Fueling Up Between Pedal Strokes
This post has been a long time coming. We get a lot of questions about what we eat while on a bike tour and we’ve been meaning to share our recipes and what WE do for food for quite some time. While we do have some excellent recipes (as you’ll see below) it’s not as fun/easy to write about so this post has been sitting in the draft folder for several months now but the wait is finally over! I hope you all find some use out of it as we find our selves nearing summer.
As is true with day to day life, there are many ways to satisfy your caloric needs while on bike tour. Everyone is different but this is what we have found works for us.
We prefer to break out the stove kit for only one meal each day, usually dinner. A hot meal is oh so satisfying after a long day in the saddle, but at the same time, it’s just enough time and effort that we don’t want to do it for all of our meals. Okay okay technically we do break out the stove for breakfast as well-but only for boiling water! So no cleanup necessary (which is the hardest part after all). Therefore our lunch is always something we can buy and/or assemble immediately: wraps mostly, or the classic bean burrito meal (see below) that we stole from Ryan Vandouzer.
A button to the recipes, what is this a food blog?!
Our breakfasts are pretty regular. We generally buy a multipack of flavored oatmeal. Two packs each, plus if we’re feeling fancy we’ll add whatever nuts, dried fruits or other goodies we have on hand already for snacks. And of course coffee. On tour we’re lazy and do instant coffee because it’s fast and easy. During our latest trip we experimented with bringing powdered coconut milk to add to curries & coffees to little success. But sometimes on overnight trips we fancy it up a little with our moka pot or aero press.
Because oatmeal isn’t enough calories when you’re riding all day. Second breakfast is also a must – we channel our inner hobbit. Generally for us this would be a protein bar and/or a peanut butter burrito plus fresh or dried fruit as we have on hand. But we do change this up with other random snacks a fair bit.
As mentioned above, our typical lunch is a bean burrito. 1 can of refried beans shared between the two of us, hot sauce slapped on to a tortilla each, Boom, a filling meal. Adding sundried tomatoes has been an amazing recent discovery that adds the perfect flavor and texture to a mostly bland meal. Unfortunately those do usually come in a glass jar so not ideal in regards to weight. If you have cheese on hand, that also makes a decent addition, but we never buy cheese solely for the purpose of adding it to our burritos.
Our favorite bean brand is Amy’s vegetarian, but as she’s costly our acceptable second favorite is Rosarita’s. (Watch out some of those store brand beans are not worth the money savings! -at least not to us, be prepared to use a lot of hot sauce if you go the cheap bean route ha).
While Andrew is a vegetarian, he gives up a bit of perfection on tour. So we will always pick up the vegetarian version of the beans if possible but will overlook this if it is between going hungry and eating beans with lard. Pick your battles and draw your own lines.
Our other typical lunch is dependent on where the grocery store/convenient store is. We’ll buy fresh hummus and veggies and make ourselves a simple wrap. The wraps are great for freshness and to break the monotony.
What's Cooking? (Good Looking)
Now the real reason I’m writing this posts is because we wanted to share our COOKED meals. The dishes that require the stove and a little bit of prep. We like to have a little bit of relaxing time in the evenings so we tend to wrap up our riding and set up camp before dinner time. This means most of our dinners are cooked somewhere where we have access to water. I will note, we do tend to use canned based meals. While cans are heavy, one nice thing about them is that you DON’T always need access to extra water as you would with a dehydrated meal. The cans are so heavy because of that extra water in them. So if we ever find ourselves without water access we generally are still fine to cook dinner without too much added stress.
We have found a few nice dessert recipes as well – mango sticky rice being a favorite (we love buying the big 2lb bag of dried mangoes for snacking already so it isn’t much of a stretch to get the ingredients to make this after our evening meal.) However, generally we’re too lazy to actually make dessert, opting instead to satisfy our sweet tooths by eating whatever junk food snacks we’ve bought at the store.
What's in the bag? - Camp Kitchen Pantry
We have a running panty that we carry around and are constantly rotating around. (I know I know, extra weight – but what the stomach wants the soul needs). We try to rotate our meals so we only have to carry one “base” at a time. But we do keep some spices etc on hand throughout. In general we expect to hit up a store every other day, but sometimes we’ll carry food for up to 4 days if we expect to be in a food desert.
Always Have:
- Small bottle of oil (usually olive oil)
- Red Spice mix (chili powder, turmeric, paprika, cumin, chili flakes) – we start with a blend and on the road we’ll buy one of the ingredient spices to add to the blend as we get low
- Green Spice Mix (basil, thyme, oregano)
- Dehydrated vegetable medley (we don’t always bring this but you can buy this in bulk and bring along a certain amount to use until you run out)
- Hot Sauce – regular size carried in the glass bottle – we use it enough to justify the container weight
- Salt, in a small container – can pick up at restaurants to refill supplies as needed
- Sugar, in a small container
- Tortillas
- Oatmeal packets
- Peanut or Almond Butter
- Snacks**
Rotating Base:
- Pasta
- Instant Rice
- Ramen or other noodles
- Couscous
- Instant Mashed Potatoes
– Basically we’ll have pasta based dishes until we run out of pasta and then move on to rice based dishes etc.
**Several Snacks also serve as ingredients. A lot of the random things we like to add to meals are also things we like to snack on throughout the day such as nuts and vegan jerky. So it’s a win win if we have to buy too much of something.
Additional Note: Chef Corso taught us that green onions are an easy to carry vegetable and can freshen up basically any meal. Definitely give it a try if you haven’t.
Recipe Time
"Quick and Easy" Camp Stove Options
Please note “easy” is defined by the user, and obviously an REI dehydrated meal would be easier, but if that’s all you plan to do you wouldn’t need to look at other recipes.
Camp Stove Recipes - Gourmet Edition
Well as gourmet as we get at least. We bring along a very thin cutting board and a chef knife because these dishes involve chopping fresh veggies.
General note, all of our meals and amounts are based on two hungry tourers. If you travel solo you’ll have to adjust accordingly based on your preferences. Some may be easier than others. All recipes are vegetarian, aside from some of the recipes we add cheese to, pasta pesto and fried rice, I believe they are also vegan or can easily be made as such.
All of our recipes are/can be made with one pot and a stove. Some recipes mention a pot cozy, it’s mostly to save on fuel. We made ours out of construction insulation – you can find lots of tutorials online if interested. Utensil wise we each have a titanium spork, and then we also carry a chef knife, a long set of chopsticks, a bamboo spoon, and a Leatherman that has a can opener.
"Quick and Easy" Camp Stove Options
We usually gravitate toward cooking these quick and easy meals. especially after a hard day of riding.
Fancy Ramen
The one the only – Fancy Ramen! a natural choice to gravitate towards after a long day when we don’t feel like putting in too much effort for dinner.
What’s great about fancy ramen, is it’s so versatile based on what you can find in the store. Obviously you start with ramen, make per package instructions (we split 3 packs between the 2 of us) and then go crazy with things to add.
Ingredients:
- Ramen**
- Optional Toppings (mix and match as desired):
- spoonfuls of peanut butter
- vegan jerky (or regular jerky for you meat eaters)
- seaweed snacks
- wasabi soy beans (if we can find them)
- nuts (walnuts, almonds, pine nuts etc)
- fresh veggies
- bell pepper
- carrot
- can of corn
- broccoli
**There’s a little bit of food waste here if you’re vegetarian. Many spice mixes in the ramen packets you find in more remote places aren’t vegetarian friendly, so rather than use those we swap out for a vegetarian friendly soup base (sometimes we’ll buy the individual packets, sometimes we’ll bring a larger bag similar to our spice bags, sometimes we’ll have some soy sauce packets or bottle to use)
– we have also on occasion subbed out the typical “ramen” with other noodles, it just tends to get a little more pricey when you go that route.
Tasty Bites Indian (Packet Meals)
Alright this is as simple as it comes without straight up buying the dehydrated meals. And fortunately these are vegetarian, and pretty common across a lot of groceries and convenience stores.
Ingredients:
- Tasty Bites Packet
- Instant Rice
Boil some water, and put the packets in the water to cook. Boom. We split 3 packs between the 2 of us. But if you’re a solo traveler you would probably want two. Set the warm packets aside to make instant rice in your pot per package instructions. In no time at all you have a filling easy Indian meal.
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NOTE: There is a growing number of options in the “Packet Meal” category for vegetarians. Loma Linda has some good easy cook vegetarian options as well – we just don’t see them as consistently while on the road but we are always keeping an eye out for new brands.
Rice and Beans
Rice and Beans is our primary rice based dish.
Ingredients:
- Can of Black Beans (opt swap for kidney beans)
- Can of diced tomatoes (or fresh if you’re feeling fancy)
- Optional add – small can of corn
- Instant Rice
- Red & Green Spices
- Opt. add fresh green onions
**Gourmet it up**
If you’re feeling fancy
- Opt. add fresh chopped onions and
- Opt. add bell peppers
Fresh onions and bell peppers make a wonderful addition and can be “sauteed” before adding the canned stuff. Let’s be real we rarely skip the fresh veggies with this one, but I wanted to share the easy version because I know not everyone is extra like us. You can also use a real tomato instead of the canned one, but just be sure it’s protected so you don’t end up with a mess in your bag before dinner!
Sun Dried Tomato Couscous
Ingredients:
- Box of Couscous (With seasoning packet or not)
- 3-6 Sun Dried tomatoes (we usually kept in a jar, but you could save weight by transferring to your own container.)
- Pine nuts (or other nut)*
- Add fresh green “something” (green onion, cilantro, or parsley, whatever you can find)
Bring a pot of water to boil, turn off the stove, add the couscous, spice mixture (packaged or your own), sun dried tomatoes (with some of their packaged oil), extra olive oil, and nuts. Cover to let cook (per couscous package instructions, typically 3-5 min). Stir up the couscous mixture and add in your fresh greens at the end.
This recipe benefits from an insulated pot-cozy to help keep the food hot while it all rehydrates and cooks up off the stove heat but it isn’t necessary. You could also do this as a cold soak recipe if that is your speed.
*Bonus – the extra sundried tomatoes are an excellent addition to those refried bean burritos we usually have for lunch.
Loaded Mashed Potatoes
A classic easy bike tourer’s meal. Instant Mashed potatoes with a bunch of extra stuff.
Ingredients:
- Instant mashed potatoes – We usually do a packet of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes each, but sometimes you can find the “family pack” which we have found has enough for four servings.
- Cheese – any hard cheese will keep relatively well even without refrigeration for a day or two depending on the temperature and your tolerance
- Vegan jerky
- Green onions
- Opt. add Sun dried tomatoes
Make mashed potatoes per package instructions and add toppings. These are the easy meals after all.
Pasta Fazool-ish
This is a home meal we make regularly that we modified for camping and it worked out surprisingly well. It’s a carb packed soup – perfect for hungry tourers.
Ingredients:
- 1 can of cannellini beans (or sub a different white bean if necessary)
- 1 can of diced tomato (or fresh if you’re feeling fancy)
- 1 cup of water
- Soup base (bouillon cubes, soup packets, etc)
- 1 cup of pasta
- Opt. add chopped onion (which we usually do!)
- Opt. add vegan jerky or vegan sausage
- Opt. top with fresh green onions
Pasta Pesto
Andrew prefers pesto over red sauce, and let’s be real, he’s usually the one cooking, so that’s where we gravitate on our meals. But a regular red sauce pasta would also be relatively easy to do on a trip.
Ingredients:
- 1-2 cups pasta
- Jar of pesto sauce
- Nuts (walnuts, almonds, pine nuts etc)
- Tomato (regular chopped up, pack of cherry tomatoes, or sundried)
- Opt add cheese
- Opt add fresh bread
Camp Stove Recipes - Gourmet Edition
Now usually we are feeling pretty lazy while cooking our meals. But it is always nice to treat yourself to something a little fancier. That’s what these recipes are for.
Sweet Potato Curry with Tofu
This recipe is a different take on pretty standard one-pot backpacking meal style, and calling this recipe a curry is honestly a bit of a stretch, but we’re never really sure what else to call it. The inclusion of coconut milk gives the flavor a slant towards a thai chili but the real reason we are using it is for the HUGE calorie boost you get from a can of coconut milk.
Ingredients:
- 1-2 Sweet Potato – Diced
- 1 can Chickpeas – with liquid separated
- 1/2 cup Water
- 1 can Coconut Milk (be sure to shake the can before opening)
- 1 cup Instant Rice
- Optional 1 Pack Shelf Stable Tofu
- Soup Base (bouillon cubes, soup packets, etc)
- Red Spice seasoning
First dice up the sweet potatoes (reasonably small to speed up cooking) and roughly chop the tofu if you are using it. Then heat up oil in the pot and add the sweet potatoes and chickpeas (liquid separated into a side bowl) and cook for a bit until starting to see some browning. Add the chickpea liquid, water and coconut milk bring it up to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, continue to simmer until the sweet potatoes are mostly cooked through (fork tender) timing will vary depending on how small you cut them. Stir in the coconut milk and the instant rice, keep it on the heat for a bit longer to get back to a full boil then cover and shut off the stove. If you have a pot cozy slide it in there to help keep everything hot and finish the rice faster. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes until rice is cooked. Enjoy.
West African Peanut Stew
This is one of our go to vegan meals we cook on the regular at home. The original recipe came to us through some charity mailer but it has ended up being a staple and it was an easy adaptation for the campsite. This uses a fair amount of water and fuel for boiling the sweet potatoes so best done where you aren’t worried about running out of either.
Ingredients:
- 1 or 2 Cubed Sweet Potatoes – Smaller pieces cook faster
- 1/2 Cup Crunchy Peanut Butter
- 1-2 Diced Tomatoes (Fresh or canned)
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- Water
- Greens (Kale/Spinach is ideal but Green onions do fine on the trail)
- 1 Cup Instant Rice
- Salt
- Red spice blend
- Bouillon/Soup base as desired
After prepping ingredients, heat up oil in your cooking pot, add the sweet potatoes and cook for a bit until starting to see some browning. Add water, spices, and soup base and bring it up to a boil. Once boiling add in the tomatoes and peanut butter and continue to simmer until the sweet potatoes are mostly cooked through (fork tender times will vary depending on how small you chop). Stir in whatever greens you are using and the instant rice, keep it on the heat for a bit longer to get back to a full boil then cover and shut off the stove. If you have a pot cozy slide it in there to help keep everything hot and finish the rice faster. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes until rice is cooked. Delicious.
Chili Peanut Noodles
- Package of Rice Noodles
- 2 Tbsp Crunchy Peanut Butter
- 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
- Pinch Red Chili Flakes
- 2 tsp Sugar
- Green Onions or Cilantro
- Lime
Put the noodles back on the stove to heat up the sauce, mixing constantly, until the mixture starts to bubble (it should be pretty quick; if you’re in a rush you could even skip reheating and just get to eating).
Portion out and add a squeeze of lime and green onions or cilantro.
Fried Rice
Okay so we’re still working on perfecting this one, but I wanted to include it as an honorable mention because boy does it hit the spot. Obviously carrying around eggs isn’t easy, but you do look pretty cool at camp whipping out your half a dozen uncracked eggs for dinner.
The main complaint we have on this one is trying to figure out how to make cleanup easier. No one wants to scrape egg off a pan. Let alone at camp.
Ingredients:
- 2 Cups of Instant Rice
- Oil
- Stir Fry Vegetables: Onion, celery, carrots, peas, etc.
- Eggs
- Soy sauce
- Green Onions
Making fried rice with instant rice isn’t perfect but it gets the job done. After chopping your vegetables, the first step for this recipe is to prep the instant rice according to the instructions, we do this in a separate bowl and add boiling water to the rice and cover.
While the rice is “instanting” heat the pot back up on the stove to get rid of any moisture, heat up some of the oil and add the stir fry vegetables with a pinch of salt, fry them as best you can in a narrow camping pot and then set them aside. Finally heat some more oil up and scramble up the eggs on the most medium heat a camp stove can muster, or else hold the pot off the stove a bit while stirring to keep them from burning (and stacking) too much.
Once the eggs are done add the rice and veggies back in and get everything back on the stove to warm up, making sure to keep stirring to avoid burning. Add the green onions and soy sauce to taste. Enjoy the wonderful meal and hope you have an amazing partner willing to deal with the burnt egg stuck to your pot.
Well there you have it. A classic list of A&A meals on the road. Happy Cooking.
Let us know if you find success with any, and feel free to share your favorite recipes!
3 Comments
adventurepdx
Great post! I believe eating good on a bike tour is essential. I did the first few big tours with a lot of “boiling water in a bag” meals, and it got old fast. I’m definitely going to try a few of your recipes.
Here are some tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the years:
-I got burned by too much instant oatmeal for breakfast, so I usually do eggs. This is not easy for long tours, so it’s usually for overnighters or microtours. I also like the Bisquick that comes in a yellow plastic container–add water, shake, pour, add some blueberries or the like, and cook. The container is a bit bulky, so I don’t do it often. (It used to have a handle, so I’d strap it to the outside of a pannier.) And you’ll need some sort of frying pan.
-For beans, I’ve been digging the bagged beans by A Dozen Cousins and the like. More expensive than cans, but less bulky and usually more tasty. I’ve also got some dehydrated refried bean mix which tastes like Taco Bell beans.
-I dig some of the dry veggie proteins like SoyCurls. Trader Joes also has this dehydrated pea protein that’s good for tacos–I’ll bring a packet of Taco Seasoning for flavoring.
-Hot sauce is a must. I usually take Yellowbird Habanero, which you can get in a small (4 oz?) plastic bottle.
-If you don’t want to go the route of ground coffee but want something better than Instant, you can get “pour over bags” which are single use.
Bruce Bateau
Impressively thorough post Angela! I love seeing the different ways people figure stuff out. I used to love those oatmeal packets, but eventually switched to bulk quick oats because they were so much less expensive. I could then avoid the packaging and put my own desired amount of brown sugar, honey, etc. in there. Lately I’ve been experimenting with packing bulk foods in one-pound TJ peanut butter jars. They’re essentially free, waterproof, and lightweight.
Angela
Yeah we prob should try and bulk oatmeal instead of the packets 😅 old habits die hard tho! Haha