Foods options

U

unclerod

Joined
Apr 21, 2010
Messages
150
Looking for your opinions/insights on a nutrition dilemna. Two questions for you? Assume for both questions that you can access clean water....

1- When backbacking or tripping (or the like) what do you bring along to snack on between meals to keep your energy up? And why

2- If you could only grab ONE (or two) energy source along with you in a situation where you have to "bug out" or E&E what would it be and why?
 
I buy a reusable zip-lock bag of "tropical mix" dehydrated fruit and nuts and add my own supplemental ingrediants like different nuts, M&Ms, etc. It is good to munch on while walking and easily digested high energy snack.

I don't have a good answer for your second question, other than whatever small canned and packaged goods I have handy in my pantry at the time. With these, a few spice packets and a bag of rice, a lot of easy meals are possible.
 
Codger_64 said:
I buy a reusable zip-lock bag of "tropical mix" dehydrated fruit and nuts and add my own supplemental ingrediants like different nuts, M&Ms, etc. It is good to munch on while walking and easily digested high energy snack.

I don't have a good answer for your second question, other than whatever small canned and packaged goods I have handy in my pantry at the time. With these, a few spice packets and a bag of rice, a lot of easy meals are possible.
Click to expand...

Codger's answer to number one is a good one for me, too.

So is answer number two, except I would throw in some beans. Beans supply some things that rice doesn't, and vice versa. Together, along with greens you might find along the way, they're almost a complete food.
 
1 - I make/buy trailmix (mixed nuts, mixed dried fruit, and m&ms)

2- A bunch of freeze dried meals? Otherwise, I guess any kind of canned goods: Chili, baked beans, vegetables, spam, etc.
 
usually I bring tigers milk bars for hike snacks. Or I bring peanut butter and jelly on tortillas. they don't get all smashed. these both have alot of protein.
In my Bob I have DATEX emergancey food rations. I get them at most marine supply stores.

http://www.nitro-pak.com/shop-now/f...cy-food-bars/datrex-emergency-food-bars-3600k

They are made to be high in calories and low in protein so as to provide high energy yet require minimal water for digestion. Specifically developed to be NON-THIRST PROVOKING. No need to "wash it down" when eating. Extra long 5 YEAR SHELF-LIFE! They taste like a crunchy cookie with a slight coconut flavor.
 
Nuts and dried fruit, cheese. I like to only eat 1 meal dinner and the rest of the time I just eat a little something every time I rest on the trail.

But be sure to drink lots of water and eat fruit or you'll be consipated;):thumbup:
 
packaged trail mix or Cliff Bars.

There are several brands of cooked rice in a retort pouch available. One of those mixed with a diced up single slice Spam, or pouch of tuna and you have a complete meal. No cooking really needed, but I like to warm them up. Esbit stove works great for that, along with a stainless steel cup.
 
I take peanut M&Ms as snacks. They are delicious and have a ton of energy in them for their size and weight.
 
unclerod said:
Looking for your opinions/insights on a nutrition dilemna. Two questions for you? Assume for both questions that you can access clean water....

1- When backbacking or tripping (or the like) what do you bring along to snack on between meals to keep your energy up? And why

2- If you could only grab ONE (or two) energy source along with you in a situation where you have to "bug out" or E&E what would it be and why?
Click to expand...

Typically I eat one reasonably sized meal a day (dinner) so I'm pretty good about not requiring food on the trail. That said... Gu electrolite packs are awesome. Cliff bars are palatable but I'm pretty sure we did a study in high school as to which ''energy bar'' has the highest nutritional value for the money and it was a tossup between Paydays and FiberOne granola bars (laugh all you want.) Fat content is important and often overlooked I think, because most gamey meat and fish (squirrels, rabbits, quail, trout, things that are reasonable food sources in a survival scenario) are so high on protein and low on fat that a sustained diet will give you protein poisoning.

Lately, lefse has been my favorite pick for trail food. Malted barley wheat, goat's milk and riced potatoes in the form of a super dense, sweet flatbread. I seriously doubt that you can cram more protein, fat and calories into such a small package, and it seems to stay good for about a week and a half (if not longer). Small tuna cans are awesome, especially with pop top lids that can be improvised into making bluegill fishing hooks, but again, no fat content. Canned corned beef or ham may be more ideal...
 
Fat is your friend, make pemmican, carry nuts. Dried anything. Sardines in oil (olive, preferably, soybean oil is crap unless you're starving), zillions of calories, good for you too. Jerky. Water is more important.
 
PayetteRucker said:
Fat content is important and often overlooked I think, because most gamey meat and fish (squirrels, rabbits, quail, trout, things that are reasonable food sources in a survival scenario) are so high on protein and low on fat that a sustained diet will give you protein poisoning.
Click to expand...

This is true if you only eat the meat. Eat skin, liver, kidneys, marrow (almost all monounsaturated fat, the best monounsats in nature).
 
Last edited:
A couple of days of bread then crackers...
baguette.jpg


hard dried salami...
10197.jpg


some hard cheese...
pecorinotescano.gif



My favorites...good taste, reason to use a knife, and good for a week or more along with zip locks of trail mix (nuts, M&M's, dried fruit) and especially Snicker's bars.

Usually have some MRE's handy so would probably grab those or beans, rice, pasta, tuna, salami.
 
my typical backpacking day begins w/ a cold (sometimes hot) cereal w/ powdered WHOLE milk- hard to find but has a lot more calories than skimmed powdered milk, a couple of breakfast bars to go w/ my morning coffee (the new Starbucks instant isn't like instant :)). there is no "cooking", only water boiled for coffee (or for hot cereal)

snacks (mid morning/mid afternoon)- two cliff bars- of late I'm favoring their Mojo bars- these are eaten on the go

powdered gatorade - two packets- adds a few calories, but more importantly lost electrolytes/salt- these are drank on the go

stop for a midday lunch- mini pita pockets (this was a great find!) w/ hard salami and a "hard" cheese (sharper cheddar/jack/etc)- even in hot weather, w/ a little careful packing, I've found the cheese and salami to last a week w/o any problems

supper- boil in the bag meal (usually purchased freeze dried, but occasionally something I whip up)- again no "cooking"- simply boiling water

I've totaled my typical trail caloric intake and it's roughly 2300-2500, I've estimated my caloric expenditure and it's probably in the 5000 + range- backpacking is a great way to lose weight :D

my food/beverage weight is roughly 20 oz/day and everything is relatively low volume, it's all kept in one bag (but packaged individually) that doubles as my bear hang bag- the bear rope/s-biner stays in the same bag

here's a pic from a recent trip- food for two for six days/five nights

foodprep.jpg
 
Ramm9 you are the MAN.. That is one of my favroit lunch. Sometimes i would carry with me some onion a tomato maybe a few green olives.. Now for earthquake i got power bars. A few packpacking dry meals and some food i dehidrated(sp) my self. I figured i would need to move fast and carry enough food for 3 days. It should take me 1-2 days to get to my parents house where i got plenty of everything for more then a month for everyone.

Sasha
 
it's threads like this that make me stay a member here at BF.

answer to Q2: i make sure i have about five kg extra rice in my house most of the time. between that, my compound bow and the spice rack, i should be ok for food for a couple weeks at least.
 
I like most any kind of candy, and usually take some.

Cream cheese has good fat content and it keeps well.
Have a bag of cookies; take a cookie out and use it like a potato chip and
dip it though the cream cheese. Chip and Dip. Very tastie.

For serious E&E in hot weather: lard is best keeping fat, and tastes good with meals.
Lard is $1.00/pound maximum; it is so cheap, that if not eaten you could donate or discard.
You could also use it for fuel in a primitive oil lamp.

I used to keep trail mix in my day pack at all times.

If you have not noticed, any good keeper cheese or sausage has Lot of Salt.
Pepperoni keeps well and it very salty, so it is good with any (dried) beans.
I prefer dried lentils for price, ease of cooking, and taste. Any prepared beans are likely
to have a lot of salt, already.

Though I like peanut butter, I think it can cause illness in large amounts.
So I do not take jars of peanut butter into the wilds.
 
fnc said:
I like most any kind of candy, and usually take some.

Cream cheese has good fat content and it keeps well.
Have a bag of cookies; take a cookie out and use it like a potato chip and
dip it though the cream cheese. Chip and Dip. Very tastie.

For serious E&E in hot weather: lard is best keeping fat, and tastes good with meals.
Lard is $1.00/pound maximum; it is so cheap, that if not eaten you could donate or discard.
You could also use it for fuel in a primitive oil lamp.

I used to keep trail mix in my day pack at all times.

If you have not noticed, any good keeper cheese or sausage has Lot of Salt.
Pepperoni keeps well and it very salty, so it is good with any (dried) beans.
I prefer dried lentils for price, ease of cooking, and taste. Any prepared beans are likely
to have a lot of salt, already.

Though I like peanut butter, I think it can cause illness in large amounts.
So I do not take jars of peanut butter into the wilds.
Click to expand...


This reminds me of my father telling me when he used to have a lard sandwich for lunch everyday as a kid. That's what he took to school and ate most of the time on the farm for lunch. He said we didn't know any better and it tasted pretty good to us.

He wasn't giving me one of those I had it so hard speeches as he never did that, and I never once heard him complain about any situation he was in. We were just talking about the past and killing time together oneday.

I remember him saying to me one time, "How the hell can you or anyone else complain about how hard you have it when a cave man had to hunt a T-Rex for dinner using a spear, you just sit your ass in a chair and food appears".

I quickly learned that the maxium effective range of an excuse was zero meters.



I love peanut butter in those squeeze tubes. It's light weight, only 9oz. and perfect for a couple days. Plus it is easy to put on crackers or just squeeze shot in your mouth. I love a quick shot a peanut butter and then a shot of honey and wash it down with some water or better yet, on crackers if I'm sitting.

http://www.amazon.com/Skippy-Squeeze-Peanut-Butter-9-Ounce/dp/B000EM702K
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top