"No-Cook" Gourmet?

We've been getting quite a few requests lately for meals that don't require cooking in a pot. Many of our meals are designed to be cooked in order to allow the sauce to thicken, the flavors to bloom and generally give you the taste and texture that you would expect from a meal that you made in your home kitchen.

However, we do have several meals that are just-add-water. Some rehydrate beautifully with cool water, making them great for lunch when you don't want to unpack your cookpot, while others require hot water but can then be cooked in the bag, eliminating the need for washing dishes.

In order to make it easy to find our 'no-cook' meals, we've added a special category listing all of the meals that just need water to rehydrate. We've divided these meals into"Just Add HOT Water" meals and "Just Add COOL Water" meals.

Just Add HOT Water
These meals are pretty straightforward. You do need to use your cookpot to boil water but you can 'cook' your meal right in the bag. Simply place the food into the exterior bag, pour boiling water over the meal, wrap it in an extra jacket or cozie to keep it warm and allow it to steep-cook for 5-15 minutes. We've included instructions on the package for both cooking in the pot and cooking in the bag so that you can choose the method that works best for you.

Just Add COOL Water
We've further divided these meals into three categories - instant, short wait and long wait.

The instant meals are just that, instant. A good example is our Jump-Start Fruit Smoothie. You can make the smoothie in the bag (cut the top off to make a great mug/bowl) or in your own camp cup. Add the needed amount of water, give it a quick stir and sit back to enjoy a delicious, filling and nutritious breakfast.

The meals requiring a short wait will need to sit for 10-15 minutes after you've added the cool water in order to fully rehydrate. The Chicken Salad is one of my favorite meals and also falls into this 'short wait' category. In order to make the chicken salad, you add cool water, stir and let it rest for about 5 minutes. This gives the chicken a chance to soften and the result is a chicken salad that I would be happy to be served in any restaurant!

The cool water meals listed under 'long wait' are designed to be prepped in the morning for an easy afternoon lunch. Our Many Beans Salad is one of these types of meals. In order to avoid cooking your meal, or even heating your water, you can pour cool water over your beans and stash them away in your pack for a couple of hours. When you're ready to eat lunch, simply open your pre-prepped beans and enjoy an easy and delicious lunch.