Food for the trail

imported
#1

This is a truely fascinating forum for discussion of the JMT and I have learnt quite a bit already from reviewing previous threads.

I have a copy of the Guide to the JMT by Morey & Winnett and have planned (on paper at least) with help from the Tom Harrison map pack of walking the JMT in about 21 - or so days.

All things considered, I’m looking to resupply at JMT ranch (roughly the mid point of the trip) however, one of the most striking things I have not yet seen in these forums is peoples trail rations, surprisingly.

There have been many fruitful comments about equipment (packs, sleeping bags, footwear especially & stoves / fuel). I’m curious to know more about peoples general food requirements.

I’ve done a few multi - day walks, but never anything in this league and I am quite excited by the prospect. I’ve done the Milford track twice and the Routeburn once in New Zealand, both of which are 4 (milford) and 3 (routeburn) days a piece, with huts along the routes.

The longest multi-day walk I have done was with my dad on the Overland Track in Tasmania (8 days) and given his age (75+), we did it in style and stayed in cabins with dinners cooked each night and small, quick, efficient showers to boot.

So, in summary, I am very keen to experience such a long walk, and am preparing myself very carefully, with the realisation that there will not be showers / precoooked meals and the like awaiting each afternoon.

Can others enlighten me to their particular culinary dishes, or perhaps some web sites?

Thank you for your time in reading this,
Sincerely,
Quasi

Quasi

#2

Green Eggs and Ham

First, you must take a bear canister. Second, it is good idea to learn to pack it. Look at:

http://www.sierrawildbear.gov/foodstorage/packingabearcanister.htm

http://www.pcta.org/planning/before_trip/health/canistercare.doc

You can enjoy the wonders of commercial freeze dried fare, the highlight of which is the ever delicious, “Green Eggs & Ham” or enjoy real food, seasoned to your own taste.
Two books have recently been published that feature FBC Freezer Bag Cooking. You pre-pack food in quart freezer bags. When ready, you add boiling water and put the quart freezer bag in an insulated type container, either an insulated bag or a hat. In 10 to 20 minutes you are ready to eat. There is no clean up or mess.

Find the books at:

and

http://www.travellighteatheavy.com/

Tip: When buying Sarbar’s book, buy the ring binder. Work the recipes into your regular meals and you will have some experience. For a longer trip, the more variety, the Better.

Re-supply info at:

http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~rbell/johnmuir.htm#Resupply

Regards,

Clark Fork in Western Montana

Clark Fork

#3

I am the author of freezer bag cooking, trail food made simple.
You might also visit my website for many ideas on prep and gear for cooking :slight_smile: It is www.freezerbagcooking.com

I am a lazy cook, in that I like to eat, but I hate cleanup and I don’t like sitting in front of a pot for 20 minutes. FBC is for lazy people who’d rather be hiking than cooking :wink:

And showers? They are called stream crossings! :wink: In the summer, I get in every day into a stream crossing, right at the warmest point of the day. Rinse off all the dirt, the clothing funk goes down a notch-and I am dry in an hour…and dang, it feels good on a 90* day!

sarbar

#4

I hiked the JMT last year and it was my first hike that was that long. I ended up bringing WAY too much food. I planned for about 4200 calories a day. When I got to the Muir trail ranch, I left about 1200 cal/day behind to give me about 3000 cal/day. Some suggestions for food:

Breakfast:
Granola & powdered milk
Muesli & powdered milk
Energy bars

Snacks:
Energy bars (Snickers, Cliff bars, Odwalla bars, etc.)
Gatoraid or other electrolyte powdered mix (this was one of my favorites on the trail)
Jerky
Dried sausage bites
Nuts
Dried fruit (Keep nuts and dried fruit separate. I packed up lots of nuts with dried fruit together and the nuts absorbed moisture from the fruit while they were sitting in the resupply package and were no longer crunchy.)
Nutella & tortillas

Dinner:
Checkout the freezer bag meals from Sarbar, Travel Light Eat Heavy, Lipsmackin’ Vegetarian Backpacking, and Lipsmackin’ Backpacking

My personal favorite is black bean burritos - put instant rice and powdered black bean mix in a freezer bag. Pack tortillas separately. Add hot water to freezer bag. Add some hot sauce and cheese (cheese will keep for a few days at the beginning.) Spoon into tortillas.

Another good one is couscous, powdered cheese, curry spices, and cashews.

You can also make a good pasta: put pasta and dried ground beef (see Lipspackn’ Backpacking) in a freezer bag. Separately pack dried tomato sauce mix (powdered tomatoes, corn starch, sugar, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, garlic) separately. Add hot water to the bag with pasta. Add extra to the sauce mix. Let cook, drain pasta, empty sauce into pasta. Add parmesan cheese.

Bob

#5

I agree with Bob. I completed a 9.5 day thru-hike of the JMT last July and took way too much food. Due to the long trail days I resupplied twice; once at Red’s and the other at MTR. I left a large amount of food in the hiker box at MTR and gave away food at two different times on the trail.

I also planned on 4000+ calories per day and probably ended up eating about 2500 calories. I like the add boiling water to the bag meals for their simplicity and time savings. FBC is a great resource. Enertia one-person meals are a commercial equivalent of sorts and they also have cheese available which is in single packages and lasts probably longer than anyone wants to know.

I packed everything seperately in my resupply packages and had no problems. On a 21-day trip you will find it difficult to fit all the food into your bear canister from MTR to WP but you will begin to find many more bear boxes available if you choose to camp in “popular” locations.

My only other suggestion is to go light on the energy bars. Even though I brought along what I thought was a good variety of flavors, they all ended up tasting the same after awhile and I could barely choke them down. I think I left about two dozen plus at MTR. I couldn’t even look at one for 3-4 months after the trip!

My routine was to hike 1 or 2 hours in the morning while eating an energy bar or two. Stop and eat breakfast either cold muesli or granola or hot oatmeal or mashed potatoes. Lunch is eaten throughout the day (jerky, cheese, nuts, fruit, energy bars, Logan bread, GORP, etc.). Dinner was the main meal and was always boil the water and pour into the bag-type meals. Don’t forget some good desserts.

Dave

#6

I hiked the Long Trail last summer and went through many ration revisions. Every hiker has different food ‘needs’ or preferences. I originally packed freeze dried foods and lipton side kicks, these didn’t work for me as I resented having to cook each night. For me, lots of snacks worked best - peanut m&m’s as my favorite.

Do you need to eat breakfast? Hot or cold? Are you ok snacking along the way, or do you like to stop for lunch?

Each hiker is different, look back to what you enjoyed most on your shorter trips. Also think back to what foods you wished you had brought.

They sell packets/tubes of peanut butter. Expensive, but nearly everyone I met on the trail CRAVED peanutbutter. It makes everything better:)

Tumblina

#7

Thanks one and all for the advice, it is very much appreciated.

Hoping to bump into some JMT’ers in the not too distant future.

Sincerely,
Quasi

Quasi