High altitude cooking

[Mountain_Mama]

We're going to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons this summer and I'm planning ( at least in my head). I know @ Fishing Bridge there are no outside fires allowed so that leaves out grilling. I've tried to cook in a crockpot in Colorado before & that didn't work. What suggestions do you have for cooking dinner meals ? I'm sure we'll be out exploring during the day & am planning on taking lunch meals with us, but I know my bunch. They'll be hungry in the evenings!

[bikendan]

we had no problems cooking at Yellowstone, with our inside stove nor our outside grill.
just took longer.

[fj12ryder]

If you have spaghetti on the menu, the best way to do that is cook it at home and then just throw it in the hot water long enough to heat it through. Cooking spaghetti at altitude can be an exercise in frustration.

We lived in Colorado when I was a kid, and a pressure cooker was normal cooking equipment.

[Slownsy]

Thom0209 I have Sean larger dung piles ther and don't plan to go back. :E

[JiminDenver]

Another way of thinking of it is like you got a new stove, it just takes a bit of getting use to.

[MrWizard]

I have never camped at 10,000 ft
My highest hiking has been just about 8300 ft , My Lassen Calif
My highest camping and cooking around 7200 ft
But usually lower than 6000ft

It's a matter of time, water doesn't get as hot, so it just takes longer too cook, it will come to a boil faster at a lower temp, and you turn it down to a low simmer and cook longer
This is soup ,stews, etc... baking with flour is different, frying and grilling, there is almost no difference, meat and fat melt and fry at the same temp,
Water boiling is a matter of air pressure
Tea or coffee let it steep a little longer, because of the lower water temp
If you use instant it won't make much difference, a little more stirring to dissolve it.
With a crock pot and water boiling out faster at lower temp, you can add a little more water before or during the cooking, it's the cooking time factor that increases because the water is at a lower temp

[Shearwater]

At sea level the boiling point of water is 212 degrees F.
At 10,000 ft elevation the boiling point is 194 degrees F.

Increase simmering time about 10%.

[2gypsies1]

We've never had problems with the crockpot or cooking up to 10,000 elevation. Just adjust cooking time and if using boxed items, read the directions for 'high altitude' adjustments. Have a good trip!

[jalichty]

About the only real concession to "high altitude" cooking is the time it takes to boil water and cook meals that use fluids. It just takes a little longer but it is certainly not impossible or even very hard. We have tent camped, truck camped and FW camped for about 50 years and have not found it very hard to make meals out of anything we choose. Just take your time and don't hurry and you'll be fine. You will probably have more problems hiking at "high" altitude than you will cooking, the air is a bit thinner at altitude so the lungs have to work a bit harder when you hike.

[kedanie]

Propane grills are allowed at Fishing Bridge. The only issue is that they must not be left outside unattended. When you are done and the grill is cooled off, simply put it away and you will be fine.

Keith

[mowermech]

" I know @ Fishing Bridge there are no outside fires allowed so that leaves out grilling."

I just checked a Yellowstone Park/Fishing Bridge website. It stated that propane stoves and grills are normally not restricted. However, campfires and "Campfire in a Can" are not allowed.

[Martyn]

Thunder Mountain wrote:
Not trying to belittle your post, but I don't understand. The altitude at Teton Village is roughly 6300' according to Google Earth. That hardly qualifies as high altitude in my experience since we live at 8200' in Colorado and have for 25 years. The only issue we have is baking. You always use less fluid and more flour. We routinely camp at 10000' using crock pots, grilling etc. with no issues. Water does boil at a lower temperature and that difference is noticeable when approaching 10K feet.

Couldn't agree more - we live at 6,000 ft in Colorado,and have no issues cooking anything and use crockpot all the time, both at home and when in the higher mountain areas. We often have a crockpot running while travelling - using an inverter - just leave the crockpot in the sink. We also use Dutch Oven in the camfile at times - make some great peach cobbler! 🙂

We also have an electric pressure cooker which is far quicker and easier to use than one that would sit on the stove top.

[Thom02099]

Mountain Mama wrote:
OP here... I just knew I didn't have luck with crockpot before..and being from 600' elevation, CO, MT. & WY is high elevation for us.

For cooking purposes, many boxes of prepared dinners have instructions for "high altitude", which in many cases is anything over 4000 feet. As OP stated, they are at 600 ft...in that case, western Kansas would be "high altitude"!

We've cooked for a number of years using a crock pot. As others have stated, just make some adjustments to fine tune the cooking. We always use the low temp setting and are usually back at the trailer for the last hour or so, to check on the progress.

We've also used the one pan method, a la, hamburger or tuna helper type meals...of our own making. Chili is also a good one pot dinner and can be cooked inside on the stove or on an outside stove.

Do a Google search for "one pan meal" and you'll find a lot of suggestions.

[C-Bears]

We use a Ninja sometimes instead of a regular crockpot. It can be used as a crockpot or used as a small oven. It holds more also. We also have learned due to fire restrictions, mainly out west, we rarely use our charcoal grill and instead depend on our electric grill outside.

[Mountain_Mama]

OP here... I just knew I didn't have luck with crockpot before..and being from 600' elevation, CO, MT. & WY is high elevation for us.