Can anyone recommend any good foods to use for lunch on the trail. Besides clif bar type things,tuna, or PB&J can anyone give some other ideas. Are sausage or pepperoni good, or cheese wheels in wax? Anything? Trying to liven up this menu, thanks.
chris d
Nothing wrong with those ideas. The harder the cheese and sausage, the better they’ll last. I’ve seen no real need for wax coating, though it helps if you can find it. When I found Cabot brand on the AT in Vermont, I became a big fan of that. Tastes great on a tortilla.
A handful of tree nuts and dried fruit can make a good small meal. Fig newtons are tasty and not too bad for you. Salty snacks like Wheat Thins (with some of that cheese) really hit the spot for me, and it’s become sort of a challenge to pack them without pulverizing them.
Also consider extra cold cereal not just for breakfast. I make a cold muesli mix of rolled oats, walnuts, raisins, and powdered milk that I’ll eat any time of day, including a little extra dinner if I’m still hungry. Two extra cups a day go a long way.
Garlic
Here are some of my favorites:
Cheese sandwich with tomato slices.
Peanut butter, honey and raisin sandwich.
Milkshake: Powdered milk, water and sugar shaken in a water bottle. (Unbelievably good.)
Conan
Conan
I eat more for lunch than most hikers I hear about plus I have 3 trail bars somewhere in the morning after my oatmeal for breakfast. For lunch I have 4 crackers with cheese (crackers kepot in pot to keep from being crumbs) either salami, sausage or turkey jerky, 12 almonds, a flat wrap (like tortilla but bigger and more whole grain) with PB&J, cytomax and some jolly ranchers for the afternoon. I don’t lose much weight on a 4-6 week hike anymore. Neither do I gain.
Medicare Pastor
on a bagel…you can get creative with hummus (and cheese), hummus (with honey and pb), hummus (with tahini and some or all of the aforementioned) toss in some crunch of sorts…be it spicy sesame stix or cashews…or strips of red pepper or apple (both carry well in the backcountry)
may sound a bit off the chain, but as a former trip leader, i attest that even the newest of newbies were diggin 'it!
raw honey is really amazing too-- loaded with essential vits and mins and revitalizing.
peace!
leslie
Here’s my favorite that I discovered on the CDT. Got everything at the Dollar stores on the way. One can of cheese. Yes can, it lasts forever and tastes great. One package of tortillas. One can of bean dip. Find a mexican restaurant or fast food and pick up some packages of salsa.
Put a layer of beans on the tortilla, then the cheese, then the salsa. Walla, great burritos. Makes enough for about three lunches too. Great energy boost and protein power. I never got sick of it!
Robocop
Hiking solo, instead of lunch, I usually had 2 or 3 snacks during the day while stopped at good views or water sources (trailbars, gorp, pb&honey, cookies, candy). Alot of folks hike fast so they can take a long lunch break, thus being able to cook; (especially if they carry mostly cookin' food). Bear in mind that, depending on the terrain, your fridge food usually gets mity cold at night; & in the mountains, can stay well insulated during the day, deep in your pack surrounded by clothes etc... I carried soy meat analogs & other fridgy stuff up to 10 days this way. While I prefer 'soyonaise'; restaurant packets of mayo/mustard/ketchup go well in a ziploc freezer bag, (I rebag most of my foods in various sizes of ziploc freezer bags). Vegans might want to mix 'Agave syrup' into their unhydrogenated PB: makes a quick spread.
I often had sandwiches (or margarine bread) at night with my soup. The empty plastic PB jars carry margarine well. In a hot area, you might have to substitute crackers & (olive oil in your soup for calories)... I carried loaves/chips/crackers in the top dome of my pack, or hung em outside of it in a stuffbag for long hauls (I had to have 2 Ursacks (R) to fit all my food in bear country, as it wouldn't fit in a bear-can!)
Whole wheat Nature's Own (Organic) or WW Pepperidge Farm bread stay purty soft & got no chemicals (except maybe calcium propionate, a nutrient I hear). As these ain't available in small towns, I sometimes forwarded loaves a week ahead in my drift/bounce box & no probs (some white bread folks had mold probs while i didn't, isn't it ironic chemical pushers?). I often bought my dry foods in advance so I could take advantage of sales & coupons at Whole Foods etc...; this offsets the cost of postage; saves shopping time on the thru-trail; & lets you eat healthier such as the instant soups in the bulk bins!
gingerbreadman