View Full Version : Is this too much food?
Matty427
05-31-2010, 13:33
I'm getting all my food together for my first long distance hike (21 days) and I think I may have gone overboard. I'll be carrying about 4 days worth of food between maildrops. I'd love to hear how this is and if/how I could cut extra weight, or if you think it's not enough.
Breakfast:
Oatmeal pack x 3
carnation instant breakfast packet x 1
poptart x 1 pack
Snack:
Clif Bar
Lunch:
5oz tuna packet w/ mayo
flatbread
Snack:
Snickers bar
Dinner:
Mt. House
or
Pasta Side & chicken pouch
Other:
Lipton Iced tea to go pouch - 1 per day
Trail Mix
small bag of instant potatoes to soak up extra water.
I'm assuming this is for a four day stretch.
Have you tried hiking on one oatmeal pack per day for breakfast? or do you mean 3 packages per day?
Same question with lunch, I assume 5 oz tuna and flatbread each day. Same with dinners.
If my above assumptions are correct you should be fine. If you intend one oatmeal package per day, your mornings may be a bit hungry. Total comfort will depend on how much trail mix you are bringing, it can stretch any meal of the day.
Keep in mind, most folks find that their appetites do not usually kick in for several days to a week or more after beginning their hike. It's not unheard of for me to skip dinners all together for the first day or so, particularly if I have a long day.
I think you have a good starting menu there, but make note that this is from someone who habitually over-packs food. I don't like to feel that I'm short.
Good luck. Three weeks is a nice length of trip. First week getting your trail legs, second week building endurance, third week steaming along, feeling invincible.
Have fun!
One more thing, you a coffee addict? Something warm in the eveining or morning can really brighten the day. Cup O Soups make for a very quick energy and psychological boost when you first arrive in camp after a long, hard, cold , wet day. Gives you energy to cook dinner :-)
Matty427
05-31-2010, 14:01
Thank you for the advice and help!
That was per day - so 3 oatmeal per day, mixed with the carnation followed by the pop-tart 2 pack package. So for a 4 day stretch I have 12 oatmeal packets, 4 carnations, 4 pop-tart packs, 4 tuna packs, flat-bread, and usually 2 mt. house and 2 pasta sides w/ chicken packets.
After my first few days, I'll figure out if I can trim it down to 2 packets of oatmeal, but I figured I'd be better off having a filling breakfast than one that leaves me hungry.
I'm glad I'm not too far off - I think just seeing 21 days worth of food was a real shock and wanted to make sure I wasn't too far off base.
And nope - don't really drink coffee etc... but was thinking of starting!
garlic08
05-31-2010, 14:06
Numbers don't tell the whole story, but what's your average food weight per day? The number I hear most often for planning is two pounds per day. I get by with a little less than that, some need more.
I like to carry more in the way of pure fat, like nuts or cheese (mayo's good). You're not heading out that long, so you may not get the fat craving.
Father Dragon
05-31-2010, 14:11
You might want to add more snacks for the second half of your trip. I tend to eat more and more the longer I'm out. It depends a lot on how many miles you are covering a day too.
The cup of soup idea is good too... Not much extra weight and can be a real boost on a wet day.
Try that diet for a while at home, especially the oatmeal. I found that I got sick of oatmeal real quick. Now I get queasy just thinking about oatmeal.
In my experience, PopTarts don't survive mail drops well. They barely last until the first morning in my pack, so by day 3 from a resupply they are sticky crumbs.
CupOSoup rocks, many varieties. I like one with lunch to help keep hydrated as well.
Ranc0r
.
Unlike lefteye, I never got sick of oatmeal. Only ate 2 packs per day at breakfast and added something sweet like a candybar. Poptarts were heavy and disintegrated so I ditched them early on.
I also didn't eat a "traditional" lunch and tended to snack throughout the day maybe adding a powerbar or beefstick and cheese. Saved my protein for dinner like a foil tuna pack added to a pasta sides, instant potatoes, stuffing, etc.... Did Mountain house when I had them or was lazy. Tried to always add olive oil and minced fresh garlic- YUM!!
Blissful
05-31-2010, 16:56
This menu will get old fast. I'd pack some variety. And pop tarts are heavy without the nutrition needed, imo. Do a search for alternate foods to pack and/or buy. Chicken and tuna packets are heavy. Ok at times, but not every day
Also, shouldn't eat tuna every day due to mercury
chiefiepoo
05-31-2010, 17:14
Try that diet for a while at home, especially the oatmeal. I found that I got sick of oatmeal real quick. Now I get queasy just thinking about oatmeal.
I've found this to be excellent advice. 2-3 times the week before leaving, especially if you are using some provisions from last season. Gives a sense of what may be lacking and have you packed the utensils and fixins for what ever you take alomg.
flemdawg1
05-31-2010, 17:23
After 2days of the same thing, I readt for something different.
BigFoot2002
05-31-2010, 17:46
Matty
I just saw your post about bears on the trail south of Neel gap. Resupply is very easy this stretch of trail. I advise you to rethink the mail drop idea, although it sounds like you have already bought the food. Consult the resupply articles here at whiteblaze. Your appetite will change out there, and buying as you go will alow you to adjust to this.
Just sayin' I wouldn't wish 3 straight weeks of oatmeal on anyone.
Appalachian Tater
05-31-2010, 21:27
You know your own eating habits but I would want a little more for lunch and dinner after I had been out hiking for a week and the hunger kicked in, even if the MH is the double portion. It is nice to have fruit or vegetables or something sweet like poptarts or some kind of packaged artificial pastry thingie (Little Debbie or similar) or something crunchy like crackers or corn chips with the meal.
Maybe consider some other things for breakfast for variety unless you just love oatmeal. There are other kinds of cereal to eat hot (grits, cream of wheat, granola, etc.). Poptarts do crumble but they still taste the same and make a nice topping for your oatmeal.
Since you are resupplying every four days, carrying a little extra food won't hurt you.
Don't forget a small bottle of olive oil to add to your dinners (a tablespoon offers good, healthy, slow-burning fat calories).
I always bring some hard candies. I like butterscotch and anything coffee flavored (can't get enough caffeine :D).
It's absolutely amazing how a few gulps of cold water and a hard candy can perk you up and get you down the trail (btw, peppermints are good when you need to talk with other hikers in close quarters).
I would recommend minimizing mail drops so that you can buy more stuff along the way as you learn more about what you like and how much you want to eat and drink. Even with experience, your taste and appetite will likely change somewhat from one week to the next.
Last comment: Try to reduce the amount of packaging.
Tipi Walter
06-01-2010, 08:10
I'm getting all my food together for my first long distance hike (21 days) and I think I may have gone overboard. I'll be carrying about 4 days worth of food between maildrops. I'd love to hear how this is and if/how I could cut extra weight, or if you think it's not enough.
Breakfast:
Oatmeal pack x 3
carnation instant breakfast packet x 1
poptart x 1 pack
Snack:
Clif Bar
Lunch:
5oz tuna packet w/ mayo
flatbread
Snack:
Snickers bar
Dinner:
Mt. House
or
Pasta Side & chicken pouch
Other:
Lipton Iced tea to go pouch - 1 per day
Trail Mix
small bag of instant potatoes to soak up extra water.
Poptart? Carnation breakfast? Snickers? This seems like a lot of "junk food" and sugar. Why not go for dried fruit or fresh fruit instead, like apples and dates and figs and raisins? Instead of a Snickers I'd go with Pro Bars.
I routinely carry 21 days worth of food at one time, so you should be able to carry all your food at one time at the trailhead and not have to pull any off-trail maildrops. This way you can stay on the actual trail the whole time and not have to divert and detour.
Is this all the variety you will have for 21 days? I would add a huge variety of stuff: 4 different trail bars, bagged corn chips, pears and apples and several kinds of cheese, pecans and walnuts, many types of less salty cooked meals(Mary Janes Farm, Tasty Bite meals, some Hawk Vittles), a loaf of good whole wheat bread, some pita bread, a Nalgene pint of jelly mixed with almond butter, etc etc. The neat thing is, you can carry it all at one time, just have a pack big enough to haul it. Why carry just 4 days of food at a time? Why not 7 days or 10 days? It's not that heavy.
Are you used to eating that much sugar in the morning? If you are great, if not, try it out before leaving so you know that you won't get a headache or blood sugar crash.
............
I routinely carry 21 days worth of food at one time.............
Let's see....... thru's normally eat about a pound of food a day (then add water) so unless you're re-supplying a hut in the Whites this makes absolutely no sense at all.
IMO:
wrt to poptarts - forget them
tuna packets - go with smaller size ~ 2.8 ounce - might want to add a packet of pickle relish also
outmeal with carnation ib - use one or the other
wrt to snickers - tend to melt in the heat might want to use a payday instead
wrt to carrying 21 days of food - forget that unless you are only going a few miles per day
Tipi Walter
06-01-2010, 12:50
Let's see....... thru's normally eat about a pound of food a day (then add water) so unless you're re-supplying a hut in the Whites this makes absolutely no sense at all.
He's only doing 21 days, and a full load of food can be carried w/o resupply for this length of time. I would amend your one pound-a-day food weight figure to be 2 lbs a day(at least for me), thus a 21 day load would be around 40-45 lbs. No problemo for most healthy adults, and of course adding in the rest of the kit. If we went with your 1 lb of food a day, well, it would come to a measely 21 lbs--easily humped along with the other stuff.
More weight will happen on a 21 day trip when you consider adding interesting foods like pears or apples or an avocado or two. I'm just offering a different option than the usual frequent resupply interruption to a long backpacking trip.
He's only doing 21 days ........
We are talking hiking......not car camping right?
Otherwise, why not just advise him to lug a hot dog cart behind him and sell brats at the trailhead? The thru's will love him!
peakbagger
06-01-2010, 14:12
Its been a long time since I went near a carnation instant breakfast but I think you need milk to mix it up. Powdered milk with a couple of spoons of coffee creamer might work. I would skip the instant breakfast and subsitute more gorp or snacks. I also tend to alternate the tuna packs with salmon, beef jerky and turkey jerky. A few takeout mayo packs make a big difference for me with tuna and salmon. If you do tuna and salmon make sure you burn the packages (and retreive the remaining foil) everynight as they start to smell fairly quickly after opening and animals tend to be attracted to the smell.
Lately I've been mixing mostly oats, plus currants, raisins, slice almonds, sunflower seeds, and skim milk powder into one big waterprrof container and going with that. I pour some into my mug, add boiling water, and drink the liquid as tea and eat the solids as porridge. Some tea and spices add some flavour and variety. Also, if you mix it and pour it out unevenly every meal can be a little different. You can also throw in some other stuff and pick it out, like beef jerky or whatever. Those big containers for protien powder work well, and smaller containers for shorter trips. Some plastic containers are very light.
Appalachian Tater
06-01-2010, 21:42
I eat more than a pound a day for lunch when I'm not hiking. Unless everything is freeze dried, then one pound a day while thru-hiking is laughably insufficient unless you are grossly obese and are trying to lose weight or are a midget, child, or have a seriously whacky metabolism or are consuming only fat.
One candy bar weighs how many ounces?
True enough. I can get by a few days on under a pound a day, but if I ever got down to thru-hiking weight, and up to thru-hiking mileage, I would be eating close to 2 pounds. If I was also younger, it would be more than 2 pounds. Still, I like Tipi's idea of going 21 days or more without resupply, and I would like to do many of the other stuff that he has done, and seems to keep doing so regularly. The important thing is to get out more regularly, one way or another.
I think 40 days and 40 nights would be a fun challenge. A week is perhaps the most natural and traditional distance for travel on foot. Perhaps a fortnight for a round trip. But 40 days and 40 nights alone in the wilderness would really be something special.
hehehehehehehehehe.............
flemdawg1
06-02-2010, 13:46
I think 40 days and 40 nights would be a fun challenge. A week is perhaps the most natural and traditional distance for travel on foot. Perhaps a fortnight for a round trip. But 40 days and 40 nights alone in the wilderness would really be something special.
Worked great for Jesus and Moses.
Jonnycat
06-08-2010, 13:50
Go backpacking for a few days and see how it works out. FWIW, I eat between two and two and a half pounds of food a day when I'm on the trail.
Unless what you are packing has a high water content, I think you will find that 1.5 pounds a day is a good estimate of what will be the minimum to keep you fueled and non-hungry. In winter or if trail miles are high, increase to 2 pounds a day; in summer or if trail miles are fewer, may get by with 1.25 pounds, but not less than that. This assumes minimizing packaging and maximizing fat content of meals (eg. add olive oil to all your dinners, use PB liberally, etc.). So for 4 days, your food should weigh about 6 pounds, give or take. Try this strategy out - works real well for me.