Survival, Backpacking Foods.

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Any Cal.

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I was thinking about typical light weight, freeze dried foods. If you get a "Mountain House", they typically run about 110 cals per oz. Also about $1USD per oz. Compare that w/ peanuts @ 160 per oz, whole wheat spaghetti @ 105 per oz. It seems that by buying natural foods, you are upping the caloric intake. I am trying to figure out a new strategy for tasty, light weight meals made of real food to replace the Mountain House and EmergenC method used until now. Just rambling thoughts. I welcome your own or any input.:)
 
I was thinking the same thing yesterday. I came to the conclusion of next time I go out Im just bringing regular raw potatoes and eat those with whatever I catch.
 
I'm with you guys, never been too impressed with freeze-dried stuff or MRE's, especially when you look at the cost. All the veterans I know make a point of avoiding MRE's when they can, what does that tell you? Then again, I don't go out for 2 weeks with only what I can carry, either.

Wholeheartedly agree with bringing some taters and noodles, even Ramen if you can stomach it (I can't abide the smell of that stuff, let alone the taste). Complex carbs, plus a couple cans or packages of veggies goes a long way to keeping you fed. Grocery stores carry individual "bachelor-size" cans of veggies with a pop-top, those make a lot of sense to me. Jerky and uncut sausage can last for days without refrigeration. I also like the foil pouches of tuna and chicken, there's your meat and fat requirements. For a planned trip, it might be worthwhile to bring a small soft-sided cooler with a chemical icepack in it, for fresh meat and cheese. Remember the captain in "Saving Private Ryan"? He was always nibbling on raisins when he got the chance. I despise raisins, but dried fruit has to be a good way to keep hunger at bay and get some sugar into your blood.

What about the old-school guys who go into the woods with nothing but a chunk of bacon, some lard or butter, and flour,Bisquik, or pancake mix? I know diddly about making johhnycakes or biscuits over a fire, maybe it's time I learn. Not to mention getting serious about edible plant ID and the various methods of trapping fish and game.

Always remember, the more any food product is processed, the less nutritional value it has. I presume this applies to freeze-dried stuff as well, although it may not make a huge difference.

I like Gatorade mix for my water, I can't shake my sweet-tooth even in the boonies :(. I sneak a few small cans of low-sodium V8 juice in my pack for vitamins and "comfort". Those protein/meal-replacement drink mixes and bars athletes use pack a lot of nutrition and calories in a small space, but they're on the pricy side. Maybe a couple for last-ditch survival OR if you're too busy to sit down and cook something, would be a good idea. Don't disregard the classics like dry soup mix and boullion cubes. CHEAP, lightweight, warming, and filling. Just don't tell your doctor, those things are LOADED with sodium! Drink an extra glass of water. Also, a small ziplock full of ketchup/mustard/hot sauce/salt/pepper packets from the fast "food" place can really help make stuff go down easier.

This is a cool thread, I don't think you need to buy the latest-greatest-high-tech-survival food to stay fed and even comfortable in the boondocks. Looking forward to other suggestions.
 
lets not overlook good old fahion peanutbutter, it's cheap, high in protien and fat ( 2 of the most important nutrients) and never requires refrigeration
 
I tried the PB from a Canadian forces MRE and it was terrible!
more like glue then anything, but I remember thinking it was a great idea.
Where can you get the squeeze tubes of it?

Just googled it, skippy makes it. If I can get it in Canada I'm picking up a few tubes for the trail.
 
yea i second that. (though, mres are actually good to have. lots of calories, are easy to pack, and them breaking in your pack isnt an issue. they dont spoil easily either)

Im with the simple foods group. potatoes, bread and pasta. also, tuna salad in a non breakable container does well with me. the tuna gives me my protein, and the pasta my carbs. plus, one should always have a little carbs to help their protein synthesis anyway. its better than straight up protein.
Its good hot or cold, and never gets old in my opinion. its cheap too. you can also throw in peas, onion, or celery, or all 3 for some vegetable supplement as well. also, you can adjust the mayo for your fat content too. if you need it. (like i do. i have no fat on my body, and pay for it everytime i have to swim, or stay warm)

tubes of peanutbutter are also the bomb. were like the last country on the planet, not to use toothpaste tubes for food. if you have an ethnic section of town, see if they have an import store there. you can find all sorts of odd foods stuffed in those tubes lol. I think its a brilliant idea myself. I also carry a few tubes of beef bullion cubes. like was mentioned earlier, you can boil em up for some lunch, or break em up, and use em as seasoning salt.
All ya need after that, is a few huge loafs of french or italian bread vacuum packed and thrown in the ruck, and a bottle of hotsauce in the ammo pouch and youre golden.
 
I think you guys are missing the point of freeze dried food. It isnt about being good for you or being cheap, its about keeping your weight down while providing a filling meal that tastes good.
 
Goto the grocery store and find the flavored pasta and/or rice. The ones that come in a box and you have to add water or milk or something to cook it. Buy the ones that only need water and you've got some great tasty backpacking food.

If you want meat, buy some summer sausage or salami. Those keep forever without being refrigerated and taste great when you cut 'em up and put them in the pasta.
 
i got somethin for that 'keeping the weight down' idea.. ever wonder why our VERY delicious LRP rations got discontinued? (Long range patrol rations. theyre identical to mre's except the main course, is freeze dried like a brick of coffee. it gives you twice as much when hydrated, than the standard mre main course, and is 3 times better tasting too)

They were discontinued because it takes too much water to reconstitue. no, the 'well i just used a half a quart of water rehydrating it, so i just ingested a half quart of water, whether i just drank the water, or used it in the food' theory doesnt work. if you use that half qt. of water to rehydrate your food, its not like drinking it straight. youre not getting the water like you think you are.
To carry the minimum daily requirement of water on a soldier, PLUS the water it would take, to rehydrate all your lrp rats, for say, a 5 day recon, would weight soo much, the soldier would have to be an olympic marathon runner to hump that ruck. especially in the heat. I know, cuz I tried it. I had a 5 day recon mission in fort lewis one time. by the time i packed the water that was put out in mission planning, i didnt have enough room left over for the lrp rat water. I was pissed. cuz lrp rats are the shit.
If youre going on a little leisure 2 day fishing trip, cool. take a few vacuum packed mountain houses then. but if youre going on a decent length trip, id stick with some already hydrated foods. Just my opinion though. Unless you have access to a semi clean stream you could purify. if you have a purifier. or you can use water pur tabs, but i dont like the taste of that crap. i prefer to just use my own self contained water that i bring.
 
Protein - there are a group of essential proteins .Eggs provide all of them and in the best ratios for people. Meat also provides all. Others like grains do not .Always mix protein sources to get complete protein [otherwise you waste them] grains compliment legumes .That's why there are many grain/legume dishes : beans and rice, pasta and beans ,succatash [limas and corn]....Carbohydrates - there are many survival foods that are high in sugar.Sugar gives you a quick boost in blood sugar but doesn't last .To get sugar in the blood it is NOT necessary to eat sugar.The body converts carbohydrates to blood sugar .Complex carbs are much better than sugars .
 
Any Cal. said:
I was thinking about typical light weight, freeze dried foods. If you get a "Mountain House", they typically run about 110 cals per oz. Also about $1USD per oz. Compare that w/ peanuts @ 160 per oz, whole wheat spaghetti @ 105 per oz. It seems that by buying natural foods, you are upping the caloric intake. I am trying to figure out a new strategy for tasty, light weight meals made of real food to replace the Mountain House and EmergenC method used until now. Just rambling thoughts. I welcome your own or any input.:)
Click to expand...

Just about any dried food that doesn't require lengthy cook times will work to replace Mountain House/Backpacker's Pantry freeze-dried packages (which are typically loaded with enormous amounts of sodium). Oatmeal, instant rice, pastas. Dried nuts and fruits. Health food stores with bulk food sections are great places to look for alternatives to Mountain House/Backpacker's Pantry - oftentimes they have several different granola mixes to choose from. Dried bean flakes are also a great backpacking food - high in protein and just require hot water.

If you truly want to stick to natural foods you may want to consider this:
http://www.wisementrading.com/campcookware/pressurecooker.htm

It's four and a quarter pounds but it will certainly make up its weight in fuel savings. And you'd be able to cook even dried goods that have otherwise lengthy cook times like dried beans, lentils, cereal grains, split peas and rice.

Certainly something to consider if you're canoeing or have pack animals.

And check out the following for other ideas:
http://www.rei.com/cooking
http://www.rei.com/stores/cooking_pastrec.html
 
My favorite backcountry meal is a simple lipton noodles/rice mix and a pouch of the tuna. Protien carbs, very minimal packaging and it doesn't spoil. Bring some oil with you, and a few flavors of noodles/rice; all you need is water and you have a nice hot meal.
 
I like to have a mixture of the different foods (if backpacking, fishing etc...) to supplement game I might catch and cook. I reccommend a spice wheel...you can inprove any backpacker's meal with this small, light object.

I like to mix it up-

couple of mountain houses (light wieght so even if you don't have/find the water not too much to carry)

small zip- bag of instant rice
boulon cubes

canned meat (tuna or deviled chicken/ham)
canned beans
canned cheese
cliff/power bars
drink mix
tea/instant coffe bags
hunter's sausage
crackers

non-melting candy
trail mix.

all this stuff can be packed up tight if re-packaged (except for the crackers)

I don't like to rely soley on dehydrated food JIC my water supply runs low. But you can add them for very little weight.
 
Dannyboy Leather said:
I've been doing long distance (thru-hiker) backpacking for over 40-years, and the last several years have been heavily involved in ultra-light backpacking. Needless to say, keeping it light and healthy is a priority on the long trail.

I have tried everything imaginable on the market in the way of light weight foods, but have found the real "secret", years back, to healthy food that will sustain you mile-after-mile. As you determine to get rid of the unneeded and unwanted high sodium, high caloric and fat, preservatives, you will find the best solution is to MAKE IT YOURSELF. First item on your list should be a food dehydrator. Second, should be a vacuum sealer (I use a @FoodSaver). The subject is too exhaustive for detail here, however a quick visit to the bookstore, backpacking websites, etc., and before too long you will find a combination of dried foods that will work best for you. Our VERY experienced backpacking club often gets together and we spend the day dehydrating, sharing recipes, equipment show-n'-tell, etc. I can't think of anyone in the club that uses store bought freeze-dried foods.

BTW, we make the best, healthiest, lightest, freeze-dried corn spaghetti, stews, and soups you can imagine in the food dehydrator. With a little practice, anything from a store won't compare in nutrition and taste.

-Dan
Click to expand...

As I was reading through these posts I was gearing up for a long retort, then I read Dan's reply and he already said it all, good job Dan.

A dehydrator and a foodsaver are invaluable and will pay for themselves very quickly.

Somone mentioned carrying whole potatos and someone else canned meats, come on guys, either yall are in to self abuse or don't go very far, that stuff is like carrying lead. I have a dehydrated vegetable/hamburger concoction that rehydrates very well and I add it to everything, it is tasty, filling and nutritious. Noodles, rice, dry flavor packets, cornmeal and oatmeal are staples that are almost always in my pack along with what I can legally forage with my 22 and fishing gear I can stay out a long time. Chris
 
If i may agree with Runningboar. I got a dehydrator last year and been playing around with it. Some cooked and dryed chicken goes a long way with dryed vegtables and min rice. Or hamburger meat with corn meal now thats a filling meal. With the meat make sure you rehydrate for about 1-2 hours before you cook it. Im working on having 3-4 boxes with diffrent mixtures two would be for rice corn meal or some pasta something like that im sure you get the idea. The other two, one would have a mix for soup and one with meat. so if i want to have soup i get all the vegtables and get a few small chunks of meat in there. If i want something more filling i would use some more meat and add rice or corn meal with some less water. This way i got diffrent meals that taste diffrent with min of work and not too much weight. For the first day or two what works for me is a bagel with some cheese and susage or bagel and cheese with some dried fruits. Another breakfast meal that my mom used to make. Its rice when its cooked you add some suger and dryed fruits or raisens. They used to make it when money was not so plantifull. I know for a fact it would keep you going long time.
 
If I was to go the rest of my life without eating a MRE, that would make me happy. I hate those thing! I really really do. But enough about that. This is a great thread, lots of great Idea. So does dehydrated food lose any of its value after the process? What are some good dehydrators and vacuum sealer to research?
 
I just got a dehydrator for Christmas and have already used it a BUNCH! I was wondering myself about a good high-calorie, nutritionally balanced food for the trail and eventually settled on good ol' fasioned pemmican. It sounds nasty (if you don't like the idea of eating rendered animal fat), but it's really pretty good. I didn't add any dried fruit to mine, instead prefering to keep that separate, but I plan on trying it in the future. However, I do recommend rendering the fat twice instead of pouring it straight from the pot onto your dried meat.

Here's a commercially available version of it, but it's really just the same stuff (plus, you can see how much you're saving by making your own). However, it might be the ticket for someone who just wants to try a bit first to see what they think, though my money would be on making my own to my own tastes.

Just thought I'd throw it out there... Happy trails! :thumbup:
 
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