Could someone post an example of 2lb diet that encompasses breakfast, lunch, Dinner, and snacks. That would save me from carrying a scale into the local supermarket and possibly give me some ideas I haven’t thought of. So far I am looking at dry cereal w/powdered milk, poptarts, granola bars, summer sausage w/cheddar cheese, ramen noodles, and mac and cheese. Suggestion appreciated. Oh, forgot the Snickers.
Foot Notes
I just planned a light breakfast, lots of snacks instead of a lunch, and a big dinner. Much of my food I prepared ahead of time, dehydrating and such, but I ran low on that and began to do alot of substitutions along the way. A typical meal plan for me would be about 2-3 oz worth of granola bars (2-3) or poptarts for breakfast, snacks for the day would consist of about 3 oz (2 pkgs) of peanut butter cheese crackers or similar, 3 oz of nuts (many choices), 3 oz dried fruit, 2 snickers bars (or other candy bar), 2-1 oz granola bars, and 2 oz beef jerky - many of these snacks I could buy a large pkg of and use for the 5-6 days that I was out (I stopped about once a week for resupply) - and dinners would be some kind of packaged pasta (4-5 oz worth - lipton sides, and similar) and a 5 oz package of tuna fish or other protein, along with any leftover snack food from the day - by my figures this works out to near 2# a day - sometimes more, sometimes less, which was more than sufficient in the south, and less so in the north, but there were plenty of places to supplement the food in the north!
scuba
Some people go strictly for calorie count, others get very detailed with nutrition. I just try to choose things I’d eat normally at home, but that are very light.
Breakfast:
Quaker whole oats, brown sugar, raisins - Great for breakfast if you like too cook, or just for a quick warmup on a rainy day. Substitute almonds for the raisins, too.
Instant grits. Empty two packets into a ziplock. When you’re ready to eat, just dump the hot water into the ziplock, stir, let sit. A cozy helps, but isn’t necessary.
Lunch:
Bagels round out the sausage and cheese block for lunch. They don’t squish like bread and you can mix up the flavors.
Peanut butter. Eat it off the spoon (sprinkle a little sugar on it if you want). Make a bagel-PBJ with little jelly packets from fast food stores. I’ve even dipped a spoonful into my uncooked whole oats and eaten that…it was good, but you kinda have to be in the mood for something like that.
Cracker packs. All kinds of variations. Adds some bulk to lighter lunches.
Tortillas with just about anything stuffed inside.
Dinner:
Liptons noodle packets are a staple.
Tuna foil packets to add to mac-n-cheese or liptons. Makes it MUCH more filling to me, and adds healthy proteins.
Snacks:
Jerky. All kinds. Some folks even soak it and add it to meals, but I just eat it while I’m walking.
Slim Jims.
Nuts of all kinds provide lots of healthy ingredients for the weight. Some are skimpy on calories, others on nutrients. Walnuts and almonds are two of the healthiest, macadamia nuts are the fattiest.
Dried fruit. I like the unsweetened banana chips for snacks.
Trail mix, obviously.
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Just some options. You can always supplement with packaged meals sold in stores.
Search this website’s archives…LOTS of knowledgable people here and there have been several threads on this topic. Then Google it…there are several websites that give good suggestions. I put in a few below.
Also, take some fresh stuff. There’s no pick-me-up during a snack break like a crunchy apple. (Put keep them wrapped in something soft on the inside of the pack and they last for 2-3 days.) Right after making camp, I’ll sometimes eat a fresh orange before pulling out the stove for a real dinner. Oranges are also good when you find that unexpected picnic table (with trash can) along the trail. I know it’s not ultralight to bring fresh stuff, but it sure makes me enjoy hiking a lot more!
Jeff
http://www.ediblegear.com/index.html Hehe…
http://www.freewebs.com/freezerbagcooking/
http://www.adventurealan.com/food_general.htm Relatively detailed analysis of food requirements.
Just Jeff
by the time we made virginia last year, we were carrying just normal foods out of town. we had figured out that everything we had eatten for 500 miles began to taste like lipton or ramen…so we started eatting cheese on whole loaf bread…i used wheat. it compresses well and seemed to retain it’s shape. comming out of pearisburg VA, i carried boboli’s pizza crust and mix and 2 lb of shredded mozerella…it was great…smoked pizza in the woods for 8 people is unthinkable, but we did it. i did steak and potatoes at laurel falls just past kinkora, whole pork loin coming out of damascus, ramen lasagna over fire near troutdale, i can’t remember it all, but you will find that you can be creative and still pack real food, not just ramen.
burn
try this to make sure you’re getting your prospective trail food is worth its weight: divide the number of calories per serving by the number of grams per serving. items with a 5 or a 6 are excellent, 4 is easier to find. (once again, snickers proves to be the perfect trail food!)
:happy
hephzibah