The best trail supper ever, Scalloped Potatoes!

Scallop potatoes are great, so why do we never make them when backpacking?  I'll tell you why.  The potatoes have to be near boiling for 20 minutes or so, and they have a cheese sauce that burns easily.  When using canister stoves, the fuel efficiency goes way down when simmering, plus the heat comes from a very small spot, so burning the milk and cheese on the bottom of the pot is inevitable.  BUT, I found a way to cook them to perfection, plus by adding BACON and asparagus pieces, its wonderful.

I used an off the shelf box of Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes, with cheesey sauce mix.  You don't want the sauce to get too dry, so it doesn't burn.  It calls for butter and milk, and I take a little butter when backpacking, and I take powdered milk, so that is no problem.  I got some asparagus pieces from Pack it Gourmet, and a pack of Hormel cooked bacon slices.  These are shelf stable as long as the envelope has not been opened.

I get the water up to boiling (on an alcohol stove), then add the potatoes to the pot.  The box called for 2 cups water, I used three to account for the dry milk and freeze dried asparagus.  After the water is boiling and the dried potatoes are in, I put on the summer ring on the Caldera Cone alcohol stove.  This chokes down the flame, to a little flame that keeps the contents simmering.  Then I add the asparagus and the bacon after its cut up, and stir often with a plastic spatula with a flat blade, so I can scrape the bottom of the pot.  By the time the potatoes are tender, the cheese sauce is creamy and the asparagus is tender.  One box fed two hungry guys.  Its about the best backpack supper I've had.  The picture at the bottom shows the Caldera Cone stove and simmer ring, with some corn bread cooked on the fry pan.  Below: Bob Shaver enjoying scalloped potatoes in Dark Canyon, So. Utah canyon hike.

Above: TrailDesigns simmer ring and Caldera Cone stove, with cornbread made in the fry pan/pot lid.