Lunch - Appalachian Trail

imported
#1 
									Is there a consensus about eating/stopping for lunches on the trail?

When I started 'packing, I allocated 1 hour for lunch, heating water for dehydrated soup and tea. Then I switched to a 1/2 hour break with some kind of cold food (sandwich, dried fruit). That’s basically where I am now.

Is it a better idea simply to add more snacks as a replacement for lunch? I’m having trouble assembling 500c lunches — peanut butter on dense compact bread, etc. Replacing these messy, labor-intensive little sandwiches with a bag of GORP-ish snack might be attractive.

									_werdigo49_
#2 
									I have found that lunch breaks are good when day hiking to a summit.  On long distance hikes I plan multiple snacks throughout the day to maintain energy and hydration. I use stuff that is prepackaged in single servings (slim-jims, peanut butter crackers, power bars - stuff high in calories and equally desirable to the taste buds)

									_Papa Bear_
#3 
									When it's cold, lunch for me is sharp cheddar, pepperoni and stone ground crackers (b/c they are really, really hard and rarely break). When it's hot, lunch is peanut butter and the same crackers. I usually eat a snack (Luna Bar, pack of cheese crackers, trail mix or candy bar) too. If it's really cold/wet/snowy, sometimes I cook a dehydrated meal for lunch for the core heat. Lunch can be anywhere from 10 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon, depending when I started that day and how hungry I am~J.

									_Journey_
#4 
									At 66 I stiffen up too much if I stop for long.  I prefer to snack constantly, from what ever I can carry outside of my pack for that day.  It keeps my sugar from spiking and helps maintain a constant energy flow to camp.  If the weather is bad or the view spectacular I have been know to eat and nap.

									_GRRRR_
#5 
									Thanks, guys... I've made some sandwiches with that dense bread, "The Baker" whole-grain organic spelt bread. It comes in a little 4x5x2" package with 8 slices, each about 58gm and 150c. Any idea if they will spoil if they spend a few weeks in a drop box? The sandwiches are 500c total, with PB and Nutella.

									_werdigo49_
#6 
									My "lunch" starts about an hour after breakfast and lasts until I arrive at my campsite (I have another small snack before setting up).  I snack every hour on dried fruit (freeze-dried for a longer trip to save weight), nuts, cereal bars, cheese.  I rely heavily on nuts for calories during the day.  I use an electrolyte solution in my water which for me really makes a difference in avoiding fatigue.  Everyone is different and it's best to do some experimenting on short trips.  In other words, YMMV.

Werdigo, I suggest you test that bread by putting it on a top shelf in the kitchen at home. That’s a long time for any bread to go without getting moldy! I’d suggest a similar test for any other food you want to keep for several weeks or months.

									_grannyhiker_
#7 
									Granny, I thought about calling this thread "Let's [not] do lunch" since I'd seen some advice that snacking through the day was actually better than stopping for lunch. I have some of these sandwiches prepared but my trip is more than a month away, so there's plenty of time to see what happens to them.

Trail notes from long walks 10 or 12 years ago show that I used Wasa crackers for my lunch peanut-butter sandwiches. That’s probably a better idea than the bread!

									_werdigo49_
#8 
									On my last trip, I started eating a small snack beginning 2 hours after I ate breakfast, and continued eating every 2 hours until dinnertime. My energy level was much more even than when I only stopped a couple of times. I eat homemade energy bars, gorp, dried fruit, cheese, peanut butter, and lots of chocolate.

									_Sarah_
#9 
									I'm a fan of eating on the go. two cliff bars covered in nutella is a 800 cal lunch and quite tasty. I lived off that on my thru hike. I'm also a big fan of constant snacks. I'd eat about every two hours and then have a big dinner. 

									_Caboose_
#10 
									I snack during the day & have a decent lunch - which is almost always 2 'pizza wraps' of cheese & pepperoni on tortillas.  Tortillas are great b/c they fit perfectly @ the bottom of a food stuff sack & are very compact.  I've found that I have considerably more energy after eating a solid lunch vs. just snacking all day.

									_freebird_