View Full Version : Hot weather food
Hey all, I'm curious what you all like to pack when you're hiking in hot weather like this. I usualy feed on GORP, dried fruits, granola, cheese, maybe summer sausage, bagels, and peanut butter but the heat kills my appetite and so I'm curious about other ideas for a little variety.
when weather is this hot I like food that dosen't need to be cooked. I've been known to have poptarts for breakfast, peanut butter and jelly for lunch, tunofish on bread for dinner with crackers, candy. When its 100 degrees you don't need to be eating hot food that's only going to make you sweat more.
Panzer
Wise Old Owl
07-21-2011, 23:59
I posted a lot of ideas here on the food forum but to be honest a full stomach is accomplished with a BLIMPIE, WAWA, or DOUBLE THE GUTS SUBWAY with Mayo packets on the side.... I realize I just upset a bunch a vegans and gram whiners with this revelation. But my aim is to end World trail hunger.... so send a donation mate! Lets hear it for American Trail Towns!
Tipi Walter
07-22-2011, 06:55
I don't change my menu from winter to summer, but I usually start out a trip with several pieces of fruit like apples or pears or a bag of grapes or avocados. These are eaten in the first few days. For my long trips I carry three food bags---a cookables bag, a snackables bag, and an overflow third food bag filled with the lightest items like rice cakes or corn chips or granola bars or a loaf of bread. Heat will cause my appetite to go away, but it'll come back sometime---though I hardly ever make hot tea with honey in the summer like I do in the winter. My main desire in the summer is to have a drink powder I can mix with my cold creek water for ample tasty fluid intake. Frontier Herbs sells a nice assortment of healthy fruit powders.
Farr Away
07-22-2011, 12:21
Breakfast bars, coffee.
Hummus mix, pitas, cheese, olives, cherry tomatoes.
Salty crackers, dried fruit, nuts.
Couscous salad.
Peppermint tea &/or sprigs of peppermint in the water bottle.
johnnybgood
07-22-2011, 15:48
The hot weather really does zap one's appetite while hiking , although there are some foods which appeal more to me when the mercury climbs.
Such as : peaches & pairs on the first day out. Grapes and summer sausage on ritz crackers for day two . Dehydrated fruit is always a favorite even in cooler weather .
For snacks : fruit flavored roll ups , packaged Jello , and Raisons.
Would like to try dehyrated ice cream that Mountain House puts outs.
daddytwosticks
07-22-2011, 16:04
I tried the freeze-dried ice cream sand. that MH puts out. They were OK....I'd rather eat a Snickers bar. :)
Maybe not great for the AT, but my go to lunch on hot days is tabbouleh and hummus with pitas, or even just with a spoon. The tabbouleh recipe is from the FBC cookbook, and the dried hummus can just be picked up at the store. It's as cold as the water you add to it, and the flavors work really well in the heat, when a lot of other foods sound far from appetizing.
garlic08
07-23-2011, 12:39
One of my goals in real heat is getting enough salt. I go heavier on the crackers and salty snacks. Cheese and peanut butter are pretty salty. I don't cook at all the trail any more. I think tortillas pack better over a longer time than bagels and bread. In hot weather I don't carry cheese for more than a couple of days, then peanut butter after that. Eggs boiled in salty water taste pretty good sometimes. Uncooked muesli is a good meal any time. Fig Newtons are good snacks, as is a bag of raisins. Salted nuts like cashews are good too. Ramen noodles can be eaten uncooked like a big cracker. Instant mashed potatoes will also reconstitute just fine in cold water and make a satisfying meal.
wvgrinder
07-23-2011, 16:32
Goldfish crackers and an orange are a light, refreshing snack. Try it-you'll like it.
WingedMonkey
07-23-2011, 17:54
Sounds counter productive but hot spicy food as in peppers stimulate the circulation and raise body temperature. If you are in a hot climate, the increase in body temperature can make you feel cooler by diminishing the difference between you and the surrounding air and by inducing sweating, which cools the body when the perspiration evaporates.
Peppery foods are also believed to stimulate the appetite by setting off the flow of saliva and gastric juices, a nutritionally important effect for people in tropical areas where the oppressive heat acts as an appetite suppressant.
The above is from an old New York Times article.
WingedMonkey
07-23-2011, 17:58
P.S. I just tested a new flavor of ramen noodles Maruchan brand "Picante Chicken" and it seemed to cool me down.
:sun
Blissful
07-23-2011, 19:49
Be sure to pack some of the single serving drink mixes to replace potassium and sodium depletion. And eat a fresh banana when you can. Helps with leg cramps, etc.
Think spicy food! Curries are great during hot weather. Look at cuisines from hot areas like India, south Asia, central American. All three areas can also be very economical and easy to dehydrate.
Instant mashed potatoes will also reconstitute just fine in cold water and make a satisfying meal.
Cold mashed potatoes may reconstitute just fine but I don't see anything satifying about eating cold instant potatoes, no matter how hot the weather is. I would pass on the cold instant mashed potatoes. It would be better to heat them up even if the weather is real hot and served with salt and pepper.
Panzer
for breakfast: cold cereal served with milk made from instant powder. Use cold water, if you have it, to make the milk. Any milk left over can be mixed with chololate powder to make chololate milk.
Panzer
Cold mashed potatoes may reconstitute just fine but I don't see anything satifying about eating cold instant potatoes, no matter how hot the weather is. I would pass on the cold instant mashed potatoes. It would be better to heat them up even if the weather is real hot and served with salt and pepper.
Panzer
Actually I have to agree with Garlic08 on this one.
I tried cold instant idahoans and found the adjustment to liking them was purely mental.
I mentally associated the taste with Thanksgiving Leftovers and ever since they taste superb on a hot day.
For a really interesting Hot weather meal try mixing instant mashed potatoes with instant oats.
Add cold water to the ziplock and you will be eating "TaterOats" in five minutes.
My Fave hot weather food is Fritos corn chips.
Corn, Corn Oil, and Salt= Plain Fritos.
A Hot weather treat was a layer of crushed fritos in a ziplock hard sided sandwhich container covered with a layer of nutella.
Hot weather is about the only time Nutella spreads well anyways unless you sleep with it (Yea, i sleep with nutella.. what of it!)
Make the Frito/Nutella pie in the heat of the afternoon. The next morning you have a surper breakfast waiting!
Well, "Frittella" Pie is superb to start the morning with as if the night has been cool the Nutella will firm up a bit and you have
something akin to the "spoon candy" chocolate pudding with a salty crunch to it.
I also like instant coffee mixed up in cold water for hot weather. Can't explain exactly why this works but it makes me feel better in the heat.
Granola, jerky... Dinner = PB on tortilla, or sausage tortilla wrap.
rocketsocks
11-05-2014, 01:17
Sounds counter productive but hot spicy food as in peppers stimulate the circulation and raise body temperature. If you are in a hot climate, the increase in body temperature can make you feel cooler by diminishing the difference between you and the surrounding air and by inducing sweating, which cools the body when the perspiration evaporates.
Peppery foods are also believed to stimulate the appetite by setting off the flow of saliva and gastric juices, a nutritionally important effect for people in tropical areas where the oppressive heat acts as an appetite suppressant.
The above is from an old New York Times article.
I've had folks tell question me about drinking hot coffee in 98 degree weather...I love it, eat hot peppers years round as well.