View Full Version : Any lunch ideas for the trail?
I'm trying to find good ideas for things to eat at lunch. Eating bars and garp all day is kind of boring. And I don't want to get the stove out either. Any "light" ideas? I'm leaving this week to section hike from Grafton Notch to Katahdin and I'm starting to get nervous about this issue. (Thank you!, first post!)
Peanut butter on a bagel, tortilla or pita.
Mix up powdered hummus with water and olive oil before breaking camp, and eat with a tortilla or pita.
Tuna from a foil pouch, and crackers.
Jerky or soy jerky and crackers.
Sierra Echo
08-02-2010, 20:21
I LOVE peanut butter and honey sandwiches! And a few carrot sticks!
Llama Legs
08-02-2010, 20:23
...and I'm starting to get nervous about this issue.
It's good that you're nervous about lunch, it takes your mind off of the bears. Try some pepperoni, hard cheese, and crackers...
BTW, have a great hike !
:welcome
max patch
08-02-2010, 20:44
I ate the same thing for lunch almost every day on my thru; Peanut butter and jelly on a bagel, a large hunk of cheddar cheese, and something from my snack bag.
garlic08
08-02-2010, 21:10
Lunch starts very soon after breakfast and continues until just before dinner. I just snack all day on whatever is in my food bag, which is typically cheese, tortillas, crackers, cashews, raisins, fig newtons. Dried hummus is a great idea if you can find it.
Thank you for your answers. Its pretty much what I was thinking about. And about bears also... ;) I think I will carry peanut butter. However, bread is not really an option for mail drops. What do you think about uncooked Ramen noodles?
Sierra Echo
08-02-2010, 21:16
no nutritional value at all!! and lots of bad fats.
could you carry some flat bread? That shouldn't take up too much room!~
bigcranky
08-02-2010, 21:20
http://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=51903
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=59646
Thank you Big Cranky. I was looking for that thread and somehow I did not manage to find it!
no nutritional value at all!! and lots of bad fats.
could you carry some flat bread? That shouldn't take up too much room!~
It is not a space problem. But I worry that in my maildrop to Monsoon in +-3 weeks the pita will take a nice blue colour:eek:. Maybe I will try to buy some at Shaws if they have some.
Sierra Echo
08-02-2010, 21:30
It is not a space problem. But I worry that in my maildrop to Monsoon in +-3 weeks the pita will take a nice blue colour:eek:. Maybe I will try to buy some at Shaws if they have some.
how about multigrain saltines?
how about multigrain saltines?
Good idead, mixed with peanut butter, that will keep my quiet for a while! :D
I was thinking about RYVITAs. They are not very caloric but all I need is a good support for my peanut butter.
So in the end the menu will be (at least for a while) :
Breakfast:
Instant oatmeal (2X)
Carnation instant breakfast (1)
Skim Milk (1 cup)
Cliff Bar (1)
garp
Lunch
Ryvita (whole grain Rye Crispbread) (2)
Peanut butter
L'Arabar (1)
garp
Half a Mountain house
Some Instant potato
Btw : Did anyone ever tried to separate a mountain house by putting half of it in a Ziplock and washing the aluminum bag to cook the other half the next day?
daddytwosticks
08-03-2010, 07:35
OK...sometimes I'm very dense and getting "up there" in age and can't keep up with all these new fangle acronyms. What the heck is "garp"? I know what gorp is...:)
Farr Away
08-03-2010, 13:01
If you wanted to add some variety or calories to your menu, maybe add some jerky and/or cheese.
Also, no coffee?
-FA
Scooby99
08-03-2010, 13:04
Tortillas with PB and Nutella are nice, the laughing cow cheeses with bagels are great, and the cheese doesn't melt if you use a water bladder and place them behind the water in your pack. Summer sausage with crackers are nice as well with some nice mustard http://www.minimus.biz/Mustard.aspx
Nevermind
08-03-2010, 16:20
Just got back from a 4 day hike. One lunch I quite liked was a Starkist ready-to-go Tuna Salad pouch. I put half the pouch on a tortilla, rolled it up like a burrito, ate, and repeated. I'm not even a huge fan of tuna salad but this was pretty delicious and a nice alternative to gorp.
Also, no coffee?
-FA
I am coffee addict. I decided to cut the coffee on the trail. It will be hard at first.
And yeah I meant "gorp"! :p
Thank you all for the suggestions. I added cheese to my menu and I already had some kind of summer sausage. The mustard is a good idea. Flavour goes a long way on the trail.
I'm just a bit worried about the weight. Since I start at Graffton Notch I wont go for resupply at Andover and I will need 6 days of food before my resupply. I'm over a pound a day of food already.
I'm leaving Friday morning. I will stop worrying now. Either I will loose a bit of weight or I will share the extra food I have have some.
See you on the trail!
Wise Old Owl
08-21-2010, 22:17
bagels (cream cheese)
· Pita bread
· Logan Bread
· granola bars
· candy bars
· dried fruit
· GORP (nuts, M&M's raisins, yogurt peanuts, crackers, dried fruit, etc)
· Pringles
· crackers (the dense kinds at health food stores)
· Wheat Thins
· Cheeses (string cheese, blocks of mozarella, etc)
· Tuna (sold in pouches now)
· lunch meat
. Hard boiled eggs/ with salt packet
. jerkys pemmican
. Summer sausage (eg Landsjager) (80 cal/oz)
Harley&Me
08-23-2010, 16:12
I could go for some jerky right now! I miss that stuff. Still can't quite bring myself to eat peanut butter.
I'm pretty much of a grazer. In addition to snickers bars, gorp, jerky, and dried fruit (including homemade rhubarb rollups), I like the single-serving salmon cups available in three-packs (I forget the brand) and indivually packed baby cheeses (la vache qui rit). I occasionally stop for a cooked meal and eat a little snack food in the evening.
Sierra Echo
08-23-2010, 16:31
I could go for some jerky right now! I miss that stuff. Still can't quite bring myself to eat peanut butter.
Peanut Butter is very good for you as long as there is no hydrogenated oil in it! Good source of protein!
hard boiled eggs only are supposed to be eaten unfrigerated after a couple of hours,,I think I would keep from carrying hard boiled eggs unless its winter,
Many Walks
08-27-2010, 22:00
I LOVE peanut butter and honey sandwiches! And a few carrot sticks!
That reminds me, we recently found Mr. Sprinkles Honey Blitz. It's pure grade A honey in granule form and comes in a 5 oz. plastic container with a shaker lid that snaps closed pretty tight. On the package it says "Honey goodness without the mess". We haven't taken it out on the trail yet, but it tastes good and has held up well in a warm cupboard. I think it would be easier to handle in a pack than liquid honey. Just a thought I wanted to share if it helps anyone.
I tend to carry hard salami. At least for the first 4 0r 5 days after resupply, depending a bit on the weather. Hard salami is good for a week or more, spring and fall in Maine -- at least four days in summer.
Carry it in the middle of your pack to insulate it a bit from extreme hot temperatures.
Weary
daddytwosticks
08-28-2010, 14:20
Cevans...ate unrefrigerated hard boiled eggs over 48 hrs old on many occasions while hiking. Unsually did this in mild spring/fall season. Tasted great and am still here, relatively unaffected (my own opinion). :)
I am coffee addict. I decided to cut the coffee on the trail. It will be hard at first.
And yeah I meant "gorp"! :p
The latest scoop is that coffee is no longer harmful, but helpful to your heart. I've stopped giving up things that I like, especially when I can find someone to tell me it is suddenly healthy.
That's why I've also returned to drinking wine and bourbon.
Weary
What do you think about uncooked Ramen noodles?
depends. if you don't buy the typical grocery store brand, you'll be better off. we buy MaMa brand noodles from the asian grocery store & eat those for lunch or snack. the noodles themselves are flavored, and it comes with a packet of seasoning, packet of hot spices, & packet of some sort of grease type substance. you can eat the noodles uncooked, they have flavor, and you can dip them in the seasoning if you want. if you cook them, the grease packet makes instant noodles an actual meal instead of that yucky excuse for one at the typical grocery store. the pork ones are the best imo, followed by chicken. there's also a shrimp one.
why can't we edit posts?
here's a picture
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/veryasian_2120_100626405
Old Hiker
09-02-2010, 09:59
Spam singles
flat bread with nutella or PB with Jelly from MacDonald packets
my kids would eat the Ramen blocks by sprinkling the powder over the noodle block and eating it dry, but I never tried that!
Flat bread/tortilla/pita with pepperoni slices and string cheese sticks
Baby Bel cheeses - the ones wrapped in plastic and a red wax covering - lots of packaging, but great to eat.
jeepcachr
09-02-2010, 11:21
Btw : Did anyone ever tried to separate a mountain house by putting half of it in a Ziplock and washing the aluminum bag to cook the other half the next day?
Use a freezer bag ziplock and just add the hot water to that. No need to wash and reuse the MH bag.
Rmatthews
09-09-2010, 15:37
I agree the tuna and tuna salad that comes in the ready to go pouches are awesome. What about eating MRE's while hiking, I have found a couple sites that sell the military knockoff ones, they are supposedly just like them but are legal to sell. They even have 12 different meals in a box, I think I might order a box and see how they taste. They can't be to bad can they :)
Hikes in Rain
09-09-2010, 18:09
Can't be too bad is argueable! But generally, they're expensive, bulky and generate more trash compaired to other options. During this drought period, though, where you might have to carry all your water with little or no hope of finding any (such as some parts of the Smokies), it sort of makes sense to carry non-dry food instead of dry and adding water you have to carry.
Try not doing lunch at all. Just snack all day. I found that stopping for lunch causes my muscles and joints to stiffen up, and takes about 45 mins.
Chicken Feathers
11-07-2010, 23:41
bagels (cream cheese)
· Pita bread
· Logan Bread
· granola bars
· candy bars
· dried fruit
· GORP (nuts, M&M's raisins, yogurt peanuts, crackers, dried fruit, etc)
· Pringles
· crackers (the dense kinds at health food stores)
· Wheat Thins
· Cheeses (string cheese, blocks of mozarella, etc)
· Tuna (sold in pouches now)
· lunch meat
. Hard boiled eggs/ with salt packet
. jerkys pemmican
. Summer sausage (eg Landsjager) (80 cal/oz)
how about bagels to this list they offer a lot of calories and they last a long time