Best food?
I am looking for ideas of the best, most filling, and lightest foods. We use a lot of Mountain House right now but I wanted to mix it up. Any suggestions?
Yea its all over this part of the WB make sure you check out the Utube video when visiting the site and if you have any questions after purchasing the book PM Sabar here on the site.
I recommend this, and going down to Walmart and getting your own food dehydrator, and some glad bags of various sizes. If you go to a super Walmart - pick up some meats to experiment with and at least turn out your own jerky's
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
While it may not be at the top of the nutritious list 'Honey Buns' are light and at least 500 calories each. If you're looking for some calories and have a sweet tooth, they're a good snack.
I use Lipton sides and Ramen for my dinners - also very light. Once I start introducing protein it seems the foods get heavier but a pack or two of vanilla Carnation instant breakfast added to (water) and cereal in the morning makes a great tasting 'milk' and has a pretty good protein content.
Also - beef jerky, kind of light for the protein content.
The most calories for the weight is lard or butter, but this is not an effective food, since your body is extremely unlikely to run short of fat supplies on the AT. Even the leanest hiker has about 10% total body fat, of which 5% is essential and can't be burned for fuel, but that leaves 5% which can be burned. 5% of 150 lbs is 7.5 lbs of fat and most people can't burn more than a pound a day of fat. For most people, it is fairly easy (too easy, in fact) to replenish that fat during town stops. So that 7.5 lbs (which is for a very lean hiker) is enough to get your through even the 100 mile wilderness.
What is in short supply while hiking is carbohydrates, since your body can only store a limited amount of glucose and needs a constant supply of glucose for the brain and for the muscles when running short on oxygen (climbing hills). The brain cannot run on fat and the muscles can only use fat when there is plenty of oxygen (sleeping, walking on level ground). If you don't feed the body with carbohydrates, then it will break down muscle to convert protein into glucose. The body cannot convert fat into glucose, only protein and carbohydrates. Many hikers warn about getting enough protein for muscle building. I suspect that many of these hiker are actually not getting enough carbohydrates and that is why they have such a huge need for protein, since protein acts as a substitute for carbs (both can be converted to glucose).
So the best food for most people is one which is rich in carbs and has just enough protein to rebuild tissues. Any form of wheat, or oats both will work. (Some people say the protein in grains is unbalanced. This is true but unimportant. There is so much protein in wheat that you will get plenty of even the amino acids which are in short supply, and the amino acids which are in excess supply can be converted to glucose and burned.) If the distance between town stops is just a few days, then the body can store protein in the liver, so you could actually get by eating nothing but sugar. A vitamin B/C pill is also a good idea, regardless of what you eat, since the body cannot store these vitamins (it can store the other vitamins and minerals) and vitamin C especially is hard to find in dried foods.
One important consideration. If you eat a high-carb diet, be careful about insulin reactions. Some people (diabetics, pre-diabetics) have more problems with insulin than others, and some foods are more problematic than others. A safe approach is to eat gradually while hiking--this makes insulin problems very unlikely.
Personally, I usually eat a lot of high-sugar cookies, cereals, granola, candy, and dried fruit while hiking, then load up with fat, protein (canned fish), fresh fruits and vegetables in town.
Ok this is a little off as far as lite wt. but it's easy to make, taste great and is close to balanced.
Take chicken breast, you can find precooked, in packages at most grocery stores, some cheese ( your Preference) I like to use swiss, and some mushrooms, either ones you deyhdrate or purchased, a veggy (green beans) a mashed potato mix. you can make all this quickly with minimal skills and prepwork, it taste great what your packing out trash wise is minimal and it is a real meal, total preptime/cooking time isn't that long while your veggies are rehydrating reheat chicken and melt cheese over top put the nushrooms on top of melted cheese, use water you used to rehydrate veggies to mix your potates up and beans, enjoy, all you need is 1 pot,1pan, & a person to share with because it equals about 2 large servings
Sounds like my typical dinner. The chicken can be in foil pouches or small cans (not much difference in weight or trash, but cans are much cheaper), or freezed-dried. I use harmony house dehydrated veggies and 'shrooms.Originally Posted by YeOldeBackpacker
Cornbread stuffing is pretty light for its ability to fill because of low moisture content. A pouch of chicken and some dried cranberries make it a meal. You can pour the boiling water right into the pouch so there's no cleanup. It also takes olive oil well if you need more calories--the instructions call for added fat.
For me:
3 types of nuts
dried fruit..what's available..apricots,raisins,dates,cranberries,..
Macaroni
cheddar cheese
packaged tuna,
dried greens if available
In town:
V8 juice
salads
steak
potatoes
milk
bread
eggs
++
Eat well and have FUN
Sandalwood
You need carbs and/or fat for short-term energy, but you also need protein for long-term energy and rebuilding bones and muscle mass. Short term energy comes from sugar and carbs; carbs come from grains of all kinds. Protein comes from meat, nuts, seeds, beans, cheese, eggs, etc. Meat for the trail can be in several forms -- jerky, sausage, in foil packets, and in cans. Heavily seasoned meat and certain types of sausage can be carried safely for days without refrigeration. Sausage and cheese have been my hiking staples since day one. Many soup mixes have beans of various types. You might also try dried (dehydrated) hummus for that purpose.
I'd say the best backpacking food is VARIETY. I've taken out everything over the years, humped in a watermelon, carried out two pints of Hagen Daz ice cream and drank it like a milkshake at camp.
I've taken sprouts and cabbage, apples, pears and oranges. I've taken glass quarts of fruit juice and bottles of spritzer water(added it to apple juice for a fizz), cans of soda and many cans of beans and soup.
I've carried 12 eggs in a plastic container, a loaf of bread, a small bottle of mayonnaise, baby carrots and broccoli.
There's no secret to backpacking foods, just carry what you want to eat. It's real simple.
Get a dehydrator and experiment!
Anyone ever dehydrate Little Debbie Strawberry Shortcakes??
Here's another twist. I am a skinny guy and don't want to lose any weight. Can you all suggest any foods to keep the weight on?
Olive oil added to everything. Fat has 9 cal/g, carbs and protein only 4 cal/g, more or less. The goal would be to take in more calories.
You beat me to it!
Yep, drizzle oil on anything you can. And in town butter is your friend. So will be pizza covered in cheese, tubs of PB.........
Sure a small jar of Jiff and lots of Snickers. Jam the Snickers into the PB and enjoy
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp...entPage=search
i drink this after breakfast but mix it with powdered low-fat milk 600 calories per 16 ozs.
this chart might help also. helped me alot. i take it to the store with me.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/index.php?page=nutrition
How long do you think eggs will last in summer time hiking?
The problem with adding fat to your diet is that you may not be able to use it because of shortage of oxygen (climbing hills). So you'll end up adding body fat while burning up muscle to produce the glucose that your body needs. If you are worried about losing weight, just add more food. Eat 2 or even 3 lbs of dry pasta or oats or even sugar per day if that is what it takes to keep you going.
Thanks all, especially Reno. Reno, you seem to be very knowledgable about nutrition. Could it be your profession?
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