For $17 a day what would you buy?

[Timinator]

For $17 a day what would you buy to reach the 5k calorie mark. I need suggestions and examples.

[Rocket Jones]

You're overthinking this. Eat a variety of foods. Carry fresh fruits and veggies for your first day or two out of towns. Add a dollop of olive oil to meals. Worry less about the amount of calories and more about the quality and variety of sources. 5k calories isn't that hard if you eat nothing but crap, but that's not really taking care of your body's needs.

[Timinator]

Appreciate that suggestion but that's not really helpful. I intend to do the cdt not the at which means I can't just pop into towns all the time for fresh food and I'm not what you would call an UL hiker so I'm going to need to get those calories to avoid a lot of weight loss and hunger. I'll just take a multivitamin for the loss of variety of food but I think reaching my body's energy requirements comes first. I would like an example shopping list that could get me at least 5k calories or close for $17 without drinking olive oil. People have told me $17 is a generous budget but I cant see myself getting anything more than 3k tops.

[Moose2001]

IMHO....if you're trying to carry enough food to give yourself 5000 calories every single day, you're going to have a VERY heavy pack and be very frustrated. It's almost impossible to maintain your weight on the trail unless you're in town every couple of days. Loosing weight isn't a bad thing as long as you don't go too far down and start loosing muscule. I would say concentrate on calorie rich foods that you can carry and try to make up some calories anytime you're in town.

[Hoop]

What the others said.

Familiar with pemmican?

[Timinator]

Ok cool thanks for the info.

[leaftye]

I go 100% cookless, and use powdered drinks because they're fast, and provide nutrients and hydration at the same time.

4,000 calories of a slightly modified powdered drink I made a couple years ago and still use. Currently it's:
2 parts bulks protein powder, flavored, artificial sweetener
5 parts oat muscle....I might switch this to slightly more expensive instant oat muscle that blends more easily
6 parts EFA

I'd eliminate the protein powder and replace it with more oat muscle. I'd need sweetener though. Maltodextrin isn't sweet, so that's out. Other sugars have a high glycemic index, so they're out too. I'd probably stick with sucralose unless I find something better. I'd use several different powdered flavoring so that I have a variety. I might add Electromix or Emergen-C for flavoring and electrolytes.

The last 1,000 calories would come from trail mix. My favorite trail mix is currently the tropical mix from Walmart. It's fruity, flavorful, and goes down very easy...the last is very important when trying to consume mass quantities of it for long periods.

I also take a multivitamin, 2 calcium, vitamin C, fish oil and ibuprofen.

In town my meals would cost much more than $17.


This diet is nearly identical to what I've used on the trail for the past 2+ years. It just has a few more calories, sweetener and flavoring. The last two should make it even easier to consume.

[garlic08]

I'm also cookless. And vegetarian. I get about 4000 cal/day on the trail with less than two pounds of food: mainly cheese, peanut butter, tree nuts, tortillas, dried fruit, crackers, fig newtons, instant mashed potatoes, some fresh vegetables and fruit. On my CDT hike, I'd still manage to hit a small town every 100 miles or so and supplement the trail rations with large, usually healthy (and expensive) meals. My average budget for both trail and town food was close to your $17/day figure, but trail food less than half that. I'd easily spend more on two town meals in one day than I would at the grocery store for the next 100 miles.

I had a hard time eating (and carrying) more than two pounds per day, and I wouldn't want to eat richer food than I did. If I ate more cheese than normal, I'd feel pretty sluggish all day. I did not loose more than a few pounds on my AT hike, so I feel I ate fairly well.

Pure carbs are roughly 100 cal/oz, and pure fat is about 200 cal/oz. A good mix of fat/carbs for hiking is about 130 cal/oz total. If you carry 5000 cal, your food weight will be about 2.4 pounds per day, which isn't too bad if you can eat it.

Many hikers start off with little appetite, but it grows later on. Most hikers' tastes change as the hike progresses, too, so be cautious about stocking up on any one item for the whole hike.

[Velvet Gooch]

Easy. 42oz of olive oil

[Velvet Gooch]

Easy. 42oz of olive oil

That was supposed to be 42tbs
21oz 'll do you

[Rasty]

Easy. 42oz of olive oil

That was supposed to be 42tbs
21oz 'll do you

Theoretically sounds good. In practice you would only be supplying a couple hundred calories for you and 4800 calories to whatever animals/insects are eating the oil slick you will leave everywhere on the trail.

[Sly]

On the CDT my energy foods of choice were.....

16096 16097

[Odd Man Out]

2 lbs of peanut butter is more than 5000 calories, available in almost any store, has a nice balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, and costs much less than $17.

[jacob_springsteen]

nutella and lance peanut bars

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Nutella-Hazelnut-With-Skim-Milk-Cocoa-Spread-13-oz/10451273

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lance-Fresh-Roasted-Peanut-Bar/10321787

[rickb]

You ever think about including a palatable/caloric powdered milk-- or Nido- in conjunction with a high calorie granola?

[Timinator]

2 lbs of peanut butter is more than 5000 calories, available in almost any store, has a nice balance of protein, carbohydrates, and fat, and costs much less than $17.

Really? didn't think it was that much I'd better go check on that lol.

[thelowend]

You could start reading some labels for yourself...?

[Connie]

I am not a thru-hiker. I do frequently hike out 5-6 days to 10 days at a time.

I add salad dressing (olive oil, plus) or salsa with olive oil to rice or noodle entrees made from "Sides" and add-ons from packages. I repackage. It is my experience the rice "Sides" prepare faster, the noodles take more time. Thinner or smaller noodles are better.

I fill up on cream soups. I add olive oil to noodle soup or a stew-like soup.

My hot drinks are cream soups, rather than coffee. I only have coffee in the morning if it would improve my morale.

My tea has creamer.

PackIt Gourmet has salad entrees and cold meal entrees good with various salad dressings (olive oil, plus) and cream rich milk for breakfast, soups, and tea. To keep you costs down, purchase these separately as add-ons.

My cheese is individually wrapped serving size from grocery stores, like string cheese in packages marked for kids lunches or Bon Bel from the near the deli section of the grocery store.

I have dehydrated mincemeat into serving size, after finding it sold dried and in individual serving-size in a cardboard package. It is sweet and surprisingly good on the trail.

Maybe it is like pemmican. Pemmican had powdered meat and pounded fruit mixed with hard fat.

Sausage is high in fat and can be heavy in the backpack. Little sausages are easier to carry and help avoid eating so much you will want a zero day. I carry one McDonald's individually-wrapped sausage biscuit for briskly cold weather on the CDT.

Sending yourself special items in a "bounce box" is a good idea.

For example, Toberone individually wrapped cannot be found in every store, or, peanut butter cups for that matter. Snickers freeze hard but can still be good.

In the cold wet Pacific Northwest, I learned to carry a heavy bread known as Logan Bread. It keeps well. It is worth learning how to make. Recipes are online. Small serving-size loafs could go in a "bounce box".

I used to take individual serving size small loafs of fruit cake there, but it makes me too thirsty.

I have fruit, like Walmart tropical fruit nut mix.

I have sugarcane or beet sugar, avoiding all corn syrup sweetener added to food or popular drinks or juice in bottles. Why? It corn syrup makes me want to have a nap or have more caffeine. Neither one is good.

Wylers lemonade or pink lemonade helps flavor water to help keep up hydration, or, lemon drop candies if you tend to not drink sufficient water. Many hikers "camel up" at a water source and still carry a lot of water.

[Nutbrown]

Start eating now. Gain 20+ pounds. That way you have a 'cusion' of calories before you start. On the trail, I'd bring a jug of nut butter. Almond butter has a highter calorie count I think... A lb of cheese and a lb of some type of hard salami/pepperoni. I'm not sure how often a town is on that trail, but just those three things added to whatever else you bring can really add calories.

[Lando11]

how has no one mentioned honey buns or whoopie pies? local store by me has 600+ calorie honey buns for under a dollar

[wannahike]

[QUOTE=Connie;1293416]I am not a thru-hiker. I do frequently hike out 5-6 days to 10 days at a time.
I have dehydrated mincemeat into serving size, after finding it sold dried and in individual serving-size in a cardboard package. It is sweet and surprisingly good on the trail.

Maybe it is like pemmican. Pemmican had powdered meat and pounded fruit mixed with hard fat.


Can you elaborate on the brand and where you bought it. I know the small box of condensed mincemeat http://onlinestore.smucker.com/display_product.cfm?prod_id=899&cat_id=81 but not dried and in an individual serving. I like mincemeat, thanks

[Connie]

The condensed mincemeat is what I had. I like it.

It was in individual serving sizes. Great stuff!

Since I can't find it around here, I started dehydrating mincement purchased in a jar.

This is a six-pack. Maybe it is 6 individual serving-size? Maybe I can order it online, now.

[freckles]

In the cold wet Pacific Northwest, I learned to carry a heavy bread known as Logan Bread. It keeps well. It is worth learning how to make. Recipes are online. Small serving-size loafs could go in a "bounce box".

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to try it. This recipe looks good: http://sectionhiker.com/logan-bread-recipe/

[Hairbear]

i like to carry fruit cake, pepperoni,new york state extra sharp cheese,powdered milk.sometimes i take some of my sons body building protien suplement powder its ok tasting and it has 34 grams of protien for 2 scoops of powder.

[Hairbear]

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to try it. This recipe looks good: http://sectionhiker.com/logan-bread-recipe/

thanks for posting the logan bread im going to try that this weekend looks simalar to fruit cake

[MuddyWaters]

1 gallon of Blue bell Dutch chocolate ice cream is 5000 calories

I vote for the ice cream. Hell, just take 1/2 gallon per day and eat some real food too.

[Feral Bill]

Go to any local grocery and examine the lables of the foods there. You know what you like to eat. $17 will get that many calories easily.

[Wise Old Owl]

................

[Malto]

5000 calories is a piece of cake, or maybe a couple of bags of chips. I ate 6000-8000 calories a day on the last 1500 miles of my thru hike. I only lost two lbs during that time. My theory, for what it's worth is that you want carbs during the day up to about 300 calories per hour then fat and protein rich at the end of the day. When hiking carbs will fuel you. The protein helps to rebuild you so you can get up and do it the next day. Anyone that says you can't hike on junk food is crazy. Here is a picture of a three day resupply coming out of Ashland. I ate about 8000 calories per day on that leg. http://Postholer.Com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=03c53e1fe1fed217c37ac34cd7acf6 2c&jtype=photo&entry_id=25317&photo_id=31357 As far as $17/day. This may have made it using only 5000calories per day.

As others said go to the grocery and read labels. Hint: look at food that you shouldn't eat if you were on a diet. Chips are a great and tasty food at about 150 calories per ounce and cheap. Poke the bag, squeeze out the air and crush the chips and you have a pretty compact food source. If you are cooking add as much olive oil as you can tolerate, it cheap as well. Enjoy

[Different Socks]

Bagels w/cream cheese and honey, pemmican for breakfast, lots of sweets, get calories from common powdered drinks, dried spaghetti sauce with pasta, noodle mixes with salmon, use olive oil for butter, buy a package of already baked brownies, large little Deb snacks, TVP in your dinner meals, crunchy peanut butter on tortillas.....

[Thekey]

fruits and snickers :\
and water....