Question for ultralighters

[leaftye]

Most of your list above was not freeze-dried. There's a difference between freeze-dried and dehydrated.

Correct. And as shown by the MH freeze dried meal, it isn't always lighter. In my examples, it was the second heaviest, and about 20% heavier than the food I carry on the trail. Besides, all else equal, there would be no significant difference in weight between freeze dried foods and dehydrated foods. The reason food is freeze dried is so that the consistency of food is not compromised like it can be during regular dehydration. Both processes are meant to dehydrate the food, but in different ways.

[Tinker]

What do you do about food and cooking? Do you go all dehydrated and simply boil water on an alcohol stove? Do you ever cook? How much weight would you say you carry in food, fuel, stove, and eating/drinking utensils for a 2 day pack or a 7 day pack? How many of your meals are cold - breakfast and lunch? Is dinner hot? If you eat a cold breakfast do you heat water for a hot drink?

If you carry a lot of no cook food (trail bars, gorp, what ever) does the weight offset your other efforts at being light?

Yes - I want to know it all.

Thanks.

Do you know it all yet?

[Speer Carrier]

Did I read you right? 2 1/2 - 3 lbs food for a week? Why not just fast and be done with it?

slow metabolism, combined with lack of appetite when I hike, translates into no more than two meals per day, and probably a consumption of about 750 to 1000 calories per day. On a 7 day hike, I usually lose about 5 pounds.

[One Half]

Do you know it all yet?

Not by a long shot!

[Deadeye]

+1 on using mashed potatoes as a base for soup or meal. Add dried or fresh veggies, cheese, and a can or pouch of chicken or ham = easy one pot meal

[tolkien]

Cooking food is a hastle, but it's one of the few luxuries people refuse to do without. Honestly, unless I got out or somebody else cooks a meal, I tend to eat GORP-equivalent food at home: I don't care for the bother of lugging around a stove and flamable liquid.
Granola, GORP, Beef Jerky, Dried Fruit, and the god of all hiking foods: Peanut Butter.

[300winmag]

"The Russians eat to live
and the French live to eat."

I'm like the French. At the end of a lond day of humping my pack up and down mountains I'm ready for a good meal, usually a freezer bag meal.

And in the morning, with another long day ahead, I want some good food to fuel my body. Thus a big bowl of instant oatmeal or cream of wheat with granola added, some instant Starbucks decaf & creamer or hot chocolate or maybe a freeze-dried omelette.

Early in the day I have CytoMax electrolyte drink.

At noon I want pita bread or Orowheat Sandwich Rounds and PBJ or cheese or both and maybe an energy bar of some sort. Also some flavored drink like Crystal Lite or Propel.

I've made Jell-O and Suddenly Salad on the AT and the Paria River in Utah. I've baked muffins and cakes in winter camps. I've cooked rainbow trout with bacon and even made pudding.
I LIVE TO EAT!

Eric

[Dogwood]

What do you do about food and cooking? Do you go all dehydrated and simply boil water on an alcohol stove? Do you ever cook? How much weight would you say you carry in food, fuel, stove, and eating/drinking utensils for a 2 day pack or a 7 day pack? How many of your meals are cold - breakfast and lunch? Is dinner hot? If you eat a cold breakfast do you heat water for a hot drink?

If you carry a lot of no cook food (trail bars, gorp, what ever) does the weight offset your other efforts at being light?

Yes - I want to know it all.

Thanks.

Lots of different answers to several questions in this post that can get very involved!

Among other things, trail food can involve nutrition, health, diet, wt of the food, and if you''ll cook or not. I've NEVER seen two hikers eat exactly the same thing or buy exactly the same trail food. As many people that answer that's about how many different answers you'll get! Talking about nutrition and health is like bringing on a debate about religion or politics. I'll let others go on about that, but just leave you with a few thoughts - if desiring to limit trailfood wt maximize the cals/oz, think about how many cals you seek per day, taking into account whole nutrition(the other things that are in food beyond just cals/oz or fat, protein, and carbs!), and, FOR YOU, don't get carried away with any one point! The thru-hiker prep articles here on WB is a GREAT place to start about what many hikers eat while on trail.

I'm an avid believer in knowing what I'm putting in my body. I read food ingredient lists and understand what those ingredients are and how they might effect me and my performance.


Understand these comments are for an UL hiking style. I seek a min of 140 cals/oz. By doing more than most are willing to do I can get my trailfood wt down to 22 oz per day(1 1/4 lbs/day) aiming for about 3200+ cals per day. This is customary FOR ME AND MY HIKING STYLE, NOT EVERYONE ELSE! THIS IS EXTREMELY UL! CERTAINLY NOT FOR EVERYONE! I MOST OFTEN, on 3 season thru-hikes, resupply about every 4-6 days(this can involve a whole other thread!) When I get into a town/resupply pt I try making up for more cals burned than consumed while on trail by "fattening" up(eating more than 3200 cals/day). NOT for everyone AND can lead to potential yoyoing body wt, binge eating, fluctuating metabolism, consequences to pre-existing medical issues, etc., both on and off trail. I warn, there is a limit to how long most thru-hikers can do this!


I cook dinner most of the time but sometimes go cookless. I'll go cookless when hot desert hiking or when going longer distances between water supplies(more than 25/30 miles, THE AT, IMO has abundant water/stove fuel/food/resupply sources). About half the time I eat a hot breakfast, usually involving oatmeal with???, particularly when it's cold in the morn. NEVER do I boil more than 1 - 2 cups of water for eating meals. I snack all day using the drip calorie method. 99 % of the time I do not cook a lunch. When hungry and my food bag is getting low there are no set rules about what constitutes b-fast, lunch, or dinner. A typical dinner can become b-fast. GORP, nutritional bars, dred fruit etc can become dinner.


As far as what kind of stove or cookware I use check out the recent thread" Campstove Recommendations." I use both alchy and isobutane stoves but a good short article to read is Mags stove comparison www. Pmags stovecomparison-real-world


As far as: "If you carry a lot of no cook food (trail bars, gorp, what ever) does the weight offset your other efforts at being light?"


NO! No cook food DOES NOT NECESSARILY HAVE TO HAVE A HEAVIER OR LIGHTER CARRYING WT THAN THE CARRYING WT OF COOKED FOOD! I find it's about wise trailfood choices!(Again, another thread in itself!) For example, when choosing trail mixes or trail/nutrition bars I still stick to the goal of 140 cals/oz and GREATER! Some trail bars/nutrition bars(I WARN YOU TO BE CAREFUL WITH THAT TERM, some consider a Snickers bar a trail/nutrition bar, I do not!) have more than 180 cals/oz! I FIND, it quite easy making trail mixes from ingredients that provide HIGH cals/oz that are more nutritionally complete(less processed, refined, etc)/ like nuts(macadamias are pricey but have about 210 cals/oz for example), seeds(not just the most common ones either, you might consider: flax, sesame, hemp, pumpkin(pepitas), sunflower, etc.) coconut flakes, dried fruits, jerkies(and not just beef either!, you might try salmon, marlin, turkey, chicken, venison, elk, etc), hard cheeses, etc. As mentioned many times here on WB by several others, when noticing myself getting thin, I'll carry some EVOO(extra virgin olive oil, a good oil/good fat, IMO,) in a screw cap plastic bottle inside two snack baggies.


Do understand my trailfood diet, cooking, and gear choices comes from personal diet choices(pesce vegetarian) and is PART of an evolving UL hiking strategy that currently suits ME! Maybe, you can get something about what we share here!


Here is what you need to understand the most - learn from others but learn what works FOR YOU- that will come with some more time on the trail, be willing to experiment, be willing to tweak your diet on trail, add more cals, more trailfood carrying wt,etc if you think you need to! There is NO PERFECT DIET just a diet and hiking style that's PERFECT FOR YOU! As someone said on the PCT thread, "hikers/thru-hikers don't have to act like run away trains!" Hiking is largely about adapting!


And, don't think you need to know everthing! To Hike! To Live! To Eat!

[Dogwood]

I think, by the length of some of my posts, that I'm bringing new meaning to the "Post Quick Reply" button.

[trailangelbronco]

Night before every hike, I take one of my water bottles, and put three eggs, a lil milk, and cut up bacon in it. I put it in the freezer.

Next AM, I toss the bottle and a paper sack i my pack and head out.

Next am, first waking morning on the trail, I pour the eggs and rest of bacon in the my pot and stir well while cooking. That is one great breakfast to wake up to, could work after towndays, too.

[garlic08]

I think, by the length of some of my posts, that I'm bringing new meaning to the "Post Quick Reply" button.

It was a really good post, anyway. Words are lighter than calories.

That reminded me that one of my best strategies to reduce food weight is to bring less food. As obvious as that sounds, it's a hard lesson to learn. Walking all day on 1.25 pounds of food is a very impressive skill.

[10-K]

It was a really good post, anyway. Words are lighter than calories.

That reminded me that one of my best strategies to reduce food weight is to bring less food. As obvious as that sounds, it's a hard lesson to learn. Walking all day on 1.25 pounds of food is a very impressive skill.

My next task is to figure out how to complete a hike without an extra pound or two of food leftover.