[Soulfrk]

The only reason Beef Stroganoff seems so good when your 10 miles out is because you have no other options. I’ve tried very hard but had no luck finding food for the trail that is 1. Light 2. Packs small 3. Loaded with calories and… 4. Delicious. In fact the closest I’ve gotten is Rice Crispy Treats, but really, I can’t eat just Rice Crispy treats….right?

I know some people get pretty ambitious out there. Once at 13 falls I saw a guy making dumplings for breakfast, but I hate cooking. I just want something simple and tasty (like Rice Crispy Treats), but maybe a tad bit nutritious…

any suggestions?

[carndog]

I own Backcountry Cooking: From Pack to Plate in 10 Minutes (Backpacker Field Guides). All the meals take a little prep at home but turn out good. I make a lot of wraps from the book. Its 5 bucks on half.com. Well worth it if your tried of bad food.

[fishmonger]

I guess it depends what your needs are more than anything. If you're doing anything less than a 3 day hike, do you really need to worry about weight all that much? And if you're logging any serious miles, anything will taste great at the end of the day.

On my Monadnock-Sunapee trip back in July, we had some Backpacker's Pantry meals. Not too bad for dehydrated food. For me, the convenience outweighs the mediocre taste. Just my humble opinion

[Soulfrk]

fishmonger, on 14 Oct 2009 - 02:41 PM, said:

If you're doing anything less than a 3 day hike, do you really need to worry about weight all that much?

Good point. But, it depends; if I’m hiking into Sawyer pond, then no but if I’m heading into owls head or over the bonds, then yes. Throw some suggestions at me, what kind of ‘middle weight’ food items do you bring for one or two night stays? An extra pound might be worth it if it’s something tasty.

fishmonger, on 14 Oct 2009 - 02:41 PM, said:

And if you're logging any serious miles, anything will taste great at the end of the day.

I felt that way for a long time, but think I hit my limit this year.

[fishmonger]

Just got this in my inbox this morning, the Backpacker newsletter. Most of them are probably too much work, but might be worth a shot if you're feeling adventurous on a weekend hike.

http://www.backpacke...gn=newsletter01

[Soulfrk]

fishmonger, on 15 Oct 2009 - 09:00 AM, said:

Just got this in my inbox this morning, the Backpacker newsletter. Most of them are probably too much work, but might be worth a shot if you're feeling adventurous on a weekend hike.

http://www.backpacke...gn=newsletter01

I'll Check these out, Carndog put out a pretty good suggestion too.

Thanks gents!

[Andrew_CT]

Maybe it's because I'm in college, and my standards have sunk so low due to two years of dining hall food, but I don't mind some of the dehydrated meals. In fact, sometimes I'm tempted to bust out my stove and boil some water for some Pasta Primavera.

As far as the (calories+taste)/weight ratio goes, you can't beat nutella. Eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Throw it on a bagel, or eat it with a spoon. Peanut butter works well too but I've gotten sick of it because of overuse. Or bring two packages of your favorite kind of poptarts for breakfast. 800 calories right there.

[iClimb]

I'm still pretty new to the food part of hiking since I'm most used to short day trips.

But I find that a stick of pepperoni, peanut butter crackers, beef jerky, and trail mix are good for calories and holding off starvation. Then for meals, simple stuff like ramen with some vacuum bagged chicken from the grocery store is good.

Frequency-wise, we shouldn't treat eating all that different while hiking then we normally would. It is more effective to eat constantly, little bits here and there to keep energy levels up and to keep the body working rather than hiking for hours and than purging on whatever we can make.

[CplLambo187]

Even though this thread is kind of old...Ever try MRE's? While in the Marine Corps we'd eat them in the field. They weren't bad in the grand scheme of things. Especially now with technology, they've actually come out with some great varieties. Ive checked online before and you can get cases of them online, however are expensive though, and they can be bulky. But we use to field strip them to save room. One MRE is designed to be what a person should eat in one day. So you're looking at over a 1000 calories. They come with a main meal, crackers with usually peanut butter or cheese, cookies, candy, gum, coffee, and a couple different kinds of a powdered drink (ie hot chocolate, tea, fruit drink) They also come with a little bag that you add very little water too, then your main meal and it will heat it up for you.

Here's a website then sells them in cases or individually
http://www.thereadys...CFQo75QodMBsJ1g

Hope it helps.

[RichNH]

I'd agree with the MRE's although it's been years since I used them because I simply don't do long, multi-day hikes. The other obvious(?) option is to supplement food from the land but that takes time, berries have to be in season (obviously) and other food sources impact the land (i.e. Indian cucumber, etc.).

The biggest problem I've ever had with the freeze dried stuff is that after a few days you really want to chew something, I mean get your teeth into some food and chomp on it and all the freeze dried stuff we had (OK OK, it was LRRPs when I was in the army back in the 70's) didn't give that satisfaction. I suppose I'm simply too frugal (nice way of putting it) to buy the expensive freeze fried stuff when I can throw pretzels and Ramen in the pack. If you pack in Ramen, make sure you bring spices and such. Pepperoni sliced up in chunks in Ramen is good, so is beef summer sausage. Obviously though there are issues with food preservation in some of that in the non-winter.

Another suggestion, if you're young and wild and don't mind a long term solution, is to join the military and go into the infantry. That'll cure your problem with being picky with food or it'll kill you! LOL JK

Rich