The Great Cornbread Cookoff

I received a Backpacker Oven in the mail the other day. This compact little oven folds down flat and weighs only 24oz (including the pans). It comes with two “oven racks,” a closeable “door,” and a thermometer. My first impression was that it was “very cute.” So we thought we’d give it a try on some of our baked goods.

When the oven arrives, main "box" and racks need to be assembled – but it's quick and easy. The included pans are unseasoned and need to be scuffed* with a scouring pad; then washed and baked in the oven for about 5 minutes to get them ready for use at camp. I didn’t want to use up my fuel on the seasoning process so I decided to see if the oven would work on my gas stove at home. I removed the grate from one of the burners, set the oven over it and turned the heat level to low. The burner worked just like a fuel canister would and the Backpacker Oven began to warm in no time. I let it heat up for about 7 minutes and then stuck the oiled pans in to bake. After about five minutes, they came out, I wiped them down and they were ready to hit the trail!

In order to test out the oven, we used two packets of our Country Style Skillet Cornbread – one for use in the Backpacker Oven and the other for use in a skillet. I preheated the oven for about 5 minutes while I got the mixes ready and then I stuck one in the oven and the other over a burner to skillet-bake.

I let the cornbread bake in the oven for about 10 minutes and then I shut the flame off. The cornbread in the skillet cooked for 10 minutes before needing to be flipped. I cooked the other side for an additional 5 minutes. In the end, both methods took 15 minutes and used the same amount of fuel.

Both batches of cornbread looked and smelled fantastic! The cornbread from the oven was in a smaller pan so it was a little bit smaller but it was thicker. The skillet cornbread was larger in diameter but thinner.

They both tasted great too! The benefit of using the Backpacker Oven was that the cornbread is a bit fluffier, more of what you would expect from your oven at home. I also didn’t have to watch it as closely as the bread “baking” in the skillet. The skillet cornbread was a little denser than the baked cornbread but both tasted delicious.

All in all – it’s really a nifty and dependable little oven. Whether you decide to take it along on your next outing is a personal call, but if you do I’d say that you can count on it to produce a product similar to what you would bake in your own oven at home. Plus you'll also be able to bake items that are unsuitable for skillet baking like pie and cookies. Yum!

* Cooking Note: The Backpacker Oven recommends that the included pan be "scuffed" to prevent sticking and burning. We include a small packet of coarse cornmeal in our cornbread mix that, when used on the bottom of your pan along with a packet of olive oil, also does a very good job of preventing your bread from sticking or burning and makes it remarkably easy to flip or remove from the pan. The two options used together made bread removal very easy.

				Backpacker Oven				Skillet Baking
Time				15 minutes 5 min preheat + 10 min baking				15 minutes 10 min one side + 5 min other side
Ease of Use				Very Easy. It would be nearly impossible to burn anything in this oven.				Attention Needed. You have to keep an eye on your bread to make sure that the bottom doesn’t burn.
Texture				Just like what you would get from your oven at home.				A little more dense than home baked breads. Just as tasty though!
Equipment and Setup				You need to pack in the oven and pans as well as set it up for use. The pans are 6 ¼ inches in diameter so if you don’t have small pans in your own cookset, you’ll need the ones designed for the Backpacker Oven.				Your just need to use your own cookset. You will need a frying pan and a domed cover (like your cookpot).
Group Cooking				There are two shelves in the oven so if you have two pans that will fit you can bake two things at the same time. When cooking for a group this reduced cooking time would be great!				To make two pans of bread, you’ll have to make them twice. No shortcuts here.

Gift Giving – Packit Gourmet Style

With Christmas just around the corner, I’ve begun thinking about what to get for all of the special people in my life. And of course, I turn to Packit Gourmet!

I know quite a few people that could stand for an upgrade in their camping kitchenware and the sets available on Packit Gourmet would be perfect! For newbie campers I’m thinking about the Dine Out with Lexan set or maybe the Chef’s Toolbox. The toolbox is great because it includes a number of little items that campers usually collect over several camping trips – stuff you might not think of at first but become really useful once you’re on the trail.

For more established outdoorsy friends, I’m going with the trusty gift certificate! This is not last minute gotta-get-a-gift thinking. If your friends are like mine, they generally like to eat good food at camp and the Packit Gourmet gift certificate will allow them the flexibility to build their own menu of favorites; something better left to them than me. Plus, less inventive friends can opt for the meal packs and my more "chef oriented" friends can gather ingredients for their own favorite recipes from the grocery store. Wallah! A perfect finish to holiday shopping!

P.S. For those of you who actually have left your shopping to the last minute - your secret is safe with us! Packit Gourmet gift certificates are emailed out as soon as you buy them, so even if you’re placing your order for a gift certificate on Christmas Eve, your present will arrive via email in plenty of time!

How to Hike with Cheese

Cheese is a wonderful thing to have when you're out and about in the wilderness. Delicious, nutritious and versatile, it isn’t something that I like to leave behind. But travels with fresh cheese does come with a few problems of it’s own. By making an informed choice on the type of cheese best suited to your trip and packing it well, you can easily enjoy cheese several days into the backcountry.


The Life of Cheese

The French enjoy eating cheese at room temperature and many people believe that cheese brought to the ambient temperature will be much more flavorful than one served from the refrigerator. Allowing your cheese to make the leap from the European dinner table to the wilderness is an easy one. But there are a few guidelines to keep in mind…

Generally speaking, a soft cheese such as a feta, mozzarella or goat will easily last for several hours without refrigeration and may last for 1-2 days if you’re hiking in cooler temperatures. If you’d like to take your cheese on a longer hike, opt for a hard cheese such as a Gruyere or an aged Gouda and they’ll last for the better part of a week, if not longer.

If your cheese begins to come down with the green fuzzies, you can salvage it with a few well-placed cuts (the exception is freshly made cheese and blue cheese). Make a cut about ½ inch below the mold to ensure that it has been entirely removed and discard. The remaining cheese should be fine to eat – so enjoy!

If you're going into the backcountry for longer than a week, you may want opt for a shelf stable cheese such as our Jalapeño Jack or Wisconsin Cheddar. These cheeses are packaged so that they don't require refrigeration - and because they are of small size you will probably eat it all at one meal.

Another shelf stable option is freeze-dried shredded cheese. We carry a tasty Monterrey Jack that melts nicely in entrées, soups, etc. It has the appearance of freshly shredded cheese, but is brittle and kind of crunchy. It comes "back to life" easily with the addition of a little water and will readily "melt" when used in any recipe calling for shredded cheese.


How to Pack

Enzymes and bacteria occur naturally in cheese and need to be exposed to air and moisture to keep the cheese fresh and flavorful. For this reason, fresh cheese should never be stored in an airtight wrapping, such as plastic wrap or a sandwich bag, or it will begin to develop a slimy film.

Hikers should wrap their cheese in wax or parchment paper, layers of cheesecloth or a plain brown paper bag. Secure the wrapping with a rubber band and store the cheese in a cool part of your pack, like inside of your cookset in the center of your backpack. This will give the cheese a longer life and prevent it from getting squished.

December Features

I love sweets during the holidays! In addition to all of the delicious savory holiday food, I look forward to all of the decadent desserts that make an appearance during this season. So, I was excited to add two sweets to the December features this month.


Our Molten Chocolate Lava Cakes are to die for! What’s better than warm, gooey chocolate on a cold winter evening? These little desserts steam-bake in under 10 minutes and make four small lava cakes or two large. Hummm… save one to go with my coffee in the morning or eat them all now? Plus, if you follow our suggestion and use silicone cups - they lick clean - making dish duty a snap!


Gooey Caramel Topping. A quick and super easy dessert is anything combined with caramel. I usually go for the traditional apple-caramel combo, either packed in fresh or the dehydrated 'wedge' version, but caramel goes really well with all kinds of fruit as well as other things too. Caramel & peanut butter, caramel & chocolate, caramel & nuts... I could go on and on. These pouches are safe to use with boiling water too, just drop one in for about a minute and voilà, you’ve got hot, gooey caramel!


Peppered Salami. An all-natural and tasty slice of meat, this pepper encrusted salami makes a delicious lunch or topping for a pizza, quesadilla or added to pasta for a dinner entrée. I usually go the easy route and pair this salami with a good, hearty cracker and enjoy as a simple lunch on the trail. And since there are no antibiotics or additives, I can feel good about eating every bite.


Dehydrated Bell Pepper Mix. I like to keep a large stash of dehydrated bell peppers around at all times for tossing into nearly every entrée. I even keep them in my home kitchen in case I’m running low on fresh vegetables and need a little something extra to add to the pot! Delicious and packed with nutrients, this combination of red and green bell peppers adds a splash of color to any dish. They rehydrate easily in cold or hot water and are guaranteed to add a burst of flavor to any trail meal.