The complete backpacker's food and cooking guide.The Trailside Cookbook is a practical guide to eating well on trips to the great outdoors. This book covers everything from planning to cooking to finding food in the wilderness.The book explains how food choices are affected by weather as well as by the length and type of the expedition, the number of participants and facilities of the base camp.Setting up a minimum-impact kitchen is explained along with storage, fire building and dousing. Cooking methods are detailed as well as essential cooking equipment. The book also covers packing light with basics and staples, instant foods, what to avoid taking, and sample item lists for a day, a weekend, and a four-day trip.For the adventurous, The Trailside Cookbook shows how to catch fish without a rod, scale and clean the catch, make birchbark containers, and purify natural water.The main part of this book is the collection of delicious recipes, including: Ultimate trail mixes Morale boosters Emergency comfort food Breakfasts Soups, snacks and lunches One-pot suppers and side dishes Main courses and desserts for gatherings of four to ten people Bread and biscuits Drinks, warming brews, cool refreshers and nightcaps.The book also recommends what to do if a bear eats your food and how to cook in a rainstorm, dust storm or blizzard.The Trailside Cookbook is an essential reference for all outdoor enthusiasts.

IntroductionEvery year, the pace of life gets faster, road traffic gets more congested and the pressures of urban living grow more intense. It isn't surprising, therefore, that more and more people escape to the great outdoors to get away from the crowds and the daily rush in search of fresh air and exercise and their own peace and quiet. From Alaska to Atlanta, and Aberdeen to Auckland, there are millions of people who can't wait to head out into the countryside every chance they can find.Fortunately there are still huge tracts of country and wilderness to explore, from meadows and mountains to canyons and coastlines. There are tens of thousands of miles of long distance trails and bridle paths and cycle tracks. There is also a constantly changing environment as every season provides new panoramas and challenges. You can get so much more satisfaction from your trips if you are able to identify the birds, trees and flowers that you see along the way. You will appreciate it even more if you can recognize animal tracks and different geological and geographical formations.In North America walkers cover more than 20 billion miles a year. The National Parks in the U.S. attract 277 million visitors annually with 1.9 million people hiking into wilderness areas to camp, while Australia and New Zealand offer almost unlimited opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts. Canada's national and provincial parks attract almost 25 million visitors a year for walking, hiking and camping. In Great Britain more than six million people regularly walk in their national parks and countryside.However, you don't have to heave on a heavy pack and hike for days to enjoy the great outdoors, although this is certainly the best way to explore the real back-country. Just spending a few hours away from urban living and the television can be enough to recharge your batteries. Exercise is another wonderful benefit, although the majority of people who venture into the great outdoors claim to do so because they love it and not purely because of a desire to get fit. There are also many other pluses and food is one of them. The finest restaurant in the world cannot give you a view as stunning as that from the top of a mountain that you have just climbed. No diner can produce a meal as satisfying as the fish you have just caught and cooked, and who knows why, but coffee always tastes so much better when you sip it by the campfire under the stars.Very few outdoor enthusiasts go walking or cycling just for the meal at the end of their day's exertions, but a good meal can really cap off a great day. Over the last few years, there have been enormous strides in the development of camping equipment and especially in lightweight stoves and accessories. Cooking on the trail is actually a pleasure and an opportunity to enjoy some great cuisine with good friends in wonderful surroundings. The aim of this book is to encourage you to be adventurous in your approach to trailside cooking. You don't have to rely on a can of beans for every meal or eat only dehydrated foods.For many years, we were members of a backpackers' club that held an annual competition to see who could produce the finest gourmet meal on a single gas camping stove. The meal had to consist of four courses. Two prizes were awarded -- one for the best campsite menu and one for the best meal cooked at the highest altitude. It was amazing how adventurous and how creative people were when cooking at 10,000 feet (3,048 m) and higher.While most of us will not have to go to such heights to follow that example, there is absolutely no reason why your results should not be just as mouthwatering. With the right ingredients you can eat in style and as you recognize more wild plants, you will be able to add fresh herbs, leaves, fungi and other edibles to enhance your dishes. With a little planning and the right cooking equipment, you can create meals that are exciting and d