Food

[TSWisla]

Struggling with food/weight choices. For 4 days, I plan to bring 4 protein bars, 4 packets of oatmeal, 8 Knorr dried soups/rice/noodle combos, tortillas and peanut butter, almonds. The peanut butter is 1 lb! I was going to bring packets of tuna, but decided to go with the Knorr soups as they offer more calories and approximately the same protein content. My food bag is quite heavy, what am I doing wrong?

[WingedMonkey]

Don't understand why you would need 8 Knorr for 4 days.

Don't understand a pound of PB for 4 days either.

[colorado_rob]

I personally think lots of PB is a good thing, though 4 oz/day does seem a lot. Just weigh your total food and adjust accordingly. Go with 2 lbs a day, unless you have some food with water content, like packs of Tuna, in which case you need to adjust up for that water.

[Feral Bill]

Struggling with food/weight choices. For 4 days, I plan to bring 4 protein bars, 4 packets of oatmeal, 8 Knorr dried soups/rice/noodle combos, tortillas and peanut butter, almonds. The peanut butter is 1 lb! I was going to bring packets of tuna, but decided to go with the Knorr soups as they offer more calories and approximately the same protein content. My food bag is quite heavy, what am I doing wrong?
What is the weight of your food? 8 pounds (a gallon of water) would feel heavy but would be about right for four days. A full pound of peanut butter seems like a lot, though.

[Tipi Walter]

Four days is nothing. Heck, I could fast for 4 days on a trip. Plus, a short 4 day trip would allow me to dump the stove and just snack the whole time w/o cooking. You should see the food load for my upcoming trip. I have 1lb of peanut butter . . . . . and 2lbs of almond butter and 2lbs of cashew butter . . . . along with 2 loaves of Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread and everything else. Oh and a pound of fresh hummus and 15 large garlic cloves.

[flemdawg1]

take twice as many oatmeal packs, half as many knorrs.

2TBS of PB=1 oz, 1lb is definately overkill for 4 days. I'd do half that. You might consider taking the small JIF single serving tubs.

[flemdawg1]

If I ate 15 garlic cloves, I'd have to stay in the woods alone too.

[Tuckahoe]

It is pretty easy bring way too much food for a four day trip. For such trips, there is no need to eat like a thru-hiker and many folks find they are not as hungry. You just dont need more of a calorie intake on short duration trips. Personally I do not eat anymore on a hike than I do at home.

On short trips a day's menu for myself may be something like this --

Breakfast -- Clif Bar and 1oz box raisins
Morning snack -- 1.5oz peanuts
Lunch -- Bumblebee Chicken salad kit, string cheese or 1oz serving of cheese, dried fruit or Target fruit bars, 1oz peaunut/almonds
Afternoon Snack -- 2 fun size Butterfingers
Supper -- Packit Gourmet chili
Bedtime snack -- Walkers shortbread two cookie pack.

I have gotten pretty good at getting my daily food in around 1.25 to 1.5 pounds for a day.

[lonehiker]

How many nights is your trip? For a 4 day trip, I only take 3 days worth of food. Maybe 1 or 2 extra snacks to account for the last day.

Day 1: lunch, snack, dinner/dessert
Day 2: Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner/dessert
day 3: Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner/dessert
day 4: Breakfast, snack

Breakfast = 3
Lunch = 3
Dinner = 3
Snack = 6 (+2 if first and or last day is long)

So 3 days worth of food total (4.5lbs appx).

edit: find smallest peanut butter jar you can and scoop what you don't need out. Add some honey and mix well. Works great on a tortilla. (Add corn flour to make Ultra-light Joe's Moose Goo.)

[flemdawg1]

Struggling with food/weight choices. For 4 days, I plan to bring 4 protein bars, 4 packets of oatmeal, 8 Knorr dried soups/rice/noodle combos, tortillas and peanut butter, almonds. The peanut butter is 1 lb! I was going to bring packets of tuna, but decided to go with the Knorr soups as they offer more calories and approximately the same protein content. My food bag is quite heavy, what am I doing wrong?


take twice as many oatmeal packs, half as many knorrs.

2TBS of PB=1 oz, 1lb is definately overkill for 4 days. I'd do half that. You might consider taking the small JIF single serving tubs.

Forget what I said earlier. For a 4 day trip you usually don't have breakfast the first day nor Dinner the last day to carry. So, I revise to 6 oatmeal packs, 3 knorrs and still half the PB.

[Shonryu]

I usually carry peanut butter packets and a lot for the days I need them. Saves a lot on weight. Dont forget a few snickers bars :P

[saltysack]

Try Justin's peanut butter packets...lil pricey but good


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[TSWisla]

Great advice, I was going to eat one Knorr for lunch and one for dinner, that is why I am bringing 8. I know that the PB is a lot, but I don't want to bring the small packets (too much garbage) and I could not find smaller than a 1lb jar, I guess I will scoop out what I don't need.

[tarditi]

I'm always surprised how much food I have left over... I recommend getting some small travel packs of PB instead... 1 of them per day may be plenty... even if you double it the weight will be less than 1lb.

[flemdawg1]

Great advice, I was going to eat one Knorr for lunch and one for dinner, that is why I am bringing 8. I know that the PB is a lot, but I don't want to bring the small packets (too much garbage) and I could not find smaller than a 1lb jar, I guess I will scoop out what I don't need.

Then you can just leave the PB and tortillas at home, I thought that was your lunch.

[12trysomething]

It is pretty easy bring way too much food for a four day trip. For such trips, there is no need to eat like a thru-hiker and many folks find they are not as hungry. You just dont need more of a calorie intake on short duration trips. Personally I do not eat anymore on a hike than I do at home.

On short trips a day's menu for myself may be something like this --

Breakfast -- Clif Bar and 1oz box raisins
Morning snack -- 1.5oz peanuts
Lunch -- Bumblebee Chicken salad kit, string cheese or 1oz serving of cheese, dried fruit or Target fruit bars, 1oz peaunut/almonds
Afternoon Snack -- 2 fun size Butterfingers
Supper -- Packit Gourmet chili
Bedtime snack -- Walkers shortbread two cookie pack.

I have gotten pretty good at getting my daily food in around 1.25 to 1.5 pounds for a day.

+1 agree 100%

[Hot Flash]

Try Justin's peanut butter packets...lil pricey but good




And a lot more wasteful packaging, too.

[Coffee]

Since my upcoming trip includes Shenandoah National Park, I'm only carrying about 8 pounds of food at the start which should take me into Bear's Den hostel at the end of day 7 where I can do a short term resupply before retrieving my full resupply package at Harpers Ferry. Normally I plan on between 1.75-2 pounds of food per day so it really helps to have places along the way to buy prepared foods and/or snacks.

[Abatis1948]

If I ate 15 garlic cloves, I'd have to stay in the woods alone too.

I second that!!!!

[Rolls Kanardly]

Ultra-light Joe's Moose Goo.

Okay this is a new one to me. Honey, peanut butter, corn flour. I am assuming that it is a spreadable? How many parts of this to how many parts of those? Why corn flour? Rolls

[FarmerChef]

For that short of a trip you should definitely be able to score some of those little Jif single serving PB cups at Wal Mart or the local Grocery Store. Scooping out also works but then you've got a big half-full tub of peanut butter to pack. I'm similarly confused at what the PB and tortillas is for. That's an easy lunch.

No judgment here. Are you really planning to stop and cook a Knorr side for lunch? I'm not saying it can't be done but I rarely see anyone do hot lunch for the simple reason that it's a lot of work to dig out the cook kit, cook it, and clean up afterwards. Plus, it's a big time sink and uses extra fuel and water. But, hey, if that's what you're into, Rock On! No worries. Do what makes you happy on the hike.

[rafe]

It is pretty easy bring way too much food for a four day trip. For such trips, there is no need to eat like a thru-hiker and many folks find they are not as hungry. You just dont need more of a calorie intake on short duration trips. Personally I do not eat anymore on a hike than I do at home.

I quite agree with this. I invariably pack too much food for my short section hikes. I know the accepted figure is 2 lbs. per day but that almost always ends up being too much. Just my $0.02.

Quite a different story for a northbound through-hiker in Maine, where every calorie counts.

[lonehiker]

Ultra-light Joe's Moose Goo.

Okay this is a new one to me. Honey, peanut butter, corn flour. I am assuming that it is a spreadable? How many parts of this to how many parts of those? Why corn flour? Rolls

I normally don't do research for people, but I'm feeling generous:

http://www.ultralightbackpacker.com/

Basic Recipe:

2 parts honey
2 parts corn flour (NOT corn meal! I plan to try sweet rice flour soon.)
1 part peanut butter (preservative-laden)
Mix thoroughly, will take some time.
Pack into Coghlan's Squeeze Tube (REI, Campmor, etc), or in cold weather wrap in wax paper.


Single Squeeze Tube Proportions (2-3 lunches w/ large tortillas):

8 tbsp honey
8 tbsp corn flour
4 tbsp peanut butter


Per tube:

1320 calories
172g carbs (70 simple, 102 complex)
24g protein
38g fat (That's a high proportion of fat, but what the heck...)


As to why corn flour. I don't know, you would have to ask Ultru-light Joe.....

[lonehiker]

Since my upcoming trip includes Shenandoah National Park, I'm only carrying about 8 pounds of food at the start which should take me into Bear's Den hostel at the end of day 7 where I can do a short term resupply before retrieving my full resupply package at Harpers Ferry. Normally I plan on between 1.75-2 pounds of food per day so it really helps to have places along the way to buy prepared foods and/or snacks.

If you are able to supplement, then 1.25-1.50 lbs food is more than adequate. People worry about shaving an ounce or two from their gear then end up hauling pounds of too much food. It has been a bit since I hiked through SNP, but if I'm not mistaken, you can enter with a days worth of food and resupply from little stores and eat often from cafeterias.

[Rolls Kanardly]

I normally don't do research for people, but I'm feeling generous:


.....

Thanks for being generous. I will try to repay the favor someday.
Rolls

[Feral Bill]

15 large garlic cloves. Going solo?

[q-tip]

I have a number food lists with weights and nutritional info, as well as caloric requirements for different types of hiking. If interested, please send me a PM with your email and I will forward.......

[Ewker]

Ultralight Joe's Moose Goo

NOTE: If you pass this around to your friends, I have but one request - please refer to it as "Ultralight Joe's Moose Goo". Since I run this site anonymously, it's not an ego thing. I just get a kick out of hearing it mentioned on the trail, let's me know I'm contributing to my fellow trekkers. A simple pleasure, perhaps, but I take what I can get. :-) Thanks!
Basic Recipe:

2 parts honey
2 parts corn flour (NOT corn meal! I plan to try sweet rice flour soon.)
1 part peanut butter (preservative-laden)
Mix thoroughly, will take some time.
Pack into Coghlan's Squeeze Tube (REI, Campmor, etc), or in cold weather wrap in wax paper.

Single Squeeze Tube Proportions (2-3 lunches w/ large tortillas):

8 tbsp honey
8 tbsp corn flour
4 tbsp peanut butter

Per tube:

1320 calories
172g carbs (70 simple, 102 complex)
24g protein
38g fat (That's a high proportion of fat, but what the heck...)

BEWARE! Below 40F, Ultralight Joe's Moose Goo becomes impossible to squeeze out! I open the tube from the back and spoon it out when that happens. For snow camping I pack it in wax paper instead, eat it like a candy bar, or pre-pack it into tortillas.

[Odd Man Out]

I would add up all the calories to see where you are at in a calories per day calculation. That would be a way to see if you have too much or too little food.

As for the PB, if you want to take less, go to the deli counter and get one of those small tubs they sell deli salads in. The small tub should hold less than 1 lb.

For me, eating 1/4 lb of PB per day is no problem - may not be enough, but that's just me.

[lonehiker]

Ultralight Joe's Moose Goo

NOTE: If you pass this around to your friends, I have but one request - please refer to it as "Ultralight Joe's Moose Goo". Since I run this site anonymously, it's not an ego thing. I just get a kick out of hearing it mentioned on the trail, let's me know I'm contributing to my fellow trekkers. A simple pleasure, perhaps, but I take what I can get. :-) Thanks!
Basic Recipe:

2 parts honey
2 parts corn flour (NOT corn meal! I plan to try sweet rice flour soon.)
1 part peanut butter (preservative-laden)
Mix thoroughly, will take some time.
Pack into Coghlan's Squeeze Tube (REI, Campmor, etc), or in cold weather wrap in wax paper.

Single Squeeze Tube Proportions (2-3 lunches w/ large tortillas):

8 tbsp honey
8 tbsp corn flour
4 tbsp peanut butter

Per tube:

1320 calories
172g carbs (70 simple, 102 complex)
24g protein
38g fat (That's a high proportion of fat, but what the heck...)

BEWARE! Below 40F, Ultralight Joe's Moose Goo becomes impossible to squeeze out! I open the tube from the back and spoon it out when that happens. For snow camping I pack it in wax paper instead, eat it like a candy bar, or pre-pack it into tortillas.

If you see my initial post reference Ultra-light Joe's Moose Goo, you will se that I did in fact reference it as such.

[CalebJ]

Satisfying my curiosity here: Does anybody else -not- fall into the group of having their appetite grow only after a few days? I generally find myself ravenous even on the first day out and pack about 2lb's per day for every full day on the trail.

[12trysomething]

Satisfying my curiosity here: Does anybody else -not- fall into the group of having their appetite grow only after a few days? I generally find myself ravenous even on the first day out and pack about 2lb's per day for every full day on the trail.

Having been at a variety of weights over the past number of years, I find that when I have been carrying extra pounds I am not that hungry when I start out on a multi-day trip. On the other hand, when I have been close or at my ideal weight, I have an increase in hunger right out of the gate.

Not sure if this helps, just sharing experience.

[Ewker]

If you see my initial post reference Ultra-light Joe's Moose Goo, you will se that I did in fact reference it as such.

after I posted it I then saw you had already posted it

[NY HIKER 50]

OK Folks, here's how I do it. To hold down the stove and cooking weight, I use a very small pot. I make bouillon, cuppa soup, or similar broth. This serves to warm up the insides. Then I use other cold foods. This at least helps it it gets a bit chilly. On top of that you can dump in some instant rice or potatos. This is what works for me. As for PB, I just brng a small jar and gorge.

[Wise Old Owl]

Nice thread - Tuckahoe nails it - I like what I see - I noticed when hiking with Cricket he eats - its bagels and Cream Cheese or PB individual tubs, I like Hard Boiled Eggs with salt packets in a glad bag... Don't forget the summer sausage Pepperoni Stick, or my personal favorite as it lasts for months unrefrigerated and open

26691

[QiWiz]

Struggling with food/weight choices. For 4 days, I plan to bring 4 protein bars, 4 packets of oatmeal, 8 Knorr dried soups/rice/noodle combos, tortillas and peanut butter, almonds. The peanut butter is 1 lb! I was going to bring packets of tuna, but decided to go with the Knorr soups as they offer more calories and approximately the same protein content. My food bag is quite heavy, what am I doing wrong?

I usually budget 1.4 to 2.0 pounds/day (less in summer, more in winter). IMO, if you have more than 8 pounds of food you have too much. Personally I would cut the PB in half, cut the Knorr's in half, and take way more trail snacks that are salty.

[SunnyWalker]

Try the 18 oz jar of peanut butter.

[astrogirl]

I'm doing a 4-day at the beginning of May (Erwin to Roan Highlands), and 3 days food is a good idea - I already had laid it out and did not plan breakfast on the first day or dinner on the last...but I think I still had too much food, and after reading everyone's suggestions, I've pared it down.

My food bag should come in about 5 lbs. now. That will provide me with about 2,600 calories a day which is about my maintenance level at home. I'm not planning on cooking any food. I have a couple Esbit tabs and that itty bitty Esbit titanium spider thing, just in case I really need a hot beverage. I do save weight on fuel, but I mostly find that cooking is way too fussy and time consuming. Here's what I've got:

3 tyson chicken packets (3 dinners)
8 oz. cheddar cheese
4 Udi's GF bagels
mayo and mustard packets
protein powder (about 7 scoops)
powdered milk (1 qt. envelope)
8 instant coffees
4 herbal tea bags (decaf for night time)
4 packets cocoa mix (can also be mixed cold with protein powder, which is where the instant coffee goes)
12 oz. raw trail mix (walnuts, pepitas, cranberries)
12 oz. cocoa dusted Almonds w/sea salt (these are from walgreens, and jeeeez are they tasty and addictive)
8 oz. dried fruit
Reese's pieces
Snicker's Peanut Butter bar

I will also likely bring some bourbon. :)

[bangorme]

I'm going to try those cocoa dusted almonds... they do sound good.

I only heat water once a day, and that's the only time I use my stove. Fuel is weight. I do all freezer bag cooking using either instant potatoes or minute rice as a starch. Mix a packet of chicken or tuna in, and you have a gourmet meal! "Freezer Bag Cooking" by Sarah Kirkconnell is a good resource.

[NY HIKER 50]

Don't understand why you would need 8 Knorr for 4 days.

Don't understand a pound of PB for 4 days either.

Here's why. The Knorr's are a bit small and for myself, I need at least 2 to fill me up. At least the mac n cheese has not gone below 7 oz. He may have it right. If not, it's good for two more days. I don't see it here, but I threw out the canned stuff and lowered my weight and had meat only every other day.

[astrogirl]

BTDT with the freezer bag cooking. Still saves me a lot of screwing around to not cook.

[NY HIKER 50]

I once had someone give me a head of garlic since he was leaving the trail. I went crazy putting it into everything. And I was solo, but no one avoided me. It just tastes good!

[Venchka]

Try Justin's peanut butter packets...lil pricey but good


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There are more than peanuts. Almond & hazelnut for sure. With maple sugar or chocolate. Yummy!
Now, back to food for four days:
Day 1: Pig out before the hike, bring take out for lunch. On trail food and dinner.
Day 2-3: regular trail food.
Day 4: Flip-Flop day 1.
Total trail food days = 3
Eat hearty.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.