What do you do for Lunch?

[Canute600]

I recommend the tortilla idea that several others have advocated with fillers. My I hiked the Long Trail, I filled tortillas with PB, cheese or powdered hummus mix for the most part. The key to making it work is variety. I found some cool flavored peanut butters in the store (ex: cinnamon swirl) and I added things like raisins/craisins to the PB and sun-dried tomatoes and olive oil to the hummus to make it taste better. Heck, you can even get flavored tortillas!

[map man]

I snack throughout the hiking day on gorp (peanuts, cashews and raisins) and Clif Bars. You can eat both of these foods while walking. There are times when I don't want to stop but I do want to eat!

[amac]

I agree with Raul Perez, I don't do a sit down lunch, I take little breaks and snack all day long. It saves a lot of effort of preparing, cleaning, and packing up.

[Papa D]

I eat seitan meatless jerkey (Primal Strips), slices of hard block cheese, flat-breads like pita bread, peanut butter, almond butter, nutella, dried fruit, and gorp (M&Ms peanuts, raisins). Sometimes, I take a plastic jar of 3/4 dried milk powder and 1/4 protein shake - I dump a couple of scoops of that in a nalgene bottle, add water and make shake. I also tear off the top of an instant oatmeal bag, pour in some water, stir and eat - no cook. If you are fancy, and just left a town, hardboiled eggs work well. Meat eaters also might add pepperoni, summer sausage, pre-cooked bacon, bags of tuna fish, and stuff like that to their lunch.
Truthfully, a long hiking day is coffee in the morning with a snack, snacking on above stuff all day, then dinner

[58starter]

After breakfast, I start on a breakfast bar, cheese sticks, beef sticks, then 2 peanut butter on tortillas, followed by a snickers bar all sometimes before I stop to eat dinner. Eatting something every hour helps keep hungry away and provides the need calories to hike.

[TheYoungOne]

I either do snacking thru the afternoon, or I do a sit down cooking lunch.

Usuallly I do cliff bars, beef/turkey jerky, snickers, M&Ms, raisins, or a sandwich made at home or bought at a store before I hit the trail.

[fredmugs]

Other than the occasional dehydrated meal I don't do meals - I just bring food and eat it.

Lunch time I would typically eat a MetRx Big 100 meal replacement bar. Sometimes I bring a sumemr sausage and have that cut up into baggies.

When I stop for a 5 - 10 break I will eat trail mix or a snickers.

[4Bears]

The first day out if I like to take a subway or other sandwich, after that it varies from trip to trip sometimes PB and whatever(honey, cheese, pepperoni, about anything goes) on a half a pita-bread other times tuna/chicken in a bag, cheese, wheat thins. If its cool and rainy (one of those wonderful days, LOL). if I can get out of the wind a bit I might take time to make a cup of instant soup, if not I put head down and keep hiking to stay warm and reach into the GORP bag more often. I might make up a pita before breaking camp if I see it is going to be a cold day and stuff it in a pocket so it is ready when I am. Bottom line, eat what you like or need the weather and your body will dictate what you do, be flexable.

[Scratch]

What if you're allergic to peanut butter and genuinely don't like peanuts to begin with? That rules out most GORP mixes and many of the easy lunch ideas. I thought about switching out peanut butter with pepperoni for wraps but I could use some ideas for variety.

[sheepdog]

What if you're allergic to peanut butter and genuinely don't like peanuts to begin with? That rules out most GORP mixes and many of the easy lunch ideas. I thought about switching out peanut butter with pepperoni for wraps but I could use some ideas for variety.

tuna packets, chicken packets, salmon, cheese, spam, salami....

[Dogwood]

RARELY, do I stop to prepare a heated/cooked lunch instead opting for handfuls of trail mix which includes seeds, nuts, and dried fruits, usually on-the-go. Nutritional bars are also eaten on-the-go. If I do stop I like a bit of cheese, crackers, marlin/ahi(tuna)/turkey, tofu jerky, dried fruit, and dehydrated hummus, which is reconstituted with water. If I have a carrot or piece of actual fruit to gnosh I consioder that a luxury.

[Dogwood]

Usually, little snacks throughout the day utilizing the caloric drip method rather than one big sit down long time lunch.

[Rocket Jones]

What if you're allergic to peanut butter and genuinely don't like peanuts to begin with? That rules out most GORP mixes and many of the easy lunch ideas. I thought about switching out peanut butter with pepperoni for wraps but I could use some ideas for variety.

Rules out most *pre-packaged* GORP mixes. Nothing says you can't come up with your own custom mix. I do, and I know many hikers do.

[Papa D]

Nutella and almond butter is pretty much the most delicious thing your will ever consume -- other than red wine

[4Bears]

What if you're allergic to peanut butter and genuinely don't like peanuts to begin with? That rules out most GORP mixes and many of the easy lunch ideas. I thought about switching out peanut butter with pepperoni for wraps but I could use some ideas for variety.

If your allergic to peanuts then you should/would know what you can eat, nothing says you can't make up your own snack mix aka GORP that is free of whatever allergens you might have. I would suggest using Cherrios and dried fruit and M&M"S but you might have gluten sensitivities or other dietary restrictions, that none of us would know about, not trying to riddicule you but at some point the think tank has to kick in.

[TheYoungOne]

tuna packets, chicken packets, salmon, cheese, spam, salami....

There are flavored tuna and chicken packets. Grab a tortilla, dump some meat on there, maybe grab some mayo packets from Chick-Fil-a or other fast food joint and you got a killer lunch. Now I know what I'm packing for my next hike.

[Wise Old Owl]

Shelter Mice.....

[XCskiNYC]

I snack throughout the hiking day on gorp (peanuts, cashews and raisins) and Clif Bars. You can eat both of these foods while walking. There are times when I don't want to stop but I do want to eat!

Same here. One of the 7-oz packets of peanuts and raisins is good. Easy to keep in the pocket of my hiking pants and eat without stopping. One pack has around 800 calories.

The granola bars are tasty and also easy to eat (Nature Valley, Quakers).

Cashews sound like a good idea because they are tasty and very high in fat. Maybe I'll get some of those for my next hike.

[CaptChaos]

Hello Sixgun:

I usually do oatmeal and hot choc for bkft with some kind of nut bar.

For lunch I have never felt that I had the time to cook anything so I ususall have a couple of beef jerky strips and a large Snickers bar.

For Dinner I go with Chili Mac or I have been known to chunk up spam and cook it and then add water to get it boiling and then add instant potatoes and that is my dinner. It is filling and it works for me. I guess I could come up with something different but it seems to work for me and you all have not found me dead yet in the Smokies of starvation.

Capt Chaos

[ShelterLeopard]

During my hike, this changed CONSTANTLY. The most popular thing for me was pita or tortilla bread with peanut butter or hummus and cheese. Also sometimes did instant soups (when it was cold enough for me to heat water in the middle of the day), salami and mustard, and more tortillas with cheese. Mostly I went with healthy calorie packed snack foods and cliff bars and had three small lunches instead of one.

One thing that SAVED me (after I got really sick of peanut butter) was this "Dark Chocolate Dreams" peanut butter that tasted more of chocolate than PB. I put it on everything. Bagels are good for lunch too. List goes on. And on. And on. Like an energizer bunny...