Going Stoveless

One of the questions we are frequently asked while bike touring is "what do you eat?"  When we subsequently mention that we don't carry a stove, we inevitably get looks of dismay, like we somehow overlooked this crucial piece of gear and are forced to eat gallons of peanut butter.  After we assure people that we still eat a variety of "normal" foods (in addition to peanut butter, of course), they are usually interested to learn why we choose to travel so unconventionally.  We would like to shed some light on why we choose to forego what many consider a necessity, as well as to explain the surprising variety of foods that can be eaten without being cooked over heat.

Why Go Stoveless? Pros and Cons
"I feel like there's just so much to do when I get to camp at night." - touring cyclist

This quote, from a friend we rode with for a few days, sums up the main reason we don't have a stove.  This adventurer spent hours every morning and evening setting up the stove, waiting for food to cook, breaking it all down, and cleaning up.  One particular night, while she was doing all that, we had time to go for a swim and explore the town we were in.  And we were able to sleep in the next morning and still get on the road an hour before she did.  It's possible to be more efficient than this traveler, yet cooking, not to mention stove maintenance and doing dishes, is an unnecessary hassle to us.  We would rather spend our time doing anything but chores around camp.

Yosemite Valley sunset > dishes

Weight and expense are considerable as well, and who doesn't want a lighter pack and a fatter wallet?  Most stoves don't weigh much by themselves, no more than a few ounces for those on the smaller end, but the fuel, the fuel bottle, and the pots and pans can add up easily to a few pounds of weight unless you spend hundreds of dollars on all the lightest gear.
The final reason not to cook, which we see as synonymous with not having a stove, is one that we unexpectedly gleaned from a book about bears.  Cooking and food odors attract animals, and the more time you spend around food, the more you smell like food.  Thus, not cooking can mean being safer in bear country.  This is just one variable that contributes to bear safety, but every little bit helps.

For all the pros of going stoveless, there are also some cons. In certain conditions it can actually be dangerous.  When winter camping or mountaineering, having a stove may be necessary to melt snow or warm up frostnipped appendages.  And when camping with people who take the form of angry wolverines until they have had their morning coffee, everyone's health and happiness may be in jeopardy until the wolverines are satisfied.  If you're camping with one of these people, or if you are one of these people, bring a stove.
We don't drink coffee, and we aren't planning on ever having to melt snow for water, but not having the ability to cook does mean we have less flexibility with what we can eat.  And even though just about anything tastes good after a long day of cycling or hiking, sometimes it's really nice to have a warm meal.  I recall one New Year's Eve in the Mojave Desert when our couscous froze as it was hydrating.  It would have been nice then to have a stove.

Keep in mind that, in most places, you can build a fire and use it to heat up water, or you can go to a restaurant.  So even if you don't carry a stove, you're not entirely limited to cold food all the time.

So You Eat Peanut Butter For Dinner?
Not exactly.  Breakfast, snacks, and lunch are what you would expect: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese and hummus, crackers, that kind of thing.  For dinner, we hydrate foods in cold water, the most common for us being couscous and instant rice.  We fill an empty jar at lunch with the appropriate amount of grain and water, then store it in our bags for the afternoon.  When arriving at camp tired and hungry, our dinner is ready!  To this we add various toppings, always in different amounts and combinations, for extra calories and flavor: spices, olive oil or vinegar, soybeans or nuts, protein powder, or salty snacks like Fritos, corn nuts, or sesame sticks.

Below are the times some common foods require to hydrate cold:
Couscous: 5-15 minutes, depending on the water temperature
Instant mashed potatoes: still instant!
Instant rice: roughly one hour
Ramen noodles: 5 minutes
Instant oatmeal: still instant, though it doesn't soak up nearly as much water as it does when hot

Anything that is not pre-cooked, including polenta, pearled couscous, and quinoa, will not hydrate cold. Instant quinoa flakes, being pre-cooked, hydrate similarly to oatmeal.


You may call us crazy, or you may think the no-stove idea is revolutionary.  For us, the simple freedom from cooking and cleaning, as well as the money and weight savings that not having a stove allows, makes giving up frequent hot food worth it.