Simple Mac-n-cheese Dinner Review

Kraft Mac-n-Cheese

For my simple and easy camping dinner on the Green Swamp camping trip, I placed a full box of Kraft Macaroni And Cheese and the full flavor packet into a quart-sized regular zip lock bag (was out of freezer bags).  The idea was to make cooking my dinner very simple by just boiling 2 cups of water on my Esbit stove.  To this bag I added 1.5 cups of boiling water and placed the ziplock bag inside my cooking cozy, clipping the top of the cozy closed with a small spring-clip.  After 20 minutes of cozy cooking, the mac-n-cheese noodles were cooked through.  I drained off the excess water and added a drained 3 ounce can of chicken breast.  Once stirred, I enjoyed the whole bag.  My drink was hot tea, made from the other half cup of water I boiled earlier.  Cleanup was washing my spoon and cup and closing my zip lock bag, placing it inside a trash zip lock inside the Ops Sac bag I used to transport my food.  Desert was a chocolate-mint Cliff Bar, yum!
Apparently the simplicity of my meal drew lots of questions from the group.  A few of the Sierra Club members we were camping with seemed impressed that I had just opened a full box of mac-n-cheese and dumped in a can of chicken for a scrumptious, and quite filling dinner.
However, I could have eaten a lot less food that night.  To make a better portioned meal, I would cut the mac-n-cheese noodles in half when packing it and still use one and a half cups of water to heat it in the cozy.  Then I would drain the noodles,  and add the flavoring mix afterwards.  Cutting the flavor packet in half shouldn't be too difficult.  I would also use a quart-sized freezer bag to cook in, because they seem to hold up better to the heat of boiling water.  Adding a quarter cup of dried vegetables to the mac-n-cheese mix would make it a much more nutritious meal, and this could be done before the water is added.  I'll try this out at home.  Once I get the details worked out, I'll publish the recipe.