monofood?

[mweinstone]

can a single gloop or mix or bar of some kind sustaine and nourish and satisfie you while thruhiking the trail? i wonder because it would be neat to hike thru several stops by carrying a block of monofood. possible? pemician? gabish?

[Marta]

Peanut butter mixed with honey. I have a friend who hiked about half the trail eating this. It wasn't in a block, but in jars, of course. He'd eat his veggies and whatnot in town.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Peanut butter mixed with honey. I have a friend who hiked about half the trail eating this. It wasn't in a block, but in jars, of course. He'd eat his veggies and whatnot in town.:eek: Did he eat exlax in towns as well :p..... it would take dynamite to get a dino digestive tract moving again after several days of PB & honey.

[mweinstone]

i was thinking of seal blubber and whale meat or something. can you buy these?

[STEVEM]

Only $0.88 each at Tractor Supply.

http://www.duncraft.com/Peanut-Treat-Suet-Bricks-P1088C59.aspx?UserID=2949638&SessionID=19BJvwRmxq49KRNH7svE

[mweinstone]

thats good steve. mmmm insect suet. so ,...human suet is possible? im thinking bacon and lettuce? mmm bacon and lettuce suet.

[Tipi Walter]

About 20 years ago I went on a long backpacking trip and took one of the Hobbit books, maybe Lord of the Rings, and in it they carried Simla(sp?), a survival food wrapped in silver(cream cheese?), and so I always thought about finding something like simla that could sustain me.

I mixed up various concoctions of granola/pemmican, one used dried milk, honey, a stick of butter, a bag of granola, nuts, all mixed up and put in small tubs. About a week after eating it, I got a really bad headcold and sinus blowout and figured it was caused by the near constant intake of dried milk, etc. So ended a grand experiment.

Commercially available things could be Bear Valley's Pemmican bars, 3.4 oz with about 450 calories and 16 grams protein. Good for vegetarians.

Another option if you eat meat would be to mix up your own Indian style pemmican using crushed jerky(venison/buffalo/beef)mixed with animal fat and dried berries(raisins/blueberries/currants, etc).

[mweinstone]

ive thaught about pemician alot tipi. its hard to make real stuff like the indians did. and the store bought ones would be depressing to eat and probubly kill you in the end. hears a bar im into lately. it has 9 gs of protien,17 fat 4 sat fat 30 sodium 150 potassium 46 carbs 6 fiber 30 sugar

[Tipi Walter]

ive thaught about pemician alot tipi. its hard to make real stuff like the indians did. and the store bought ones would be depressing to eat and probubly kill you in the end. hears a bar im into lately. it has 9 gs of protien,17 fat 4 sat fat 30 sodium 150 potassium 46 carbs 6 fiber 30 sugar

Wow, thanks for the ProBar link! Gotta the credit cards out for another couple of cases cuz I'm gonna give them a try. I'm tired of the Bear Valley bars, anyway.

[Critterman]

For a long time I have wondered why a company like Purina which makes complete and balanced foods for almost every species of animal ( dog,cat monkey, etc,) hasn't made a People Chow. Imagine a dry stable food that would provide complete nutrition that could be used in emergencies, camping, etc. You could make it in a number of flavors, different textures.

[Tipi Walter]

For a long time I have wondered why a company like Purina which makes complete and balanced foods for almost every species of animal ( dog,cat monkey, etc,) hasn't made a People Chow. Imagine a dry stable food that would provide complete nutrition that could be used in emergencies, camping, etc. You could make it in a number of flavors, different textures.

This reminds me of a book I had about surviving a nuclear war, had designs of homemade underground shelters, making a simple geiger counter to test the air, and the best part, what foods will sustain life. I think Oak Ridge put out the book, a large format thing with plenty of pics.

In the end, they recommended a crushed/pulverized soybean meal cooked up and eaten. Or a combination of soybean and wheat berries, all crushed using a simple steel bar/pry bar to pulverize the grains. They ran extensive tests on what foods sustain life.

[mweinstone]

right on with the people chow idea. thats a frikkin million bucks if you can do it. as for exsperience eating, i mean starving on monofoods,.....i lived on ceci flour for a summer as a broke teen. its garbonzo bean flour. not hummus mix, that has other ingredients. its the heart of hummus yes, but less. for about a month while my oil held out i fryed balls of it mixed with water to make a little cooked meal turd. it tastes great and you never ever get bored of it as long as your starving. now. you must eat 14 times a day to sustain on this . after the oil ran out, i just scorched them in a skillet. they were just as good. best mono diet i ever was forced to eat.

[kayak karl]

This reminds me of a book I had about surviving a nuclear war, had designs of homemade underground shelters, making a simple geiger counter to test the air, and the best part, what foods will sustain life. I think Oak Ridge put out the book, a large format thing with plenty of pics.

In the end, they recommended a crushed/pulverized soybean meal cooked up and eaten. Or a combination of soybean and wheat berries, all crushed using a simple steel bar/pry bar to pulverize the grains. They ran extensive tests on what foods sustain life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mip7hqvKpqM&feature=related

[mweinstone]

thank you for the crackers. i have eaten human fleash. im not proud of it. but its a fact. i even like it i think. and i will do it again. of course im talking about my own scabs. who hasnt? duh.







lol

[mweinstone]

i think this scab topic may require its own thread." do you eat human fleash?" morbid? i could have more coffie.

[Tipi Walter]

Here's the page on food in the Nuclear survival book:

http://www.areyouprepared.com/nuclear-survival/s14.htm

Check out especially the Expedient Processing of Grains/Soybeans.

[kayak karl]

i think this scab topic may require its own thread." do you eat human fleash?" morbid? i could have more coffie.
"Mr. Donner", "Mr Donner"; "party of 50. your tables are ready!":D

[mweinstone]

The average American is accustomed to eating regularly and abundantly.

thats the average it says all about and for. im ubuve average. i know how to survive better than i can even belive. i cant wait till this crap comes to an end so i can relax and hunt! instead of shopping for my meat!lol

[Old Hillwalker]

Back in the 60s there was a LD hiker trail food that consisted of bacon fat mixed with peanut butter and cut into squares like fudge. I tried it and found it quite tasty. I've been looking for someone who remembers this stuff to no avail. Thinking about this makes my mouth water as I write this. Which also reminds me, back during a very wet spell of hiking through the Pemigewasset Wilderness area of the White Mountains in the early eighties I used bacon fat to grease my Limmers during a break at Zealand Hut. I never knew of course, but I probably was trailed by hungry bears for days afterward. The boots did smell terrific for a long while.

hi matty

[john gault]

It is technologically possible, but would be a mistake to produce these type of foods. That's why they're not produced/manufactured. It would make people too healthy, then they start living longer, which leads to overpopulation, just too taxing on our resources. They say science will, one day, figure out the aging process and learn how to turn the biological clock back. I see nothing but problems with that technology, we think urban sprawl is bad now....
Hikers just need to keep eating snickers. That's why they look so ragged by the end of their journey, but I think that's a good thing.

[Tipi Walter]

Back in the 60s there was a LD hiker trail food that consisted of bacon fat mixed with peanut butter and cut into squares like fudge. I tried it and found it quite tasty. I've been looking for someone who remembers this stuff to no avail. Thinking about this makes my mouth water as I write this. Which also reminds me, back during a very wet spell of hiking through the Pemigewasset Wilderness area of the White Mountains in the early eighties I used bacon fat to grease my Limmers during a break at Zealand Hut. I never knew of course, but I probably was trailed by hungry bears for days afterward. The boots did smell terrific for a long while.

hi matty

The Donner party ate their boots and saddle gear, they started out with around 82 people and after about 4-6 months in the high Sierra winter, ended up with aprox 40 survivors, the rest eaten/froze/discarded. Your bacon coated boots reminded of their travail.

[mystic]

One thing I learned from sailing is that food isn't just for providing calories. Meals have a great psychological value.

If you serve 'monofood' aka gruel over and over your morale will be terrible. If you serve diverse tasty food your morale will be good.

It means the difference of hiking all day thinking:
"Yuch, gruel for lunch, gruel for dinner"
or
"Woohoo! Only 5 more miles and I get a slice of fresh onion sauteed in olive oil with spaghetti and meatballs."

High morale will keep you on the trail when you might be ready to throw in the towel.

Good food just makes the whole trip more fun. And that's why you are out there, right?

[Tipi Walter]

For most backpackers, there are really just two choices when cooking: Pot meals like mac and cheese, oatmeal, stews and soups, etc. And frypan meals like eggs, toasted breads and muffins, stir-fried veggies, bacon/meat patties, fried fish, etc. Having a frypan that is deep enough to cook oatmeal and mac and cheese but also teflon-coated for frying, makes a big difference. In this way, one pot does both.

For some reason, fried foods in oil using a pan really helps when backpacking, I always look forward to toasting up muffins or eggs instead of relying on the old tired pot meals of thick glop.

[Bearpaw]

About 20 years ago I went on a long backpacking trip and took one of the Hobbit books, maybe Lord of the Rings, and in it they carried Simla(sp?), a survival food wrapped in silver(cream cheese?), and so I always thought about finding something like simla that could sustain me.

The elven bread was lembas. When I started eating Probars last year, I thought I had found the modern version of lembas. Small, tasted better than Bear Valley bars, packed incredible calories into a tiny package. I bought enough for breakfast on my long hikes over last Summer. However, by late June, I began vomiting them up almost as soon as I ate them.

I have two theories.

1) Since they contain no preservatives, some of them "went bad" after sitting in a hot post office and made me sick.

2) I am so much a carnivore that my body simply rejected the raw vegan Probar.

In either case, I will go back to eating Bear Valley Mealpak and Pemmican Bars for long distances.

As for thru-hiking the entire trail on these? I think you'd have MAJOR health issues without a good bit of supplementary foods for fiber and vitamins.

And most important, it may nourish the body, but won't nourish the soul.

As Mouse told Neo in The Matrix over his breakfast of protein paste, "It doesn't have everything the body needs. ;)"

[Bearpaw]

One thing I learned from sailing is that food isn't just for providing calories. Meals have a great psychological value.

If you serve 'monofood' aka gruel over and over your morale will be terrible. If you serve diverse tasty food your morale will be good.

It means the difference of hiking all day thinking:
"Yuch, gruel for lunch, gruel for dinner"
or
"Woohoo! Only 5 more miles and I get a slice of fresh onion sauteed in olive oil with spaghetti and meatballs."

High morale will keep you on the trail when you might be ready to throw in the towel.

Good food just makes the whole trip more fun. And that's why you are out there, right?

Rarely have truer words been spoken!

[AT-HITMAN2005]

i think this scab topic may require its own thread." do you eat human fleash?" morbid? i could have more coffie.

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!:eek::D

[YeOldeBackpacker]

IMO these have to be the some of the better tasting food bars out there, a little bigger than some others, and cost a little more but the are really good.

ive thaught about pemician alot tipi. its hard to make real stuff like the indians did. and the store bought ones would be depressing to eat and probubly kill you in the end. hears a bar im into lately. it has 9 gs of protien,17 fat 4 sat fat 30 sodium 150 potassium 46 carbs 6 fiber 30 sugar

[_terrapin_]

I tried a few short section hikes without my stove, eating just "monofoods" as matthewski so aptly refers to them. It didn't work for me. The pleasure of a hot dinner -- even if it's just Liptons plus chunks of mystery meat -- is one that I'm not ready to give up. I can live with one hot meal per day on the trail, but I can't take it down to zero.

[Appalachian Tater]

A "mono food" diet consists of one food, not one blend of different foods.

[Feral Bill]

I think prisons have something like this for unruly comvicts to subsist on.

[kayak karl]

A "mono food" diet consists of one food, not one blend of different foods.
i know what he meant. can we keep going, or do we start a new thread. :D

[tazie]

long ago my father used to hit the trail with just an apple and water..he would be gone for days. jan's halvah recipe sounds good though. It nourishes your body and soul.
I have met some thru-hikers on the trail in Maryland that frightened me. They have a lean and hungry look, a hurried stride and impatient, not one for chit-chat. I offered one an apple once, but he was not tempted. He needed meat.

[RenoRoamer]

You can easily live on the trail with a mono-diet, but you should probably supplement in town with other things. Granola/muesli for example is my standard trail food and I never grow tired of it. In fact, anything which is mostly carbs/sugars and a small amount of protein will work, provided it doesn't cause your body to produce too much insulin. Nothing but candy bars is not such a good idea since these are usually higher in fat than carbs and lack any protein. Supplement the mono-diet with fats, more protein, fresh fruit and veggies in town. It would probably be a good idea to take a vitamin pill (especially vitamin C) with any monodiet.

[mweinstone]

thank you tater for correcting my imagination witch imagined the made up definition of my made up term wrong.

[Bearpaw]

thank you tater for correcting my imagination witch imagined the made up definition of my made up term wrong.

I like the term "monofood" Matt, mostly because over the course of six months it would get so painfully "mono"-tonous.:D:banana

[Appalachian Tater]

thank you tater for correcting my imagination witch imagined the made up definition of my made up term wrong.

Well, I actually think you're onto something with the scabs/Soylent Green.

[mweinstone]

actually monofooding it would be a spiritual walk. many times as a kid i went days with only spirulina and supplements. its like speeding on coffie.your stomach growels but your mind stays sharp. and you loose weight. something we all need to do. as far as adding a vitimine pill. no. i find real food beats pills hands down in all catagories.pills are a bill of goods and good for nothin.

[Appalachian Tater]

Soylent Green is little square crackers.

[mweinstone]

allright now settle down. we all ate our moms to get here.nobodys a vegen.

[dessertrat]

I'll bet you can get a long ways on bagels and Goober.

[gardenville]

Your answer is YES.

I have been living on an all liquid diet for over two years. Ensure - liquid and Dry Ensure. The Dry is used for hiking. It is a total balanced food source and is light. The Dry is 14 ounces for 1750 calories.

I do mix just a bit of Carnations Instant Breakfast - Rich Chocolate mix to each serving. This gives me a few more calories, vitamins etc and gives the Dry Ensure a little better taste. It is good cold - cool or warm. When hiking I add some Hammer Perpetuem to all the water I drink. The Hammer Perpetuem can also be used alone as your total source of food and my Doctor thought it would be a good addition to my diet when hiking.

Would I use the Dry Ensure alone if I didn't HAVE TO, I don't think so.

PS. For those among you that want to ask the BM question - all is normal just not as much.

[Frozen Bait]

file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/ROBINT%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpghttp://theimaginaryworld.com/crk29.jpg
Almost as good as a real chicken...:-?

[berninbush]

Ewww, Chicken in a Biskit is NASSSSTY stuff.

The idea of "people chow" *is* interesting. I'm envisioning a mixture of "kibbles," some of which are sweet, some salty like crackers, and some savory like meat. Put in lots of protein, balanced vitamins, etc. Develop something that could be soaked in hot water to make a soup, added to instant noodles, or eaten dry straight from the bag. Seems like the perfect hiker food. You could also make a diet version for people trying to lose weight.

[Wise Old Owl]

thank you for the crackers. i have eaten human fleash. im not proud of it. but its a fact. i even like it i think. and i will do it again. of course im talking about my own scabs. who hasnt? duh.

lol
Ohh man you almost had me - pass the coffee pot!

[Wise Old Owl]

Back in the 60s there was a LD hiker trail food that consisted of bacon fat mixed with peanut butter and cut into squares like fudge. I tried it and found it quite tasty. I've been looking for someone who remembers this stuff to no avail. Thinking about this makes my mouth water as I write this. Which also reminds me, back during a very wet spell of hiking through the Pemigewasset Wilderness area of the White Mountains in the early eighties I used bacon fat to grease my Limmers during a break at Zealand Hut. I never knew of course, but I probably was trailed by hungry bears for days afterward. The boots did smell terrific for a long while.

hi matty

Yea I remember it, On a side note, a government program discovered that malnurished starving babies will not eat any food that is presented to them. Except a package of purified watery peanut butter mix that was recently shown in the news. They dab the stuff on their lips to entice and they scarf it up. Also at the end of WW2 the surviving population was starving in England. Peanut butter was rushed in to feed the children and to this day my parents wont touch it because thats all they had for weeks after the European campain was over.

Hense the hiking with Caffiene Snickers Thread from a week ago.

[desdemona]

Yea I remember it, On a side note, a government program discovered that malnurished starving babies will not eat any food that is presented to them. Except a package of purified watery peanut butter mix that was recently shown in the news. They dab the stuff on their lips to entice and they scarf it up. Also at the end of WW2 the surviving population was starving in England. Peanut butter was rushed in to feed the children and to this day my parents wont touch it because thats all they had for weeks after the European campain was over.

Hense the hiking with Caffiene Snickers Thread from a week ago.


I don't think it is available to hikers but Plumpy Nut, as it is called is a mix of peanut butter powder,milk powder, sugar, and water, as well as vitamins and minerals. It totally turns around starving kids. I can't imagine some enterprising person not selling this stuff. I think if you liked peanut butter you would eat it. I'm not sure I would like it too much but being hungry makes things taste better. After a day of hiking, I bet I would eat it.


--des

[mweinstone]

the peanut butter makes you lick your lips to get it off . thats why it feeds folks who have starved .when you dont know to eat, haveing something sticky on your lips is the wat to remind the person. some babys dont suck nipples and have to have honey rubbed on the roof of their mouth to show them the motion.

[mudhead]

For a long time I have wondered why a company like Purina which makes complete and balanced foods for almost every species of animal ( dog,cat monkey, etc,) hasn't made a People Chow. Imagine a dry stable food that would provide complete nutrition that could be used in emergencies, camping, etc. You could make it in a number of flavors, different textures.

http://www.preparednesschristmasgifts.com/36caforabaap.html

I have seen a couple versions of this type of stuff. Survivalist food sites. You know, 5 gallon pail of PB type sites.

[Marta]

On the Outward Bound thing I did as a teenager, we went out with only Space Food Sticks for food. They were like big Tootsie Rolls.

A few years later, David and I got stuck in a remote village in Colombia for a couple of weeks with only oat flour and sweetened condensed milk to eat. We lost a lot of weight, and were suffering the beginning symptoms of scurvy by the time we got out of there.

I haven't met a mono-diet yet that appeals to me...

[desdemona]

http://www.preparednesschristmasgifts.com/36caforabaap.html

I have seen a couple versions of this type of stuff. Survivalist food sites. You know, 5 gallon pail of PB type sites.

The Survivalists are such a fun gang to hang around! :D
I landed on one of those sites by a few links one time, and ended up reading for an hour or so. It was like being in an accident scene, too scary to look at too weird not to look.

--des

[Johnny Thunder]

Also, a full third of British citizens area allergic to peanut butter.

[Johnny Swank]

It's probably possible, but there's no way I'd be able to pull it off. I lived off PBJ's and fritos for a week on the trail, but that was just a food craving more than anything else. I can't imagine eating one single type of food for 5 months.

[Patrickjd9]

I think prisons have something like this for unruly comvicts to subsist on.http://www.slate.com/id/2075999/

Here's a recipe, though you'll probably have to cut the size down.

[tazie]

http://www.slate.com/id/2075999/

Here's a recipe, though you'll probably have to cut the size down.


Actually it doesn't sound too bad and I could probably pass it off as chef's surprise in my house, with ingredients at hand and use the excuse, I didn't have time to go to the grocery store. (laughing)
Patrick, your avatar always reminds me of Hulk Hogan. :D

[desdemona]

Also, a full third of British citizens area allergic to peanut butter.

I imagine its close to the no. of Americans allergic to it. Some violently so, and except for Southwest airlines, afaik, no US air carriers have the requisite peanuts anymore.

(BTW, zero percent of starving kids are allergic to peanut. And it is rare in developing countries anyway.)

Still peanuts and peanut butter are good foods for hiking if you have no allergies. High in protein, high in fat, and add some honey, jelly, raisins, chocolate pieces (and god forbid fluffernut-- I used to live on this stuff in my 20s) high in sugars as well. I think Nutella would go good with it. And what is not better with Nutella??


--des

[Patrickjd9]

Patrick, your avatar always reminds me of Hulk Hogan. :D
The only resemblance is in the gray hair and beard...I'm more bellied than muscular:(.

[Appalachian Tater]

Also, a full third of British citizens area allergic to peanut butter.Where did you get that nutty statistic? Way less than ten percent have any food allergy at all, only about one percent of Europeans and Americans are allergic to peanuts.

[aaroniguana]

I have created the ultimate hikers sandwich:

Three slices of whole grain bread. Spread on each: Almond butter, Orange blossom honey, Nutella. Stack and eat.

[mweinstone]

i challenge your pritty good sandwitch with my awsom grilled cheese on a rock with shelled peanuts. nuts must be freash out of the shell . put a handfull or less between the cheese and butter a flat rock next to the fire. grilling is perfect on a rock of the flat thin type. no stick with a drop of lube. i dare double dog dare you not to have an annakorinakovafalactic shocking exsperience.

[aaroniguana]

Mine doesn't require heat and if you have an ounce of dexterity you can make it WHILE you hike.

You just got served.

[mweinstone]

yours is store bought and old ideas. mine is new and cant live in artificial environs. it must be created with art and skill. anyone can market nuttella . can you sell anyone the idea that a grilled cheese and peanuts on a rock is worth ditally? no. therefore its genius. no one will ever kill me for my weirdo samitch whils you walk around advertizing nuttella! nuttella! rob me! i have nuttela! no sir, ill stick to whats weird and unaceptable and horrid to others so when the nuttella hits the fan, ill have my nuts.

[Gray Blazer]

thank you for the crackers. i have eaten human fleash. im not proud of it. but its a fact. i even like it i think. and i will do it again. of course im talking about my own scabs. who hasnt? duh.







lol

Some of the kids at my work pick their noses and eat their boogers (usually after they have inspected them closely).

I heard (prolly a trail myth) about one guy who only ate gorp and stayed in shelters. I'll bet he needed some mag citrate when he hit town (maybe that was his first snack when he got to town).

The jews lived on manna for 40 years. You can prolly get some for free if you pray a lot and have enough faith.

[Gray Blazer]

It's probably possible, but there's no way I'd be able to pull it off. I lived off PBJ's and fritos for a week on the trail, but that was just a food craving more than anything else. I can't imagine eating one single type of food for 5 months.

Now that you mention it, I remember living off PB&J my whole freshman year of college.

[J.D.]

Hikers just need to keep eating snickers. That's why they look so ragged by the end of their journey, but I think that's a good thing.

Just today! Found a "new" Snickers bar called "Snickers CHARGED" Limited Edition @ 59 cents - 1.83 oz. - with: ***CAFFEINE, TAURINE, B-VITAMINS*** "Not rec'mnd. for children, pregnant women or people with allergies to caffeine" Haven't tried it yet. Saving it for that last hill...

OK, so what is "Taurine"? A solyent green by-product?

[excuses]

Taurine?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurine