Backpacking requires you to carry all your food—and everything else you need—so keeping your pack weight low is crucial. Recently, an avid backpacker told me he brings only jerky and dehydrated fruit, eschewing even the most lightweight camp stove in order to keep his load light. That sounds like a great idea, but I love cooking too much to stop doing it just because I’m not in my kitchen.
The first time I went backpacking with my husband—a man who, as a youth, subsisted entirely on tortillas and peanut butter while backpacking in the mountains of Colorado—I insisted on carrying a cast-iron skillet, because clearly I was a naive asshole. Over the years spent backpacking together, we have found a middle ground: I eat instant oatmeal for breakfast, and my husband cooks sardines and spaghetti for dinner.
