Trail and Backpacking Food..... What do you take?

I've been getting smoked and dried sausage from a Polish butcher shop. It kept for a week on my counter with no problems (It just dried out) and a couple of days in my pack.

Here is a bunch of stuff I've copied and pasted from various places. I've only tried a couple though.


barilla tortellini w/ dried tomato sauce / pesto / olive oil, parm cheese, garlic, pepperoni, sun dried toms, black olives

Noodles/ramen W/ Peanut butter, chicken, chili powder

tortilla / pesto / bag chicken

Goya spanish rice, chicken
angel-hair pasta, drain the water, dump in some olive oil, a packet of salmon, and some parmesan cheese.

Monterey Mushroom and Onion Stove Top Stuffing mixed with Knorr Mushroom gravy and dehydrated mushrooms

Knorr bowtie pasta with four cheese sauce and crab meat.

Mac and cheese with hickory smoked tuna.

Stove Top stuffing, a pack of instant gravy and a foil pouch of chicken or turkey. It helps to have something else to put the stuffing in to let it soak up the hot water. Make the gravy in your pan after boiling water for stuffing, add the meat.

How about good old Appalachian Trail Mix? 1 part lentils, 1 part barley, 2 parts brown rice. 2/1 ratio water to the mix. Put some in a container with hot water in the am and with very little cooking in the pm it's ready to eat. Great with lots of hot sauce!

I take bulgur, too, but I've never cooked it - just let it soak while I hike. Some bulgur and water in a tupperware at lunch, it's ready at dinner time (or soak at breakfast/ready for lunch). mix with olive oil and lemon crystals.
Whole wheat couscous is so good, you don't even need hot water to eat it! It will soak in cool water for cold pasta salads in under 30 minutes One of my favorite things to take with me......

My fave trail is meal is the Barilla tortellini. Takes so little to cook. Just heat some water (not a lot), throw the pasta in and shove in a cozy. When the tortellini are plump, dump some spaghetti sauce powder, crushed red pepper flakes, parmesan cheese, powdered milk, and a squirt of olive oil. Stir up.

Note: a pack of the Barilla tortellini is A LOT of food. So unless you are a really big eater, break of the package into a few ziplocks.

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Instant creamy chicken or leek soup with the right amount of water that works for a package of instant rice. After the soup has cooked, remove from heat add instant rice, can (or two) of chicken, nice portion of Monterey Jack Cheese, and a sprinkle of dried onions. Let stand 5 mins and serve.
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1-2 pks of roasted chicken ramen
spicy peanuts
chunky peanut butter
1 soy sauce packet
1 foil pack of chicken
add some garlic and some ginger, keeps really well on the trail

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Zatarain's Jambalaya 8oz box
Premium crabmeat (foil pack )
Chicken breast (foil pack)
Summer sausage
block cheese
Dump a couple of tins of smoked baby oysters?
Serves ??

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Servings: 1
Preperation Time: 10-15 MIN

Recipe:
1/4 pkg Bertolini spinach and cheese tortelini
1 foil pkg salmon (3oz)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
seasoned salt
garlic
olive oil

Cook tortelini according to directions, using enough water to cover the tortelini about 1 inch, aprox 8-10 minutes, drain.

Put tortelini in another bowl and cover. In pot, heat olive oil, salt, garlic to taste with salmon til warmed.

Add more olive oil to the salmon mixture along with the tortelini. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

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1 package Ramen noodles
1 cup instant rice
Several ounces Knorr Black Bean Soup Mix
Spices / seasoning of choice
1 ounce (or more) Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 - 2 cups water

Combine all ingredients in your pot (except the Parmesan cheese), and let it soak for 15 minutes. This will allow all contents to rehydrate. I don't like Ramen seasoning packets (any of them), so I generally discard them. My favorites spices for this meal are curry powder, garlic salt, lemon/ pepper and/or a packet of Lipton Instant Cup-O-Soup.

If you are in a hurry for dinner, mix all the ingredients and let them rehydrate while you are putting up your tent and unpacking the rest of your stuff.

After rehydrating, bring contents to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow it to sit for 5 minutes, then garnish with Parmesan cheese and enjoy. What could be easier?
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Chicken Gravy rice

• 1 c instant rice
• 2 t chicken gravy mix
• 1 t diced dried shallots or onion
• 1⁄2 t worcestershire sauce powder
• 2 T shelf stable parmesan cheese
• 1 cn 3-ounces chicken
• 1 c water
Add 1 cup near boiling water and the chicken, stir well, seal tightly and put in a cozy for 15 minutes. Fluff up before eating.

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Lentil and Tomato salad



Ingredients
• 1⁄4 c cooked and dehydrated lentils
• 1 T diced dried shallots or onion
• 1 T diced sun-dried tomatoes
• 1⁄4 t true lemon powder (1 packet) or 1 packet lemon juice
• 1 oz shelf stable balsamic dressing packet
• 1 c water

Instructions
At home: Pack the dry ingredients in a pint freezer or sandwich bag. Tuck the salad dressing packet in with it.
In camp: Add the dressing and 1/2 cup cool water to the bag. Seal tightly and let sit for 10 to 20 minutes or until rehydrated
 
Sweet thread so far guys. Next trip while everyone else is eating their Mountain House meals I will be dinning like a king thanks to all these recipes.

On the Peanut Butter and lighter packaging... I always just bring a whole plastic jar of it if we are going more than a day or two. I love the stuff and eat it by the spoonful at home or by the titanium sporkful in the woods.
 
Go to Cosco or Sams club and pick up bulk individual packets of peanut butter, honey, or other condiments.

Along with the peanut butter and honey, I bring in separate zip lock bags:
Raw cocoa, natural.
Bisquick, flour, or other powdered thickener.
Hard cheese
Hard sausage
Tea
Cracked corn

The peanut butter, cocoa, honey and flour can be mixed together in various ways to match what meal or preference you have, and the cracked corn when eaten with a drink of water will swell in your stomach and make you feel full. Don't eat a whole lot of it at once though. a tea spoon of cracked corn after a slice of cheese and sausage can hold off hunger pangs for a long time without depleting your food supply.
 
Bumppo said:
Go to Cosco or Sams club and pick up bulk individual packets of peanut butter, honey, or other condiments.

Along with the peanut butter and honey, I bring in separate zip lock bags:
Raw cocoa, natural.
Bisquick, flour, or other powdered thickener.
Hard cheese
Hard sausage
Tea
Cracked corn

The peanut butter, cocoa, honey and flour can be mixed together in various ways to match what meal or preference you have, and the cracked corn when eaten with a drink of water will swell in your stomach and make you feel full. Don't eat a whole lot of it at once though. a tea spoon of cracked corn after a slice of cheese and sausage can hold off hunger pangs for a long time without depleting your food supply.
Click to expand...

Don't you need to cook most starches in order for your body to be able to process them?
 
knifephan,

I'm with you---bring the whole plastic jar. I have rarely come back with much left and even then, a little extra is good backup food. Furthermore, it's easier to toss the empty container into a recycling bin than clean the tubes (which I have tried several times). Lastly, the jar is one more opportunity to use your blade---especially if you've got a Nessmuk with that wide, spreader front end!:D

DancesWithKnives
 
Mikeal, You are correct!
The powdered stuff is usually mixed with water to make drinks or dough, I did not mean the cocoa or flours ( or meal for that matter,) are to be eaten dry, with the exception of the cracked corn. The idea of the cracked corn is more to hold hunger pangs at bay than to provide nutrients. You might have a cup of cocoa sweetened with honey in the morning, you might mix the cocoa with peanut butter and honey later for a desert. Also, the list is not everything I might bring, such as fruit or fresh vegetables. The point is to bring foods that can be eaten or prepared in various ways and proportions. Building blocks as opposed to separate prepared portions.
 
I like to take a tube of tomato paste. Thinned out you can make tomato soup, sauce, or chill. You can use it as a spread or add to prepackaged food to give it a better taste.
 
Smoked bacon, uncut.

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Salami, bread.

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Dried pasta, Combine with bacon and pesto for a meal.

Those are the mains.
 
I go light as fars as food. Most of what I eat I find in any common trail here on the AT.
What I find wild. Just to name a few.
Inner Bark of White Pine: vitamins A and C, fat, carbohydrates, phosphorous, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and protein. The inner bark of all pines are edible, but white pine is the least bitter. It only takes a few seconds to chew past the bitterness.
Partridge Berry: Though I forget what they provide they are a berry that grows on the ground near moist places.
Dandelion: I love a good dandelion salad on the trail with fresh blackberries thrown in. Vitamin A, D, C, B, iron, magnesium, zinc, and potassium I think.

A couple Cliff Bars
A nice size piece of homemade jerky for protiens. I like it marinated first in Baja Chipolte Sauce.
Water Canteen of course.
 
tenkara said:
+1 on Unltralight Joe's Moose Goo. I add a teaspoon or so of cayenne to jack it up a bit.

You can't go wrong with Idahoan brand instant loaded potatoes. just add hot water and the meal is ready quicker than any freeze dried meal. Add no cook bacon and crushed goldfish crackers for extraflavor and texture.
Click to expand...

+2 on the moose goo its a MUST HAVE!!

i usually take instant tatos too or some quinoa and beans with tortillas..the kicker is the tapatio! MMMMM :)

ill try the bacon bits and fishy crackers on this 4ths camping trip!
 
That PB2 sounds like something I should definitely try for home use because of the lower fat (and my higher weight). On the trail however, I don't mind a little more fat in the food---especially if that food is also for emergency backup.

DancesWithKnives
 
Nothing tastes better on the trail than food! :D

Sketchy cheese that sat (unrefridgerated) in the Lima, MT post office for 2 weeks before we picked it up in our resupply:
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SPAM Singles!
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Summer sausage:
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Carry produce when you can!
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Foil-pouch tuna was the best thing to happen to trail food since box mac-n-cheese:
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Why not pack a pie out of town?
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Find wild onions when you can:
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We packed a brick of frozen hot dogs out of town one time. Totally worth it:
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On long hikes, we eat lots of protein shake, fish oil, and random supplements that my MIL sends us:
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These pics are fun, but mostly we eat granola or energy bars for breakfast, totrillas/cheese/trail mix during the day, and pasta with olive oil and tons of parm for dinner. When I got with Mrs. Tradja, she really put the kibosh on the existing Tradja Dirtbag Trail Diet of sandwich cookies, Lipton noodles, and ramen.

HOWEVER, ramen with some dried veggies, some dried mushrooms, a BIG scoop of peanut butter, a packet of Tabasco (or a packet of red chili flakes from Little Ceasars), a packet of soy sauce, and some powdered milk is Dirtbag Gourmet.
 
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