweating on a hike the level of sodium isn’t as big a deal. The soy sauce improved it from bland to mediocre.
I immediately thought adding some freeze dried pineapple bits would actually really brighten it up. Possibly some lime juice.
The chicken chunks don’t really have much taste, they just add mouthfeel.
Probably sufficient after a long trail day but not anything to crave.
Summary Rating: 3 of 5 long handled spoons Ease of Prep: 5 of 5 (open & add hot water for one soak) Possible hacks: add a can or packet of cooked chicken, paprika, more cheese, tomato sauce, salsa or ketchup, garlic powder
The package of mac & cheese
I think the “forever young” part is supposed to allude to the box mac & cheese that kids like, but it doesn’t have the tanginess that I always associate with box mac & cheese. It’s missing something. It’s completely sufficient and there’s a ton of it in the package, but it needs something, at least on the couch, and probably in camp too. I threw in a bunch of paprika and some extra shredded cheddar. I will say there is a TON of veggies in it, they did not skimp on the corn & peas, though I am not seeing as much carrot.
I wish it was easier to divide up these 2 serving meals because this one is a BIG CHONKER of a meal. I am not sure I could finish it on my own even after a day of hiking, especially if I add something for taste, like a packet of cooked chicken.
Once in awhile I get a crunch from pasta that did not rehydrate completely so I definitely recommend waiting longer than the package prescribed 10-12 minutes, though I did skimp a little on the water in hindsight, as everything is generally soupy, so perhaps I shouldn’t blame them for that.
I will give it another try in camp and see how it goes. It’s not bad, just not stand out.
Summary: Rating: 4 of 5 long handled spoons Ease of Prep: 5 of 5 (open & add hot water just once) Possible hacks: add more cinnamon , more granola or slivered almonds on top for crunch, milk
The package of Blueberry Peach Crisp next to a mug of tea.
Even from the comfort of home, this is pretty darn good. It’s something I could make heck of a lot cheaper at home with frozen fruit, oatmeal, and granola. On the trail I could see it being really good. But I could perhaps make my own for cheaper since freeze dried fruit is commonly available, and I can add more cinnamon to my taste.
The crisp inside the bag.
I think DIY crisp is an easy trail meal to experiment making myself, and I can change up the fruit as I want – strawberries or mangos sprint to mind.
So it’s good, but probably not something I will buy often unless I want a really lazy or last minute camping experience.
Summary: Rating: 4 of 5 long handled spoons Ease of Prep: 5 of 5 spoons (just open package) Possible hacks: none needed
The package
This is a freeze dried ice cream sandwich and I love it even sitting on my couch… except that it’s a bit messy. Not so much a problem out in the wild.
I opened the package expecting it to just be hanging out in there, but it was wrapped in paper like any ice cream sandwich, though there was a puzzling slice up the side. Perhaps that’s part of the freeze drying process. Do they just get regular premade ones and then slice it to let moisture out?
It’s actually pretty tasty and I’m having fun munching on it, so all in all, it’s a nice snack, and doesn’t require special storage, though I’m not sure how sturdy it would be shoved into a backpack and smushed by everything else in there. Oh dear, I guess I have to buy another one to test this out… you know, for science. That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
Why did I give it 4 out of 5 long handled spoons instead of 5 out of 5? I guess because it’s not *really* ice cream at this point. It’s something else. But it’s good!
Rating: 3 of 5 long handled spoons Ease of prep: 4 of 5 spoons (will have to reduce water amount) Possible Hacks: add paprika, packets of salsa, bacon bits, jerky; bring a biscuit or flatbread to add more bulk
Package of Summit Breakfast Scramble sitting beside a glass mug of tea.
So that I can remember what backpacking meals I like and which ones I had, I am going to write short reviews of them here with notes on how I prepared them & potential hacks to make them better.
I had planned a camping trip this week but I ended up canceling my reservation because the low temperature is near freezing, it’s been raining a deluge & all the hiking trails have been closed, and I have a three season tent. I decided it wasn’t the best idea to go. I am probably still going to drive to the park I was going to camp at to get out of the house & check it out, but the trails will likely still be closed.
I had stocked up on backpacking meals. I like to eat a meal at home at least once to make sure it’s not absolutely revolting, or if it tends to say it needs more water than it actually needs.
This morning I decided to try out the Summit Breakfast Scramble from Backpacker’s Pantry from the comfort of my own couch since I could not be out on the trail.
It’s described as “scrambled eggs, red beaks, cheddar cheese and peppers.” The directions say to put in 1 cup of boiled water and stir, seal and wait 8 minutes, then stir again and wait 7 minutes. I found it was still pretty soupy after that, and waited another 5 minutes. It was still pretty soupy, so next time I will try reducing the amount of water. The taste wasn’t bad, and it could have been eaten just that way, but I wanted scrambled eggs, darn it. I tossed in some shredded cheddar that I had in the fridge to see if it would thicken up any, and it didn’t really. I added a packet of Sonic salsa for a little extra kick and ate it.
Not the best breakfast ever, but it would be fine in camp or on the trail.
Thinking out loud, so to speak: Should I make a rating system/matrix? I think maybe this would be 3 out of 5 long handled spoons – not bad, not great. Inoffensive, but I am actually still hungry, so would likely need to plan to supplement this with something if I was planning on being active. It wasn’t difficult to make, but I have to reduce the amount of water a bit. Unless I add jerky to soak in the rest of the water an rehydrate, which will add some protein to it. From past egg based experience, I know adding paprika is a good step, though I skipped it this morning.
Would I buy this again? Yeah, unless I find like some holy grail of breakfast scramble in a bag that becomes my go-to.
Trying to get back into the habit of blogging regularly, especially with the shuffling of social media platforms lately. I noticed WordPress/Jetpack has a daily prompt, so I might use it.
The prompt for today is “What is your favorite form of physical exercise?”
Currently, mine is hiking. I live super near a state park that has regular guided hikes, so I go on those a lot. I was actually signed up for 2 this weekend but they got rained out. I tend to be out at the park at least once a week.
But I also go solo hiking, which can freak some people out – I get asked if I’m not scared to hike on my own a lot! I am far more nervous walking around on my own in the city, where there’s other people, than being on my own in the woods or prairie. Hikers are generally pretty friendly and helpful. I decided long ago that if I waited for other people to decide they wanted to join me on all my interests, I would never get to actually do them.
So if you ever see me on the trail, feel free to say hello! Please make sure you have plenty of water and snacks to keep you fueled and stay safe!
Skulleigh on the trail at Atlanta State Park in northeast Texas.
Note: This is adapted from a thread I posted on Twitter a few years back. I have been migrating information like this over to my blog since it’s become Birdchan over there.
I originally wrote this in the month of September, which is Disaster Preparedness month. I was encouraging my friends to take a little time to plan what they would do in an emergency. A good resource to get started is to go to https://ready.gov/make-a-plan
Think about what types of disasters you & your family might face, and learn how to prepare for them.
For me, the main danger I might face is severe storms and/or tornadoes. So a lot of my planning centers around that. Theoretically I could see evacuation due to house fire, gas leaks, nearby natural gas well issues, and possibly (but unlikely) large wildfires.
Additionally, I could theoretically see floods, but it would have to be a 1000 year-level catastrophic event- my drainage here is pretty darn good. I got slightly soggy when the Trinity flooded a few years ago. Other areas of my town flooded, but the worst I got was a soggy backyard and impressive flow in the drainage creek at the end of the street. So while it’s good to consider the possibility of that happening, my other plans should take care of most of what I would need anyway, and it’s lower on the list.
Lesser events I have actually experienced, and saw how preparedness helped with are multi-day power outages, water outages, and ice storms.
Think about the same kinds of things – what severe weather happens in your area? Do you get earthquakes or other kinds of natural disasters like rock or landslides? Do you live near a rail line or chemical storage facilities? Is there an airport nearby that you’re along the flight path for (most crashes occur soon after take off or on the approach to landing)?
Think about what bad things might happen inside your home, such as fire or gas leaks.
Now consider: if something happens to make your home uninhabitable, either temporarily or more long term (i.e. requiring major repair or rebuilding) where would you go? What are the most important things you need while you can’t access your home? How would you get news about the event starting, the progress of mitigation, and when it’s safe to return?
How would you contact your family & let them know where to meet you if you weren’t all together at the time of the event?
That’s your homework right now – determine what the most likely disasters to affect you might be, what things you need, how to get information, and how to gather & safeguard your family (whatever family looks like for you) while disaster occurs.
A couple eons ago in pandemic time, folks were throwing milkshakes as protests, and some whiny people tried to say they were getting hit by milkshakes containing concrete, which is a separate thing from calling a very thick milkshake a concrete. There has been zero evidence found that anyone actually put concrete mix in a milkshake and threw it at a fascist. At the time though, I remembered making milkshakes using a mixer at a fast food job I had once upon a time, and I had recently been looking at the famous picture of Woody Guthrie with one of his “This machine kills fascists” guitars… and my brain put those in a blender, and out came a drawing.
Drawing of a milkshake blender and a milkshake with the text “This machine kills fascists” around it.
Anyway, the topic came back up recently, and I mentioned the drawing, and that I should clean it up in Procreate and make it available to anyone who wants to make a sticker out of it, and I was encouraged to, and to make it available as a coloring page as well. So I did!
I tried to make the text look similar to one of Woody’s guitars, without tracing it.
Here’s a PNG that anyone is welcome to make into a sticker if you’d like:
PNG with lineart of the “This machine kills fascists” milkshake blender art.
And I am also attaching a PDF of the line art, so you can print it and color it as well!
Years ago I used to do what I called “Buy Nothing Summer” which was pretty much what it says on the tin – a period, originally from Memorial Day to Labor Day where I would try not to buy things, I would sometimes use it as a time to go through the things I already have and either use them or get rid of them. Later years I reduced it to a month.
This year I am bringing it back! And it has a new name because there’s actually apparently groups and such that use “Buy Nothing” and they are bigger than me, and I don’t know if I am doing exactly the same thing, so I am giving my project my own name.
Summer Reset: Buy nothing, get rid of what I don’t need, have experiences.
The rules I am using this year are simple:
– Buy nothing (except food and stuff to maintain my health and home)
– Use this time to get rid of things I don’t need
– Have experiences! I want to go places and do things instead of buying things.
I am starting… checks watch… right… now!
From now to Labor Day that’s my goal, and hopefully I will end with more money in my savings account and good habits to continue with.
Join me? Your rules don’t have to be the same as mine, and you don’t have to do it for as long as I am. It’s a reset, it’s a way for you to look at what you’ve been doing and decide if you want to make changes. Maybe you want to introduce a new habit for yourself, like a walk every day, or using up a craft supply you’ve been letting sit around fallow. Let me know if you do join in and what your “reset” is!
Sunday night I was contemplating having a drink of my current favorite potent potable: sotol, which is often compared to tequila. It’s originally from Mexico, and made from a plant called sotol. The one I have been drinking is from a Texas distiller, called Desert Door.
The bottle I currently have was aged in bourbon barrels and has a smokey taste. I was thinking about the fact that I have a lot of smokey teas, and a few with bourbon notes as well, and wondered if I could concoct a cocktail.
First I checked Desert Door’s website to see if they had any tea-based cocktail recipes, and they do have one that uses Earl Grey that they call a Texas Toddy. Earl Grey is popular, but I’ve been a little tired of it for a few years. It’s such a default for people when making any sort of recipe. I might play with recipe using a tea with citrus notes in the future, but that’s not what I wanted right then.
A few other cocktails on their site used coffee & hot chocolate mix, and I thought about malty or cocoa notes in tea, but then I remembered that I love chili in Mexican hot chocolate, and it hit me that I do have a spicy tea with chocolate from Friday Afternoon Tea called Knuckle Sandwich. And bonus, the one I currently have is decaf, since I was making this drink as a late evening nightcap. But you can use whichever version you’d like!
Now I just needed a name – well, with a tea called Knuckle Sandwich, what could I call this but Cowboy Punch?
To make your own Cowboy Punch:
1. Brew a mug of Knuckle Sandwich (or your own chili-and-chocolate flavored smokey black tea). I recommend brewing it strong since you’ll be adding 2 more liquid, but feel free to adjust to your taste
2. Sweeten your tea with honey – I used a local Texas honey!
3. Add 2 ounces of bourbon barrel aged Texas sotol
Skulleigh.com 