View Full Version : Meal Planning - what are some of your ideas?
Wise Old Owl
05-17-2009, 12:25
:welcomeI have to admit - this is a weak spot for me, I have read a couple of books, I think I understand it. Then I see someone who is far better at it than me. I just wing it everytime and it ends in a failure. It hardly ever comes up as a thread.
What are some of your thought processes in putting together a meal plan? (5-6 days). based on Calories, Weight, diversity of meals.
lets try and avoid the freeze dried stuff as that would be a last resort.
It's so overwhelming isn't it? I planning on 10-11 mail drops for my SOBO, just to places where there isn't a decent grocery store. I'm a newbie at this as well so I can't give you an expert opinion but I started like this: make a list of what you would like to eat for breakfast, lunch/dinner, and snacks. (Your tastes will change, I hear, along the trail, so don't buy EVERYTHING you're going to eat for the next 6 months. Instead, have a friend/parent/spouse buy it and pack it a few months into your hike) Then portion out the foods into what you need day by day-- and show your support crew at home the portions so they know what you need when you ask for 5 days of food. My understanding is that you want to take foods that are at least 100 calories per ounce, but of course you will be buying some fresh produce and the like along the way to eat for the first day or so out of town. Good luck!
LaurieAnn
05-17-2009, 14:56
Meal planning is as diverse as the cookbook authors out there. I tend to approach it in a way that not only looks at what I am eating, the weight of the foods, the likes of the groups but also the planned route.
I like variety and diversity. I also like foods that taste good and are hearty. I generally plan lunches that can be cold-water rehydrated and don't require any heating. I don't like having to haul my stove out for lunch. I rarely use freeze-dried foods if I can help it.
Actually it might be easier to post the information from my website... I've included links to the recipes where they are available online (hopefully that doesn't break any forum rules). While these two sample menus are for four day excursions it would be easy enough to add in another day.
I am often asked the question "what is your favorite menu?"
As far as a favorite meal plan goes - that changes so much for me from trip to trip. The trail food I eat depends on the length of trip, difficulty of the hike or paddle and the number of people coming with me.
Here you will find two menus for the same length of trip. The first menu (below) has some trail cooking techniques that require a bit of additional gear such as a backpacking oven. Then, if you scroll down, there is a second menu that has been modified to be lightweight and use an alcohol stove.
Below the trail menus you will find some additional tips and comments for backcountry meal planning.
(B=Breakfast, S=Snack, etc)
sample menu one
This menu requires a pot set, Outback Oven (or other camp oven) and a small thermos.
Day One
B - Harvest Oatmeal Bars
S - Dried Fruit and Almonds
L - Tuna Salad Wraps
S - Dark Chocolate (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=61)
D - Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Day Two
B - Blueberry, Hazelnut Quinoa (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/backpacker-recipes-quinoa.html)
S - Fresh apples and cheddar
L - Roasted Tomato Dip (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/backpacker-recipes-dip.html) and Pita
S - Pepperoni sticks
D - Chicken Potpie with Biscuits
D - Chocolate Cake (for a camp mate's birthday)
Day Three
B - Granola with fresh yogurt and fruit
S - Gorp
L - Black Bean Dip with Pita
S - Homemade Energy Bars (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=57)
D - Trail Pizza
Day Four
B - Homemade Energy Bars (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=57)
S - Frunola Bars (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=79) (these are purchased from Kettle Valley)
L - Citrus Lentil Salad (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/trail-salad.htm)
S - Smoked Almonds and white cheddar
D - Black Bean, Corn and Sweet Potato Soup
(http://www.wildernesscooking.com/backpacker-recipes-soup.html)
sample menu two
Now, as promised, the same menu but modified to suit a quick breakfast and using a single pot instead of a pot set. It also removes the need for a backpacking oven and thermos (used to make yogurt on the trail).
All of the lunches in this modified menu are easy and don't require the use of a stove. I don't like to have to haul the stove out of my pack at lunchtime. You could even get away with an alcohol stove using the menu below.
Day One
B - Harvest Oatmeal Bars
S - Dried Fruit and Almonds
L - Tuna Salad Wraps
S - Dark Chocolate (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=61)
D - Chicken Stew with Dumplings
D - Caramel Apple Chai (this is a hot tea that doubles as dessert)
Day Two
B - Muesli with milk
S - Dried apples and cheddar
L - Roasted Tomato Dip (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/backpacker-recipes-dip.html) and Pita
S - Pepperoni sticks
D - Black Bean, Corn and Sweet Potato Soup (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/backpacker-recipes-soup.html)
Day Three
B - Blueberry Maple Granola with Nido
S - Gorp
L - Citrus Lentil Salad (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/trail-salad.htm)
S - Homemade Energy Bars (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=57)
D - Minestrone (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=90)
D - Chocolate Moosey Mousse
Day Four
B - Homemade Energy Bars (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=57)
S - Frunola Bars (http://www.wildernesscooking.com/blog/?p=79) (these are purchased from Kettle Valley)
L - Black Bean Dip with Pita
S - Smoked Almonds and white cheddar
D - Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
So as you can see it it pretty easy to switch it up to suit the trip and person. Additional days are merely variations of the same but with different recipes.
some general advice and comments...
make sure you taste the meals at home to see if you like them (everyone in your group should be included in this)
homemade energy bars made with a high energy cereal (Kellogg's Vector for example) will keep you going longer than something like instant oatmeal and one batch can be split up over a trip
when cooking pasta on the trail you can rehydrate your sauce in a container, cook your pasta in the pot and once drained add the sauce to give it a quick heating
if you don't want to cook pasta on the trail then cook it at home and rehydrate it with hot water at camp (but I still prefer to cook pasta at camp without dehydrating it as has better texture)
eat the heavier dinners earlier in the trip (example the Chicken Stew with dumplings)
save more complex breakfasts for layover days or short hiking days
supplement your trail menu with nuts, gorp, and other snacks to ensure you are getting enough calories
when drying foods you can always dry enough for more than one trip and put it in the freezer so you have it on hand for impromptu backpacking or padding adventures
if you aren't big on desserts just omit those entries (we like to spoil ourselves with desserts on trips - my partner refers to it as his "essential luxury")
be well aware of serving sizes when you are planning the food so that the meals are hearty enough but you don't have a lot of waste either
(http://www.wildernesscooking.com/outback-oven-ul.htm)
http://www.trailcooking.com/
Sarbar really knows her stuff. Great book and great website. I have leaned a ton from her. Very pleasnt person to deal with too.
Wow.
It's easier when only trying to please yourself, but you guys eat way better than I do.
I hope to get better over time, in terms of spices and soups and recipes and stuff, but all I do now is buy and pack in bulk, usually in roughly 0.5 or 1 or 2 pound amounts, and throw stuff together as I eat. The stuff can be combined in various ways, but I'm no gourmet. On a 3 day short simple summer trip I might just grab skim milk, tea, spices, oats, currants, lemons, honey in larger amounts/day but less variety. On a longer trip there will be more items and so more variety. The more weight I want to lose, the lower my trail diet will be in fat. If I ever have less flesh to lose, I will need to add more fat to my diet. More seeds and nuts and maybe vegetable oil, as in granola vs porridge.
Current food choices: 1 to 1.5 pounds/day in summer, 1.5 to 2 pounds/day in winter
Skim Milk Powder = 4 oz/day (~ 1 litre)
Oatmeal = 4 oz/day
Currants = 4 oz/day (maybe try dried blueberries next trip)
Almonds = 2 oz/day
Homemade Jerky = 2 oz/day
Lentils = 2 oz/day
Dried Vegie Soup Mix = 2 oz/day
Tea and Spices = total 1oz/day (packed either separate or combined)
Lemons = 1 small lemon per day (yeah heavy, but a recent kick of mine)
Honey = 500ml bottle as condiment and extra emergency food
The spices I use now, since I started making my own chai...
Spices used in Chai style tea, and also good in oatmeal...
cardamom
cloves
black pepper
cinnamon
ginger
anise
I'm not sure yet if I need to bother to package them separately or if it might be easier to combine, even with the tea, ahead of time. If you want spicy oatmeal you can pour your spiced tea and milk directly on the oats, after straining of course. So I am not sure yet if I will premix my spices at home with the tea, or separate from the tea, or even separate from each other. Might be easier to combine and have just the one bag or container. I could still pick out cloves if I wanted them for something, like a cold.
Other spices I like are nutmeg and paprika. I could bring a whole nutmeg separate, and grind that up when I want it. Paprika is good in soup, but I could mix it with the dried vegie mix. Hey, it sounds like I might be getting into recipes after all before long. lol
Wise Old Owl
05-17-2009, 17:11
Jak very interesting 2nd post, did you put it in the wrong thread? This was about meal planning...1st post is great.
Sorry about that. I got an idea that might help. If you had some standardized washable and re-usable bags or containers, and they were made or marked in some distinctive way so you didn't want to throw them out, that might help you plan your trip by acting more or less as a physical check list. Fill the bags and go. More full for longer trip.
1. Skim Milk Bag
2. Spice and Tea Bag
3. Oatmeal Bag
4. Dried Fruit and Nut Bag
5. Bean and Soup Mix Bag
6. Homemade Jerky and Granola Bar Bag
7. Honey Jar
... and of course a food bag big enough to contain them all when they are full.
Some stuff like lemons, or special bought treats, can go in loose.
warraghiyagey
05-17-2009, 17:43
Plenty of Ramen. . . . everything you add beyond that and you will be healthy. . . . plenty of Ramen and you'll never be hungry. . . :sun:sun:sun
Wise Old Owl
05-17-2009, 21:46
Plenty of Ramen. . . . everything you add beyond that and you will be healthy. . . . plenty of Ramen and you'll never be hungry. . . :sun:sun:sun
That's winging it, not planning, come on I know you can do better. Keep this up and we will have to change your avatar to cat. Like this -
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg275/MarkSwarbrick/opus_bill.gifPenquin got your tongue?:D
Simple:
I make sure I have an even balance of carbs/protein/fiber/fat with lots of fruits and veggies added in.
I pack food for how long I will be gone and then flip through what I have based on what I crave. No set schedule. Some times I eat dinner for breakfast.
I also eat a wide range of snacks all day instead of a big lunch.
All I need is a UL mug/cup and a pot to boil water, a long handled spoon and my cozy...and life is good.
As for others? Unless it is the kid or the husband, when we group hike everyone does their own thing. Way easier! Though that doesn't mean we don't share :) Dessert is often shared.....In many cases though we don't eat meals at the same time making it easier.
Last but not least...a small bottle of olive oil and tons of Parmesan cheese will make nearly any dinner tasty!
Homer&Marje
05-18-2009, 07:08
That's winging it, not planning, come on I know you can do better. Keep this up and we will have to change your avatar to cat. Like this -
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg275/MarkSwarbrick/opus_bill.gifPenquin got your tongue?:D
I disagree. I plan my ramen. Gotta crush the noodles prior to the trip and put them in one large ziploc bag. 1 cup of crushed noodles in every bag. You can go as far as also taking the seasoning packages out so they don't create trash. Put them also in one ziploc bag inside the big bag of noodles. 1/2 teaspoon of seasoning I think....don't remember...but anyways it's easy to find out.
Then...plan out enough beef jerkey or pepperoni...or both for longer trips and diversity:D.
We also bring Maseca which is Spanish corn flower...the wife makes some killer tortillas. Make them about 3/8" thick....no thin stuff. You'll want a simmer stove or a fire to pull that off.
Mashed bread is also good...compactable to a point and soaks well in ramen expanding into goopy gloppy goodness.
Planning the gorp is most important. I have found that Wal Mart sells the premixed gorp for $5 for a large bag. Get one original and one tropical mix. Add 2 dollar store bags of dried apricots plus 2 extra bags of peanut m&m's and 2 bags of original m&m's.
1 box of mac and cheese usually and sometimes a large Mountain House meal...just for simplicity meal at the end of the trip.
Enough hot cocoa for 2 a day per person...good for calories before bed to keep warm. Oatmeal for 1 per person per day. Usually buy instant but if I have raisins and brown sugar in house I will make my own. You can premix those ingredients to save on bags and trash.
Whiskey.
vonfrick
05-18-2009, 10:24
That's winging it, not planning, come on I know you can do better. Keep this up and we will have to change your avatar to cat. Like this -
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg275/MarkSwarbrick/opus_bill.gifPenquin got your tongue?:D
don't worry, warrghy doesn't have to wing it anymore. i plan and prepare our food for months in advance. we probably eat better on the trail than we typically do at home!
Tipi Walter
05-18-2009, 10:40
:welcomeI have to admit - this is a weak spot for me, I have read a couple of books, I think I understand it. Then I see someone who is far better at it than me. I just wing it everytime and it ends in a failure. It hardly ever comes up as a thread.
What are some of your thought processes in putting together a meal plan? (5-6 days). based on Calories, Weight, diversity of meals.
lets try and avoid the freeze dried stuff as that would be a last resort.
Meal plan? Sure, for me there's a thought process, but no meal plan. Here's what I learned: VARIETY. Everything gets old, and uninteresting food on a backpacking trip gets old quick. Who has meal planning when you can eat all day? Snack, in other words.
I divide my food bags into two: a snackable bag and a cookable bag. Snackables include anything you can eat without cooking(the list is endless). Cookables require a stove and a pot, etc, and here too there's a fantastic bunch of food out there:
oatmeal
Tasty Bite pouches
Backpacking dehyrdated meals(Mt House/Mary Jane's Farm, etc)
Grocery stuff: ramen/mac and cheese/Liptons Pasta-Cides(death by pasta?)/brown rice cooked at home and ziploc-ed out/scrambled eggs/etc etc etc. The main thing is here for me is to avoid meals with TOO MUCH SALT! They're everywhere, high salt meals, and are hard to avoid.
Before a long backpacking trip I go to a grocery store and get what appeals to me at that moment, sometimes it's a new kind of rice cracker or a different type of granola, other times I find something different to cook like an oriental Kame meal in pouches. Currently I'm on a fresh fruit and goat cheese combo, the fruit is heavy but it's eaten quick in the first few days. I highly recommend taking fresh stuff, like pears, apples, avocados, baby carrots, grapes, even some cabbage to chew on while hiking.
The great thing about backpacking is eating, and here you can take whatever you want. I humped out a whole watermelon once into Pisgah and another time 2 pints of Haagen Daz ice cream which were drunk in quick sucession upon reaching camp. Not advised.
i have an assortment of 4 different dinners planned for my trip on wed. a 3 week section of PA. all meals will be prepared FBC style
dinner 1:
instant potatoes
bag of chicken (or spam single)
1/4 bag dried veggie soup mix
tabasco
dinner 2
knorr's rice mix
bag of salmon
tabasco
dinner 3
ramen noodles minus flavor packet (2 packs)
bag of salmon
olive oil
parmessian cheese
tabasco
dinner 4
easy mac and cheese (2 packets)
bag of tuna
tabasco
Homer&Marje
05-19-2009, 06:00
Sounds like Tabasco for dinner with 3 different additives:D
fiddlehead
05-19-2009, 06:12
I figure out how many days food i need.
Then start piles: one for breakfast, one for snacks, one for lunch, one for dinner.
I try (cause i know from experience i always take too much) to keep it down to a minimum.
But then at the end i get scared and add a few things that will stretch meals in case i get really hungry: Like egg noodles (plain) and instant mashed potatoes.
For breakfast, a zip lock of instant coffee with enough for each day, either a bagel, bear claw, pop tart for the 1st day or two and then instant oatmeal or dry cereal and powdered milk (the mexican stuff)
Snack is usually peanuts and snickers bars, or potato chips and pretzels and little debbies.
Lunch is usually burritos (with tabouli or houmus, or my own dried black beans or anything really) or one or two ramens (maybe i cook lunch twice a week), or balogna sandwiches (they'll last at least 3 days) with some mustard and garlic thrown in, and lots of salt snacks (crushed potato chips or cheeze curls are great) and a few little debbies for a sugar snack.
Dinner is usually mac and cheese or a lipton dinner with added dried broccoli, plum tomatoes (dried of course), dried onion and garlic. I used to put some powdered parmesan on top but am not into cheese anymore. If it looks to small, add the instant mashed potatoes or noodles or some powdered milk, potato chips, anything.
I like a cup of tea after dinner and maybe another little debbie.
A lot depends on whether i'm thru-hiking too as i know my appetitite will double.
AFter a few weeks, it gets much easier. I usually hate liptons by then and start using indian curry and coconut milk with plain noodles or something like that to keep it varied.
once i get in shape, i only stop for a big lunch and just eat the snacks while i walk. but that takes a few weeks to get to that level.
Hope that helps.
B: 2 packs oatmeal and 1-2 packs vitamin c fruit chews like the ones shaped like cars and stuff for kids lunches and coffee
S: snickers and beef jerky
L: Nutella and peanut butter on english muffin with roasted soy nuts
or tortilla shells with cheese and pepperoni
S:gorp and jerky
D: Bortella 3 cheese tortellini, cup of soup, fruit cup
or 2 packs easy mac (in the pouches)with real bacon bits thrown in
Homer&Marje
05-19-2009, 07:30
I forgot to mention the staple 2 blocks of cheddar. One mild and one sharp. Gonna start throwing 1 pepperjack in and replacing one of the other two... we can take the fresh tortilla dough before they are cooked and wrap cheese and pepperoni and or beef jerkey into it...and make stuffed tortillas. Fantastic
Wise Old Owl
05-19-2009, 16:00
Homer - I like the idea of blocks of Cheddar,
Well I had a talk with Rotten Rodney and he isn't on the internet so I will put here one of his thoughts,
He starts with dinner and each night picks Potato, then the next night Ramen or Noodles, next night Rice, then builds the meals from there so he can keep the varity up.
Breakfast
carnation meal replacement
Cereal
Snacks
2 Baby Ruth Mini
Lunch
2 Tortillas
2 stripes Joes Ultralight Moose Goo
Snacks
2 Baby Ruth Mini
Dinner
Instant Mashed Potatoes
TVP
Dehydrated Non Fat Milk
Olive Oil
Total of 3344 calories a day and 1.5lbs of food a day
Blissful
05-19-2009, 22:43
Breakfast
Poptart or quaker oat bar or CLiff Bar or cooked oatmeal with fruit and nuts in it
handful of granola or fruit and nut trail mix
Archer fruit strip
Cocoa if its cold out
Lunch
tortillas or bagels with sharp cheddar cheese, pepperoni or summer sausage or SPAM single
raisins in a box
mini candy bar
Dinner
Turkey dinner made of dried canned chicken, potatoes, stuffing, chicken gravy mix
or chicken flavored couscous with dried chicken
or Lipton extra veggie packet with either dried beef or dried chicken
or Ramen with dried hamburger and dried veggies
Rice Krispie bar for dessert
Snack
assorted GORP mix mainly of nuts, rasiins, dark M&Ms
cheddar goldfish or other salty snack mix
mini candy bars
half a power bar
4 day bag for me weighed about 3 lbs., give or take
Homer&Marje
05-20-2009, 06:01
Carolina rice packs are nice to bring too. Better if you have a simmer stove or a pot cozy...so you don't waste too much fuel. Add a little meat though and they are good energy and sticks with you better than pasta. Get yourself some veggies in town and make a rice primavera. Use dehydrated veggies if you have em.
Personally I think variety is over-rated. I like the simplicity of simple foods, simply done. I might change things a little from one trip to the next, but not so much within a trip. I do like bringing foods that can be prepared and combined in different ways though, and I think it helps not to decide exactly what you want to eat until meal time.
Consider as an extreme case a 5 day trip with just the following...
1. Bag of Skim Milk Powder
2. Bag of Tea and Spices and Salt
3. Bag of Oats
4. Bag of Dried Blueberries and Almonds
5. Bag of Lentils and Dried Vegetables
Still lots of different ways to eat that stuff, for breakfast, snacks, or dinner. By keeping things simple and last minute might be more inspired to innovate. Also, you can look around and try something from Nature's pantry now and then, like adding a pinch of young spruce needles or something like that. Lots of fiddleheads up here this time of year. Next trip, maybe leave the lentils home, bring homemade jerky or something.
Food for thought. ;)
It is nice to include something different each trip though, like some homemade cookies, or a lemon, a lime, and an orange. Special treats like homemade chocolate fudge are even more special when the rest of the food is pretty simple. Moderation, including moderation. ;)