In most cases, you are so hungry that it really doesn't matter what manner of food you stuffed into your pack. You'll eat what you brought with great alacrity. You'll be so hungry, you'll eat a shoe with peanut butter on it. You'll eat anything. However, it's really important that you make food that's both easy to prepare, and provides the desperately-needed nutrition that your completely exhausted body requires to carry on.
Your food ethos should be very different from eating at home. Your goal should be 3,500 calories per day and up. For this reason, you are trying to increase your calories at every turn-- generally, this is not how we tend to eat in normal life. You are burning calories at a high rate, and asking your body to perform at an extraordinary level. So, pump up your food intake!
Yes, there are tons of 'meal-in-a-pouch' options available. The advantage is that they are easy to prepare, and convenient. Unfortunately, these are heavily salted, expensive, and not nutritious as food you can prepare yourself. Also, they generally taste worse than a shoe with peanut butter on it. The technical term for these dehydrated meals is 'blechy!'
Below are some sample food plans, and some recipes to help make tasty, healthy stuff. I'm a big fan of ingredients that can be included in multiple meals.
Breakfast
Coffee or tea. Caffeine is an important part of your life at home, so should it also be on the trail. Tea bags are easy to bring along. My go-to for coffee is Starbucks VIA instant coffee. Running a close second would be to make your own 'coffee bags,' by putting a tablespoon or two of coffee in a filter, tying it off with dental floss.
Cereal and oatmeal. For adults, plan two (2) packets of instant oatmeal, three if you're of large appetite. Instant oatmeal weighs next to nothing so throw an extra packet or two in. Cereal like granola that can take a beating when smashed into your pack is excellent.
Dried milk. Buy whole milk. Nido makes a good product. Whole milk is a great additive for lots of things, but particularly breakfast where protein can be scarce. Dried milk fortifies your coffee or tea, makes the oatmeal and cereal go down great and also can boost nutrition in other meals.
Dried fruit. Apricots, raisins, dates, apples, all of these are great. Throw them in your cereal or oatmeal, or eat them by the handfull while you're breaking down your camp and getting ready to hit the trail.
English muffins. Can be packed flat, slightly toasted on a pan after you've boiled water for coffee or oatmeal, and can feel extremely luxurious on the trail when slathered appropriately.
Peanut/Almond butter. Another one of the super-foods that can double up. Carry this in a tube. Squeeze this over slices of apple for lunch as well.
Other squeezable spackle. Honey is great. Jam gets sticky but does okay. Nutella.
Almond butter has slight nutritional advantages:
Boost your water. This becomes especially important the first morning you wake up in the back-country. I recommend shaking up some Emergen-C powder, or other electrolyte-infused enhancements into your water bottle as you prepare the face the day. Basically, you're trying to buttress your inputs at every turn. So, sneak in some electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, and calories (yes, even calories from sugar are good in the back country).
Now, you've had a nice breakfast, a strong cup of coffee and you're ready to break camp and hit the trial. Here's what you want to have on hand through the day while you're hiking.
Lunch
I usually plan for three mini-lunches throughout the hiking day. One mid-morning snack, something that you can keep in the top of your pack, that you can pull out and chow down on while you're stopping for water. One more official 'lunch' where you might take your pack off, sit down, and dig in. Third, a late afternoon snack, again; something easily accessible while you stop for water or to check your map in the shade. Here are some ideas.
Snacks. Almonds, peanuts, trail mix (gorp), dried fruit, snickers bars, energy bars, peanut M&M's, chocolate bars, fig newtons, all of these are excellent.
Lunch. When you do stop and take off your pack for 20 minutes or so, make it worth it. Break out the apples and oranges, spread some peanut/almond butter, mix up some electrolytes.
Dinner
The big event. You're exhausted. Dusty. Dirty. Your team is stumbling around, enthralled with the views from your new camp, or simply heaved on the nearest log or rock, wondering with great earnest why in the world they signed up for this torture. In either case, the name of the game is to start pumping calories into your gullet quickly and with as much ease as possible.
I, for one, am not willing to forego flavor, especially in the backcountry. So, it's worth the extra planning and effort to bolster your main meal as much as you can. Here's some tried and true recipes.
Tuna Mac and Cheese with peas. Peas? Yes, peas. Peas add a nice little punch of protein, punctuate your gloppy mess with some happy green accents, and create a slight-but-appreciable textural difference from the floppy noodles. The whole thing can be done in 10 minutes. I have personally experiences this dish transforming an expired cranky grouch into a fresh-as-a-daisy trail maestro in a matter of five forkfulls of this delightful goop.
This dish tastes best when you're snow-camping in a cave or the back of a frozen pickup truck with a trail buddy, and his gassy dog.
Ingredients (per person)
- 1/2 box Kraft Mac N Cheese (yes, you can substitute brands)
- 1/2 cup dried peas
- 1/4 cup dried milk
- 1, 2.5 oz foil pouch tuna
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions: Before you go, take all ingredients out of box. Collect in large ziplock back. Cut out directions with scissors and put inside of ziplock bag.
Prepare mac & cheese per instructions on box. When adding milk (dried milk) add peas, tuna, olive oil.
Dessert
Do not forget dessert. Do. Not. Forget. Dessert. You're on vacation! You can bring ingredients for smores, if you want. For me, a couple bites of chocolate do the trick. I also love hot cocoa especially when spiked with something special.
...And if you are going to bring something special, you should be aware of this handy product:
GSI Highland Fifth Flask
Larder Items
Where do I buy all this?
Supermarkets are good sources, so are Natural Food stores (see the bulk bins for things like dehydrated beans & soup bases). I also have had good experience with online retailers, especially finding dehydrated food in bulk.
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