Cold Soaking/Stoveless Backpacking - Is It Right For You?

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R2R2R Grand Canyon Hike with Neemor - https://youtu.be/y1HUOWZZUPU

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Tags: Appalachian Trail,AT,UL Backpacking,UL Hiking Gear,UL Hiking,Stoveless Backpacking,Cold Soaking,Thru Hiking,AT Thru Hike,PCT,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru Hike,AZT,Arizona Trail,Hiker Trash,Backpacking,Hiking,Vargo Bot,Camping,Adventure,Long Distance Hiking,UL Gear

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin and today I wanted to talk about cold soaking and going stove loose on the trail and if it's the right choice for you all right so if you didn't notice we're not in my typical filming locations we're not out on the trail I'm actually in a friend's garage sitting outside of my trailer because it's crazy windy outside so this will just have to do now at the beginning of 2017 I decided to start ditching my stove and going stove us a while out on the trail now there's a couple reasons that I did it but since I did make that decision I've gotten a ton of questions whether it's here on the channel it's through an email over on Facebook on Instagram people wanting to know why I went stove us how I cold soaked what types of food I eat and just asking if it would be a good option for them so first let's talk about going stove us going stove us is nothing new and hikers have been doing it for decades if you look back at John Muir he used to put a piece of bread in his pocket and some tea in the other and he just went for a walk so even John Muir went stove Luis while out on a hike 90% of the times whenever I go out on a day hike

I'm stove less I'll just throw some jerky or maybe some granola bars or some trail mix in my pack and I'll use that for food on the trail going stove was in itself is nothing new to me in 2015 when snuggles and I were hiking the Appalachian Trail we did carry a stove for that entire hike but there was an entire month where we didn't cook at all just because it was too hot and too muggy outside I didn't really feel like eating hot food at the end of a hot day so I have gone stove us in the past now something that is completely new to me this year and something that I've really taken a liking to is cold soaking so what is cold soaking cold soaking is taking a typical food that you would cook and just adding water to it and letting it rehydrate by itself cold now whether that's a typical dehydrated backpackers pantry meal or an or right side or instant mashed potatoes or ramen it's just taking the container putting food in it adding water and just letting it set and letting the water rehydrate the food now a lot of hikers have started cold soaking because they can still eat a soft kind of saucy food that's different from your typical dry backpacking food but not have to worry about carrying fuel or stove or taking the time to cook it on the trail now even though I personally like cold soaking let me say for the record cold soaking is not always good at the end of the day you're eating cold mushy food that's just what cold soaking is but for me there's no backpacking food that really is good there's never a time on the trail whenever I'm cooking that I'm eating an or right side or instant mashed potatoes and I'm just so happy and just think it's mmm so good and I'd love to have it again when I was at home I eat on the trail so I can get calories to replenish from my long day of hiking I don't do it because I want to go ultralight I don't do it because it's necessarily good I do it because it is convenient and it's efficient for me when I'm out on the trail so how do you code silk well first you need some sort of a container and there's a ton of different types of containers that you can use to cold soak one container in particular that is a favorite and is really easy and cheap is just a ziploc bag a lot of people will just take a ziploc bag they'll put their food in it they'll put their water in it shake it up and let it sit I don't personally like using Ziploc bags because I think it's kind of wasteful now sure you can clean this out when you're out on the trail and reuse it but I like something a little bit more durable and dependable and that's why I use something like a soaking container now you can use a ton of different types of containers I personally like a container that has some sort of a screw top tight lid I use the tool in tea ice cream jars which are great because like for eight bucks you can get an awesome soaking jar and you get free ice cream and there's a lot of people that just use a peanut butter jar to do their cold soak in pretty much any type of container that's gonna have like a screw top lid or a snap lid to make sure that the water and the food doesn't leak out whenever you put it back in your pack and then there's some certain containers out on the market like the Vargo titanium bot that is a metal titanium

pot that does have a screw top lid those are really cool too they're just a little bit expensive for my tastes I might end up grabbing one of them but for now I like the 20 jar so how do you coat soap well first off you open up your jar throw your food inside next you're gonna add your water and there's no real exact science to how to cold soak and how much water you need the rule of thumb that I always use as I put just a hair more water over the food so I kind of soak it get the water right up past the food and then that's it I'll seal it up I'll shake up the jar to really get all the water into the food to start rehydrating it and then I'll put it back in my pack depending on what food that you're eating it usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour and a half whenever you open it up it's good and rehydrated and ready to eat and like I said there's no exact science on cold soaking it all just comes down to trying different foods different water levels and experimenting and finding out what works best for you now I don't always cold soaked and sometimes I still like using a stove on the trail just a few weeks ago me more and I did a rim to rim to rim and the Grand Canyon and I decided to carry a stove for that one why I knew I was just gonna be out one night and I hadn't had hot food on the trail for a while so I felt like bringing it and then next year on the PCT I will be going stove us for at least the first seven hundred miles through the desert and then when I get to Kennedy Meadows I'll probably pick up a stove to have it for the Sierras so I don't always go stove us but most of the time it's a pretty good option for me alright and then the last topic that we'll talk about today is what types of food should you cold soak and what types of food do I cold soak now there's a lot of different types of food out on the market that you can experiment with and see if it will cold soak but some of my favorites are ramen dehydrated refried beans instant mashed potatoes couscous dehydrated fruits and veggies and oatmeal all those types of foods rehydrate really fast because they're either par cooked or they're dehydrated which

they'll soak up that water faster and rehydrate themselves with just cold water now something like dry beans or lentils or something is probably not gonna work in cold soaking we'd probably have to end up cold soaking it for like eight hours for it to actually work so try to find foods that are par cooked or dehydrated and then I like to add things in like tuna or maybe some spam cured meats like pepperoni or salami so it doesn't just have to be plain old cold mashed potatoes you can definitely add some stuff in there and give a lot more flavor and a lot more calories cold soaking is all about experimenting and trying different things different water levels adding different things but you can make some pretty awesome meals out on the trail without a stove one of my personal favorite cold soaking meals out on the trail right now is what I call a ramen bean bomb which is one pack of ramen noodles which I usually take the flavoring packet I throw that to the side I'll crunch up my ramen noodles and put them inside of a ziploc bag then I'll add half a cup of dehydrated refried beans you can usually find these anywhere and they're on a bunch of different flavors I really like the green chili ones because it adds a little bit of spice to it and then I'll usually add like a packet of taco seasoning or pesto powder or maybe even a gravy mix just to put a different type of flavor in there and that one little bag of food is 580 calories and it dehydrates pretty fast it usually only takes me about 30 minutes to cold soak that in my jar sometimes I'll add tuna or maybe some pepperonis or salami to that which will jack it up into that 700 or 750 calorie range so it's a pretty good calorie per ounce meal that's really cheap you can throw together pretty quick alright guys so hopefully this video helped you make a decision if cold soaking and going Stovall this is something for you maybe it sounds like a good option to you and maybe not maybe you just need and want your hot food on the trail so what are you currently doing on the trail are you into cold soaking or do you just go stove us or do you need hot food every single time leave me something in the comment box below and let me know your thoughts

Kevin how to change it go over and check me out on posting a lot of new photos lately of some of the things that snows and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past acts if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already and as always guys thanks for watching [Music]

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