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I am planning a thru hike and am a little concerned about non meat food. Me and my partner plan on mainly red beans and rice (complete protein) and peanut butter but I know that I will quickly get tired of that over 5 months. We were also toying with the idea of pee mixing oatmeal and protein powder for a morning boost. Has anyone thru hiked on a no meat diet (surly) and what was on the menu.
Lone Wolf
03-07-2012, 00:09
PM Serial. he's done 4000 miles or so as a vegetarian. he and his girl are hikin' this year. both vegetarians
[QUOTE=Fetter;1264003]. . . .toying with the idea of pee mixing oatmeal and protein powder. . . ./QUOTE]You should probably just use water. :rolleyes:
ATSeamstress
03-07-2012, 00:31
The book Vegetarian Lipsmackin' Backpacking might be helpful. I use some of the recipes from it.
Two of my favorite non-meat meals are vegetarian chili (I use the recipe from the Libby's Chili Beans can, then dehydrate) and bean burritos (made with Fantastic Foods refried beans, rice, onions, cheese, and taco sauce - better than Taco Bell!)
RodentWhisperer
03-07-2012, 00:32
Do you follow a vegan diet, or ovo-lacto? I'm ovo-lacto, and have always found it easy to incorporate dried or aged cheeses into my dishes. Powdered eggs are, uh, edible but not especially tasty IMO. Some friends who are vegans have made extensive use of TVP, nuts, and nutritional yeast-- and Bac-Os, which are made from soy. And there's always tofu and miso. I've never tried drying/dehydrating seitan, but it might be possible to emulate the classic dried-ground-beef method.
If you're looking to rely upon local stops for resupply, just think about what's commonly available, and you should be fine. It might mean compromising your diet for nutritional reasons, though.
If you're planning on regular mail drops, you might want to check out the selections on wildernessdining.com -- plenty of freeze-dried veggies that can be easily combined into your dishes.
I'm trying to do it bear grylls style, seal skin vest and the like...PRE mix oatmeal and protein powder
And im not opposed to eating eggs or milk but substitute when able
Feral Bill
03-07-2012, 01:13
You may want to make your stove choice based on longer cooking times for some items. Lentils, nuts, peanut butter and such should be easy to find, along with whatever grains you like. Try some recipies at home to see what suits you. I find Indian food has many excellent vegetarian options, and I'm not even a vegetarian.
YohonPetro
03-07-2012, 07:55
Harmony House makes some good meat substitutes that I'm taking this year.
Oatmeal is a very nearly complete protien by itself, and is 17% protien by calories. The trouble is that you can only eat so much oatmeal because of the fibre, so if you add alot of dried fruit and oil and such the percent protien goes down. Nuts and seeds keep the protien up while adding calories. Also, lentil based soup at night is high in protien and makes up for the slight lysine shortfall. Adding up to 1oz of mild herbs like parsley, and paprika, will add vitamins and minerals and a fair share of protien. Add up your protien before you decide whether you need to add any concentrated form. Even just 10% of 4000 Calories is 100g of protien, which is plenty.
HeartFire
03-07-2012, 09:45
What do you eat at home? make and dehydrate what ever you want. rice and beans can be cooked up and prepared at home and then dehydrated. All you have to do on the trail is boil water and soak them for about 10 min to rehydrate. Any one pot meal, casserole etc can be prepared at home and dehydrated. Soups - just add soem tvp or couscous to thicken and then dehydrate.
BTW, you do not have to eat the rice and beans in the same meal to get the 'complete protein'.
Hawkwind61
03-07-2012, 09:48
Due to food sensitivities I have to prep all my food ahead of time.
I rely on powdered, freeze-dried and dehydrated. I like to bring Quinoa, rice noodles, and instant brown rice. Found it worked best to run my Quinoa through a coffee grinder first. I do freezer bag cooking. Emergency Essentials (http://beprepared.com/) is my 'go to' website for my veggies, cheeses, and some of my fruit (Also my meat as I am not vegan/vegetarian.). I have also had very good luck with Harmony House.
I use a lot of powdered coconut milk and powdered goat's milk. I also buy powdered egg whites to mix in with my 'milk', oatmeal, and fruit for my morning breakfasts. I also bring protein powder that I pick up at Trader Joe's and mix that in with some of my meals, especially my breakfast. At mid-day I mix up a protein shake that also has my berry or veggie greens added. When I finished my section hike last year I had some left over and a vegan SOBO was very happy to take on the few extra packets that were made without goat's milk (I always save that for breakfast.).
This year I'll be pre-cooking some of my beans and dehydrating them so I don't have to pre-soak prior to making my meal. I got into the habit of pouring half of the water needed for my meals into my brown rice based meals at breakfast and letting it soak all day while I hiked. That way I just needed to add boiling water at supper time. The rice was tender and the wait time was greatly decreased.
I will also be getting myself a seal-a-meal so that I can make up packets of all my favorite nut butters to bring with me as those are a staple for me at lunch time (Tired of the price of the pre-packaged packets!).
I know it seems like a lot of work, but I've been doing it for a couple years now and have come up with a fairly simple system using the freezer bags and as long as I don't inadvertently dump my pack upside down on the days I need to add water to my rice I'm good.
All 'pre-packaged' stuff is stripped out and mixed into the meal baggies ahead of time, I add all spices and such when I put the veggies and grains or noodles together. I carry a small bottle of extra virgin olive oil as some of the packets will need a little bit. I write across the baggies with permanent marker any information needed like what is in the bag and how much water it needs, and the wait time once the boiling water is added.
Hopefully this will give you some ideas to work with. :sun
garlic08
03-07-2012, 09:52
I hiked the AT and some other long trails as an ovo-lacto vegetarian. My main energy sources were rolled oats, nuts, cheese, breads, dried and fresh fruit. I hiked the AT with little weight or muscle loss--I returned to my career as a firefighter with no noticeable loss of strength. I believe JAK is right about the protein in oats and nuts (and I'll add cheese). You get enough calories, you'll get enough protein (if you're sensible about it and don't live on candy). I bought all my food as I hiked. Trail food cost me $750 in '08.
I have never tried pee in my oatmeal (sorry, that really cracked me up).
As a vegetarian, as long as you're getting enough calories and eating a diverse diet, you don't need to worry about protein on a long hike. I've thru-hiked the PCT and done half the AT in the last few years while subsisting on standard hiker food that I picked up in grocery stores along the way: various bars or cereal with powdered soy milk for breakfast, clif bars, cookies, chips, and other junk food for snacks, and mac 'n cheese, tortellini, couscous, or Knorr's sides for dinners. If you're eating 3,500+ calories a day (which you should be!) and have a reasonably diverse diet, you'll be fine on protein. Don't bother with the supplements or going crazy.
Most Americans eat far more protein than they need. I'd wager that that's also true for thru-hikers. Lots of standard hiking food is relatively high in protein: Clif Bars have about 10g each. Kraft Mac and Cheese has 30g for a box. Don't worry about protein.
Seitan Bars (Primal Strips) Almond Butter, Peanut Butter, Spiruteen Protein Shake Mix, TVP (textured vegetable protein), fantastic foods dehydrated refried and black beans - hard boiled eggs on the way out of towns, dehydrated baked tofu ....... tons of protein sources -- I've hiked thousands of miles as a vegetarian ..... P/m me if you want more.
great info, i am sure it takes a bit more planning then sad diets
daine.scott
04-11-2012, 08:08
I too prefer the vegetarian meals at hikes, non-veg makes it tougher for me.
off-pher
04-11-2012, 14:00
We were also toying with the idea of pee mixing
:banana:eek:
quilteresq
04-11-2012, 16:24
I picked up "Another Fork in the Trail (http://www.amazon.com/Another-Fork-Trail-Vegetarian-Backcountry/dp/0899975062/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1334175847&sr=1-1)" by Laurie Ann March - I'm not vegetarian, but on the trail I don't like too much meat. GREAT recipes.
Mountain Manatee
01-27-2013, 19:32
I picked up "Another Fork in the Trail (http://www.amazon.com/Another-Fork-Trail-Vegetarian-Backcountry/dp/0899975062/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1334175847&sr=1-1)" by Laurie Ann March - I'm not vegetarian, but on the trail I don't like too much meat. GREAT recipes.
This is a great book, and the recipes are awesome. Just a heads up if you didn't see it on another thread under towns/services. New Veg/Vegan/Raw restaurant and health food store opening in Damascus in March. new survey up for you veggies: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P8T7RWV
I thru-hiked the TC trails, and several others, as a pesce vegetarian. The AT, even with its regional cultural food differences, is IMO by far the easiest to thru-hike as a vegetarian, no matter what kind, or a Vegan. I'm eating more living raw foods now than ever before, while still adhering to a basically pesce vegetarian diet even while hiking in places where it's VERY OFTEN a bit harder to adhere to a vegetarian diet when compared to the AT. It's not hard providing you understand your diet and do some planning.
Vegetarian hiking has been covered many times here on WB. Do a search for articles and posts here at WB on vegetarian hiking.
Here's a tip that I've employed MANY times over that may work for you too since you already stated you will PRE mix oatmeal and protein powder and I assume that entails mailing some resupply boxes. Look up ingredient lists of prepared dried vegetarian meals which are sometimes expensive and can add up prohibitively on a long distance hike. They are available on line or go into an outfitter that sells them and take down the ingredient lists/recipes. Make and tweak them yourself. It's cheaper! A carnivore or omnivore hiker can do this too! There really is no reason to get bored with your trail food or spend oodles of money on it PROVIDED you are a little creative! Mix it up. Mail them out to some key locations where a med-lg grocery store doesn't exist where you could more easily buy as you go. The recipes and ingredient lists also contain nutritional info as well so it helps with planning your total daily caloric intake.
As far as protein needs, whether while hiking or non hiking, Burger is spot on: "As a vegetarian, as long as you're getting enough calories and eating a diverse diet, you don't need to worry about protein on a long hike. I've thru-hiked the PCT and done half the AT in the last few years while subsisting on standard hiker food that I picked up in grocery stores along the way: various bars or cereal with powdered soy milk for breakfast, clif bars, cookies, chips, and other junk food for snacks, and mac 'n cheese, tortellini, couscous, or Knorr's sides for dinners. If you're eating 3,500+ calories a day (which you should be!) and have a reasonably diverse diet, you'll be fine on protein. Don't bother with the supplements or going crazy.
*MOST AMERICANS EAT FAR MORE PROTEIN THAN THEY NEED.* I'd wager that that's also true for thru-hikers.* Lots of standard hiking food is relatively high in protein: Clif Bars have about 10g each. Kraft Mac and Cheese has 30g for a box. DON'T WORRY ABOUT PROTEIN."
There is an unnecessary over emphasis with consuming protein calories in this country that has VERY OFTEN been spawned and promulgated by those wishing to market high protein calorie laden products(the meat and dairy industries being two BIG culprits) and the nutritional science behind competitive professional body building! You are not a professional body builder, NFL player, or pro boxer. You are a vegetarian hiker requiring a vegetarian hiker's diet. FWIW, I'm familiar with several Olympic athletes, two professional body builders, and several professional athletes who are vegetarians who are at the top of their sports!
I am planning a thru hike and am a little concerned about non meat food. Me and my partner plan on mainly red beans and rice (complete protein) and peanut butter but I know that I will quickly get tired of that over 5 months. We were also toying with the idea of pee mixing oatmeal and protein powder for a morning boost. Has anyone thru hiked on a no meat diet (surly) and what was on the menu.Oatmeal is a pretty good source of oatmeal in itself. Most real food is. You still want a variety, but for example is you had nothing but 2.2 pounds of oatmeal everyday, which even I will admit is impossible, you would be getting...
3790 calories
130g of protien and totally complete, see below
70g of fat
690g of carbs
Oatmeal protien is complete protien, only slightly low in lysine which unlike the other amino acids can't get converted to sugar so if you take a surplus of protien as most people do, you really want to be slightly low in lysine, otherwise it will be surplus and unusable, and this hard on the kidneys. Oatmeal is a perfect protien.
100g in fibre... yeah, that's leave a mark. lol
Problem is...
240% Iron
50% Calcium
0% Vitamin A
0% Vitamin C
Seriously though, protien is not the issue. Getting a balance of vitamins and mnerals is more of an issue. To get enough iron, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamins C you want to have some sort of soup at night, and include herbs. Herbs are basically dehydrated leafy green vegetables, and are the muscles of plants so they have their share of protien also. Mild herbs like parsley can be added in greater quantity than stronger herbs, but all are good.
100g Parsley, again not that you would...
276 calories
4g Fat
22g Protien
52g Carbs
30g Fibre
204% vitamin A
203% vitamin C
144% Calcium
544% Iron
So oats with nuts, seeds, dried fruit for breakfast
trail mixes for snacks
Soups of lentils or beans, dried Vegetables, and lots plenty of green herbs for supper
add honey and oils for simple calories once you have your basic nutritional needs
JAK, oatmeal has that much fat? Where are you getting those nutritional stats?
You got me JAK. It must have slipped my mind that oatmeal(dried old fashioned or rolled oats) has that high a fat content.
shelterbuilder
01-28-2013, 05:16
If you are worried about "getting bored" with your fare, consider the old stand-by of 2 parts rice, 1 part barley, 1 part lentils. This can be varied infinitely with different sauces, gravy mixes, spices, and even sweeteners (for breakfast). The gravy mixes may not go too well for a strictly vegetarian diet....
Experiment at home first.
You can thicken soup with oats also
daddytwosticks
01-28-2013, 08:15
If a vegetarian eats vegetables what does a humanitarian eat? :)
Almost There
01-28-2013, 09:57
Mary Jane Farms has some decent vegan/veget meals. Here's the link: http://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/store/c/40-Meals.aspx
Odd Man Out
01-28-2013, 10:37
JAK, oatmeal has that much fat? Where are you getting those nutritional stats?
His data is spot on. Go here, set the serving size to 100 g and multiply by 10 (he gave the numbers for 2.2 lb = 1000 g = 1 kg).
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/breakfast-cereals/1597/2
I agree with much said here. Mostly, if you are eating a balanced diet, there is no need to worry about protein. For a thru hiker, you need to worry about getting enough energy (fats and carbs). Also, oatmeal is great. If you find yourself sick of oatmeal, my tip is to never buy the instant oatmeal packages (evil!). Just get rolled oats (plain quick oats are OK too). Add brown sugar (or maple syrup for a non-UL treat), butter, cinnamon, and add boiling water, but don't cook them (perfect for FBC). I like the texture of the uncooked oats better, and they are much easier to clean up (the dissolved starch of fully cooked oatmeal sets up like glue when it cools).
rocketsocks
01-28-2013, 12:36
I freakin love oatmeal....I mean I love it! eat it every day.
Almost There
01-28-2013, 12:42
I freakin love oatmeal....I mean I love it! eat it every day.
Agreed, but now that I've eaten steelcut oatmeal, I can't eat normal oatmeal anymore.
Thanks Odd Man Out. I did exactly what you suggested between my post #23 and post #24 You must have not read my follow up post #24. JAK is correct.
Shelterbuilder, I will try your rice, barley, and lentil recipe, all pre cooked or dehydrated though to shorten cook time. I'll do as you suggest and tweak it with different sauces. I'm getting hungry now.
If a vegetarian eats vegetables what does a humanitarian eat? :)
In my book a vegetarian is a humanitarian. They are the ones who treat animals humanely!