Seriously, the hardest thing for someone to teach a new Scout when cooking is a stove, or the fire, or on charcoal for that matter is that there are a lot more levels of heat than OFF and MAX. Cooking over low or medium heat is better and safer for the meal in some respects than cooking on a blast furnace. It saves propane too! Plan for the extra time, you will be rewarded when you eat. Don’t get me wrong, there are times that a blazing hot surface is what is needed; the steak to get that perfect seer for example. So pick this up and bring it to your next troop meeting. Let the Scouts look it over and see if there is anything they would like to try out for the first time. You, AND THEY, will be surprised as to how easy and how good some of these recipes really are, especially in the woods!!

This is designed to aid a new backpacker in creating a tasty menu on the trail. Foods should require no refrigeration, their weight needs to be minimal, and they should bring big flavor. This book is more of a guide for the new backpacker, it is not a recipe collection because we all eat different, like different things, and our budgets span a rather large range. Personal cooking, is, well, personal. There are things you can eat every day that others may not want once. But personal cooking in the woods, on a trail for a week, needs to be nutritious, tasty, unique, and easy. It also needs to have minimal cleanup. So, hike the trail with me to learn the skill - or formula -  of personal backcountry cooking, and discover the creativity within yourself to be a five-star trail chef, at least in your own mind.