Touring - Grits Are Good!

Now y'all - - don't get down on my grits.

There is nothin' more scrumptious in the morning. I like mine with lots of butter, salt, and pepper. I also like oatmeal - in a pinch up Nawth. I do the "Quick" version of both. They are almost as fast as instant, taste a whole lot better, and cost far less. The problem for me is butter. I have had very mixed results with butter on a tour. First off, it's often hard to just buy one stick and a pound is too much. Sometimes I've been able to buy a smaller quantity from cafes - other times they just give it to me. I've tried various storing techniques - some of which have resulted in slimy messes at the bottom of my panniers. And it's got to be butter - not margarine, not olive oil, not cahunabuna nut paste. Anyboby else out there who's figured out a system??

Best - J

Have you considered trying an old WW2 german butter dish?

also, I plan on taking mad grits. Love em. also good, cook em night before, let cool overnight then cut em in pieces and FRY the f00kers. yum.

any chance you'd try Butter Buds or some other dried butter source? Butter Buds actually has butter in it, so it might be worth a shot. I tried it with my instant grits and got along ok. It's not the real thing, but it's better than a greasy mess...

I was born on the northeast coast of Britain. I emigrated to Canada in my youth. I understand you 'yanks' call porridge oatmeal. You must eat it raw then!

What is (are) grits?

Grits are made from corn. They are cooked like most cereals, including porridge or oatmeal and served at about the consistency of mashed potatoes, i.e. you don't have to serve them in a bowl. They're creamy white in appearance. The best have the sweetness of corn and are excellent served with butter--and the leftovers are good fried. Usually served with breakfast but also served with greens (chopped and wilted leafy vegetables, such as kale, spinach, collards, kale, etc.) instead of cornbread.

Also good with traditional red eye gravy.

So, did I answer one question and give you another one to ask? :rolleyes:

Look what I found! (http://www.grits.com/)

I'm a Yankee but some Southern cuisine and traditions come to me from my great grandma, whose English husband dislocated her from Virginia (not the DC suburbs but Virginia) to Baltimore and we've been drifting North ever since.

Honey chile - -

Where have you beeyen? (That's been with two syllables.)
If you've never eaten grits, you are deprived - - DEPRIVED!
In the movie, "My Cousin Vinny" the prosecutor is asking an old Black lady what she was doing at the time of the crime and she says, "Weyell, I was makin' me some grits." He interrupts, "Were they instant grits?" And the entire courtroom gasps. You see, there are grits and there are grits and instant grits just don't make it. Grits are similar to polenta - which is Italian for grits. You cook 'em real slow with lots of butter - they are essential at breakfast and are FAR better with eggs than potatoes. I am happy with just a big bowl full. Just like there are terms for a group of animals - such as a herd of elephants or a flock of geese - a large quantity of grits is referred to as - "A mess of grits." So go out there and git you some!

Best - J

So does anybody eat grits for breakfast on tour? I'm trying to get good cheap food ideas for my tour.

KB -

I would try them first. Many Yankees can't stand them. You kinda have to be brung up on 'em. But they do make a good, inexpensive item for breakfast with lots of carbs. I switch between oatmeal and grits. I'll bet there are plenty of people who use this site who get sick of oatmeal by their third week out. With both oatmeal and grits, I prefer the "Quick" variety rather than "Instant." Not only do they taste better, but they cost a whole lot less per serving. I'm guessing that instant packets cost about 10x what the "Quick" variety costs. And it really doesn't take that much longer. Both quick grits and quick oatmeal require boiling for for a minute - then letting set a spell - 5 minutes if you can wait that long. And leftover cold grits are pretty good whereas cold oatmeal sucks. You can always find grits in the South - but elsewhere in the U.S. you can usually find Quaker Quick Grits next to the oatmeal in grocery stores in towns bigger than 5000. And if you really want to have fun, ask for them in Canada. Then when they say they don't have any, burst out in your best Southernese, "Y'all don't have no grits??? Lawd a mercy! What am I gonna do?" You'll provide entertainment for all around.

Best - J

Interestingly enough, grits were on the menu for the first Thanksgiving, which was held in one of those states somewhere up north.

Touché

I love grits and really enjoy them during any type of distance activity (touring, distance hiking). Like you, I don't think much of instant grits but the original type I normally have at home simply take to much effort at a campsite. I typically don't crank up a stove in the morning, so grits are reserved for special occasions when I find some hot water. I have found that with a little hot water I can reconstitute instant grits right in the individual serving bags, which leaves me without a cleanup problem. Butter is good, but at camp one must learn to live a more Spartan life. I normally just carry olive oil in a medium size plastic bottle. To eat, I just spoon the grits out of the plastic lined paper bag and chase it with a swig of olive oil straight from the bottle. Because the objective is to get the calories, I've found that it isn't possible to put enough of the oil in the bag without it running out the top. Clean-up is a snap. Just toss the bag(s) into the trash sack pop the spoon in your usual storage hole and off you go.

Try those grits with some garlic powder and cheddar cheese mixed in.

Al

Butter doesn't need to be refrigerated, that's a common misconception. Just put yer butter in a container that will seal tight, and you're all set.

By the way, I'm grew up in NJ and now live in NC and loooove grits. Cheese grits are nice once in a while. And if you like that you should try Polenta; put some in the bottom of a bowl and put some chili on top - yuum!

I've gone to mixing my own oatmeal and grits (and lots of other lunch/dinner options) in freezer bags. Boil some water, dump it in the bag, and you've got your meal hot and ready in about 5 mins. That lets me do my own mix-ins ahead of time. So I put 1/2 cup of oats (actually I'm hooked on a 5 grain mix) in a bag with dried fruit, cinnamon, sugar, butter buds, nuts, or whatever else I feel like (haven't tried instant milk in them yet). I plan to carry bags for about a week at a time.

There's more than enough room in the bag for anything you want. Experiment at home to see how much water you need. The kind I have takes about 3/4 c. water. Check out freezerbagcooking.com for lots of recipies. I've tried a few of these, and they've all been good so far! And NO clean up except for your spoon!

Nothing better then a softboiled egg cut up in a bowl of buttery grits!

Stokel asked. . .

>>>What is (are) grits?

First of all that's two syllables if you're south of Maryland. . .GREE-uhts.

The first step towards GREE-uhts is Hominy. Field corn is soaked in an alkali solution 'til they swell and the corn shell is broken open. The swollen kernel is separated the shell and that's hominy. . .good enough in its own right! OK, then you take the hominy, dry it, and grind it to the size of big sand grains. Reconstiture with water and there you are!!! Grits are a gift of the Native Americans to the Gods and to all of us under the Firmament. . .and a most versatile food. . .fried cakes, mixed with prety much everything, or just grits. Corn meal is to whole kernel field corn as grits are hominy. 'Course WAY down south and 'cross into Old Mexico they do Other Great Works with hominy. . .Menudo comes to mind.

Well, Ol' Coyote is hungry now, so. . .

I grew up in the south and got sick of grits. I won't eat that glorifed chicken feed for 20 years after I left home. Then I was out on a weekend tour and came across this restored gristmill in Howes Cave NY that grinds grits. I bought a bag to take home as ajoke. I boiled some up and it turns out the joke was on me Best dag-gone grits I have ever had or remembered! My mother in Virginia has me send her a sack every few months .

link to the mill http://www.cavernscreekgristmill.com/

I've gone to mixing my own oatmeal and grits (and lots of other lunch/dinner options) in freezer bags. Boil some water, dump it in the bag, and you've got your meal hot and ready in about 5 mins. That lets me do my own mix-ins ahead of time. So I put 1/2 cup of oats (actually I'm hooked on a 5 grain mix) in a bag with dried fruit, cinnamon, sugar, butter buds, nuts, or whatever else I feel like (haven't tried instant milk in them yet). I plan to carry bags for about a week at a time.

There's more than enough room in the bag for anything you want. Experiment at home to see how much water you need. The kind I have takes about 3/4 c. water. Check out freezerbagcooking.com for lots of recipies. I've tried a few of these, and they've all been good so far! And NO clean up except for your spoon!

Another thing you can do if you like to eat other grains, especially grains that take a while to cook, is to carry a small wide mouthed thermos and cook the grains in the thermos. Just boil some extra water while prepareing dinner the night before, put the grains in the thermos, dump in the boiling water and pop on the lid. Then just let the mix set overnight and you have a tasty breakfast in the morning without having to get out the stove. The magic is that even long cooking grains come out well without the long cooking time. I often use this technique with steel-cut oats which normally take between 30-40 minutes to cook; much too long over a camp stove. This works well even if you like to put on a few miles before you take a break for breakfast. After eating, just put a little water in the empty thermos and wash it out at the end of the day.

hey, i was born and raised in rhode island but i'll take grits over oatmeal any day of the week. instant grits are the way to do breakfast in the mountains or if you actually do cooking on tours. the consistency of instant oatmeal really sucks(personal opinion). quaker makes a good grits variety pack, or at least used to. if you can't find grits locally, coarsely chopped cornmeal makes a perfectly acceptable alternative(polenta).

for those of you who enjoy grits, try getting some johnnycakes if you're ever in rhode island. guaranteed to please

Just boil some extra water while prepareing dinner the night before, put the grains in the thermos, dump in the boiling water and pop on the lid. Then just let the mix set overnight and you have a tasty breakfast in the morning without having to get out the stove. The magic is that even long cooking grains come out well without the long cooking time. I often use this technique with steel-cut oats which normally take between 30-40 minutes to cook; much too long over a camp stove.

I do this too.

I never use "quick" oats. I like the chewy texture from a premium thick rolled oat or the steel cuts.

<<vegan health nut mode>> I like grits but they can't compete with oatmeal nutritionally. Oats have decent protein and high quality fiber.