Sample menu for a thru hiker?

[JoshL]

I wanted to find out what an average thru hiker will buy in town and have in his pack for 4 or 5 days until a resupply. Normally on my short trips I just go with Mountain House or something freeze dried and boil in bag, but those are expensive and seem less popular for thru hikers. While snacks can vary widely from person to person, I am more interested in what people are cooking either at breakfast or dinner. I hear a lot about Lipton and Ramen, but I don't think I could survive 6 months on just those. Furthermore, most of the noodle type dishes I see are only 3 or 4 hundred calories a pack, and the amount of nutrition a through hiker needs would necessitate at least 4 packs of Ramen a day. Could any of you experienced distance hikers show what you would eat in an average week?

[RED-DOG]

Okay this is my six day resupply; 5 packs of pasta sides any kind, 5 packs summer sausage,2 Mac-cheese, 2-3 Ramen , 5 Single packs of spam, whole wheat tortila wraps, banana chips, Nuttela, Bagels, block cheddar chesse, Instant mashed potatoes, Snickers bars, Gummy bears, Hot sauce, pepper, salt , honey, thats pretty much my 6 day resupply but it also differ's from resupply to resupply what ever i feel like eating when i go in a grocery store is what i buy, for exsample in the summer i might but all none cook foods, i hope this helps. RED-DOG ( Flip-Flop 96 & GA-ME 06 and again this year ) Happy hiking.

[chiefiepoo]

Don't know if you can buy it in most trail towns at a fair price, but I have been adding fully precooked bacon in the 2.5 oz vacuum pack by Hormel or OM. With cheddar and a tortilla it makes a good bacon cheddar breakfast or anytime meal. I stock up on BOGO offers and start with 2 packs and use them in my hiker boxes. lightweight and tasty, but somewhat pricy. I'm fortunate, so far, that a partial package seems to keep in <70* temps and I can get 2 to 3 wraps over two days without any mold or funk on the unrefrigerated portion.

[atmilkman]

Don't know if you can buy it in most trail towns at a fair price, but I have been adding fully precooked bacon in the 2.5 oz vacuum pack by Hormel or OM. With cheddar and a tortilla it makes a good bacon cheddar breakfast or anytime meal. I stock up on BOGO offers and start with 2 packs and use them in my hiker boxes. lightweight and tasty, but somewhat pricy. I'm fortunate, so far, that a partial package seems to keep in <70* temps and I can get 2 to 3 wraps over two days without any mold or funk on the unrefrigerated portion.

This is what I used to and still do carry on occasion but I try to get it ate up within a couple of days. I found this other stuff that tastes really good and seems to keep a really long time and has good fat and protein count. 12g fat and 7g protein in 1oz. It's not tuff chewy like regular beef jerky but actually pretty soft. I found it at Wal-mart but not all of them, so it may or may not be in a big resupply town. I do the same thing with it as the pre-cooked bacon, make breakfast sandwiches with cheese.bacon jerky 002.jpg

[stroth-mann]

All depends on how crazy you want to get with it, and what you have access to. Starting out a trip, I will dehydrate pasta sauce and roll it up like a fruit roll up, and feed it into boiling water with dry tortellini in it, this is my luxury meal. For normal stuff I try to carry some kind of block cheese (that gets eaten up pretty fast though), some Ramen, knorr meals, mac and cheese. For snack type stuff that can also be used as a meal I usually try to keep some pita bread and a little bag of hummus, that's an awesome snack. Beef jerky as well. For desert you can mix water with a package of instant pudding, not quite as good without the milk but it works.

[Spokes]

Besides the normal staples others mention, consider grabbing a deli sandwich or left over pizza when leaving town for dinner in camp that night. It's a real treat.


Oops! Forgot to mention a couple big cans of beer too. Drink one and leave the other in a cold stream by the trail for the next thru hiker. Share the love man.......

[Spirit Walker]

Cereal, dried milk and coffee for breakfast.
English muffins or tortillas and meat, cheese or peanut butter for lunch.
Cookies and more cookies. Dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, gorp, granola bars etc. for snacks.
Pasta, rice, mashed potatoes or stuffing mix mixed with protein of some sort: Spam, sausage, cheese, tuna, salmon, chicken or ham.
More cookies.

[shelb]

dehydrate pasta sauce and roll it up like a fruit roll up, and feed it into boiling water with dry tortellini in it, .

Think this would work with freezer bag and cozy?

[shelb]

Oops! Forgot to mention a couple big cans of beer too. Drink one and leave the other in a cold stream by the trail for the next thru hiker. Share the love man.......

Wow...that would be the ultimate Trail Magic!

[Lando11]

instant breakfast packets, coffee, and dried milk
honey buns, bear claws, cinnamon buns for 2nd breakfast
peanut butter or nutella on bagel or raisin bread for lunch beef jerky as well
combos, pretzel bits, bacon and cheese wraps, or cereal withbdried milk
also would try to eat a protein bar daily

[stroth-mann]

You know I'm not sure, haven't tried it, but I don't see why that wouldn't work! Might be interesting to try it that way.

[TACKLE]

Eggs and potatoes for breakfast. However you carry the eggs make sure you put them in a ziplock bag just in case. Eggs will be ok for a couple weeks. Small white taters work best for me. Just cut them up as small as you can and fry(olive oil also in zip lock). Eggs are also great stirred into any soup.
Tuna steak(in foil packs) placed in a Ramen soup mix is a favorite for dinner.

[Monkeywrench]

left over pizza...

Left over? What's that? I don't remember there being food left over from any of my town meals while I was thru-hiking.

[Farr Away]

Think this would work with freezer bag and cozy?

I don't know about the tortellini, but the pasta sauce will work fbc. Keep track of how much is a portion. For example, dry 1 cup of spaghetti sauce; powder it in the blender; bag it & write "makes 1 cup" on the bag.

I also cook, rinse, then dehydrate my pasta. Put the dehydrated pasta and sauce powder together in a freezer bag.

-FA

[Monkeywrench]

Breakfast: Cold cereal w/powdered milk. Instant breakfast w/powdered milk.
Snacks: Beef jerky. GORP / trail mix. Snickers. Crackers of some kind.
Lunch (eaten twice per day): English muffins or tortillas or bagels w/ cheese or Nutella or peanut butter or summer sausage. Sometimes add pre-cooked bacon to peanut butter sandwich. Accompanied by more snacks.
Dinner: Either noodle or rice side dish w/ tuna or Spam added for protein. Sometimes added olive oil for a calorie boost as well. Cup of hot tea.

It's a starvation diet, which you supplement by gorging on as many calories as possible when in town and when offered food by trail angels / weekenders / Boy Scouts / etc. A sample in-town meal would be one large pepperoni pizza, a liter of root beer, a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream and a box of cookies. Repeat every few hours.

[Creek Dancer]

I don't know about the tortellini, but the pasta sauce will work fbc. Keep track of how much is a portion. For example, dry 1 cup of spaghetti sauce; powder it in the blender; bag it & write "makes 1 cup" on the bag.

I also cook, rinse, then dehydrate my pasta. Put the dehydrated pasta and sauce powder together in a freezer bag.

-FA

The dried tortellini takes a loooong time to rehydrate. And by the time it's fully hydrated, it's nearly cold. Believe me So I usally cook it in my pot maybe 5 minutes, then to save fuel, I let it continue to "cook" the rest of the way in my pot cozy. The Barilla brand is the fastest to cook so far that I have found. I then pour olive oil over the cooked tortellini and sprinkle with grated parmesan. Yummers!

[ScoutDad]

The dried tortellini takes a loooong time to rehydrate. And by the time it's fully hydrated, it's nearly cold. Believe me So I usally cook it in my pot maybe 5 minutes, then to save fuel, I let it continue to "cook" the rest of the way in my pot cozy. The Barilla brand is the fastest to cook so far that I have found. I then pour olive oil over the cooked tortellini and sprinkle with grated parmesan. Yummers!

Have you ever tried the pesto sauce that comes in a tube? I had considered it with the Barilla tortellini.

[Creek Dancer]

No, I haven't tried that, but what a great idea!

BTW, ScoutDad, I am a proud mother of an Eagle Scout.

[BrianLe]

There's quite a variety, but apart from personal preference, key issues are what sort of store (or gas station) are you resupplying from, and whether you're cooking or not.

Breakfast and lunch are about the same items for me; dinner varies depending on whether I'm carrying a stove or not.

As I gain experience at this I will say that I pay less and less attention to getting perfectly balanced and nutritious meals and more on just getting some protein, some starch, and mostly just enough calories that I can and will choke down. And keeping it simple. Then make up in towns not only for typically a caloric deficit in between but also for getting things like vegetables and fresh fruit.

In that context a "sample menu" is just about what's acceptably edible, easy, and available. For me that's the usual things like dried fruit, jerky, gorp, trail bars. I used to do a protein shake and now find that I'm happy with hot chocolate packets in the morning (cold). Some sort of "meat with starch" for lunch and dinner, though peanut butter can be used too. Tastes and preferences can change as you go along, and then maybe change back too. I recall a friend who for a while had a passion for instant oatmeal packets of the "X & Cream" variety, just eaten cold with water out of the oatmeal package. He was spooning those up at every meal for a time. Another friend and I periodically would buy a 6-pack of hotdog sized sausages and hot dog buns and just eat those cold for lunch or dinner. Some will get sick of tuna, others never do seem to. Etc Etc.

I wouldn't worry much about it, just try things as you go along and figure this out on the fly.

[Wise Old Owl]

Scoutdad - you can get Tomato sauce that way too - concentrate