Food Suggestions

imported
#1

Well, thanks to the wonderful advice from this forum, I’ve decided to go with only 3 maildrops and to buy the majority of my food on the trail. However as I get ready to depart for the trail, I’m left with a good number of questions about FOOD.

I searched this forum for ideas, and while I got a lot of “don’t eat this”, I didn’t see a lot of “eat this instead” suggestions, which is what I’m fishing for here. I’d like to stay away from mountain house and other expensive stuff (Even though I graduated, I’m still on a college budget, and don’t even get me started on student debt). I hear a lot of bashing on the instant oatmeal packets and ramen, but I really enjoy this stuff, even at home.

Now that I’ve rambled a bit: Approximately how much, and what food should I pack in my food bag for the approach trail -> first resupply?

I’m always open to suggestions, and, thanks a lot.

Wyatt (as yet trailnameless)

#2

Keep it light, keep it simple, keep it easy to digest. It helps to start eating trail food before you leave so you can get, adjusted as it were, to something other than what you eat now. Your gut won’t like the stress of the first few days so we eat blander stuff and save the pepperoni for later in the week. Bagels, cheese, soups. Instant breakfasts…crackers…uh, gorp. A full garbage pizza might sound nice but being doubled over is no fun. Days out of town we make up a loaf of sandwhiches; roast beef and swiss on rye, couple apples, ritz bitz. Neels Gap has some tasty samiches in the food case$$$. Yogurt, pasta dishes. You get the idea.

You also don’t need a ton of food the first 2.5 days. Eat a light breakfast, snack all day in little bites. Don’t be a glut, that comes later.

Bloatmeal is “good” if you can eat it that much. I just started eating it again four years post hike. Good pretein and carbs. Ramen on the other hand is not food. It’s starch fried in trans fat. A donut would be better, but barely. Get a box of spagetti and some powdered sauce in town and make the real thing. :cheers

Bushwhack Bramble

#3

Being a section hiker, weight and taste tend to be more important to me than cost, so this advice may not be helpful. However, if you are looking for something light and tasty to pack for the first few days out, there are some very good choices at MaryJanesFarm.com. The instant meals have the advantage of being prepared in their own (burnable) bag so there is no cleanup involved. Getting one or two of these in a maildrop as a change from the routine might also be welcome.

Terry

#4

Buying as you go you are limited by the stores you shop at. Smaller stores might only offer ramen, mac & cheese and lipton noodles. Larger stores will offer more choices. For breakfast, I eat oatmeal and other hot cereals, instant breakfast (sometimes use this as milk), granola, and grape nuts (hot or cold). I prefer regular oatmeal to instant because it tends to stay with you longer. For lunches, I usually combine some kind of bread option (crackers, bagels, tortillas tend to do best in the pack) with something to put on it (peanut butter, nutella, cheese). I also really like tortillas with dehydrated bean spread, but you won’t be able to buy dehyrated beans except in really large or natural foods stores. I usually also carry nuts and snacks to round things out.

For dinners, I tend to make my own rather than using prepackaged freeze-dried, which you probably won’t find in most grocery stores anyway. I use pasta (spaghetti, orzo, alphabets and other quick-cooking varities), instant brown rice (even though it tells you to boil it for 5 minutes, I’ve had good luck just letting it sit in the boiling water), cous cous, instant mashed potatoes, stove top stuffing mix . . . and then I usually have envelopes of sauces, dried veggies, dried parmesan and other things to go with it. For example, cous cous with an envelope of pesto sauce, some dried parmesan, and some sun-dried tomatores and pinenuts cooks quickly, doesn’t take a lot of work and tastes yummy. Add boiling water to instant mashed potatoes, an envelope of gravy and some stuffing mix, and you’ll have your own Thanksgiving dinner. In smaller stores, you might not have much variety – then you can go for the ramen noodles, mac & cheese, etc., and either carry fresh veggies or opt to go without until you reach a larger town or a resupply.

Kanga

#5

My stables were Poptarts, Balance Bars, Gorp, Ramen or tortelini, and tuna. I added cheese off and on, dehydrated vegetable soup or whatever for vitamins, hot chocolate mix and tended to bring a day’s worth of fresh meat when leaving town to extend the in-town protein binge.

Bear Valley bars made an excellent lunch but were hard to find. Cliff bars also did well.

Ramen may not be food, but it got me to Katahdin. :smiley:

Mouse

#6

Hi Wyatt. I recently perfected a recipe for mixing my own “instant” oatmeal to take on the trail. The prepackaged stuff is okay, but this is better. It’s got more fiber, and the whole powdered milk adds all kinds of nutritional goodies, including Vit. A & D, calcium, iron, and more. I haven’t figured up a cost-per-serving comparison yet, but it’s got to be comparable; the only high-priced ingredient is the dried blueberries. Hope this helps you.

Mix together in a Ziploc baggie:
1/2 cup quick (one minute) oatmeal
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 tsp. Butter Buds
1/2 heaping tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 heaping tablespoon dried blueberries
1 tablespoon instant whole milk

Note: you can also add dried chopped cherries or raisins, in addition to the blueberries or in place of them. Chopped nuts are an option also, and would add more fat for more “stick to the ribs.”

To prepare: put one cup of water in your pot and bring to a boil. Add the oatmeal “packet” and let simmer for a couple minutes. Breakfast is served!

Jonna

#7

fresh fruits and vegetables are highly recommended. you don’t have to carry a full resupply of them, just 2 or 3 days maybe. i really liked to have an apple to snack on in the first 2 days out of town. one of our hiking buddies carried onions, garlic, ginger, etc. fresh stuff has extra nutrients that you don’t get so much with dried stuff like lipton noodles.

oranges and bananas don’t work out so well since you are supposed to carry out the peels.

zero

#8

I would carry flavored oatmeal,grapenuts and powderd milk.Tuna in the foil pouch,pita bread or tortilas and chedder cheese. For dinner it was lipton dinners, sometimes Id put pepperoni in there as well. You can get sliced pepperoni by the bag. Every once in a while Id pack in a can of corn beef hash.And Snickers,Snickers,Snickers.About 3 to 4 a day. Oh and coffee. Boil it in your stainless cup,remove from your stove and add a splash of cold water to settle the grounds.

virginian

#9

What you eat is going to vary based on how important food is to you in the numbered world. Being a serious lover of food and a Chef I probably ate far better than most hikers usually do. It also could be the fact that I ate more mac-n-cheese, ramen and oatmeal in 2000 that I did not want to repeat that in other years of hiking.

I would offer this to you… go to a mexican grocery or a super walmart (even though I will never shop at another one in my lifetime - can we say BLOODSUCKERS) and find Nido. Lizard turned me unto it this year. Nido is powdered cream that actually tastes like milk. If you going to eat wallpaper paste, I mean instant oatmeal, it adds both calories and taste to your b’fast. Great for cereal, coffee…

Concerning food in general… I would recommend starting out lighter than you expect. Most people aren’t that hungry in the beginning. As you build up strength and you realize that LDH is not some foreign and scary thing but actually a series of three to five day hikes connected by town visits you will learn and be able to carry more food. Try actually carrying good fresh stuff out of towns and save the dried crap for your last days before heading back into town. There is nothing like sweet cherries or grapes on a hot day. Or carrying a block of extra sharp Vermont cheddar to augment your meals.

Some of my favorites were bagels toasted by a roaring fire with pepperoni, cheddar and bobali (so convient little packages of tomato sauce) sauce. I sometimes added knorr swiss dried pasta seasonings to some boboli sauce to toss with my pasta. Carry cheddarwurst or hotdogs and add them to your pasta dinners.

Now on the trail in 2000 I cooked chickens over a rotisserie (many sticks in the woods to build a rotisserie out of), 100 pound pigs, I’ve carried ribs to cook over fires, cheese fondue, steaks, fresh corn, salads (I can never eat enough salad and greenery in the woods). I carried avocadoes to mash into rice with soy, hot sauce and cheddar… Try instant rice and beans with a fresh sausage…

There are many advocates of lightweight hiking here. I prefer a modified approach. I tarp, have an ultralight sleeping bag and pad, light backpack but I never mind carrying in good food and a bottle of wine (empty the bottle into a one liter soda bottle). Find your own way and balance…

Aswah

Aswah

#10

Wyatt-don’t pack too much food for the 1st section (39 miles?). Your appetite might actually decrease for the 1st 2 weeks. Big eating will come soon enough. As a general guidline, pack 1 less dinner, and more snacks for each trail segment; esp when u anticipate a hostel stay. Alot of 2003 hikers said they were always hungry for more snacks but packed extra dinners! Ramen is still popular, but I believe is way overrated. Yeah, its light & cheap, but is NOT filling, bland, and has almost no nutrional value. Almost EVERY hiker box has dumped ramen. (good for supplementing your own food) Go w/ Liptons instead. My food bag seemed to be heavier than most hikers, (my own fault) but I always has loads of snacks, even dished some out & certainly nobody complained! Energy bars are a rip. Snickers is the single most popular trail food for a reason…

For future hikes: Im gonna pack more fresh fruits (bananas), nuts, cous-cous, more cheese, etc. All are better for you, high carb.

My food (all bought in towns; I kept it simple, ate same foods, became addicted to chocolate)
Breakfast:
–nutrigrain/cereal bars, occasional poptarts

Lunch:
–sliced/shredded various cheese & pepporoni in tortilla (my staple, yummy!)
or
–peanut butter on bagels

Snacks: (assorted; all day & dessert)
–full & bite-sized snickers/chocolate bars
–more SNICKERS (The best energy bar!)
–choco-granola bars
–little debbie’s (oatmeal pies, nutty bars, etc)
–dried fruit
–crackers’n’cheese packets
–GORP
–yogurt rainsins
–lemonade/koolaid/crystal-lite drink mix

Dinner:
–Liption Noodle or Rice packets
–mixed into Liptons> tuna packets, cheese, crackers, etc
or
–Kraft mac’n’cheese (tastes better than generic)
or
–stuffing mix/mashed potato mix
–occasionally anything else found in hiker box or given to me! (dehydrated beans, veggies, ramen, etc.)

JimboTrek

#11

1 more thing, if you pack in a box of red wine, (just the bladder/ditch the box) to Springer or other nights on the trail, everyone will LOVE YOU and you’ll get good karma in trail magix or something. And oatmeal is also overrated – CREAMED CRAP!

JimboTrek

#12

I was wondering what kinds of cheese hold up the best on the trail. I would assume the drier variety, but I was wondering if you all had suggestions.
Thanks
Chad

chad

#13

To get a more specific answer to your question…

For breakfast we generally ate: muffins, bagels, pop tarts, breakfast bars, oatmeal, fruit-filled pastries, sticky buns.

Lunch: Snacks like candy bars, fruit bars, power bars, cheese and crackers, kid’s snack packs are great, peanuts, raisins, gorp, fruit roll-ups, gushers…

Dinner: Mac & Chez, Velveta (GOOD STUFF), pasta + a sauce (powered of course), tortillas with rice, lipton noodles…

Stuff we’d often mix with food: tuna, packaged meats (ham, turkey, chicken…), velveta cheese, spices / herbs, spam, butter (get parkay, lasts long time), powdered milk, cooking oil, peanut butter, honey, jelly, hot dogs, deli meats…

The list goes on and on. There are lots of options, you just have to be creative with it. You can even “toast” things on your stove (bagels, frozen pizza, hot dogs, marshmallows) as well as on an open fire.

Dave and Miranda