After having done half a dozen tours, I've learned that I prefer bikepacking, partly because of the logistics and challenges to cooking [U]good[U] food on my trip. To me it's part of what makes the trip fun.

I am curious however.......

How many people on a trip cook along the way, and how many avoid it as much as possible? If you cook, do you get fancy, or do nothing more than boil water?

I sometimes cook, sometimes bring prepared food. Depends on how long the trip is. Generally reheating stuff. I leave the fancy cooking to car camping trips.

When I'm cycle touring I don’t carry a stove or pots and I will usually buy a baguette, cheese, chocolate, veggies, cookies, pastries etc. and eat in restaurants. To quench my thirst it is usually water, milk, wine, beer, cider or juice. When I am canoeing, kayaking or hiking I will prepare more elaoborate meals.

I'm the primary cook in my family, and prepare most meals totally from scratch. So when I take my annual solo bicycle tour, I kick back and mostly eat in restaurants -- although lunches often consist of bread, cheese, and fruit bought at a grocery store.

But by the end of these trips, I am keen to return to the kitchen. I finished one eight day trip by staying with friends. Their garden was beautiful, everything was ripe, and I ended up harvesting enough basil to make them a year's supply of pesto. And that was after an 80 mile ride (130 km) that day!

I use a gatorade bottle to cook (steep) my oatmeal, soup, or Ramon noodles etc.
I have a bottle holder on my front fork and I just reach down and eat while I ride.

If I need some hot food , I can use a gas station's microwave, or eat at one of those dollar places.

We cook, generally speaking.
Of course, it being holidays, we also like to eat out every once in a while.
Most of the time we cook 'real food' as opposed to freezedried etc. food.
We do take that, just to have some emergency rations.

Tents, clothes , bike gear. One has enough weight. The small camp stoves would offer such a limited menu.. Time savings for the road would be to stop at a family diner and have French toast. etc. Leaves one more time for the road.. Say one does a 100 mile day, do we really have the time for cooking meals.

It doesn't take that long and you can't ride every waking hour. Fixing lunch on the road is faster and allows you to pick a scenic spot. I never actually cook for lunch though. PBJ bagels or wraps with fresh avocado (when available) and foil pack tuna or salmon are frequent lunches. Usually something in the way of a crunchy veggie figures in to the wraps. Cabbage keeps well an can add some crunch. Hard cheeses and crackers or flatbreads work out well.

On short trips like a weekend I am less motivated to cook, but on a long trip like the TA I cook regular meals most of the time. Fresh produce when available is nice. When it isn't, canned or freeze dried veggies suffice. I avoid freeze dried meals though, but sometimes do boxed noodle or rice dishes. Fresh meats or fish and a lot of stuff like chili or red beans and rice with some type of veggies are a good dinner.

It isn't that hard to manage that on a camp stove, but it is a treat when we stay in a church that has a stove. Also some camp sites are well suited to cooking on a wood fire especially the ones with a grate for the fire ring.

All in all, I think we manage to eat better, and more varied meals than some folks have at home. Especially if you are on the road for months it is important to eat well. To me that means sampling the local foods both by cooking them and by dining out once in a while.

I often do eat one restaurant meal or so a day, most often second breakfast, but sometimes lunch, and once in a while dinner.

I cook when I need to.

I would love to have a nice breakfast restauraunt right around the corner from wherever I spend the night, but it doesn't always work out like that. So I carry oatmeal and coffee fixins as a general rule, for breakfast. It depends, if I know I'm on the way to a campsite and will be breakfast-ing there, sometimes I'll pick up some eggs and fruit or whatever to go along with the oatmeal.

After a long day in the saddle, I like to have a large meal a couple of hours before bed, for recovery. If I'm in the middle of nowhere, I'll get stuff to take to the campsite or wherever I am if I can't find some other place to eat. Spaghetti is a staple, I just get one of those small jars of sauce if I can find one, use what I need and throw the rest away. Sometimes I'll pick up some burger and bread to go with it. A large plate of spaghetti and a quart of milk is a great recovery meal, and you'll sleep like a baby with that in your stomach.

Basically I carry a small stove, a pot, a cup, a plate, a spork, and a few other small items so that if I need to make something up to eat, I can do it.

That reminds me, I forgot to mention that I eat constantly on or off the bike, but don't eat huge meals. I suspect that is outside of the norm for most tourists who seem to eat huge meals.

There is always jerky, fig newtons, fruit, baked goods, or whatever in the jersey pocket and I an constantly nibbling. At mealtime I eat reasonable sized meals.

Frankly, I do both. I used to be amazed at the amount of food I eat on a tour, and yet barely maintain body weight. Typically, I eat a large breakfast and snack till second breakfast. Then a reasonable second breakfast, and then snack till dinner. I rarely eat a mid-day meal, but I snack enough to account for it. I eat a large meal sometime in the evening after I'm off the bike for the day, then snack till I brush my teeth right before bed. So I eat two large meals at least, and snack all day.

I carry an alcohol stove, two pots, and a few cooking essentials (oil, spices, soy sauce). I find it essential as I don't eat meat, fish, or fowl and can't assume that any restaurant I find will be able to satisfy a hungry vegetarian cyclist.

My usual meal is a dinner that is either pasta, vegetables and sauce or a stir-fry meal with ramen noodles. In France, I often bought soup in a carton, added some canned vegetables and went to sleep satisfied.

If there is no place to eat breakfast, I cook oatmeal or eggs (bought as near as possible to stopping place).

I try to buy a huge sandwich or fixings for lunch (avocado, cheese, bread) before I start my day or early in the day.

The rest of the time it is fruit, peanuts, raisins, chocolate, and other snack.

I figure that cooking gear means 5 pounds.

Ray

I banished the stove, pots and pans from my panniers years ago. Didn't use them enough to justify the weight and space they consumed. Some people like preparing their own meals after a day in the saddle. I prefer to use that time to explore the local surroundings. To me, eating at the local places is a major part of the journey.

Often when I'm sleeping indoors, the motel or whatever has a complimentary breakfast and I take full advantage of that and a few snacks I pick up along the way to get me through the day, then have a substantial dinner somewhere that evening.

If I'm camping, I'll usually stop somewhere along the way and have dinner, then pick up a few items that don't need heating for the morning.

Most of my tours are a mixture of the two. However, my longest tour is seldom over 10 days. Anything longer and I would consider using the stove again.

I like to cook, so I do most meals with occasional restaurants thrown in.

How ridiculous do you guys think it would be to carry a large amount of a staple, for example a 3-5lb bag of quinoa? That stuff is so versatile, nutritious and tasty I don't think i could live without it!

I would carry quinoa... its a perfect bike touring grain.

I cook large pots of gruel, I'm easily pleased when camping on tour. I'm a lifelong vegetarian who finds that a modern outdoor lifestyle works best without a habit for meat. No need to carry refrigeration equipment. One thing I've not understood is quinoa. I bought some awhile back ... it makes me gag. Literally seizes up in my wind pipe. What am I doing wrong - too large bites? hahaa Seriously, How is it the perfect cycling grain? Someone help me out here.

If I were touring by myself, I would not bring cooking gear with me. I don't cook. Instead I'd make creative "cold" meals like buns with cold meat, cheese, tomatoes, etc., raw fruit & veggies, granola bars, and so on. If I stayed in a hostel, I'd pick up a meal from a grocery store that could be microwaved so I could have some variety.

I would also not carry much in the way of excess food with me ... just enough for a day or so.

But Rowan likes cooking so he brings cooking gear with him, and for lunch we might have sandwiches or something like that ... a cold lunch ... but for supper, Rowan cooks up a delicious variety of meals on his Trangia.

And we still don't carry much in the way of excess food with us ... just enough for a day or so.

Unless we were cycling in a place where there was no chance of a grocery store for several day, I don't see the point of carrying 3-5 lbs of a food with me. As long as I can hit a grocery store at least once a day, I'll pick up a variety of food as I go.

I think it's gross. Same with couscous. No accounting for taste, I suppose.

quinoa is high in protein content and very complete nutritionally. I think its delicious to boot.

I love to cook on a campstove. I bought the NOLS expedition cookbook which is great. I have baked cinnamon buns from scratch, baked pizza from scratch, pasta bakes etc etc, all on an MSR dragonfly stove. I like to cook when bike touring, but I also like to tour in remote spots. If i had regular access to restaurants (real food, not fast food crap) I would cook less.

i also carry tin foil in case i want to cook a potato or mushrooms in a fire, and I buy and roast sweet corn in the husk near an open fire too.

I also carry a spice kit with curry, chili, pepper, salt, olive oil and garlic powder.

no sense eating poorly when travelling.

Silly question probably, but...
Raybo, how do you cook eggs on an alcohol stove? I mean, can you scramble or fry them like on any other stove, or is the only feasible method to boil them? I use a small Coleman now, but I`m intrigued by alcohol and will probably give it a shot this summer.

I like to cook dinner and breakfast, and have lunch at a restaurant.

If groceries can be had along the way, I'll buy ingredients as I go.

I cook/carry full kitchen. Occasional restaurant treat more to meet people than anything. On long, remote trips I mail food packages to post offices.

[QUOTE=PurpleK;8503642]To me, eating at the local places is a major part of the journey.QUOTE]

I’m vegetarian so I will search for veggie friendly places and I’ve found a few interesting restaurants and cafes while on my travels. I also like to look for what is produced locally or is considered a regional cuisine or specialty. Food and drink are a bid part of why I tour and it seems to be more important as I age.

I carry a small gas stove and a canteen with a pot, pan, cup and utensils. I always make a cup of tea mid-morning and in the afternoon. It depends on location - I recently cycled across Australia and some days I could cycle for 12 hours without seeing a building. Packet soups and pastas are good value and not heavy. A long distance cyclist walks around a store and looks at weight and bulk when it comes to carrying food.

You can cook them pretty much any way you like. I usually either soft boil or hard boil them, but sometimes fry or scramble. It is a little more tricky to fry on an alcohol stove, but quite possible.