Food tubes - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1 
									Have you used these fillable food tubes (I have a few, Coughlin brand)? Peanut butter, etc. Are they worth carrying and dealing with?

									_werdigo_
#2 
									Dunno about the commercial varieties, but I've been saving plastic toothpaste tubes. I plan to rinse them out, reload with nut butters and then re heat seal them. I'll post more when I know more.

									_LexingtonNC_
#3 
									Be sure to use creamy style peanut butter.  Crunchy style will clog up the nozzle.

Tubes are easy for a quick PB&J sandwich on the trail but a bit of a hassle to fill. Overall, small plastic jars are probably less trouble.

									_Dioko_
#4 
									Our experience with the older ones was that they were sticky, messy, and difficult to clean (peanut butter requires A LOT of soap).  The toothpaste tubes sound cool, but we're going with dehydrated p'butter this year.

									_cece_
#5 
									In the 70's we used to use Gerry tubes for P Butter, Jelly and other such stuff. After filling the tube you folded over the bottom and slide a plastic clip over it to seal the bottom. Then you put them in you pack where the clip would break and squeeze something sticky all over your equipment. I sure hope they have improved them in the last forty years.

									_Big B_
#6 
									I just found Planters Flavored Peanut Butter in my local grocery store and Wally World.  It comes in smaller 12 oz plastic bottles that should last only a few days.  The flavors are Berry Nut (cranberries), Cinnamon Raisin Granola Nut, and Banana Granola Nut.  I haven't tried them yet but it just might be the next new food on the trail.

									_Old Goat_
#7 
									I need some advice on hiking the A.T. I've read a lot of posts here and there all good however I have some particular questions to ask. Are hiking poles usefull? Should I save on weight and not carry a pad, sleep on leaves and bark on the ground? Are two pairs of shoes needed for the entire hike? Are river crossings difficult? Should I carry a JetBoil stove? Is a GPS helpful? A good book I read recently is The Ultimate Hiker's Gear Guide by Andrew Skurka but I want to address my questions toward people that have hiked the A.T. that have experience.

Does anyone have an idea if it’s possible to leave Georgia in early March and get to Maine in August-September than hike The East Coast Greenway between Maine and The Keys in Florida,before mother nature unleashes her fury. The trail follows the east coast. Greenway.org

									_Young Goat_
#8 
									Yes i have used them and they are really hard to keep clean and very messy when you try and get the food out, in my oppinion they are to big of a hassle. RED-DOG:cheers 

									_RED-DOG_
#9 
									I tried to fill peanut butter in those tubes and it was the single biggest mistake of my thru hike.  If you like PNB then you will easily eat a full jar with each resupply. Messy, messy messy.  Did I mention it was messy

									_Gg-man_
#10 
									+1 on the tubes being a waste of time and a nightmare to clean in a sink or after they've exploded in your pack. A plastic jar of peanut butter is a simple way to go. Tubes are a slightly disfunctional novelty item.

There are also single serving packets of peanut butter/almond butter/honey/jellies in hard plastic packaging (these can rupture) or in a soft squeezable packet like ketchup packets at a fast food restaurant (no rupture, these are amazing). I used some of the latter in my resupply boxes in '11 on the CDT and they were super tasty and very east to adjust for each size of my food bag. There is a lot of trash which isn’t great for the environment but it is probably lighter packaging than the plastic jar that the peanut butter comes in.

Young Goat, I would carry a sleeping pad if I were you. Specifically, I would carry a short Thermarest NeoAir for my torso and then I would put my hiking gear underneath my legs and head.

									_space monkey_