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Wise Old Owl
09-30-2012, 22:13
I have been playing around with taking salads- at first it was store bought, now I have some Glad deep dish with a rubberband... Keeping ingredients separate and combining on the trail... I have to admit it's getting a little of a bore. I keep changing it up - with packaged salad toppers and stuff ...

So looking for ideas..favorite menu's etc.

** Oh what to do on a three day hike would help too!

Tipi Walter
09-30-2012, 22:24
It's devolves down to "fresh" vs "not-fresh" or dehydrated. You can haul pretty much anything for only 3 days---avocado, cabbage, apples, grapes, pineapple, cantaloupe, onions, even lettuce and tomatoes. You can make rice and bean burritos with some of these items in the burrito, thereby providing the salad. Beyond 3 or 4 days though and you're back to raisins (which are grapes) and home dried bananas and apples and even dried onions and olives and cantaloupe. I say take whatever you want and oif it spoils and rots like raw spinach or sprouts just toss them out and keep hiking.

The big problem is in winter when lettuce and tomatoes and onions and apples and grapes will freeze solid the first night.

Bronk
10-01-2012, 01:19
I'm not a huge salad fan...if somebody puts one in front of me I'll eat it, but I don't ever crave salad. But I was at a dinner awhile back and got a salad that I thought was really good. The ingredients were:

craisins (dehydrated cranberries)
apple chunks
walnuts
feta cheese
romaine lettuce
carrots

Wise Old Owl
10-01-2012, 19:51
Well we are off to a good start...

canoe
10-01-2012, 19:59
You can always grow seed and bean sprouts and they will be fresh as you hike

JJJ
10-01-2012, 20:10
I like the sprout idea, just haven't got around to it on the trail. Alfalfa for me, maybe lentils.

Tipi Walter
10-02-2012, 07:45
Dorothy Laker used to take a cabbage and enjoyed the crunchiness.

Rasty
10-02-2012, 09:07
Avocados, Roma Tomatoes, Shallots instead of onions for the size, candied nuts, cheese, olives, uncut lettuce will last the longest, hard salami, salad dressing packets, quinoa, Israeli cous cous, etc.

HikerMom58
10-02-2012, 09:53
I'm not a huge salad fan...if somebody puts one in front of me I'll eat it, but I don't ever crave salad. But I was at a dinner awhile back and got a salad that I thought was really good. The ingredients were:

craisins (dehydrated cranberries)
apple chunks
walnuts
feta cheese
romaine lettuce
carrots

Yumm...... I'll have to try that.


Avocados, Roma Tomatoes, Shallots instead of onions for the size, candied nuts, cheese, olives, uncut lettuce will last the longest, hard salami, salad dressing packets, quinoa, Israeli cous cous, etc.

Mmmmm salad..... It's only 9:55 and I'm getting hungry already.

mediauras
10-04-2012, 23:48
how do you keep salad fresh for more than an hour in a backpack? salad greens wilt so easily. one thing i have done (on 1 or 2 night trips) is carry a ziploc of a coleslaw that is olive oil/apple cider vinegar based. keeps and travels well -- especially if you mix ingredients in bag just prior to leaving, it will marinate while you hike.

Odd Man Out
10-05-2012, 12:02
My mom has a recipe called "Seven Day Slaw" because it gets better after a week, although we always kept it in the fridge. Don't know how it would keep in a pack. It's shredded cabbage, onions, peppers, celery seed with a vinegar and sugar and oil dressing (no mayo). I just checked on-line and found several recipes, but some are called "Nine day slaw". Maybe it would ferment in a pack. There are lots of fermented cabbage salads made in the days before refrigeration (sauerkraut, kim chee, etc...)

Also, in the pantheon of dried fruit, nothing beats dried cherries. But then, I am from MI and we are required to think that.

Ktaadn
10-05-2012, 13:10
how do you keep salad fresh for more than an hour in a backpack? salad greens wilt so easily. one thing i have done (on 1 or 2 night trips) is carry a ziploc of a coleslaw that is olive oil/apple cider vinegar based. keeps and travels well -- especially if you mix ingredients in bag just prior to leaving, it will marinate while you hike.

At home I sometimes throw a damp paper towel in the container with the leafy greens. That helps them stay fresh a lot longer by giving moisture when needed and taking some away when it isn't. I'm not sure how much that would help out on the trail but it's probably worth a shot.

Grinder
10-05-2012, 13:46
Kale has a good rep for lasting on the trail. Certainly for three or four days.
Broccoli too. I some in Maine that was going on 4 days.

Wise Old Owl
10-27-2012, 00:54
My mom has a recipe called "Seven Day Slaw" because it gets better after a week, although we always kept it in the fridge. Don't know how it would keep in a pack. It's shredded cabbage, onions, peppers, celery seed with a vinegar and sugar and oil dressing (no mayo). I just checked on-line and found several recipes, but some are called "Nine day slaw". Maybe it would ferment in a pack. There are lots of fermented cabbage salads made in the days before refrigeration (sauerkraut, kim chee, etc...)

Also, in the pantheon of dried fruit, nothing beats dried cherries. But then, I am from MI and we are required to think that.

Yes I have made it but always refrigerated it.... guess I get to play now...