View Full Version : Sample one-day menus?
I'm interested in what constitutes one day's worth of food for the average thru. What specific food items did you carry for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks each day? Feel free to direct me to previous posts on this subject, I did a search but I had a hard time finding anything.
:) Mindi:banana
Conventional wisdom says that the daily average of food carried on the AT is 1.5 Lbs food per day. After about the 2nd week that will seem a snack to the average hiker.
I have seen / done the following on my section hikes (usually 2 to 3 weeks long):
#1) AM: 4+ Pop tarts. Walking lunch of: granola bars (4+) candy bars (4+) & jerkey (1/2 Lb+) Dinner: Lipton noodles & sauce (2 Packets), Peperoni stick, candy bar(s).
#2) AM: Oatmeal &/or grits, 2 to 4 packs. Walking lunch: as above. Dinner: Mac n cheese w ground beef added, hard salami & cheese (Gouda?), 3 granola bars.
And etc. Similar theme daily, usually with what ever is avalable at stores with resupply. Good things to add flavor: Star Kist tuna in foil pouches, any hard cheese, tortillas, salami or peperoni. I find bagles too heavy & I can't eat a full pack before they spoil, but that may just be me.
I'm not a fan of sweets, so The few candy bars & similar that I like on the trail I Refuse to eat at home so as to not tire of them. I also rarely eat at home: pepperoni, mac n cheese, etc.
Doctari.
SGT Rock
11-26-2006, 07:28
Heck, I haven't through hiked yet, but I did a long section once after a summer time gunnery in Louisiana and a trip to Air Assault School - so I started with my hiker hunger already kicked in...
Breakfast:
2 breakfast bars or pop-tarts
2 packages of grits
Some dried fruit
Some jerky
2 coffee bags
1/2 ounce of olive oil
tobasco sauce
butter buds
Brunch:
dehydrated refried beans (rehydrated)
more jerky
2 tortillas
1/2 ounce of olive oil
tobasco sauce
Lunch:
a package of cold ramen
itallian dressing
dehydrated veggies
parmesan cheese
another tortilla
Dinner:
A package of Liptons or something similar
some jerky
a tortilla or two
1/2 ounce of olive oil
a couple of tea bags
instant pudding
tobasco sauce
Snacks:
more dried fruit
more jerky
hard candy
2 Snicker bars
Frolicking Dinosaurs
11-26-2006, 07:41
Mindi, I cook for two so you probably need to halve this:
Breakfast - one cup of dry butter flavored instant grits with 1/4 cup of cheese sauce mix and 1/2 cup of bacon bits - add 1/4 cup of olive oil and 3.5 cups water
1.5 cups dry hummus mix (I add garlic powder, lemon zest & a bit of ground red pepper for more flavor) - add 1/4 cup olive oil and enough water to get consistency of hummus - 5 whole wheat pitas (I pack the hummus mix in a ziplock big enough to hold the prepared hummus & add the water to the hummus mix at breakfast so the flavors can blend & it is ready to eat when we stop for lunch)
Noodles from two ramen packs, 2 cans dried tuna, about 1/4 cup dried peas (a 10 oz box of frozen peas), 1/4 cup dried onion flakes, 1 packet of dry garlic alfredo sauce mix & enough powdered milk to make sauce, 1/4 cup olive oil.
We also each have a sandwich baggie of mixed nuts (brazil, cashew, walnut, almond, macadamia) and dried fruit gorp
We hike on from where we eat dinner to camp to lessen the likelihood of critter problems and usually have pudding & powdered milk (as a hot drink when itis cold) in camp.
peter_pan
11-26-2006, 08:47
Breakfast
Freeze dry coffee
oat meal packets from the bag
dried pinapple or mixed fruit
Lunch
beef stick and cheddar cheese with crackers
or
chicker in a foil pack, two mayo packs and a picle relishpack with pita
candy bar
or same with tuna in a foil pack
crystal lite ice tea
Dinner
Mountain house meal.... add some beef stick from lunch
Pita or crackers
Apple cobler or other dessert (I like an evening treat)
Coffee
Daily snack bag
jerky
1 or 2 snickers
red licorise
mixed nuts
raisins
Winter evening snack of 1 oz cheddar cheese to keep the heater going all night.
After two weeks on the trail quantities increase... adding olive oil is a good light way add calories.
Also, I gave up pop tarts as they were mostly sugar, didn't stay long with me and are quite heavy by comparision....
Pan
One item that I carry a lot of is gorp for snacks. Depending on how hungry I am, a bag can last a long time or not. Exact make-up depends on what's available at the time, but always plenty of nuts, m&m's, and various dried fruits.
Other than that, I look for breads to carry, such as bagels, and flat breads. Lots of good carbs.
A couple years ago I posted something like "Fueling up for 30 mile days" that might help. On the AT with, say, a 20 miles a day as the goal, in moderate weather (no lower than, say, 40), I would be eating:
Breakfast: 2 Quaker Oatmeal Squares
Snacks (total): 4 candy bars (Snickers or Milky Way)
2 pkgs Cheese and Crackers
1-2 oz jerkey
Lunch: 2 tortillas
2 spoonfuls peanut butter
2 spoonfuls nutella
Dinner:
Couscous with dried vegetables and olive oil
Menus change a lot depending on the miles and what I can get.
SalParadise
11-27-2006, 17:36
Breakfast:
3 or 4 packets of cold oatmeal (super-fast cleanup was a big plus).
Snack:
Nature's Harvest Granola Bar. I also tried not to eat many candy bars.
Lunch:
Tortilla, cheese and pepperoni
peanut butter and jelly sandwich (real bread)
Dinner:
Liptons (of course) and often some fresh broccoli I'd carry out
Velveeta mac&cheese (nothing has ever tasted so wonderful)
hopefulhiker
11-27-2006, 19:12
Breakfast:
Homemade Oatmeal with flak seed, crasins, powdered baby milk, ground nuts, . this recipe varies every several days.. Different dehydrated fruit ect. On cold days may also have Carnation instant breakfast with coffee mixed in.
Lunch..
walking lunch, granola bars, beef jerky, homade gorp with butterscoth, rasins, and cashews, snicker bars, power bars, dark choclate bars... dehydrated fruit, homade beef jerky,,As for quanties, I usually eat four bars of some kind during the day, and about six ounces of gorp. a couple of pieces of jerky. Also maybe some gatorade mix too..
Supper,
sometimes carnation instant with coffee, or russian tea, My wife usually made homemade dehydrated gormet backpacking dinner, These included African bean stew, spheggetis, pasta, chilis, Usually about an eight oz packet.. augmented with some more dehydrated fruit..
SalParadise
11-27-2006, 19:32
really? you did walking lunches? you've got more energy than me, Hopeful.
Spirit Walker
11-27-2006, 20:45
I also cook for two, but our usual day is as follows:
Breakfast: instant coffee
Cereal (granola or raisin bran) and dry milk
Snack: gorp made of raisins and chocolate (Jim doesn't eat nuts)
Lunch: Eng. muffin w/ cheese, meat (Buddig type packets of ham, turkey, etc.)
Potato sticks or Fritos
Dried fruit
Chocolate bar
Cookies
Afternoon snack: Granola bar
Dinner: Lipton with tuna/salmon/chicken from foil packet
Cheese Crackers
cookies
Koolaid
Sometimes soup or hot chocolate with dinner if it was cold and fuel plentiful
SalParadise
11-28-2006, 01:41
Kool-Aid, good call Spirit Walker. man, that quick sugar rush just before a big climb was great.
Protien powder, chocolate is my favorite, Nitro-tech with low carbs cuz Im diabetic, but they have it with also. Pay extra attention to supplements. Stay away from the candy and pop tarts. A good gorp mix with lots of different nuts and chocotale etc. is very good for you. Think of innovative ways to eat well! It's worth it!
Prunes, also. They keep really well, get a bad rap they don't deserve...dates are also good.
SGT Rock
11-28-2006, 07:21
I like stopping to eat. Call me lazy, but I love 1-2 hour breaks for meals.
hopefulhiker
11-28-2006, 09:59
Yes I continued to walk while eating lunch, Remember I walked SLOWLY. im am pretty old you know.
Always last to camp, I would try to keep moving during the day.
Also remember that my pack, the luxury lite, had that "feed bag" front pack.. So all I had to do was reach in and grab a snack, without even breaking stride.
But I did take breaks, I even took a couple of naps on picnic tables.