Feast on Adventure

Most backpacking cookbooks just don't hit the mark. Homemade bread and peppers stuffed with bacon and eggs all sounds great. But when I'm in the wilderness, I'm honestly not looking for an elegant culinary experience. I'm interested in lightweight, easy to cook, high caloric food with a little bit of taste. This is exactly what Feast on Adventure by Paul Shipman delivers.

After years of simply throwing a bunch of uninspired ramen noodle bricks into my backpack minutes before leaving the house for a backpacking trip, I decided to give some of Shipman's recipes a try. I was pleased with the results. Preparation at home is as simple as a few minutes of combining ingredients in a bag. Once on the trail, all it takes is boiling water to turn it into a tasty meal. As a vegan, I was happy to find that every recipe could be easily modified to remove all meat and dairy from it and still be delicious. It even includes fun international dishes like Indian Masala, Pad Thai, and Moroccan Tagine.

But Shipman doesn't stop with just recipes. He also gives detailed information on where to find all of the ingredients (providing products on specific websites) seeing as many of them are not regularly stocked on grocery store shelves. As a seasoned backpacker, I was surprised at how much I learned from this book.

The only downside is that it isn't larger with even more recipes. But luckily Shipman writes a bit about the formula he uses for most of his creations. This along with his list of ingredients allows you to produce your own excellent concoctions to keep you fueled while hiking.

I recommend this cookbook to any backpacker or traveler that wants to add some variety to their meals on the go. It's easy to use and will allow you to focus your time on enjoying the trip rather than worrying about meals.