I bet my food bag isn't going to give you any revelations of culinary treats. When I am at home I try to eat whole foods and non-processed foods. I also eat vegetarian twice a week. I throw that completely out the window when I hike. If the weather is cool enough I prefer not to cook my dinners. When I thru'd I kept walking into town with my dinners because I would push on rather then stop and hassle with cooking. I found myself taking more lunch food and preparing lunch for noon and dinner. By central VA I shipped my stove, olive oil, fuel, and pots home. The Lipton type meals I was eating wasn't giving me much nutritional benefit anyhow. I also think that society has trained us to have a hot meal in the evening. Breaking free of that allowed me to hike until night, then hang my hammock not worrying about camping at a shelter or near water. There are downsides also to packing fresh food. It is heavy leaving town until you eat your food bag down a little. Cheeses, salami, pepperoni, fresh fruit and veggies are not light and also have a stronger odor attracting bears. I always had to worry about spoilage and the thought that I had food poisoning was often on my mind when I had gasDutch, if you have food supply lists you've used to hit your target written up, I'd be really interested to see them . If you add to that post that you shouldn't eat crackers in hammocks, then it would be on topic.. Whew it was just air again
. Although I never got as much as a cold when I thru'd. Having fresh foods also meant that I had to resupply more often and really craved restaurants. I rarely would hike more then 3 or 4 days without resupply. The rest of my food is what I call bar food. Food that is empty calories and can be simply unwrapped and eaten on the fly. Candy bars, granola bars, breakfast bars...ect.
Now I usually follow the same philosophy only my hiking trips are for the most part only 2-3 days so it is just like a "between the resupply" of a thu. On the first day I have real good fresh food that is pretty heavy and very tasty. Never cook the first evening, instead I pack in cheeseburgers. They will keep for about 24 hours in cool weather and I try to eat them within 8 (hold the mayo please). The next morning I try to have a good breakfast. Apple fritters are often on the menu, but I will often get nice big fresh muffin or two. It is a shame but I can only keep them fresh and unsmashed for a day or so. I have taken Gladware containers, but for the most part they take up too much space when my pack is the fullest. For lunch I like to have a salad or fresh veggies. This stuff is heavy and it is why I eat it first plus it doesn't keep well. Dinner I will have a bagel with cheese and salami or pepperoni on it. That is my base and then I will fill the gaps with "bar food" until I get about 2600 calories a day. The third day I will have a bagel with cream cheese (when I can find individually sealed non-refrigerated kind) or maybe peanut butter in the morning. And for dinner I again have yet another bagel with some processed meat and cheese again or maybe a pack of salmon. If there is a forth day, it will either be a short day or a resupply day. My usual bagels in the morning mixed with bar food until I can get to a pizza shop. It is a good thing I like bagels. Thomas’s bagels will keep the freshest and pack well.
Sometimes I do cook because the weather is too hot to keep meats and cheeses for more that a day. In which case I prefer to start with a Lipton type meal and add dehydrated veggies and a pack of tuna or salmon parmesan cheese. I also like to dehydrate spaghetti sauce into fruit rollup and rehydrate it with olive oil served over noodle with lots of dried garlic, dried mushrooms and parmesan cheese. If it is really cold I like a hot meal at night and will pack in frozen shrimp and scallops to have with a pasta for my first night. (This is making me hungry). Making my fellow hikers envious is one of my goals so I will make sure it smells good with lots of garlic.
I always try to keep a good supply of backpacking food on hand. I dehydrate veggies and spaghetti sauce and freeze it. I buy bar food in bulk along with freeze dried meals. Dgrav turned me onto inertial meals at trail days and I prefer them to Mountain house.
Like I said I am sure this menu doesn't come as any revelation.
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Originally Posted by gnome
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