Trail Food

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Go Light Groceries When Backpacking

Depending on how much backpacking you have done shows up in your grocery list first.
Many novice backpackers find information similar to the following offered by your government. It’s not bad information, and you did pay for it last April, but you will soon fine tune their suggestions:

[The type and amount of food to take on a backpacking trip can prove a difficult decision. What you decide to pack with you may come down to one important factor: weight. Some cold foods might be fine for the first day out, but after that you might have to go with consumable that can last for days, if necessary. Canned goods are safe, but can add weight to a backpack. A variety of relatively lightweight staples that do not require refrigeration or careful packaging, however, could be the best choice. Some of these food items include -Peanut butter in plastic jars -Concentrated juice boxes and powdered milk -Canned tuna, ham, chicken and beef -Dried noodles and soups -Beef jerky and other dried meats -Dehydrated foods -Dried fruits and nuts In addition, powdered mixes for biscuits or pancakes and dried pasta don’t add significantly to a backpackers load, and are easy prepare at an overnight campsite. But when it comes to packing mixes and pasta, use plastic bags to store them, and consider carefully the amount you’ll need for the duration of your backpacking trip.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture.]

Many of these items will keep well but are heavy. If you are going to carry 10 days worth of food you will need to first pump iron for a few months. A better solution is to get into dehydrating your own food, study your grocery shelves for lighter items and use common sense strategies.
Suggestions: If you do not want to "dry your own" stick you staples and quickies. I have several strategies because I get bored with the same old fare. I love breakfast so I do a lot of what I call food bomb meals. Basically pancake and bread mixes which can turn into pancakes or pizza. This isn’t going to be Bob Evans or Pizza Hut but you will be amazed at what concoctions you can come up with if you are a bit creative. I throw in dried bacon, ground jerky, dried veggies and (I hate to even suggest it) real syrup. I love eating syrup, but I hate carrying it. It is like the plague. No matter how careful you are it will leak all over your back and make you an ant magnet. It is so sticky and nasty you will hope a bear eats you just so you are out of your misery.
I use a "bakepacker" for pancakes and breads.

It takes about 18 minutes which is a drawback for me. I usually only take a half-hour for a meal when I’m thru-hiking. Most of my other meals are boil and eat. Many soups available that you can add all kinds of your favorite things to create personal taste stews.
Instead of bread I carry tortilla’s. I buy lots of dehydrated refried beans. They already have the spices added. Just add water, veggies and wrap in a tortilla. They are wonderful. You don’t want to hike behind me, but I guarantee they will quicken you step.
I’m an Irish meat and potato guy so I have tried all kinds of meat substitutes. Chuck up "Slim Jims" dice up jerky nuggets, dried chicken chunks, dried lean ground beef.
The important thing to remember is that the food you carry has no nutritional value if you do not eat it—and you will not eat it if it doesn’t appeal to you. So pack smart.
Another tip: First and last day don’t count. Pig out before you leave on the first day and know you can pig out when you come in on the last day. If your trip last longer than you expected you may get a little hungry but you are not going to starve to death.
Happy Hiking, Keep Smilin’, Dick E. Bird

Monday, August 4, 2008

Backpacking Food for Thought

Mountain House, the leading seller of prepackaged backpacker meals, has been using freeze-drying to remove moisture from its meals since its parent company, Oregon Freeze Dry Inc., began selling long-range patrol rations to the military during the Vietnam War.
The process sounds anything but appetizing. As John Ostrin, the company’s manager of market development, describes it, foods are prepared, then flash-frozen in a vacuum at temperatures reaching 50 degrees below zero. Low levels of heat are then applied, evaporating the ice in a process called sublimation.
A long shelf life
That, said Ostrin, leaves a honeycombed cell that makes it easy for water to re-enter and rehydrate the meal when the time comes. (And the time needn’t come any time soon; Ostrin said the typical shelf life for a Mountain House product is three to five years, though he said he recently sampled a leftover from the Vietnam line that was 25 years old.)
Mountain House offers breakfasts (cheese omelet, eggs with bacon), dinners (beef Stroganoff, sweet & sour pork) and dessert (blueberry cheesecake, raspberry crumble). Entrees, the company’s bread and butter, come in a boil bag; simply add hot water, let it sit for a few minutes and you’ve got a meal you can eat right out of the bag, with minimal cleanup.
Dehydrators are the everyday backpacker’s answer to freeze-drying. Dehydrators, available for as little as $50, use heat to evaporate the water (about 90 percent of it compared to 99 percent through freeze-drying), and you can dehydrate just about anything—without the additives common to freeze-dried prepared foods.
How important is food on the trail? From a nutritional standpoint, it’s vital. Depending on the difficulty of the trail and weather, a backpacker can burn from 2,500 to 6,000 calories a day (basic living requires from 1,500 to 2,000 calories).
To a hiker who has had to battle the elements, a pack and the assorted aches and pains associated with the enjoyment, food may be even more important from a psychological standpoint.
The most important things you can pack along to eat are foods you crave. If you don’t like it, you won’t eat it. I once bought a whole case of corn pasta because I read that it was a great energy food and even tasted good cold. I still have it. The birds won’t even eat it. I have never found a recipe that will mask the awful taste of corn pasta. If I was starving in a prisoner of war camp and hadn’t eaten in two months, then, maybe I would try it.
Freeze dried on a regular basis will not give you the stamina you need to long distance hike. There are many foods available right off your grocery shelf that work just fine. I use Mountain House once or twice a week on a long trek as a treat. Many of their products are very tasty.