CBSSTony
10-20-2008, 09:16
I will preface this by saying, I section hike so no super long weeks on end type stuff. Why don't people take more raw foods ? Not talking about meat. I understand the weight thing, to a point, but you need water. What makes raw foods heavier is the water content. Other wise why all the talk of dehydrating. It seems that the processing of foods takes some of the nutrition out of food.
One other thing, why not put a bag type meal in your shirt/jacket to heat it up by dinner/supper and save on fuel that way.
garlic08
10-20-2008, 09:33
See Doug the Raw Hiker at www.rawhike.com.
Tipi Walter
10-20-2008, 10:26
Hey Tony--
On a three or four day trip raw foods can be taken in bulk with no real weight problem(except for that time I humped in a whole watermelon), it's just on long 10-15 trips that raw foods add too much poundage to the already-heavy pack. And yet a guy named Elmer Onstott thruhiked the AT long ago and carried and lived on raisins with raw sunflower seeds. He was in his 70s and recommended this diet.
When I start out on my backpacking trips, I usually carry some permanent raw foods(raisins/walnuts/raw cheese), and these can be augmented with grapes, apples. pears, a banana, etc, although the fruits are eaten and finished by day 2 or 3. I eat the bulk of my raw foods when I'm not out on a backpacking trip, so when I hit the woods I have a change 'o pace with cooked items, eggs, mac and cheese, toast with honey, etc.
Dorothy Laker on her 3 thruhikes use to swear by something fresh and crunchy, either a head of lettuce or a head of cabbage. I learned from her to take cabbage as it can last a whole trip and still be good. Same with baby carrots. The ideal camping diet for me would be to have a huge salad everyday with cottage cheese/cheese, a tablespoon of almond butter, an avocado, sprouts, tomato, cucumber, etc. But it's just not possible. And in the winter, well, have you ever tried to eat a frozen orange or pick thru a head of frozen lettuce(or god-forbid, frozen alfalfa sprouts)??
Gray Blazer
10-20-2008, 10:43
Apples pack really well (and can fit anywhere in your pack or pocket) and can rehydrate you when you forgot to camel up at that last spring you passed and the one you just hiked a quarter mile to is dry. I really like bananas, but, they get crushed really easily.
max patch
10-20-2008, 11:18
Oranges in the summer always taste really good.
Avocados year round. Love them sooooo much :D