When I go backpacking, I want three things from my food:

• Great taste
• Light weight
• Easy cleanup

Most of the food I bring is dehydrated, so it’s very light (albeit not great tasting). The traditional way of cooking those foods is to boil some water and add them to a pot. That works well, but then there’s a pot to clean, and I hate doing dishes in the backcountry.

Some people have realized that they can repackage commercial dehydrated foods (like Lipton side dishes) into freezer bags, pack them in, boil water, add the water to the bag, and let the food rehydrate in the bag. After a wait, it’s time to eat. When the food’s gone, there’s no cleanup: just lock the bag closed and store.

That usually works surprisingly well, but I’m a bit leery of possible health effects from chemicals released by the heated plastic. There is some debate about the validity of the health argument, but at the very least, the aforementioned technique imparts a weird taste on oatmeal.

Enter Glad SimplyCooking bags. (UPDATE 5/3/2012: Glad SimplyCooking bags appear to have been discontinued, but Ziplock Zip ‘n Steam bags are pretty much the same thing.) Unlike normal freezer bags, SimplyCooking bags were meant to withstand high temperatures, so they don’t seem to be as prone to making food taste strange. Better yet, the plastic doesn’t soften as much as with freezer bags, and the seams are far more substantial. They also best freezer bags on the usability front. Whereas freezer bags have no rigidity, SimplyCooking bags are able to stand upright. No worries about dinner falling over and spilling! All that functionality comes with only a minimal increase in weight over a freezer bag (0.3 oz per SimplyCooking bag versus 0.2 oz per freezer bag).

The only downside is that the SimplyCooking bags were meant for steaming, so they have two vents. To make them watertight, one must seal the vents. A couple of pieces of duct tape work well.

Yes, there were some picnic tables in the non-wilderness parts of the island

I hadn’t heard of these bags being used for backpacking, so I got a bunch of them and used them for my Isle Royale excursion. I’m happy to report they worked perfectly. I was able to “cook” my dehydrated food in the bags with no strange tastes, no spills, and no cleanup. Highly recommended.

(This post is part of the 100/100/uhhh challenge)