compressible food

[Pages]

can you give me an idea of a day's worth of food - breakfast, snacks for lunch, and dinner - weighing about 1.5 pounds, that is compressible, for a normal, non-vegatarian, non-diabetic male hiker?

thanks

TV

[hikerboy57]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish?what do you mean by compressible? compressible meat? dont know any. Ive found dry cereal is very compressible, especially cheerios. the eggs didnt work out too well.dont know about lunch and dinner tho.
are you dealing with a space issue? whats the point of compressing food.it becomes denser, not lighter.

[4Bears]

Not sure what you mean by "compressible" but I will give it a go. Most comercial food's size can be reduced by repackaging, oatmeal packets take up much less room in a bag over the box. Tortillas take up less space than bread, an opened bag of Frittos takes up less room. Instant mashed potatos put in a bag may not save much room at the begining but they are easier to pack up in your food bag than a hard box. I hope this was the knd of thinking you were looking for. HYOH

[aaronthebugbuffet]

Sponge cake.

Nuts are a nutrient and calorie dense food that do not take up a lot of space.

[Blissful]

On my hiking blog I talk about what food I brought.

[Pages]

sorry - i should have been more specific.

i'm taking a fairly small pack - ula cdt - on my thru in 2012. i have my gear down to acceptable weight and a lot of it is very compressible. i'm hoping to carry around 1.5 lbs of food per day, but i also need to make sure that though the weight is acceptable for this pack, will i be able to FIT all of it in. that's why i was asking about low volume or compressible foods.

thanks for the replays thus far.

TV

[k2basecamp]

Compressible like wonder bread.

[Silverstone]

Marshmallows are the ultimate in compressible food. My preferred method is between to graham crackers with a piece of dark chocolate.

[russb]

Marshmallows are the ultimate in compressible food. My preferred method is between to graham crackers with a piece of dark chocolate.

Ever try it with peanut butter cups?

[4Bears]

Ever try it with peanut butter cups?

HHhhmmmmm peanut butter cup a marshmallow and a peanutbutter cup, I think it has promise, thanks.

[Badspeller]

When I hike with my son we eat 2 granola bars a piece for breakfast (4 ounces), we share a pack of Pepperoni for lunch (4.5 ounces), and we eat one "dinner for two" dehydrated meal (7 ounces). Its not hard to keep weight down. We carry one box of Little Debbie to fill in the munchies. Food can be done light if you pre-plan..
oh and be careful phrasing questions if you want them answered with any kind of real help... it seems on white-blaze many contributors are too stupid to use inference in reading a forum post t h e y n e e d e v e r y t h i n g s p e l l e d o u t ... hiking requires a strong back but not a sharp mind and I think you burned a few brains out with the word "compressible". lol

[budforester]

Your tastes and prefferences will differ from mine, but here are some ideas:
Breakfast: oatmeal, muesli, or wheat germ will pack more densely than corn flakes, for example.
Snacks: GORP, nuts, dried fruit, energy- or candy- bars
Lunch: flour tortillas pack flat. Roll up some kind of sausage, cheese, tuna.
Second lunch: peanut butter and honey on a bagel (bagels resist smashing)
Dinner: rice or instant potatoes, pasta (cous cous and orzo will pack down; small elbows, shells, and spaghetti are OK; and you can crunch down a Ramen package).
Supper: hot cocoa and cookies, or cold cereal.

[Pages]

thanks for the suggestions. pretty much along the lines i've been thinking...

TV

[max patch]

If you are asking about "compressible foods" you are asking the wrong question.

Your pack is too small for your requirements. You really need to be asking "What pack out there is similar to, but larger than, the ULA CDT".

[WingedMonkey]

I believe the term most of us use is compact or better yet calorie dense. There are many lists on here of preferred foods. Start looking at foods you eat now or in the grocery store by how many calories do you get per ounce. The habits we use off trail of "lite" or "low fat" are about useless for a calorie staved thru hiker.
Try and change things around a bit so you don't start dumping what you carried or mailed into hiker boxes because you get sick of it.
Two granola bars, half a pepperoni and half of a "meal for two", will have you starving and bored.

[Badspeller]

I believe the term most of us use is compact or better yet calorie dense. There are many lists on here of preferred foods. Start looking at foods you eat now or in the grocery store by how many calories do you get per ounce. The habits we use off trail of "lite" or "low fat" are about useless for a calorie staved thru hiker.
Try and change things around a bit so you don't start dumping what you carried or mailed into hiker boxes because you get sick of it.
Two granola bars, half a pepperoni and half of a "meal for two", will have you starving and bored.

I get over 600 each calories in each lunch from eating a half a pack of pepperoni.... and I bag my own double dinners topping at about 600 to 700 calories per person .....and we eat a lot of little Debbie and granola..... here is one more piece of advise.. some people on this forum are dumb-asses and believe that their supposed superior knowledge of hiking allows them some clairvoyant understand of all things in everyone's hiking kit .... I had thought to post my caloric intake but .. I though you were not interested so I went though and deleted all the caloric references.. I am glad we have such a super-duper-smart guys like wingedmonkey to point this out.. Where would the world be with out such wisdom? Wow I can't wait to be as smart as him someday! ...maybe? Get over yourself. WingedMonkey its hiking

[Pages]

"if you are asking about "compressible foods" you are asking the wrong question.

Your pack is too small for your requirements."

thanks max patch.i will take your suggestion under advisement.

[Pony]

Badspeller, I'm not quite sure what your problem with winged monkey is, but I saw nothing wrong with his/her post. The reality is that 2,000 calories per day may be fine for a weekend hike, or your first week of a thru-hike. If you try to get by on that after 3-4 months, you will be going home famished, and will not finish the trail. You'd be amazed how much food you need after several months of hiking.