View Full Version : What to buy
sweaty yetti
01-21-2010, 18:29
I am starting my thru hike northbound march 7th and I'm going to be buying food in bulk here within the next couple weeks. What's some of the best ways to go about this? And what are some the cheapest and lightest foods I can buy in bulk? Thanks a lot
white_russian
01-21-2010, 18:33
Don't. Just buy along the trail.
Sam's Club. A ten-pack of Knorr Sides (the old Liptons) is $8.98. That is more than a half price discount from buying them individually. Same can be said about the instant mashed potatoes and ramen.
You would definitely have to figure postage costs of your mail drops to see if it works out economy-wise (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't). You can save a bit on postage if you can bring your first 3 or 4 mail drops to GA with you and mail them from there.
Good luck.
Don't just go for light, but rather density.
Peanut butter has about the highest caloric density of anything you can eat all by itself.
Go for lots of fats and oils if you're trying to save money and carry the least amount of weight. You'll still need carbs and protein. Macaroni with extra butter, milk and olive oil is hard to beat. You can get the butter and milk in powdered form.
Look up restaurant supplies. In general, they allow cash sales.
I know, Cash and Carry will sell to you. I purchase restaurant-size packages and repackage.
Don't overlook Walmart for prices on packaged convenience foods, especially so, in the packaged ready-to-eat meat and fish food category.
If you think you will want candy bars, purchase them in large packages.
I have lists: look at the bottom of my page about backpacking Food (http://www.ultralightbackpackingonline.info/food2.html) at my website.
Look at the Site Map (http://www.ultralightbackpackingonline.info/sitemap1.html) for more resources and ideas. Be sure to check out the calorie dense (http://www.ultralightbackpackingonline.info/foodfacts1.html) list.
Look at the other threads here in the forum about food costs and ideas for thru-hikers.
There is an entire thread about ramen. Have a look.
Consider couscous: it is lightweight and has compact volume. Done cooking, in seconds, it goes with anything that goes with rice. Try it at home to see if you like it.
Tortillas also take up very little space in the backpack. There are yummy ideas, for tortilla wraps, packaged dried and freeze-dried fruit and fruit powders for "juice" drinks and more ideas in threads in the forum.
Nature's First Full Cream Milk Powder or Nido Instant Whole Milk Powder from PackIt Gourmet (http://www.packitgourmet.com/home.php?cat=23&page=2&sort=title&sort_direction=0) is way better than powdered skim milk.
Consider serving-size packets of blue cheese dressing, honey dijon, ...for lots of flavor.
Think about "add-ons" and use them in practically everything.
What hot drinks do you like? Extra Rich Cocoa. Dried Chowder?
There will be cold mornings and cold and rainy days. There will be snow.
Is there something you really like, you would miss a lot? Pack it, or use a "mail drop".
The Freezer Bag Cooking (http://www.trailcooking.com/store/freezer-bag-cooking-trail-food-made-simple) book is a terrific resource for backpackers.
. . .
climber2377
01-22-2010, 19:58
Don't just go for light, but rather density.
Peanut butter has about the highest caloric density of anything you can eat all by itself.
Go for lots of fats and oils if you're trying to save money and carry the least amount of weight. You'll still need carbs and protein. Macaroni with extra butter, milk and olive oil is hard to beat. You can get the butter and milk in powdered form.
where do you get powdered butter from i have yet to see this...
Blissful
01-22-2010, 20:23
where do you get powdered butter from i have yet to see this...
Maybe Butter Buds. ?
http://www.butterbuds.com/
I have Butter Buds from the grocery store. It is alright. I like it.
Here is PackIt Gourmet butter powder (http://www.packitgourmet.com/Butter-Powder-p304.html). Ingredients: Butter powder (cream, salt) and dry buttermilk.
Nature's First Full Cream Milk Powder (http://www.packitgourmet.com/Natures-First-Full-Cream-Milk-Powder-p159.html) and Nido Instant Whole Milk Powder (http://www.packitgourmet.com/Nido-Instant-Whole-Milk-Powder-p437.html).
. . .
I am starting my thru hike northbound march 7th and I'm going to be buying food in bulk here within the next couple weeks. What's some of the best ways to go about this? And what are some the cheapest and lightest foods I can buy in bulk? Thanks a lot
Don't buy all of your food now. That's my advice, anyway. ESPECIALLY if you don't have experience of what you like to eat on the trail. There will be foods you'll get sick of quickly. Postage costs will eat up most of your bulk-buying savings. Most people expect to finish the trail, and most don't. People abandon tons of mail-drop food in hiker boxes every summer when they end up with too much or foods they've grown weary of. In most places it's easy to buy food when you get there. Search for "mail drops" and you'll get a whole lot of advice on the subject. I'd plan on a handful of mail-drops in critical places early along the trail, and then in larger towns put together and mail to yourself mail-drops as needed along the trail.
Here is PackIt Gourmet butter powder (http://www.packitgourmet.com/Butter-Powder-p304.html). Ingredients: Butter powder (cream, salt) and dry buttermilk.
Good stuff. It really adds a nice touch to meals.
I found out that sunflower seeds have a tremendous amount of calories for its size. It has about 300 calories for 1/4th cup. Compare that to trail mix that only has 150 calories for the same size. Now I just need to find a place where I can buy lots of sunflower seeds for super cheap.
Don't. Just buy along the trail.
I sorta agree with white_russian here. Probably the biggest thing thru-hikers mention they'd do different is reducing the number of food drops. Of course there are some locations notorious for having limited supplies so you may want to consider these in your planning.
Check online resources like The Ready Store (http://www.thereadystore.com/) for good prices on freeze dried meals.
Plenty of good information appears on WhiteBlaze under AT Re-Supply (http://whiteblaze.net/index.php?page=content) as well.
Good luck!
daylaandjasper
01-27-2010, 18:48
I am doing the same thing- packing up maildrops. I thruhiked in 2001, so maybe I have a better idea of where to do maildrops- how much what I get sick of, etc. I did the buy as you go the first time and would still suggest that method for most people. I am doing drops bc I had a bunch of free food and I wanted to try to eat better quality food.
I am doing almost entirely drops but planning to buy persihables like cheese,bagels, tortillas along the way. I also made my snacks light in amounts so I'd have to supplement buying some in order to be able to satisfy cravings. I am sending drops to non-post office places whereever possible so I don't have to deal with PO hours.
Things I have bought in bulk , I did some shopping around to find best prices- from Amazon: carnation instant breakfast powder, Bare Fruit dried fruits, Traverse Bay dried berries. Local walmart had a much better price on 3.5lb cans of Nido for 13 bucks- Nido whole milk powder is the way to go over other powdered milks. Wally world also had the best prices on tuna and chicken pouches, though I did find some off brand tuna pouches at Aldi's discount store that were slightly cheaper.
Sam's Club- I used a friend's membership to save the 40 bucks and bought: olive oil, honey, granola bars, candy bars, Austin cracker packages, oatmeal packets, lithium batteries, ibuprofen,parmesan cheese, various GORP ingredients.
Local health food store I bought a few more gorp ingredients, cream of wheat cereal, quinoa which we cooked and dehydrated to save fuel and time on the trail, sesame sticks, wasabi peas, TVP, powdered hummus. various other things I've bought on sale from various places.
Jack Tarlin
01-27-2010, 19:04
Yetti:
I have to agree with the folks who have suggested that instead of buying much of your food ahead of time and mailing it to yourself, you instead do this only at the few places where purchasing food is either inconvenient or expensive.
There are any number of reasons why most folk prefer to buy as they go, rather than rely on stuff bought in bulk ahead of time:
*You'll save hundreds of dollars in postage fees, and there's simply no reason
to mail yourself stuff to places that have perfectly good markets or food
selection, and there are more places to buy food while en route than you
might think.
*You won't have to worry about mail/parcels that are late or lost and you
won't have to worry about holidays, weekends, or times that Post Offices
are closed, etc. Adjusting your hiking schedule (usually by going really fast)
in order to make it to a Post office before it closes is really no fun at all.
*Most folks that buy most or all of their food ahead of time eventually come
to tire of much of it, but they're essentially stuck with it. These folks end
up hating their meals, or they get rid of their food parcels and buy what
they really want to eat, thus wasting the money they originally spent AND
the postage fees. Ask yourself this: It's Wednesday. Do you know,
right now, what you wanna have for lunch next Monday? No? Then why on
earth do you wanna buy food this week that you won't be eating til August?
*Many folks get food ideas from observing what other hikers are eating, and
this is often better or more interesting that what they bought for
themselves ahead of time. If you have all your food ahead of time, this
limits how you can improvise or improve on your diet as your food money
has already been spent.
*Most folks tend to vastly over-pack food parcels and maildrops, especially
early in their hikes, as they simply don't really know what their daily food
requirements will be. Habitually mailing one's self too much food ends up
with people carrying extra weight, dumping or giving away much of their
maildrops, or spending extra $ to ship unwanted food home or further down
the Trail, i.e. they spend postage money TWICE on much of their food.
*Lastly, and I hate to say it, most folks that start a long backpacking trip
don't finish it. If your trip should end prematurely, do you really think you're
gonna have any use for 100 Liptons or 300 Pop tarts?
Anyway, for all of these reasons and more, I'd refrain from buying most of your stuff ahead of time, tho if you can find good deals on things like powdered cheese, Gatorade mix, high quality powdered milk, etc., you might want to buy these in bulk and send yourself these items every now and again. But by and large, most folks these days tend to re-supply while en route.
tho if you can find good deals on things like powdered cheese, Gatorade mix, high quality powdered milk, etc., you might want to buy these in bulk and send yourself these items every now and again. But by and large, most folks these days tend to re-supply while en route.
Very good advice! I did the resupplies for a pair of friends this past summer on the PCT. What they did was a mix of drops and buying as they went. It worked very well. They left me with bins of items that I dealt with and a list of when and where they would be. They would check in with me usually via phone or email a week or so before and ask for "X, X and X" to be shipped - things that were not easy to get - like dry milk, veggies, fruit, freeze dried cheese, etc along with say new socks or a specific piece of gear needed.
I did maybe 9 drops total - and most of it was gear not food (due to needing ice axes and bear canisters for only limited time).
In a couple areas with low resupplying I sent them meals I made - maybe in 3 spots?
I ran a tab for them if they needed gear, they got home and wrote me a check for $350 or so.
I'd say if a person has a trusted friend at home it is the best plan you can have - you might need them, you might not.