Initial Report: "Lipsmackin’ Vegetarian Backpackin’"

Tester Info:

Name: Heather Oakes 

Age: 27

Gender: Female

Height: 5’7” (1.74 m)

Weight: 140 lbs (64 kg)

Email address: alekto-at-yahoo.com     

City, State, Country: Decatur, GA, United States

Backpacking Background: I have very little experience hiking and backpacking; only about three years and only on weekends or vacations from work. Day hiking and weekend backpacking comprise most of my limited experience and I have not spent more than three consecutive nights out. I tend to backpack in warm, humid climates such as Georgia and Florida, with a good amount of hiking in the mountains of north Georgia and I have rarely hiked in below freezing or snowy conditions yet. I am moving towards lightweight backpacking as I get a better feel for what I really need on trips that are longer than a weekend.

Product Info:

Author: Christine and Tim Conners

Publisher: Globe Pequot Press

Website: http://www.globepequot.com

MSRP: US $15.95

Format: Trade Paper

ISBN: 0-7627-2531-1

Length: 256 pages

Weight from local post office: 12.9 oz (366 g)

Arrival:

 “Lipsmackin’ Vegetarian Backpackin’” arrived in a padded envelope on October 30th in perfect condition.

Website:

The site is user-friendly in the style of Amazon. The book was moderately easy to find following 3 steps: “Outdoor Life” menu to “Backpacking and Hiking” to “Instructional”, then you must scroll to almost the bottom of the page to find the book. You can also find the page using the “Special Interests” menu and choose the “Cookbooks” link then on  to the “Wilderness” link.  Inputting “vegetarian” or “lipsmackin” in the search function will quickly return the book as a result. For all but the most beginning web-users, the Globe Pequot page is usable and functional. The write-up on the publisher website is a copy of the abstract used on the back of the book itself. The website contains an accurate image of the cover of the book.

Initial Impressions/Concerns:

After a day or two of avidly pouring through recipes, I am ready to do some hiking so I can also do some cooking! The book is arranged very simply with only 6 chapters representing the various types of meals such as: breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks and the sort of catch-all chapter ‘breads’. Quite a few recipes overlap and could be categorized differently, but the classification overall makes sense considering the small amount of recipes presented. If there were more recipes than the 176 included, the authors may want to consider adding more indexes or categories.

The yummy looking recipes all seem to have easy to follow instructions and cute names. Most of the recipes are compiled or altered by the authors but originally passed down from credited contributors. Weight per serving in ounces is given alongside the nutritional information. Several appendices and instructions are included in the beginning and following the recipes such as an index on where to find some of the more rare ingredients, and the very useful mini-index listing the trailside instructions. Essays on dehydration and helpful hints are written in a humorous conversational style that is useful and endearing to me.

Testing Strategy:

Day hikes are the perfect opportunity to test the various no-fuss recipes in the book such as the breads, snacks, GORP, and the greatly anticipated ‘Cheese Coins’. I’ll bake them up at home, and be able to eat something on the trail that isn’t a Clif Bar.

I plan on testing various recipes on my longer backpacking trips beginning in November when I will be backpacking in Arizona. I will continue testing for backpacking trips during the winter and spring mostly in Georgia and North Carolina hopefully with a trip or two down to Florida where I will not freeze. These cooler/cold weather trips will give me the opportunity to test the various ‘courses’ detailed in the book since I tend to avoid cooking except for the evening meal in warm weather.  Even in cold weather, I do not often cook between breakfast and dinner but many of the lunch recipes are no-cook or can easily be used for dinner or breakfast. My fiancé is very excited about trying the ‘Bear Bait’ and the tofu jerky recipes, and I also plan on unleashing recipes on various backpacking friends when we head out for trips this year and next.

In my field report, I will review the various recipes I have tried and test on several factors.

1. Are the directions easy to follow and leave room for substitutions?

2. How easy are the recipes to prepare on and off the trail?

3. Cost effectiveness of buying prepared food vs. making it yourself (bear in mind that I am one of these freaks who makes my own pizza crust and jam).

4. How well do they keep on the trail, portability?

5. Most important: how do they taste?