View Full Version : mail drops or grocery stores?
im planning a thru-hike in 2013 and am trying to decide between buying foods in bulk and dehydrating them, or buying food along the way in towns, or a mix of both. i don't know the availability from stores and really don't feel like carrying a pack of canned foods to the top of kathadin. i have a dehydrator and vaccum sealer and work at the local grocery store so i get a good discount. what do you guys suggest?
CrumbSnatcher
11-18-2010, 15:10
welcome to WB!
i prefer stores in route myself, but a mix of drops and stores would IMO be alot better than drops alone. you will get good info over the next few days! again welcome to WB
Old Spice
11-18-2010, 15:14
Ditto on the above. Check out Jack Tarlin's article on re-supply here on WB. Once you get your bearings, I'd rec getting one of the major AT guides. Here you will be able to figure out which towns have major grocery stores and which ones don't. I'm planning on just sending mail drops to towns where I know my only options will be overpriced convenience or general stores. Welcome!
Ditto on the above. Check out Jack Tarlin's article on re-supply here on WB. ......
Yep, when I do another thru I'd lessen the number of drops.
I put a copy of Jack's re-supply article in my bounce box and used it as needed. It's dated but from a global stand point still relevant. Thanks Jack!
Wonder if we could take up a collection to buy Jack his favorite beverage for an updated edition? Pipe dream?
mountain squid
11-18-2010, 15:35
You won't need to carry cans. Think Lipton Sides, Mac-n-Cheese, Ramen noodles, tuna packets, chicken packets, etc.
Unless you are very creative with your dehydrating skills, you'd likely be tired of the food you've sent yourself by the time you hit PA anyway. Then you'll run the risk of spending extra money on food that you'd rather be eating and putting everything else into hiker boxes. (Not to mention about the difficulty of hitting post offices at the right time.)
Buy along the way, with an occasional maildrop full of goodies from home that you can share with your hiking buds.
http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-signs087.gifto WB. Have fun with the planning . . .
See you on the trail,
mt squid
I can't imagine dehydrating all that food for a thru hike. Guess people do it though.
You won't need to carry cans. Think Lipton Sides, Mac-n-Cheese, Ramen noodles, tuna packets, chicken packets, etc.
i just meant that i dont know what each store stocks and i don't want to be the first one there after a large group wipes out the shelves.
i also didn't mean dehydrating ALL of it, but packing half the above and half dehydrated. the main thing is reliability. i dont want to be stranded with no food if i plan on buying. if i mail drop then at least i KNOW that i wont run out.
Lone Wolf
11-18-2010, 16:54
im planning a thru-hike in 2013 and am trying to decide between buying foods in bulk and dehydrating them, or buying food along the way in towns, or a mix of both. i don't know the availability from stores and really don't feel like carrying a pack of canned foods to the top of kathadin. i have a dehydrator and vaccum sealer and work at the local grocery store so i get a good discount. what do you guys suggest?
buy as you go
Fontana Dam is the only part of the trail where I'm sending a mail drop.
Good choice. Consider Harper's Ferry too.
Google "Freezer Bag Cooking", no need to carry cans!
Jack Tarlin
11-18-2010, 20:36
Spokes:
Thanx for the kind words; you and others are quite right, the Re-Supply article needs to be updated and I hope to get to it this winter. Will want to hear from current/recent hikers, especially on the ares I haven't seen for a few years, esp. the mid-Atlantic areas, etc. I still think the article is useful and accurate, especially as far as distances between re-supply points, the time it'll take the average hiker to cover specific distances, etc., so I hope the article is still useful to folks.
DROY......as several folks have mentioned, most folks these days do perfectly well buying most of their food while en route; unless you're on some sort of specialized diet (i.e. vegan, no salt, kosher, etc.) there's no need to buy stuff ahead of time, dehydrate everything, etc. This has been extensively discussed here and you should check out other threads on Whiteblaze for details, but in brief, buying everything ahead of time does not necessarily save you money or problems, it only means you end up with too much food in your mail parcels, and it means you end up with all sorts of stuff you decide you no longer wanna eat. For all sorts of reasons, most folks seem to do better by buying food while en route rather than relying on stuff bought and packaged ahead of time; there are really only a small handful of places where you may want to take the time and trouble to send yourself food while hiking on the A.T. For the vast majority of the Trail, this simply isn't necessary.
Google "Freezer Bag Cooking", no need to carry cans!
thats what im considering doing a variation of. what im thinking of doing is having everything ready at home in boxes. i would number the boxes and carry a list of whats in each. then i could call home and ask to have a selected box mailed to the next town. that way if i have a craving for something i would have some flexability in what i eat.
Lone Wolf
11-18-2010, 21:06
thats what im considering doing a variation of. what im thinking of doing is having everything ready at home in boxes. i would number the boxes and carry a list of whats in each. then i could call home and ask to have a selected box mailed to the next town. that way if i have a craving for something i would have some flexability in what i eat.
all good but what if you quit the trail 300 miles in?
Cookerhiker
11-18-2010, 21:18
...then there's the matter of where you send them. Me, I never send them to a PO for the simple reason that suppose I arrive there 2 PM Saturday and have to wait until Monday morning for them to open? If you want a zero day anyway, that works OK but what if you don't?
The other option is sending them to hostels/motels or other facilities that accept maildrops. Check the Companion or similar services guide to see which ones do this. If you send to these places and don't stay overnight there, then a donation is in order to compensate them for the nicety of receiving and storing your box.
all good but what if you quit the trail 300 miles in?
only quitters think like that. ive wanted to thru-hike for the past 6 years. its all i can ever think about. i feel at home on the trail and out of place at home. and i plan on delivering most mail drops to hostels and such on the trail because of the reason of POs and having to wait. i only plan on having a limited number of mail drops and was considering buying for a few sections anyway. im not exactly sure which which way i want to go as far as resupply and thats why i posted this.
thanks everyone for your comments and advice
Would it be possible for you to tell us or suggest the few areas which make the most sense for mail drops.
Thank you.
malowitz
11-18-2010, 22:01
I thrud in 2010. I had a mail drop to Fontana Dam, but didn't need it. After that, I didn't do any more mail drops except in Rangely Maine. I bought a load of food in Rangely and sent it up to Monson for the 100 mile wilderness.
I ditched my stove in Boiling Springs and went the rest of the way with "cold" food.
Home Made, then dehydrated food is very good. It is also A LOT of work.
I tried food drops on my first long hike. Got totally sick of the food selection within a month or two, especially when I saw other hikers going into a grocery store and buying whatever appealed to them at the time. I will NEVER try to plan my food that far in advance again.
DROY, Don't matter how much confidence you have as to having a sucessfull thru you have to look at the statistics. That is 80% of the starters are not finishers.
I would not spend a lot of time or money buying and preparing food before you start. Food is readily available in trail towns along the way. During my thru I only had a problem with resupply once and that was at Fontana village. It's a small store and a large batch of hikers had just passed through.
Preping a lot of food befor you leave is a lot of work and expense. Before you travel very far I think, like most others, you will get sick of eating the same stuff day after day and you won't be able to change. Hiker boxs along the trail are full of food that hikers had sent to them and they no longer want to eat.
I always enjoyed going into a town to resupply. Going through the store looking for new stuff to try. I would always bring fresh fruit back to the trail and eat it the first day to eliminate it's weight.
I spend time each year as a caretaker at Upper Goose Pond. I enjoy talking to the hikers comming through. I alwas ask them "so what have you been eating?" After being on the trail for 1500 miles most of them are eating the same stuff and it's not stuff they had preped before.
Check the previous topic posts. Lot's of good info. here.
Happy trails to you. The preperation is a lot of fun.:)
You won't need to carry cans. Think Lipton Sides, Mac-n-Cheese, Ramen noodles, tuna packets, chicken packets, etc.
Don't forget packs of instant mashed potatoes... good stuff. :)
Jack Tarlin
11-19-2010, 13:22
TAWA:
Here are the places I prefer to have some food sent:
*The Nantahala Outdoor Center. While there is now a convenience store
there and while it's possible to get down the road to a larger market, the
overall food selection is not that extensive and it's quite expensive. I think
a small drop here is a good idea; I suggest you bring three full days of
supplies out of the NOC less one dinner as I think you'll arrive at Fontana
Dam sometime on the third day (The mileage between the two spots is not
that great but you probably won't wanna do it in just two days).
*The food selection at Fontana Dam has much improved, but it's still not
great. I would send at least a few days worth of food here, esp. dinners.
Bring more if you plan to go all the way thru the National Park without stop-
ping to re-supply in Gatlinburg.
*You might want to send a small parcel to Harpers Ferry as re-supply there is
quite limited unless you can get to the large supermarkets in Charles Town.
*Unless you plan to go to Hamburg (which is easier than it used to be), you
might want to send a small parcel to Port Clinton PA.
*Assuming the Post Office is open, a small parcel to Bear Mountain NY might
be a good idea.
*That's pretty much it, tho a small drop in Caratunk ME might be wise also.
For more details on this subject, you might want to look in the "Articles" section of this website.
Blissful
11-19-2010, 13:28
I did both. And found that grocery buying is expensive and time consumming. and unless its big store (with which you end up with a box of eight pop tarts or oatmeal), the items are the same with little variety (and pricey, usually double). I ate better with my mail drops, maintained my energy levels and weight, and healed quickly from injuries. With my age, that was totally worth a few bucks to mail.
The only thing we dehydrated was some beef puree, canned chicken, and some frozen veggies to add to the Lipton sides. Not time consuming at all. You put it on a tray and let it dry. I found Ramen a useless product that leaves you hungry in half an hour and has no nutritional value unless you add stuff to it. you are on the trail what you eat, and after the hike is over too, which people forget about, because the hike does end, and if you haven't been eating right, your system can go haywire back at home. Like extra weight gain, depression, GI issues (which I had from '07 as I didn't eat right in Maine) etc
Thanks Jack. I appreciate the help and getting to know and spend some time with you at the Gathering this year.
The articles are a great resource as well.
Thanks for all you do and for helping us Newbies.
Tawa
CrumbSnatcher
11-19-2010, 18:09
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Stir Fry
11-20-2010, 00:41
I have sectioned enought to know that there are some things that you just can not get on the trail. So my plan is to have my wife send me things as I need them. Ex. freeze dried vegitabals freeze dried beef and chicken. and some freeze dried meals that I like. Medications and such. I have a peg bord on the wall in my hiking room, every time I go to REI get some of each. When I do my thru in 2014 I should have all I need for the hike. I have found that I can fit all I need for about two weeks of these items in a small Feb X box, about $6 to ship. The rest I'll get in stores as I go. This gives you the best of both. Works if you have support at home anyway.
swjohnsey
11-20-2010, 09:14
Ever try to buy a single bar of soap?
garlic08
11-20-2010, 09:46
As with all aspects of trail life, I think flexibility and adaptability are key. Whatever plan you start with, better plan on having a different plan in about a week or two. As said several times above, your tastes and needs will change. If you haven't hiked a long trail before, you have no way of knowing how much or in which direction.
So, prepping all your food for your first 2000 mile+ hike is risky. But if you get a great deal on a veggie that you can dehydrate and use later even if you don't use it on the trail for whatever reason, no harm in that.
My first hike was nothing but lessons in how to eat, buy, and ship food. After many thousands of miles, I figured out that buying as you go works great for me. I recommend that AT hikers at least try it. It has improved my trail experience, after a few frustrating mail drop pickups early on. Others have had widely different experiences, and so will you.
A hybrid approach is probably best for a first timer. Use Jack's info above as a guide, for sure.
Stir Fry
11-20-2010, 16:44
Ever try to buy a single bar of soap?
When I do my thru, and have to buy an item that is cheeper in bulk I figure that what hiker boxes are for. If I get 5 rolls of TP I'll keep one put the rest in the box, same fore soap. When I do a section hike I always give away any extras that I have left at the end of the hike. There is a lot of joy in giving IMOP.
rainmaker
11-20-2010, 21:30
Just one question, can you get grits in the North?
When I do my thru, and have to buy an item that is cheeper in bulk I figure that what hiker boxes are for. If I get 5 rolls of TP I'll keep one put the rest in the box, same fore soap. When I do a section hike I always give away any extras that I have left at the end of the hike. There is a lot of joy in giving IMOP.
I did the same thing. Sort of my mini-version of "The Kindness Offensive" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kindness_Offensive).
Bob McCaw
11-21-2010, 14:15
A Walmart is opening near Cabela's in Port Clinton, a lot closer than the store in Hamburg.
I found resupply in New York to be a bit of a problem. It was possible to get deli sandwiches and snacks near the trail, but there really isn't a convenient supermarket between Vernon and Kent, and the one in Highland Falls has closed. I might consider a mail drop in Fort Montgomery.
Otherwise, I personally wouldn't use mail drops anywhere. The food is a little pricey in Fontana Village, the NOC, and Harpers Ferry. IMO, postage cancels out any savings from buying ahead.
To me a main difference is getting what you really want/like - certain types of protein bars, freeze dried mango, etc. Combo is probably the best plan.
Appalachian Tater
11-21-2010, 22:05
How do you know now what you will want to eat for dinner the third week of July in 2013?
Jack gives the best advice regarding resupply.
Iron Will
11-22-2010, 16:06
here is a grand reason to do some shipping of food..
if you have access to free food!! like poptarts, mountain house?? dehydrated meals and granola bars!!
now i do have a budget for the trail 3k and i did plan on buying the whole way BUT
i thought if i used mail drops for 10$ each that should resupply me for about 4 days then this would help ease my budget a bit seeing as most people recommend more than 3k to hike the trail
so i am planning to pick up a mail drop about every 2 weeks that has dinners, poptarts, granola bars, and a roll of TP
and since its 12 boxes over the course of 5 to 6 months i think this will work out very well as far as getting sick of the food
what do you guys think? sound like a good plan?
swjohnsey
11-22-2010, 18:21
I gonna get a resupply box exery couple of week just because I like getting a package. In my resupply I will have a couple of weeks of breakfast (oatbran, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried milk), coffee (1/4 c coffee, 1/4 sugar) in Ziploc bags, new razor, toothpaste, bar of soap, chapstick.
Yes, there's great joy in picking up a drop box full of goodies that you have personally chosen.
It's often said that drops are necessary at Fontana and Monson, but even in those towns a lot of people were getting rides to huge supermarkets in nearby towns for resupply.
I would continue to get a drop box now and then. Not so necessary, but just something to really look forward to on the trail.
People talk about getting sick of what they've sent ahead and I'm curious as to why past thru-hikers had this happen. Is it due to inexperience in eating while hiking and sending forward food they assumed they would like and realizing the reality of it is much different? Is it due to wanting fresher and "heavier" food while on the trail, having to go to a grocery store anyway for apples and pop tarts and deciding hummus and pita bread is a better option for lunch than the cliff bars you packed two months ago? IE if you're having to go grocery shopping anyway might as well toss the shipped food and get something fresher?
This just seems like one of those statements that's true but not true for the simplistic reasons people say. Grocery stores along the way, especially smaller stores, have a somewhat limited selection. Most of the trail experiences I've read about talk of eating Ramen and instant mashed potatoes continuously. I mean you're getting up, walking 15-25 miles, sleeping in the same 3x8 foot tent, doing all these repetitive things and the complaint with shipped food is getting the same thing over and over again? Is it just that with everything else being a repetitive grind making eating a repetitive grind becomes the bridge too far?
I'm planning on shipping the majority of things but I trust the experiences out there and don't want to make a mistake but I simply don't understand the statements people make about not bothering to ship because you'll get sick of it. After all you can always vary your packages. Dealing with post office hours I can completely understand but this just seems rather confusing to me.
The part of this I might not be understanding is I'm seeing my shipments as being sent out by someone who could change them on my directions and maybe this advice is given by people who packed up 30 boxes of granola bars in February and just get someone to drop them off at the post office.
Jack Tarlin
11-23-2010, 14:08
Chop: Simple answer to your question: It's Tuesday afternoon right now. I have no idea what I'm gonna eat (or what I WANT to eat) for dinnertomorrow night.
So why should someone putting together 32 food parcels at home in January have any real idea what they may wanna eat for dinner sometime the following September?
Simple truth is that most folks who buy and pre-package their food ahead of time get sick of a lot of it, never want to see it again much less eat it, or perhaps they've gotten all sorts of other food ideas from the folks they've met over the past few months.
In short, most folks who pre-buy and pre-package their food for 6 months end up with the following issues:
*Their food drops, especially early in the trip, tend to be much too large as
they didn't understand their actual needs back in the winter when they
were putting their food list together.
*This extra food tends to be given away thrown out....or you may mail it
ahead on the Tail somewhere, meaning you pay the postage on it TWICE.
*It is inevitable that people get sick and tired of certain things, but if they've
all been pre-bought and pre-packaged ahead of time, you're pretty much
stuck with 'em. You either suck it up and eat food you hate, or you get
rid of it and buy stuff you actually wanna eat, meaning you've wasted your
money twice, first by buying food that doesn't get eaten, and you've also
wasted the postage fees as well. How much better to skip the parcels and
actually buy stuff in the right quantity that you actually want to eat.
*Rough subject, but it has to be said......even with innovations in equipment,
etc., somewhere between 75 and 95 percent of the folks who set out to do
an entire thru-hike don't finish one. Bare-bones minimum we're talking about
an 80% quit rate. You buy all that crap ahead of time......you really want
to deal later on with 20 crates of hiker food you have no interest in that do
nothing but remind you about your failed or abbreviated hike? No, you
don't.....I assure you that you never wanna see these boxes ever again.
For all these reasons and more, most folks choose to get nearly all of their food while en route.
the goat
11-23-2010, 15:26
im planning a thru-hike in 2013 and am trying to decide between buying foods in bulk and dehydrating them, or buying food along the way in towns, or a mix of both. i don't know the availability from stores and really don't feel like carrying a pack of canned foods to the top of kathadin. i have a dehydrator and vaccum sealer and work at the local grocery store so i get a good discount. what do you guys suggest?
dude, i've done both & i prefer resupplying in towns much, much better.
here's my theory: this afternoon, plan what you'll eat at each meal for the next two weeks. sounds dumb right? now try planning the next six months.
jersey joe
11-23-2010, 17:32
I think a good mix of both maildrops and buying in towns is the best approach. If you have someone at home who can mail you packages as you go, that is super helpful in letting you change your diet along the way.
I have not read thru all the posts here, but if you decide to do lots of maildrops, try and send them to hostels, outfitters and motels along the way. I have seen too many hikers wasting a day (or two) waiting in town on weekends because the PO was not open or the parcel was late arriving.
Burning an extra day in town can be a big expense. Doing that several times during a thruhike can add up to alot of money.
wornoutboots
12-08-2010, 15:23
like carrying a pack of canned foods to the top of kathadin.
I just hiked with a section hiker Legs for a about four days & all he carried was canned goods? He actually hitched into Sam's Gap in record time & came back out with another 10 or so cans. I thought this was quite interesting??
LoneRidgeRunner
12-08-2010, 16:19
Just one question, can you get grits in the North?
Not sure but probably not...hell.. they don't even know what sweetened tea is up there in the restaurants... Being from NC I will have some grits along the way ..one way of another
As much as possible, buy food along the way. That way, you can vary for variety and quantity of food. There is no reason to have canned anything. Also, if you don't make it to point x then you don't lose the food you sent there if you were doing a mail drop.
Jack Tarlin
12-08-2010, 16:31
While there is no "reason" to carry canned food, a great many hikers choose to do so. This would include such things as tinned sardines, vienna sausages, deviled ham, tuna fish, etc., all of which are very popular on the Trail. Obnviously, you want to avoid leaving a town with an enormous can of Dinty Moore stew or something like that, but truth is, sometimes small cans of food are a great way to provide variety to your diet; the weight of the empty cans is minimal and you'll seldom go more than a few days without finding a garbage can to get rid of them.
Cookerhiker
12-08-2010, 20:56
Just one question, can you get grits in the North?
Not sure but probably not...hell.. they don't even know what sweetened tea is up there in the restaurants... Being from NC I will have some grits along the way ..one way of another
In restaurants, almost always the answer is no. The larger grocery stores may have grits so that you can pack them with you. Convenience stores & grocery stores will have bottles of sweetened tea but not the same as Southern Sweet Tea.