View Full Version : Food Items besides Your Meals
cmarshall099
12-20-2018, 22:55
Hey guys just wondering what some of you pack out besides what you eat for your meals on a thru hike? I have a pretty good idea of what I will eat for my meals but I've been doing some thinking on some other items I'll need that aren't apart of my meals or snacks. I was thinking of some multi vitamins since I will be eating mostly junk or some protein powders to fill me up. What kind of items like this do you guys pack out if any at all?
Between shoulder seasons fresh sprouts https://outdoorherbivore.com/trail-sprouts/ Packed with enzymes and nutritional goodness! A Superfood? I look for reputable sources and always clean water wash. Most beneficial if eaten raw. Done this way they boost the immune system not risk impairing it.
Water and fiber rich low glycemic foods help keep one satiated too. Quality fats can keep one satiated and fueled as well. Ohh, clean cold untreated(nothing added) water, the elixir of Life.
Electrolyte, micronutrient, probiotic, phytonutrient, greens,...containing powders. Not so hyped on just a "protein" powder. If choosing a powder why choose one based on just protein when so many exists that have so much more? I'm asking not making a rhetorical statement. It's not like adequate required LD hiker protein amounts aren't already included and cumulatively attained in common trail foods and snacks in a wide diet. The U.S. public is over sold on protein requirements???
... I will be eating mostly junk...
Why eat junk? If you're eating junk, a vitamin pill won't help. If you're hiking, your body wants decent fuel, so don't feed it junk.
Nuts, dates, fresh fruits, dried fruits, cheese, jerky, all make decent snacks.
Starchild
12-21-2018, 09:39
Sometimes I would bring ginger, either pill supplement, or the root itself, not the girl, which is a natural anti-inflammatory and aids in digestion.
garlic08
12-21-2018, 09:43
I don't pack "meals." I eat every couple of hours, at every break from hiking.
On a thru hike, I pack what I can find to buy, concentrating on oats, nuts, dried and fresh fruit, bread, nut butters, and whatever fresh veg I can fit in the pack. No junk, no vitamin pill.
AllDownhillFromHere
12-21-2018, 09:50
Clif builders bars, kind bars, powercrunch bars (avoid "candy" bars)
macadamia nuts
Those "green powder" drink envelopes
Protein powder (bulk, chocolate)
Plan on eating 3-400 calories every 2 hours, in addition to your sit-down meals. Including something before bed.
Christoph
12-21-2018, 10:10
I'd suggest reconsider food choices a little bit. You can eat some lightweight, quick meals here and there but make sure you pack out some good stuff too. I usually packed a deli sub and fruits, you'd be surprised how cool it stays inside your pack. Mine would be fine for the meal that night and another sub/sandwich for the next. Whatever you do, don't just eat Ramen, oatmeal, and pasta sides like so many just because they're lightweight. This was my downfall on my 1st thru attempt (almost landed in the hospital due to losing 45 lbs by the time got to Roanoke!). On my 2nd attempt (successful thru) I ate better, had lots more energy throughout the day and never had protein powder or vitamin supps. Weight wasn't any significant difference being I didn't have to carry these (protein powder is heavy, get some Muscle Milk while at the store and chug a few before you leave), and the trash/packaging was less to carry out by eating fresh/deli type stuff. Hope this helps and I didn't veer off the original topic too much. I did pack out a Monster, a pepperoni log, or something like that to help motivate me after a long day. Sometimes I carried it for a few days, but within town stops there's always that one day that's hardest. Was VERY rewarding.
Starchild
12-21-2018, 12:32
I'd suggest reconsider food choices a little bit. You can eat some lightweight, quick meals here and there but make sure you pack out some good stuff too. I usually packed a deli sub and fruits, you'd be surprised how cool it stays inside your pack. Mine would be fine for the meal that night and another sub/sandwich for the next. ....
Yes to this. My first meal out of town was usually a 'real' meal, not a backpacking meal. I would take some to go precooked meals to enjoy sometimes, even from fast food places.
Another one of my tricks was to go to the supermarket the day before and get a steak or other meat and hide it in the frozen bin under the peas or something. Come back the next morning and find and buy it. I would place it deep in my pack surrounded by insulated layers and hit the trail. Check it at lunch and in the mid afternoon, adjust it if needed if still too frozen. By dinner time it was still plenty cold but ready to cook.
My day into town I called my beef Jerky day, I would break open a pack of the stuff and much on my way in.
Puddlefish
12-21-2018, 13:17
If they haven't changed the science recently... vitamins require the proper nutrients in to be in your stomach to be properly absorbed. If you're eating a well balanced diet, the proper vitamins are absorbed. If you're taking the vitamins with Ramen noodles and honeybuns... the vitamin "supplements" will wash right through you.
I found it easy enough to stick with vaguely nutritious(er) choices. Like dehydrated rice meals instead of pasta. Rather than shipping myself entire meals, I shipped kind of healthy like dehydrated vegetables (which do lose some nutritional value) but helped make boring meals less boring, and had some absorbable vitamins. After some time on the trail, I craved vegetables as much as pizza. So, when I hit the town, I'd get both.
I didn't have perfect nutrition on the trail, but I feel like I did better than most people, and less well than many.
After severe weight loss after leaving HF with intestinal issues, I started chewable vitamins, one every morning and an iron tablet at lunch. Started packing more protein breakfast bars, Belvita cookies, Fruit Characters in small pouches and started eating every two hours between the three meals for the day. Made sure I had Mia Electrolyte Squirt Bottle for days and Hawaii’s Punch powder for diner to add to the smart water bottle. In town I always went for a half gallon of Chocolate Milk. Finally, I added asuper small bottle of honey to put on Peanut Butter Wraps that I should have started earlier. We often talk of the Physical and then mental challenge of Thru Hiking; but we often forget that the last third of the hike will be a nutritional challenge as well!
I'm always surprised by all the hikers running solely on carbs. Sure, there's energy value, but that's all there is in the food. We develop frequent and severe hunger because of the insulin spikes and crashes, and if we do it long enough our pancreas will give up generally in our 50's or 60's. People were not made to fuel like this... Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic condition of your body trying to protect itself from severe insults of modern carb/sugar diet. It doesn't have to be like this.
Sometimes I would bring ginger, either pill supplement, or the root itself, not the girl, which is a natural anti-inflammatory and aids in digestion.
The one woman I did associate with named Ginger was pro inflammatory and created indigestion. :D
Food items are meals.
Wayne