I've found that hamburger buns will last longer than a week so I used that during the last challenge. I still have some instant Vietnamese coffee so I'll be using that as well.
I've noticed that as well, about hamburger (and hot dog) buns. I think I'll stick with the crackers, though.I definitely intend to have coffee, but I'll probably put some of my regular coffee in a ziplock bag and use it to make cowboy coffee. I used to make cowboy coffee on a Coleman stove every day of my life, and even now I use one of those Stanley French presses so it's not really all that different. But I'll forgo that and make real cowboy coffee.
I’d be interested to learn the particulars of your approach to cowboy coffee. Sounds like you have made it enough times to really have it dialed in.I generally just default to instant coffee on campouts.
On campouts, I usually use my 60+ year old Corning coffeepot. It was a percolator when I was a kid, but now it's just a boiler. I fill it with water, bring it to almost a boil, then turn off the stove or remove it from the fire and add about 5 dry ounces of the same coffee you would use in a coffeemaker. If you time it just right, it will break over into a boil when you add the coffee. Then I give it a quick stir with a spoon and let it settle for 5-10 minutes. Most of the grounds will sink to the bottom. You will probably have a few grounds in the first cup, but that never hurt me. I've heard of the tricks to make the grounds sink faster. I never used them because I never felt the need.You can do that in a stainless steel (or aluminum, but I don't) bowl or cup for something more portable, which I have done.I use an ounce (2 tablespoons) of coffee for every cup of finished product. Adjust according to your taste.
The instant, Folgers singles just need to be stirred into hot water, although, I find that I need 2 or 3 of them to make a halfway decent cup of coffee.
There is a newer form of portable coffee: single serve pouches. This is not instant coffee; it is regular coffee in a pouch like a tea bag. You may have seen a similar concept in hotel rooms in the form of a pouch that you put in a coffeemaker. This is just a smaller version of the same concept. You can even get a small basket that you set on top of your cup, then slowly pour hot water over it. That's not what I did when I tried it on a motorcycle camping trip. I just put the pouch in my cup, poured hot water over it and let it steep for a couple of minutes before taking out the pouch.Again, these are not instant coffee. They are much better than instant coffee. Here's what I'm talking about: https://amzn.to/4sXuVxgThat's amazon, but you can find them at grocery stores too.
More about coffee. I'm drinking a cup of cowboy coffee right now, and I'm doing it a little bit differently because I wanted to use my Peak 1 cup. This pic is my Soldier On Challenge pic from Saturday, and the cup I'm referring to is directly in front of the 8R and Coleman stoves. It is stainless steel and holds 16 ounces.So what I did is boil some water in my hot pot, put one ounce of regular coffee in the Peak 1 cup, then pour the boiling water over the coffee. Gave it a stir with a spoon, let it steep a few minutes and spoon off the floating grounds. Then I carefully poured the coffee into a regular coffee cup, stopping before it reached the grounds on the bottom. It worked fine.A couple of thoughts. First, a more gear-efficient way to do this in the field would be to boil the water in the cup, then remove it from the heat and add the coffee grounds. Don't add the grounds and then boil it unless you like scorched coffee, btw.Second, to make it even more gear-efficient, omit the other cup. Boil the water in the cup, add coffee grounds, stir and let steep, then spoon off the floating grounds and drink directly from the cup. I wouldn't add anything; I expect this is only workable if you drink it black. There will be dregs at the bottom; just stop before you get to that.
This was lunch today.Very similar to the Firewok chicken, in terms of flavor; spice level (only maybe medium at the highest on the nate j scale, in spite of the 5-pepper rating); and sadly, lack of broth.
The shrimp sounds good. I would like to try all of the Fire Wok flavors eventually. I'm thinking about trying another of the Mongolian beef, and add one of the Spam individual serving packs, chopped.Have you tried preparing it like the foam ramen cups, pour boiling water in to just below the top then cover and steep for 3-5 minutes? That's what I did instead of microwaving. I think you will have more broth that way. Here's what it looked like when I did that:
Have not tried the boiling water method, but would think it would come out the same. (Plus, we have a microwave at work, but no stove.). Unless you added more water than was recommended on the package? I made sure to put a little extra in this time, but apparently not enough to actually get soup/broth.Also, I have one the Mongolian beef to hopefully try later this week.
Yeah, I didn't even read the directions as to how much water to add. Instead I just put in what looked right!
I realized I'll be at a wedding on Chow Day.Tentatively, I think I'll pack tomorrow and eat next Friday (having to take it to work is an interesting twist, and makes it marginally more authentic).
Our friend WECSOG is running this show, so whatever he says is what goes. However, the rules of the challenge say that the home made MRE doesn't have to be consumed at the end of the week. Here is how the award reads:Build your own version of an MRE using off-the-shelf components, post a photo of the completed MRE and store at room temperature for 6 days or more. Consume the MRE after the storage period and post pictures and descriptions of the contents. So, you could eat'em up any time after the minimum time period is met. 8 days, two weeks? More? I think our friend Alan had to start late or end late or something last time that I hosted the challenge. I don't remember. Best wishes. Gary PS I almost had to drop out before I even started my phone decided to cough up a hair ball and spun in circles while kicking one leg feebly. I messed around with the sad thing from 6AM until after 2PM when it finally decided to work. I think an update choked the thing. I couldn't boot it up and I couldn't shut it off. Fingers crossed. Maybe I can make the starting gate after all. G
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