All of you who read my articles or my blogs on ODU know that I love to hunt and fish, and I love to cook. With that being said, this piece is about eating while out in the field. There is a great deal to be said about having a hot meal while out on a deer hunt or a mid-winter hare hunt. This is how I accomplish that.
It is very rare that I am able to go out and harvest a deer, hare or boar; or catch my limit of trout from my favorite Vermont stream or beaver pond, within a few minutes. Often I am out there for hours or even all day. That means packing along some food to see me through. For me those days of cold sandwiches are gone. Eating a cold meal after spending a cold morning in a deer stand is the last thing I want to do.
Like many of you I grew up with Sterno and at the time it was a god-send. The problem with Sterno or any fuel based cooking source is that you need to carry the fuel for it. There is a better way and I have found it in the form of the Solo Stove, which burns bio-mass as opposed to commercial fuel. The Solo Stove allows me to cook food, melt snow for water or just warm my hands without the need to carry fuel with me.
My stove, the Titan model, is lightweight, only weighing 16.5 oz. If you add the model 1800 pot to the mix, the total weight is 29 oz. Pot and stove fit nicely into a carry pouch which makes it very convenient. The fuel for the stove is any bio-mass (twigs, sticks, leaves, pine cones) that you can find around your site. Check them out at www.solostoves.com
Well, we have the heat source so what about food? In my Blackhawk pack I always carry a few New Primal meat products, either sticks or jerky; some Three Jerks jerky or some Lawless jerky just to snack on. When I want a meal I will pull out one of my Paleo Meals to Go meals. 
With just a little hot water, which you have heated with the Solo Stove, you can have a hot meal in minutes. You can either just add hot water to the bag or you can cook it in your pot. It is your choice. What I like about all of these food products is that they aren’t full of salt or preservatives.
There is no need to be cold and hungry while in the field. After a cold morning sometimes a hot meal is just what you need to push through the rest of the day.
By Dana Benner