Backpacking Food...

[JC785]

I was wondering what type of food everyone takes with them backpacking. I know there are a lot of freeze dried meals out there but they can get expensive. I have a dehydrator that we use to make jerky. Any hints or recipes?

[Tacky Hiker]

I would like to know as well.


Hey Josh,
I started a General Gear Discussion in the Hiking and Backpacking Gear section. Feel free to ask questions you have too. Its for all to use !

[Old Hickory]

I found Mary Janes Farm organic, dehydrated meals about a year ago. I've never touched a Mountain House pouch since then.

This is the best tasting, most nutritious backpacking food I've ever eaten. Well worth $5 a pouch.

My trail diet is:

Breakfast: 2 cups of coffee and two Clif Bars
Lunch: Trail mix and home made beef jerky
Dinner: A Mary Janes Farm entree, some sort of sweet snack (candy bar, etc)
Nightcap: Miniature of Scotch or Bourbon.

KISS. Makes meal planning easy.

[Nalgene Ninja]

B'fast: OAtmeal or Cream of wheat and coffee
Lunch: Cheese, summer sausae, salami, pepperoni, crackers
Dinner: Lipton Side w/ chicken pouch

Snacks: Gorp, Fig newtons, Snickers

[auwesman]

Mac N Cheese baby!

[JC785]

Mac N Cheese baby!

HAHA.... I hear ya! I love that stuff!

[Graceless]

http://www.backpackingchef.com/index.html
http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/ITr1Ht4ndnY&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/ITr1Ht4ndnY&rel=0</a>
http://www.minibulldesign.com/
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/jhzdYzqraEM&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/jhzdYzqraEM&rel=0</a>  (tinny does tons of dehydration check out the rest of his stuff)



spaghetti
dehydrated hash browns
burrito stuff dehydrated
gritts
pancakes
ramen noodles( kids request)
quesadias
 and on and on and on.....

[Pointman]

Breakfast: Oatmeal cookies or a breafast bar and 2 cups of coffee. (add Motrin as needed)
Lunch: Like Nalgene I like cheese, summer sausage, and crackers
Dinner: Mountain House Meal or Red Beans and Rice (Walmart) or a dehydrated meal from this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Lip...qid=1233149943&sr=8-1

Snacks: GORP, dehyrdrated fruit

[Magic City Matt]

2 of our favorite things are the Bear creek potato soup. Which goes great with a little cheddar and pepperoni in it. Then there is the dry packs of 3 cheese tortellini you find in the pasta section with some pesto sauce and Parmesan (NOT the powdered stuff). 

[JC785]

Reading these posts are making me hungry. Ill have to check out some of those videos on youtube. thanks!

[Lostsheep]

I've posted it many times, but will be glad to share again...

Freezer Bag Cooking - www.freezerbagco oking.com

One Pan Wonders - www.onepanwonder s.com

A Fork in the Trail - www.aforkinthetr ail.com

One Pan Wonders does not require a dehydrator, but the other two do. Great easy meals too. Most are add 1-2cups boiling water and let steep. Works great, tastes great, and has many many ways of modifying the recipes.

Typical breakfast - eggs/bacon/cheese, wraps, granola bars, oatmeal
Typical lunches - wraps, pouch chickens, tunas
Typical dinners - Chicken & dumplings, biscuits, chicken and rice, fish, burgers, wraps, meatloaf, mountain house, freezer meals, etc.
Typical snacks - gorp, nuts, raisins, granola bars, m&ms, etc.

All great places to get ideas from!

[Graceless]

Hmmmmm we need a Backpacking Food Sticky ??

[Old Hickory]

I've posted it many times, but will be glad to share again...

Freezer Bag Cooking - www.freezerbagco oking.com

One Pan Wonders - www.onepanwonder s.com

A Fork in the Trail - www.aforkinthetr ail.com

One Pan Wonders does not require a dehydrator, but the other two do. Great easy meals too. Most are add 1-2cups boiling water and let steep. Works great, tastes great, and has many many ways of modifying the recipes.

Typical breakfast - eggs/bacon/cheese, wraps, granola bars, oatmeal
Typical lunches - wraps, pouch chickens, tunas
Typical dinners - Chicken & dumplings, biscuits, chicken and rice, fish, burgers, wraps, meatloaf, mountain house, freezer meals, etc.
Typical snacks - gorp, nuts, raisins, granola bars, m&ms, etc.

All great places to get ideas from!

The One Pan Wonders was new to me. Thanks for the link!

[Haveuseen1]

I have tried all sorts of things and have decided that for me conveinence is more important.  Therefore I threw my dehydrator away as it was way to easy to just buy stuff.

That being said:

I am a fan of Enertia trail foods, and a few mountain house.  I frezzer bag cook by buying prepared rice or pasta mixes and then add pouch chicken.  I eat a fair amount of pouch tuna as well.  I like the easy mac, that is simple enough.  I also take mini bagels, and the regular snacks that everyone carries (gorp, trail mix, etc...).  I am a regular fan of hard cheese and sometimes cheese in a can (man I love that stuff).  I almost always take grits.

I will expand later, work calls.

-CB

[sam4msu]

I dehydrate all of my evening meals.  I have not carried a freeze dried meal in a long time.  Anytime I make red beans and rice or chili for dinner, I dry the left overs.  I also like ground beef and frozen mixed veggies(dried separately.)  After rehydrating just add some potato flakes and you have a quick trail shepherds pie!!!  When drying leftovers of red beans and rice, make sure to remove any sausage as it never quite loses all of the grease.

[JC785]

After you dehydrate it. How do you cook it? Add boiling water or?

[Lesley]

To Share with People:

Breakfasts: Oatmeal
Snacks/Lunch: Pnut Butter (lunch sized jiff tubs) and dried fruit, cheese/hard meats (salami etc) and crackers... Trail mix, dried veggie chips
Dinner: Dried soup of some sort, mac and cheese + jerky and taco bell fire sauce, more meat/ cheese and crackers
Hot Beverages: 1/2 coca pack + instant espresso, more coca, hot tea

Lesley Only (extra baggie for oils and smell; oh- and crackers)

Sardines+chic-fil-a mustard packets
smoked oysters
potted meats (deviled ham, vienna sausages)
tuna packets+lemon pepper from home

[jedbear]

When I grill steaks, I cook an extra one or two and freeze them til I have enough to make a good
dehydrating batch. I then thaw and slice into proper sized pieces for the dehydrator. These are
marinated and already fully cooked (or grilled) and when chewed to allow one's saliva to re-hydrate
the bite-sized treats, all the flavor returns. I have given pieces to reluctant hikers who are pleasantly
surprised by just how great the taste. At first the steak pieces chew like cork until they moisten.
Try it and see if this adds to your selections of backable goodies.


                           jedbear

[highlife]

We have dehydrated just about everything, even tried to dehydrate crab one time.
I'll jot down a few ideas here...
 Make you some chili,spaghetti,goulash at home, dehydrate the leftovers.

Dehydrate any can beans...corn..st uff like that
Chicken dehydrates decently.
Ground beef, get you some lean stuff...cook till brown, drain and rinse the meat with cold water to remove more grease..pat with paper towels..throw on dehydrator trays..the meat will be like small crunchy gravel when its dry.

There are tons of dehydrator meal recipes online, or grab you some books off Amazon.

Some other meal ideas..

Hard boiled egg.. Stays good for awhile..you can eat it just as a egg..or take you small pack of mayo..crush up egg mix with mayo..throw on tortilla..egg salad wrap...  (horsey sauce from Arbys adds a nice taste)

instant potato mix, and instant pancake mix...do equal parts of each...mix with water to make a potato pancakes...yummy

[Lostsheep]

Don't forget the Lipton Dinner Sides at the grocery store. Their cheap and pretty easy to deal with too.

Plus, they can usually feed two!

[JC785]

When i have time I'm gonna go to the grocery store and pick out meals that just take water to make. It seems like thats the best way to go besides dehydration

After you dehydrate your meat and etc. Do you just add boiling water or? to cook it?

[JC785]

Oh yeah, Thanks Matthew for opening up the food tab.

[Cuffs]

When i have time I'm gonna go to the grocery store and pick out meals that just take water to make. It seems like thats the best way to go besides dehydration

After you dehydrate your meat and etc. Do you just add boiling water or? to cook it?

I dehydrate just about every vegetable there is, and also cooked meats.  Yes, just add hot/boiling water to rehydrate.

[JC785]

Thanks!

[Dicentra]

Hey Lost Sheep!

I take back everything bad I ever said about you.    Thanks for the link man!

I'm the owner/writer/blogger of One Pan Wonders. I hope it is a useful site to everyone.

[lawnmowwer]

 Hears two for you. If you have a fire. I use usually don't build one any more.

 Lasagna

make two berger patties the same size.  Lay one on some Hd aluminum foil.  Next a layer of your fav. cheese, a layer of jar sauce, and some raw noodles, next sauce and more noodles, then sauce, and more cheese. put the other pattie on top. Wrap in foil. Turn over and wrap in a second layer of foil.  Make and freeze a couple of days in advance.   To cook rake some coals to the edge of the fire and throw it on them. Turn over about every 10 min. for around 45 min. and Wa-La back country lasagna.

Fajitas

Cut strips of chicken or stake, onion, peppers, etc. For the sauce mix lime juice and Worcestershire.  In a small pan lay Hd aluminium foil mix in meat a veges cover with sauce and seal up the foil flip and add another layer of foil. Cook in the coals of a fire about 30 min.
 

[DavidR]

Thought I'd revive this thread as I have been thinking more about trail nutrition lately. I eat big on and off the trail. If I'm not in the woods I'm in the gym. I use http://fitday.com/ to monitor my calorie and micro nutrient intake for training purposes, but I've found that it is a good way to plug in a mach trail menu to make sure I'm getting the breakdown I want. As for diet planning, I generally have tried to keep carbs higher on the trail than my day to day diet. I think that would be best for high energy consumption over a short (2-5 day) span. I found this article at Backpacker regarding diet: http://www.backpacker.com...alth_hiker_diet/gear/6406 that reiterates my thoughts, but long distance (months of hiking) calls for a different diet; more like 50% fat, 30% carbs, 20% Protein. All that said here's a normal day for me:

Breakfast: 2pk Quaker Oatmeal, Large Coffee
Snack: GORP or Big 100 Bar & (Cliff energy shot, or some high energy small snack)
Lunch: Backpacker's Pantry Entree (half or a whole if I'm hungry enough)
Snack: GORP or Big 100 Bar & (Cliff energy shot, or some high energy small snack)
Dinner: Backpacker's Pantry Entree (half or a whole if I'm hungry enough)
Snack: Nuts or oil or cheese & hot cocoa lately...lol

Here are some of the specs:
Mountain House Sweet & Sour Pork        4.41oz      380Cal   60Carb    15Pro    8Fat
B-Packer's Pantry Beans & Rice                6oz          600Cal   124Carb   24Pro    2Fat
B-Packer's Pantry Cajun Chicken              6.3oz       600Cal   116Carb   34Pro    3Fat
B-Packer's Pantry Apple D'Lite                  2.5oz       260Cal   66Carb     0Pro      0Fat
CVS GORP                                                 .25oz       140Cal    14Carb    4Pro      9Fat
Met RX Collosal 100                                 3.52oz      420Cal    48Carb    30Pro    12Fat

New item: Candycane Cocoa                   1.4oz        170Cal    33Carb    2Pro      3Fat


Muscle Milk makes some very calorie dense shake powder that rocks too. http://www.cytosport.com/products/all-products

[wirerat123]

REVIVE!!:

Breakfast: Oatmeal Packets, Instant Grits packages, or Cream of Wheat Packages, Coffee
Lunch: Usally some pouch Tuna, some type of cheese, mustard or mayo packet with a tortilla, or something that doesn't require cooking.  Pouch Tuna is great .
Dinner: Hamburger Helper Singles (Soooo worth it!), Lipton sides, Ramen, Dried Veggies, Mountain House (Rarely), Considering trying out drying my own foods.

Snacks: Trail Mix, Clif energy shot, Clif Bars, granola bars of some type, or Snickers.

Agree with the above that Muscle Milk powders make great drink mixes, and are super healthy.  They'll top off what your meals do not, and taste great.

[fungi]

After I’m done with breakfast and before I put my stove away I boil some more water to rehydrate some re-fried beans and rice for lunch.  I either throw them into a little plastic container I sometimes carry or do an FBC pack.  Pack everything up and then at lunch I can easily pull out the beans and rice and make a great burrito for lunch without having to get out my stove again.

I never had a bad meal in the woods.

[squidbilly]

I never had a bad meal in the woods.

True that      Whatever you take to eat is great when you're hungry.


And, that's a great idea about prepping lunch while cleaning up breakfast.