Best meals/foods to pack for a 2 wk hike

[CaliLizard]

Its me again, you'll probably see me hitting up all the forums for good info in the next coming months or days. me and a group of friends will be hiking from Springer mountain Georgia to possibly Fontana Dam.
Were expecting to hike for 2 weeks along the Appalachian and I was wondering if anyone could offer some good tips/meal plans or idea's/ best stoves that have worked for you.
Im into the ultralight packing method, but I assume food will be the majority of my weight.:-?

[CaliLizard]

oh were planning on leaving next year during the late summer or early fall season, if that makes a diff with food.

[Feral Bill]

If you are doing actual cooking, as opposed to just boiling water, for a group, I'd suggest a white gas stove. I've cooked for four on my Svea many times. The weight per person would be fine. For food, get together with your people and work that out. Anything tasty with low water content and reasonable cooking time will work. Oatmeal, dried fruit, nuts, candy, pasta, cheese, tuna packets, Knorr Sides, hot cocoa, etc. are a good start.

[Starchild]

Are you planning to resupply along the way?

If not I would strongly suggest knowing what your body requires and bringing that food. I have learned for me not to just go with the usual backpacking foods, as in a few days I will feel continually weak and feel that food contains no energy. I have learned for my body type and select foods appropriate for it (which for me is high protein/fat low carb). If you resupply this is less of a issue as you will have the opportunity to select a different menu along the way based on what you feel you need. On one of my earlier backpacks, before I figured this out by day 3 I was really suffering and turned to fishing which fortunately worked, well that and finding a can of bacon and another of Spam in a lean too.

Stove selection may vary depending on the foods you select.

Peace

[bigcranky]

When my hiking partner and I go, we pack separate meals and cook separately. (We also pack all our own gear and share nothing but our company.) That works well for us. Shared meals are something of a PITA. I bring a simple canister stove, and a small 4-ounce isobutane canister lasts me a week on the trail (less in winter.) Homemade alcohol stoves are also very popular on the trail. I use a 700ml titanium mug/pot for all my cooking and drinking needs.

Some food ideas, and also an eating plan that works for me:

Breakfast: granola and dried fruit, maybe add some walnuts. Instant oatmeal, also add fruits and nuts. Pop tarts. Instant cheese grits with crumbled bacon.
Second breakfast: something quick like Pop Tarts or a good energy bar or Snickers.
Lunch: Tortillas! Filled with a packet of tuna, a couple of mayo packets, and some string cheese. Or peanut butter and Nutella or jam. Or those individual serving size packets of Ritz crackers with sliced cheddar and salami, or peanut butter and jam, and a bag of beef or turkey jerky.
Dinner: some of the "backpacking" meals are fine, I like the Enertia Foods dinners. But mostly I like to make my own freezer bag dinners (see this link for ideas (http://www.trailcooking.com/).) Some sort of grain or starch, some dried veggies, some sauce or flavoring mix, add boiling water and stick it in a bag cozy for 10 minutes. Eg., cous-cous, dried mushrooms, dried tomatoes, chicken bouillon, and cashews. Or use the Knorr noodles and sauce packets to make a dinner -- the Teriyaki noodles and a small bag of chicken makes a great dinner. Bring some hot sauce.
Snacks: I eat a lot of small snacks over the course of the day. Gorp is easy and good. I like cashews, dried cherries, and chocolate chips (sub M&Ms in warm weather.) Or a mix of small pretzels and Spicy Tabasco Cheez-Its and honey roasted peanuts. Lots of chocolate makes the trip, too. A nice bar of good dark chocolate after dinner hits the spot. Chocolate covered espresso beans are heaven on earth for a hiker.
Drinks: I need my coffee, and the Starbux Via is the easiest and best I've found. Decaf green tea makes a nice hot drink on a cool evening after dinner. I always bring the 1-liter instant lemonade and iced tea packets from the grocery store -- they make a nice treat on a hot day. I've also started bringing some sort of recovery drink mixes like Gatorade in the summer, to drink when I stop for the day. It seems to help.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

[Starchild]

When my hiking partner and I go, we pack separate meals and cook separately. (We also pack all our own gear and share nothing but our company.) That works well for us. Shared meals are something of a PITA.

Then again this is not everyone's experience, depending on who your hiking partner is. I have backpacked with a S.O. in the past, shared meals is great (combining a Mountain House FD with a cheaper selection makes a great meal for 2), stove (Jetboil Flash) - fast efficient plenty of time for other stuff, tent, etc. Along with a big weight savings, it is for me the most pleasurable way to hike, though some may desire more independence or hiking with another that is not a S.O., which when I do I will be more independent.

[FarmerChef]

I didn't quite gather from your original post, Calilizard, if you were planning to cook as a group (i.e. one pot for multiple people) or have each person make their own meal. If the former, make sure you size your pots (plural) correctly. if the latter, make sure each person has their own cooking equipment including stove and fuel (unless you'll be cooking over campfires - even then, bring a stove for rainy days).

I cook for 5 when I go hiking and use a 4 quart pot as well as a smaller 2 quart pot. One handles hot water for hot drinks in the winter and/or baking luxury items like brownies, muffins, etc. The bigger pot is used to make the main meal at dinner time or to heat larger quantities of hot water for breakfast. If I do dinner and dessert, I'll often split the job between the two pots so I don't have to scrub out the pot with something savory in it in order to make it clean enough for something sweet. But this all implies that I am actually cooking my food. If you choose to do FB cooking or other pouch-style/rehydrate in bowl dinners this is moot. You'll only be heating water each time at that point.

Here's some things we make:

Breakfast: oatmeal, grits, dried fruit, coffee (I use instant - long story), hot chocolate - all in the winter. In the summer, we eat cold breakfast: granola with powdered milk (get whole milk not skim), pop-tarts (makes us feel awful so we do it rarely), energy bar, etc. If there's time and it's not roasting hot, I'll still make a little hot water for coffee but for the time and fuel, I consider this a luxury in the summer.

Morning snacks: homemade gorp mix (various nuts, various dried fruits, M&Ms, Reece's Pieces, yogurt covered raisins, etc.)

Lunch: anything you can hold or smear on a pita, cracker, tortilla, bagel thin/bagel or anything else flat that won't get crushed in your pack. Favorite toppings include: peanut butter and jelly/jam/honey (powdered), powdered hummus (reconstituted - takes seconds), tuna, chicken, Nutella, cream cheese if it's cold enough. You get the idea. Variety is key here as I used to do bagel thins and peanut butter every day. About day 3 we were sick of PB and BTs.

Afternoon snack: More gorp and jerky/pemmican. Keeping protein up while hiking is important for muscle repair. Jerky is a tasty and light way of giving yourself a big shot of protein in a small package.

Dinner: Sky's the limit here. If you are making your own meals you can start from scratch or use building blocks. Either way the ingredients are the same. Start with a starch: instant rice, cous cous, mashed potatoes, pasta. Add a sauce: powdered gravy, teriyaki, etc. sauce packets. Add a protein: dehydrate ground beef or ground chicken/turkey. Or use pouch tuna or chicken (this can get very heavy for a large group or multiple days). Add extras: dehydrated veggies, extra spices like onion powder, hot sauce, pepper, etc. Boost the flavor with bouillon packets/cubes/powder. If you want it even easier, as bigcranky mentioned use Knorr sides or similar meal in a packet sides and add mix-ins to customize it to your liking. Mac and cheese works well if you bring olive oil in a bottle and dehydrated milk powder (check out Nido brand at your local Wal Mart). I just add ground beef to it (dehydrated and rehydrated) to make Hamburger Helper. Kids love it. Well, so do I :)

Dessert: Calories, calories, calories. Puddings with powdered milk are a snap (instant is easiest but if you can simmer and it's cold, heat 'n serve is awesome). Add stuff to your puddings like nuts or chocolate chips, M&Ms, dried fruit. I often make cheesecake on the trail with the no bake kits from the store. Dump the crushed graham crackers in the bottom of the bowls. Prepare the filling and spoon it on top in each bowl. Pour some of the cherry/blueberry/other topping on top. Voila! There's always s'mores for a great social dessert. You can make all kinds of pie simulations with dried fruit and bread crumbs (plus sugar or honey to taste).

I took a lot of inspiration for my trail meals from Chef Glenn at backpackingchef.com. He has recipes and how tos that are very enlightening. If you do prepare your own, consider investing in a dehydrator. Nesco makes a relatively inexpensive model that you can often find at yard sales or through Craigslist. I got mine there for $35 including 8 trays, 8 tray liners, and 4 fruit-rollup trays. That was a steal. With that I can dehydrate tons of food at a time, important considering I'm preparing meals for 5.

Also, a +1 on bigcranky's use of a recovery drink during the summer. If you do not buy prepackaged meals, your sodium intake may be very low and you'll lose a lot of electrolytes through sweat. At dinner, our beverage is usually some flavor of Gatorade and is mandatory for all diners. Also when it's cold (nights in the low 30s to low 20s or below) we bring miniature candy bars with us and eat them right before we go to bed. This helps keep the fire burning as we climb into our bags and keeps us warmer.

Hope that helps.

[swjohnsey]

In the summer an alcohol stove works well and is light. I use a Super Venon by Zelph but there are lotsa home made stoves like the Fancy Feast you can make yourself in five minutes.

A good breakfast is oatmeal and raisins, 1/2 c quick oats, 1/4 c sugar, 1/4 c raisins maybe 1/4 tsp cinnimon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp Nido dry whole milk. A tbs of lard will add about 115 calories. Squeeze margarine or any oil will also work.

A good lunch 2 - 3 flour tortillas w/peanut butter.

Dinners: boxed mac & cheese, instant mashed potatoes w/Spam single, Knorr sides Red Beans & Rice. A tbs of lard also works in these.

Candy I like Snickers and big Hersey bars.

Nuts, peanuts, cashews.

Choose your food wisely and you can get by on 1 1/2 - 2 lbs day.

[Mountain Mike]

Take a look at this site. http://www.trailcooking.com/trail-cooking-101 Many great ideas. My two favorite cookbooks for trail foods are Cooking the one Burner Way http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-One-Burner-Way-Backcountry/dp/0762706708/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361408234&sr=8-1&keywords=cooking+the+one+burner+way & NOLS Cookbook http://www.amazon.com/NOLS-Cookery-6th-Claudia-Pearson/dp/081170940X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361408292&sr=1-1&keywords=nols+cookery . Between the 3 you can make some pretty great meals.

Nice part of going with a group is shared gear/weight that allows for gourmet meals most hiker lack. I love my outback oven, just to heavy for a solo hike. But when weight is shared, nothing like a pizza a few days in 19803

[CaliLizard]

Thank you so much for all the replies, advice and idea's im loving the commutative support you guys are great, I will definitely take a lot of your advice and idea's into my planning and even thought of some new idea's off of your suggestions. To answer your questions......

The group I will be going with will be the type to be "solo" group hikers like bigcranky and his partner, with it being most of their first hikes and they like being in control of their own needs and simply enjoy the company of sharing the hike. We tried small hikes with some of them before and designated supplies, but it ended with more confusion. We also feel its safer to have each individual carry their own gear. we like sharing certain supplies but dont want feel obligated to, so we may add a couple group meals in our packs, but we will primarily be cooking for ourselves with our own stoves, which is why Im taking all the advice I can before we head out. (Of course I will still be momma, and make sure everyone has the right gear and food to survive while were out, they can be independent but I want to make sure they enjoy themselves and are not starving lol)


I haven't yet decided on whether to boil most my meals or actually cook them, I would like to do both, but for obvious weight issue's I may need to decide on one or the other. I would like to be able to cook certain meals, quickly make others, and then have the option to boil as well, a good versatile stove would be best for me bc I cook a lot at home and like the idea of having hot cocoa at night and possibly cooking in the morning. But if all else fails I will decide on one or the other.


I have thought about resupplying because of weight issues and the amount of space 2 weeks of food would take, If at all possible I would like to pack for 7 days of food and then resupply after seven days. Any good locations known for affordable resupply?



Thanks again for all the advice, it is greatly appreciated and I know its going to help me a lot in my decision making.

[CaliLizard]

That pizza looks amazing mountain mike! it would be awesome to hike with a group that shared for that reason alone lol

[bigcranky]

Then again this is not everyone's experience, depending on who your hiking partner is. I have backpacked with a S.O. in the past, shared meals is great

Of course. When I hike with my spouse, we share a tent and kitchen gear and make a shared meal. That's a lot of fun. My regular hiking partner is a guy I work with, so when we hike together (which is more often than my wife and I do) it's all separate gear and food.

[Starchild]

Trying to go solo with perhaps a couple of group cookings may be harder to do then just going solo all the way through with the exception of roasting over a campfire. Also it may be helpful for some in your group to pair off if they want to join cooking efforts, as I have found that usually 2 is a more efficient then 1 while allowing more variety and also a weight savings.

When I go, and is common, I will eat the heaviest food first, I usually plan on something good and satisfying at the beginning (normally regardless of weight) and freezedried towards the end of the hike. If you did go 2 weeks without resupply I would have mostly freeze dried that second week.

For resupply there are 3 options, 1 is food stash/leave a car at a intermediate trailhead, 2 mail drop or stop in and leave yourself a package, 3 go into town and buy what you need, perhaps a night in a hostel/motel. Looking at the AT Guide there are resupply options, and it appears like it could add a extra day to take the approach trail as opposed to the more direct route to Springer.

For your group I would suggest getting the AT Guide book or AT Companion (even if the PDF format - as you just need a few pages which you can print). Also if you did miscalculate your food, especially if you seem to have brought too little, it will show you where you can resupply close to the trail.