Healty options & how good is freeze dried food for you?

[HelveticHiker]

I'm not a health nut and I will pack some candies and the occasional Snickers and M&M's, but I'm also looking for some healthy food options for my 500-Miles AT section hike.
Besides oats, jerkey, nuts & dried fruit what do you take?
And how good are freeze dried meals for you? I'm always a little bit concerned about highly processed food and too many preservatives...

[peakbagger]

Freeze dried is exactly what the name implies. It doesn't need any high processing or preservatives. The reason it lasts is the water is taken out of it so bacteria cannot grow. Sure you can buy packaged freeze dried meals with all sorts of additives to improve the taste or appearance but that's your choice. There are several suppliers of bulk dehydrated food with little of no preservatives. Get a vacuum sealer and if you want some oxygen absorbers although I find that as long as you keep dehydrated veggies dry in a ziplock they last for quite awhile.

My long term section hiking menu dinners were a Lipton (now Knorr) noodle mix with a bag of mixed dehydrated veggies and either a canned meat or a bag of dehydrated chicken along with some spices. Bring the lipton noodles up to a boil, simmer for a minute or two then dump in the dehydrated stuff and then wrap it up in fleece and let it sit for 10 minutes.

[StubbleJumper]

I say that you take the good with the bad. For me, a thru hike is almost always a great thing for my health as my stress levels disappear altogether after about 2 weeks, I drink only water on the trail rather than coffee and beer, and I consume far less red meat which reduces my saturated fat intake. I typically lose between 10 and 20 pounds on a thru, which might say something about how healthy I am when I'm not hiking.

So, turning to your question of freeze dried or other light foods, I'd say they're not ideal. It's hard to get a balanced diet on the trail. You never seem to get enough fresh fruit and veggies, probably you don't get enough fibre, and I suspect that you might not get the whole complement of vitamins on the trail. I find that stopping in town helps to fill out some of those gaps, but 5 days out of 6 my diet on the trail is sub-optimal. The dried food itself is perfectly safe, although it tends to be higher in sodium and is mainly carbs.

Overall, I really don't worry too much about it. I know in my heart that, for me, the overall health benefits of a thru-hike far exceed any temporary effects of poor nutrition.

[Spirit Walker]

I found that the freeze dried meals didn't fill me as much as Knorr pasta/rice and a protein add in. They made a nice change of taste though. Unless you dehydrate on your own, you will probably be sub-par on nutrition. When you get to town, you can fill up, but you'll be eating at diners, where vegetables tend to be the boil all day variety. Salads are iceberg. Mostly you'll be eating fattening garbage. I usually was able to get fruit and juice and milk, but decent vegetables were hard to find, aside from a few hostels that had vegetarian hosts.

[Odd Man Out]

I've never hiked with freeze dried meals (Ala Mountain House). One of my favorites is red lentis, basmati rice, curry powder, and salt. Bring 150 grams of this mix to boil in 2 cups water with a dollop of olive oil, let set in pot cozy for 15 min. Lentils amd basmati rice cook faster than other legumes and grains so you can save time and fuel by just bringing to boil.

[Tipi Walter]

The healthiest option would be to design and cook up and dehydrate all your backpacking foods at home before a trip. It's easy and cheap to do. I just finished drying all my food for a February trip and currently I'm on a cooked bean and quinoa jag, augmented with tempeh and Chao vegan cheese and the usual nut butters and pumpkin seeds etc.

You can cook up a big pot of organic pinto beans and a pot of quinoa and then blend the two together thoroughly adding water for easy blending. Then pour this mix onto your dehydrator trays and dry for the ziplocks. You can bake sweet potatoes and mash and dry and add later to cooked meals. Check out my backpacking drying ideas here---

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/keyword/kitchen/

[One Half]

The healthiest option would be to design and cook up and dehydrate all your backpacking foods at home before a trip. It's easy and cheap to do. I just finished drying all my food for a February trip and currently I'm on a cooked bean and quinoa jag, augmented with tempeh and Chao vegan cheese and the usual nut butters and pumpkin seeds etc.

You can cook up a big pot of organic pinto beans and a pot of quinoa and then blend the two together thoroughly adding water for easy blending. Then pour this mix onto your dehydrator trays and dry for the ziplocks. You can bake sweet potatoes and mash and dry and add later to cooked meals. Check out my backpacking drying ideas here---

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/keyword/kitchen/

Hey Tipi, are you vegan?

OP - freeze dried MEALS definitely have tons of preservatives in them as well as way too much sodium. And if you don't care about that part then I would say bring those and eat them as you can afford. I used to eat a lot of the commercial ones. However, we no longer eat food processed/cooked/preserved by others. I now freeze dry my own meals. I'll include the link to my thread on it at the bottom of this post. Someone mentioned buying just the components of meals in bulk - veggies and meats etc. That's a good option. You may even be able to try various vendors in "sample packs" or at least smaller serving packs to see which vendor you prefer. I have several friends who prefer Wise, others prefer Harmony House, and I will say that when I ate them I actually liked the MH ones. I "think" Wise meals are "flatter" and thus pack easier IIRC.

I do find it funny, whenever we have a thread about food, the people who chime in and say - you're going to be missing nutrients and/or you'll get bored if you prebuy and mail/carry your meals ahead of time. LOL cause Ramen and Knorr weeks on end are great! I remember "years ago" there was a survey conducted (more taxpayer $ going to waste) that found almost all people eat the same 5 dinners, week in and week out. Dehydrating your own is also a good way to go and add some variety.

Here's my freeze drying thread FYI
https://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthr...lts?highlight=

[bamboo bob]

500 miles is just four weeks. I doubt it matters what you eat for a few months let alone just four weeks.

[Tipi Walter]

Sort of vegan except for the occasional egg---but no dairy and of course no meat/fish.

I know nothing about freeze-drying versus home dehydration. But if I see something worth eating on a trip I'll slap it in the dehydrator and see what happens. I dried about everything possible including sliced mushrooms and whole burritos sliced thin and fruit smoothies and even yogurt.

Plus there ALWAYS OATMEAL!!! When things get confused I always return to my oatmeal dinners---cooks fast in the field with sea salt, raw honey, black walnuts and/or peanut butter and no wait time. Available everywhere.

[Feral Bill]

[QUOTE=

. You can bake sweet potatoes and mash and dry and add later to cooked meals. [/QUOTE]

You have my attention with this one

[HelveticHiker]

500 miles is just four weeks. I doubt it matters what you eat for a few months let alone just four weeks.

Four weeks? I was planing six! But I'd like to start slow and take my time... and yes it might not matter what I eat for this period, you are right... I usually don't think so much about food... but since my body will have to work so much harder than it normaly has to, I want to add some good "fuel"....

[Tipi Walter]

You have my attention with this one

Here is a sweet potato baked and mashed onto a drier tray and just finished drying. Add this in the field to soups to thicken etc.

[Dogwood]

I always get hungry reading Tipi and Vegan Hiker's trail foods.

Growing movement of people wanting to know how and where their food is sourced, what's in it, and how it gets to the table. I'm like Tipi, I'm one of them. I like designing my own food both on and off trail. I will not defer my choice of food options or food prep to the food "science" lab specialists( almost married one) who design food like products we are led to believe is food. Want better health avoid highly processed highly refined prepackaged food like products.

I get better trail food quality by aiming to eat more whole foods - foods in there as natural least processed least refined state. I always include having an assortment of fresh "living" - non enzymatically denatured food on trail. Four main ways this is accomplished 1) I tend to resupply more often to lower overall food wt but imbalance it out so to include heavier fresh produce like vegetables, fruit, herbs(cilantro, parsley, dill etc.), garlic, ginger, turmeric, seafood, whole least refined grains(quinoa, millet, whole oats, groats, amaranth, buckwheat, etc), seeds(pumpkin, sunflower, chia, HEMP!, flax, sesame, etc), nuts(often sprouted and raw), etc 2) creating my own meals rather than rely on prepackaged. For example, I'd rather tweak my own oat meal adding what I want for optimal nutrition and taste rather than consuming often high sugar and preservative "flavored" oatmeal packets. 3) I mail some resupply boxes containing a variety of self created foods. I will hybrid resupply approach by also buying some along the way at predetermined farmers's markets, large grocery stores, Food Co-Ops, and Health Food stores. Easy enough on LD hikes on the AT! 4) grow fresh sprouts to add to food or eat alone as a snack ON TRAIL as I hike. This is accomplished with a hemp fabric seed sprouting kit sold inexpensively by Outdoor Herbivore https://outdoorherbivore.com One of the best Christmas gifts I ever received!

[Dogwood]

500 miles is just four weeks. I doubt it matters what you eat for a few months let alone just four weeks.

Try eating nothing but coconut chips or slugging down Parkay margarine or Whey for several days. Never had the idea that my performance wasn't affected by what I consume.

[devoidapop]

I've never hiked with freeze dried meals (Ala Mountain House). One of my favorites is red lentis, basmati rice, curry powder, and salt. Bring 150 grams of this mix to boil in 2 cups water with a dollop of olive oil, let set in pot cozy for 15 min. Lentils amd basmati rice cook faster than other legumes and grains so you can save time and fuel by just bringing to boil.

I also love lentils for camp dinners. I soak mine with a cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamon, etc in a ziploc while I hike. Then all you have to do is add a little more water, some oil, some dry veggies, bring to a quick boil and let it steep for 5 minutes.

Thumbs up to everybody who wants to eat a little better on the trail.

[Dogwood]

I also love lentils for camp dinners. I soak mine with a cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamon, etc in a ziploc while I hike. Then all you have to do is add a little more water, some oil, some dry veggies, bring to a quick boil and let it steep for 5 minutes.

Thumbs up to everybody who wants to eat a little better on the trail.

One simple real life healthier solution.

Before someone sees problems with lentil cook/food prep times I'll offer this solution - Lentils come in several forms including already cooked and with much the prep done. Example being Tasty Bites Madras and Bombay Lentil options. Resupply more often, the wt and some fresh veggies, ginger, added coconut milk powder, fresh turmeric, green onion, or fuel time is offset. Could be a viable option.

[Dogwood]

http://tastybite.com/product_type/indian-entrees/

Please chime in Another Kevin. You make some tasty Indian/Asian on trail meals!

[Deadeye]

Harmony House http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/ has great dehydrated (not freeze dried) vegetable selections and samplers. Just like at home, I like to make a meal with veggies and lean proteins, and on the trail will add more starchy foods like potatoes, noodles, or rice. On trail, they just tend to be more of a one-pot preparation. A typical trail dinner meal for me would be to pre-soak some dehydrated broccoli, peas, and onions, while setting up camp, bring it all to a boil, add mashed potatoes and a packet of chicken meat (or freeze-dried chicken). There are a couple gazillion starch/veggie/protein combinations. With a little effort and planning, you can eat reasonably "clean" on the trail. Makes up for all the pop-tarts

[Odd Man Out]

The red lentils are very small and cook fine with 15 to 20 min in a cozy after coming to boil. Same witn basmati rice. No need to buy pre cooked or dehydrated. The more common brown lentils and wregular rice cook slower but also work. They might just be a bit al dente.

[Dogwood]

Love that wregular rice you waskily rabbit.