food efficiency and meal ideas

Have a favorite trail recipe or technique you'd like to share? Please do! We also like reviews of various trail food products out there. The Backcountry Food Topix forum is the place to discuss all things related to food and nourishment while in the Sierra wilderness (as well as favorite trail head eateries).
User avatar
Harlen
Topix Addict
Posts: 2076
Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:13 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Santa Cruz Mountains

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by Harlen »

rlown writes:
As WD points out, we do eat less as we age, and we move more slowly. My main cutback on backpacking has been food as I always come back with way to much.
Not when you bring your abalone, I'll bet?! :yummy:
Properly trained, a man can be dog’s best friend.
User avatar
rlown
Topix Docent
Posts: 8225
Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 5:00 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Wilton, CA

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by rlown »

abalone is closed until further notice.
User avatar
Wandering Daisy
Topix Docent
Posts: 6640
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:19 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento area)
Contact:

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by Wandering Daisy »

I would say more fats in Bearzy's diet. You may look into nutritional labels on various dog food and get one with the most calories per pound (more fat). Also, you could bring butter or olive oil and pour over Bearzy's food - my dog will eat anything- she gulps it down so fast I do not even think she tastes it. However, bacon grease is a dog's idea of heaven. When I did winter mountaineering we brought lots of bacon and real butter. A spoon of butter in every cup of chocolate!
User avatar
neil d
Topix Regular
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:46 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by neil d »

Checking back in on this thread on a slow Friday. I started working on alternatives to my old ways (mainly Mountain House) back in 2019. Last year (Covid) was an all-timer for me in terms of mountain activity, as I logged 22 nights in a tent. So I was able to sort out some stuff around food. Here is my current 'food rut' that I'm pretty happy with, and five days of it will juuust fit in the smaller Bear Vault.

Generally weighs in at 1.5 lbs per day

Breakfast: instant steel cut oatmeal repackaged in small ziplock, with an added handful of dried fruit and nuts and about a tablespoon of dried peanut butter. Have this in between two servings of Starbucks instant coffee. Morning won.

Snax: a Kind bar, peanut M&Ms, and can't live without my meat stix (you know, those short, 4-inch processed meat sticks...salty and yummy!). Also some dried fruit from the supermarket bulk bin, preferably chile-spiced mango slices from Winco.

Lunch: i've grown very fond of PB&J and Fritos on a tortilla. Don't get tired of it even 5 days in a row! Especially when I found the paired peanut butter and grape jelly packs at minimus.biz...https://www.minimus.biz/diamond-crystal ... -1201.aspx. Dang, they used to have premium Skippy, and now seem to be out. Shoulda bought more.

Dinner: this is where I've had the most fun experimenting with my home dehydrator. All manner of pasta and tomato sauce concoctions, all using lean ground beef as the protein. Also really like some of the dinner ideas from Fresh Off the Grid (https://www.freshoffthegrid.com/backpacking-food-ideas/). The tortilla soup is rock solid, and the holy grail of backpacking meals, the beef stroganoff, shows great promise. I tried this two nights on my last trip, just need to boost the salt and add some corn starch to thicken the sauce. The dehydrated mushrooms and creamy egg noodles are very excellent.

I made a little cozy system to eat my home dehydrated meals from the ziploc bag, but I prefer cooking it up in my pot and eating out of that, as I can keep it good n hot and get the consistency just right.

I'm also a fan of those bone broth envelopes you can get. About 50 calories, and goes well just before bed, similar to miso soup.
User avatar
Wandering Daisy
Topix Docent
Posts: 6640
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:19 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento area)
Contact:

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Your breakfast and snack are about the same as mine. Although steel cut oats take a bit longer to cook, they pack more compactly than flake oatmeal. I take about half steel cut oats and half Malt-o-Meal which cooks really fast and also is very compact. A Tbs of NIDO (full fat dry milk) helps the flavor.

I do not eat a lunch- just nibble on snacks. I have borderline fasting high blood sugar so my snacks are heavy on nuts, jerky and cheese, a few raisins or dates, but absolutely no candy or excessive sweets. No sugar in my breakfast cereal either- just a few chopped dates for sweetness.

You can make your own peanut butter from roasted peanuts, with NO added sugar and buy either salted or salt-free peanuts. I do it in my blender and add about a Tbs peanut oil to each pound of peanuts. Set the blender on slow, add just a small stream of peanuts. Takes about 5 minutes and a bit of stopping and stirring. You probably could do it faster in a food processor, but I do not have one. This is a lot cheaper than buying the premium natural peanut butters. This also works with cashews. Have not tried it with almonds.

I like to cook dinner in camp with dry ingredients, pre-mixed and place in zip-locks. My fishing is getting good enough that I can now count on fish to supplement my rations which are a bit too low on protein. If I get skunked fishing, I just get a bit more hungry.

My rations are 1.25 pounds per day/ 2200-2400 calories and 40-45% fat (mostly "good" fats- a lot of olive oil and nuts). Not a diet I would eat daily, but OK for backpacking and I take one multi-vitamin a day. I likely am a bit smaller than you and need less calories. If I choose compact dry food I can fit 10 days in a Bearikade Weekender.

I find that I get burned out on about any particular food if I repeat it too much, so I try to make each trip's food slightly different. Same concept but mix up the flavors and bring lots of different spices.
User avatar
Harlen
Topix Addict
Posts: 2076
Joined: Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:13 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Santa Cruz Mountains

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by Harlen »

You guys have it down to a fine science. I wonder if like me, you lose weight on your trips anyway? Last 10 day trip (came out 10/19) I lost 9.6 lbs, 187 to 178 lbs.); Bearzy lost 4 lbs. (64 down to 60lbs.) Smoky lost 5 lbs.; and Wolfie .8 lbs. (14.8 to 14 lbs.). I don't know about my wife and friend because they had no pre-trip weigh in. We feel bad for the dog weight loss, though it may be good for them. I attribute my loss to giving most of my meat and cheese to the dogs.

I never come out with any food, at least since ruling out those super dense Clifbars, yet I lose weight every trip. However, I never suffer hunger pangs, and seemingly, no loss of energy- though that is a good question. Wildhiker mentions his need to eat very regularly, and I think giantbrookie once mentioned how a needed meal helped him and a partner over a pass. I assume this applies to many of us who have faster metabolisms than I?

A bit farther (and a lot higher) afield, didn't Edmund Hillary speak of using raisins and honey, or was it peanuts? to energize his Everest climb?
Do you actually feel the energy come on after certain meals? I am dull to this, though it must occur. Thanks for the interesting post and comments, Ian.
Properly trained, a man can be dog’s best friend.
User avatar
Wandering Daisy
Topix Docent
Posts: 6640
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:19 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento area)
Contact:

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by Wandering Daisy »

It is hard to be exact on weight loss for one trip only. Just depending on time of day your weight can vary a couple of pounds. Another factor is that you replace some fat with muscle, which weighs more. And if you ever have been a worry-wort new parent, you know that weighing the baby pre-poop or pre-pee versus post-, makes a difference. :eek: Goes for we adults too.

I only keep track of my weight at the beginning of backpack season and the end. This year I did 7 trips, three about 6 days, and three about 10 days and about a week between each trip. I lost about 9-10 pounds, or about 8% of my season starting weight; about 1 pound per trip. I do not push it very hard anymore when I backpack and that may have more impact than my age per se. For your 10 day trip, you lost about 5% of your starting weight, and Bearzy about 7%. (assuming I did my math correctly) So Bearzy's weight loss was not that much more than yours relative to his size.

Hunger is more complex than the amount of calories in vs out. I suspect if you were on a continuous 30 day trip, you would become more hungry. When I taught at NOLS, all the students would get what we called their "mountain appetite" by two weeks out, then they became quite voracious eaters. Your body is adjusting to altitude, increased exercise and type of food the first week or so and it takes some time for appetite to catch up. This is totally unscientific- just repeated observational data. I personally tend to get the "munchies" when bored, thus am usually much less hungry when backpacking just because I am not bored.

I have "hit the wall" a few times backpacking and although eating some simple carb snacks helped a bit, my muscles also needed to recover. A steady input of food does more to keep you going. A lot of people, myself included, have no appetite when exhausted even if I need the calories for energy to keep going.

My focus is primarily on not hauling out food, so I adjust each trip. The kind of food I take remains the same, but if I come out on a trip with extra food, then I take less the next trip. I usually take too many spices, hot drink mixes and supplements. As much as two hot drinks sound good when I am packing food, the reality is that I do not have enough gas to splurge on more hot drinks. The TVP and protein powder I bring seldom gets used. I really need to just leave all the stuff home that I am not absolutely thrilled with, regardless how "nutritious" the supplement is.
User avatar
neil d
Topix Regular
Posts: 196
Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:46 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by neil d »

Interesting observations here. My trips are shorter (5 days max) so I doubt I experience any weight loss, although I have not really checked.

It is funny how one's body changes through the years. In my 20s I would often have trouble with low appetite in the mountains. In my (late) 40s that is no longer true, I can now eat well and often which I find really helps stabilize my energy levels...good energy through the day, with no significant ebbs an flows. Plus good sleep at night.

I also seem to have much better countenance regarding the effects of altitude than in my younger years. Granted my trips aren't super high, generally up to 12k feet or so, but I used to really suffer with respect to headache, sleeplessness, nausea, etc. That has not been an issue for me for years now. I think a large part of it is managing hydration better, having an overall lighter pack, and knowing when to dial back the level of effort.

Something I've really noticed makes a difference for overall comfort in the mountains is overall good cardio training (duh). I've always been an avid rider of bikes. Pre-Covid I would commute every day by bike but the ride was short, only 5 miles each way. Now my commute is even shorter (bedroom to office, about 20 steps), which allows an afternoon/evening 'fitness ride' more days than not. Where I can go out for an hour or so, push myself as hard as I want, and come home sweaty. I think that sort of activity really helps my body with efficiently managing oxygen levels in the mountains, both in terms of heart rate recovery and effects such as light-headedness.

I am also addicted to periodic 'mass effort' events, whether on the bike or extra-long dayhikes. Usually on the bike, though. I think those dawn-til-dusk, 4k calorie outputs help your body remember how to suffer, which pays dividends in the mountains. My theory, anyway.
User avatar
bobby49
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1225
Joined: Sat Nov 11, 2017 4:17 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by bobby49 »

Another thing I learned about planning backpacking meals: I always bring along some tasty food that I can eat under any conditions. It might be because I am half-sick. It might be because of bad weather and my stove has failed. Or, sometimes you get on a mileage streak, and you need some calories, but you don't want to stop to prepare a proper meal.
User avatar
sparky
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1029
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2010 10:01 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: food efficiency and meal ideas

Post by sparky »

I havnt eaten a freeze dried meal in probably over a decade

oatmeal, nutrigrain bars, coffee
peanut butter, crackers, nuts, dried fruit
tortillas, egg noodles, butter, cheese, cured meats, jerky, herbs/spices
candy/chocolate

getting a good tortilla is key. have a local place I can get them handmade and are ridiculously good. I make quesadillas directly on the stove flame..soo good with tacos sauce. egg noodles and butter with salt and pepper.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests