Over the years, one of my favorite things to do is take a recipe I find online and make it more trail-friendly. It’s obvious when a recipe is written by those who hike but don’t have much experience in trail cooking. Backpacker Magazine was really bad at that. They often hired freelancers who pitched ideas (even I wrote for Backpacker) irrelevant to backpackers putting miles in who wanted lighter backpacks. I’d often sit down every month when an issue showed up, go through their recipes, and shake my head. They would call for canned items and fresh produce. I have seen other publications, both in print and online, where the writer says to pack fresh meat. Yikes!
So it became my hobby to find recipes and re-do them so that they were easier to make, had better directions, and possibly were all shelf-stable. I used no more than one pot (many recipes I have redone called for two pots) and possibly made the meal lighter in dry weight.
I came across this recipe on the MSR Backcountry Cafe, back in 2014. The recipe is ten years old, so fair game. In some ways, how it is written isn’t odd. Things were not as slick back then. It felt more like a cheerful conversation with another hiker reading the article. I kept coming back to the recipe and finally decided to make it and see how I could play with it.
I used orange cheddar instead of white, but that is a personal preference. And the other note? While the author used a Pocket Rocket stove, I would recommend a more gentle stove, like a Windpro, which cooks more evenly.
Macaroni and Cheese
In a sandwich bag:
- 1 cup elbow macaroni (4 ounces)
In a second sandwich bag:
- 7 Tbsp dry cheese powder
- 6 Tbsp dry milk
- 1 Tbsp butter powder
- ½ tsp granulated onion
- Pinch black pepper
One Pot Method:
Add 2½ cups water into a 1.5 to 2 Liter pot. Use non-stick if desired for easy cleanup.
Place on stove, light, and bring to a boil.
Add in the macaroni, and cook for time on the package (ours was 7 minutes).
Keep an eye on the pot, stirring often to prevent it from boiling over and lowering the flame as needed to maintain a gentle boil.
Turn off the stove, add the powder mix, and stir well to remove lumps. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes for the sauce to thicken up.
Serves 1 large appetite.
~Sarah