Lower Sodium Meals

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).
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kpeter
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Lower Sodium Meals

Post by kpeter »

Well, my blood pressure is elevated and I have cut back on sodium intake. Nothing extreme. I generally limit myself to no more than 650mg sodium in a dinner, and it has worked wonders getting my blood pressure down to reasonable levels.

I can also add that for years--long before my blood pressure began to rise--I began to dislike most Mountain House meals since they all tasted so salty to me. But even the brands I have come to like, such as Packit Gourmet and Good-to-Go have meals that contain double or triple my UPPER limit. I had never looked at the nutrition information before now, and now I wonder if some of my lightheartedness last summer may have been caused by blood pressure spikes following massive ingestion of sodium.

Even if I decide to not be very strict on the trail, it is now clear to me that I can't buy many off-the-shelf freeze-dried entrees since I would just as soon not have a stroke while on the trail. And so, after 49 years of grabbing stuff from REI and elsewhere, I find in my 50th year of backpacking coming up I will need to take much more care in planning food than I used to do.

So far, the best alternative I can come up with is to order a bunch of ingredients and assemble my own meals. I wonder, though, whether any of you have been through this journey to reduce sodium intake and how you have handled it on the trail? Are there ANY backpacking food companies that offer lower sodium meals? How many of you buy freeze dried ingredients and assemble your own dinners? How many assemble dinners from regular (non freeze-dried) ingredients?

Note that I am a committed water-boiler. I have never cooked anything that requires more than pouring out the boiling water. Well, not in the wilderness anyway!
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by Wandering Daisy »

Your taste buds tend to get less sensitive to salt so you add more. This might be a bit drastic for you, but if you were to almost eliminate salt for a few weeks you may be able to retrain your taste buds. For example, without salt noodles taste sweet. Also go with whole grains, like instant brown rice, whole wheat noodles, etc. They have a deeper flavor and taste good without salt. Same with nuts- buy the unsalted ones. You may want to add another spice to perk things up a bit. With cinnamon in cooked oatmeal you may not miss the salt. Things do taste different without salt, but different is not necessarily bad - just not what you are used to. A little lemon juice or vinegar spice thing up too. And of course, hot peppers.

Trail food may be more difficult to reduce salt. Instead of cheese, sausage, and jerky, take unsalted nuts and dried fruit. There are unsalted crackers. Salts are important for electrolyte balance, but it does not have to be sodium salt. I think " Morton's Lite" is potassium salt. Sea salt also has a stronger flavor so you use less but I do not know if it has less sodium. There are dozens of fancy gourmet salts out there that may be low sodium. It is not "salt" that is bad, but the sodium in ordinary table salt. There are a lot of low sodium items nowadays. I make my own peanut butter in my blender with unsalted roasted peanuts. I think you can buy unsalted nut butters.

I buy much of my backpacking food components from WinCo. My WinCo store has unsalted dried bean flakes. They have a good selection of bulk food of all sorts. Trader Joe's is also good to find unique foods for backpacking. Unfortunately almost all soup mixes are very salty. I almost am at the other end of your problem - I do not like salty food, and I need to add more salt to my backpacking diet. I really cannot stand the commercial FD meals.

And if you are making your own backpack meals, you will need a good scale. I use a postal scale but there are good scales specifically for food. You probably will use a bit more fuel to cook meals you assemble yourself. It is still boil only, but you will have to simmer and cook longer. If you use pot cozies you can partially cook and then let sit - same as with FD meals but you have to actually boil a few minutes first.

Good Luck!
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by bobby49 »

Wandering Daisy wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:33 pm I think " Morton's Lite" is potassium salt.
The version of it that I have is 90% potassium chloride and 10% sodium chloride.
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kpeter
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by kpeter »

Thanks WD, I appreciate the advice.

My post was long winded and not very clear.

1) I actually do not like very high sodium meals and want to find out if anyone has found freeze dried food that are lower in sodium. Nearly all the packaged meals I look at are very high.

2) I also wonder if anyone has had success ordering bulk freeze dried ingredients and assembling their own meals out of that. If so, what outlets?
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mort
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by mort »

kpeter wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 6:52 am
1) I actually do not like very high sodium meals and want to find out if anyone has found freeze dried food that are lower in sodium. Nearly all the packaged meals I look at are very high.

2) I also wonder if anyone has had success ordering bulk freeze dried ingredients and assembling their own meals out of that. If so, what outlets?
I stopped looking for healthy pre-packaged backpacking food long ago, as a vegetarian meal choices are limited. My answer to your first question is no. I do assemble my own meals with no salt, sometimes the seasonings will have a ton of salt, I try to go lighter on stuff like Hoisin sauce.
Most of the freeze dried food I take comes from Pack-it Gourmet https://www.packitgourmet.com/Vegetables-c13.html
and Honeyville Farms https://honeyville.com/products/wholesale/dried-foods/
For example. And there is a good co-op store nearby that had a good selection of bulk dried food including lower salt soup powders, But that may be gone forever since we expect a higher standard of hygiene post Covid.
Also my brother dehydrates stuff, so we have fruit and a few other ingredients (e.g. mushrooms) Generally, a dinner is a starch, from a regular grocery: instant mashed potatoes, minute rice, pasta (I take the ramen out of a no cook soup), Cous cous. Some dishes get soy protein granules or TVP chunks depending on the seasoning.
I have a good digital scale and carefully weigh the breakfast cereal and fruit and the lunch crackers, fruit and nuts, And then for dinners I just pile in a bunch of ingredients (I do have a number of recipes) and scoop out enough for how many people are on the trip. It generally come out to 1.5 to 2 lbs per person per day.
The Pack-it Pico de Gallo is salty (300mg per serving) but it is really good. I have not been able to make my own any better. Also note odd-ball freeze dried foods on ebay, I am experimenting with freeze dried avocado powder this year.
All the dinners I take are pour boiling water in the bags and wait. We never actually cook anymore.
Example dinner menu from last July:
mashed potatoes, garlic & cheddar and mixed veg
cous cous, pea soup and peas
rice, TVP, cashews & sauce, broccoli with garlic
chili TVP & corn, refried beans, salsa, sour cream
spaghetti & marinara & parmesan & zucchini

Good luck!
-mort
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by LMBSGV »

Due to having kidney disease, I have to do a very low sodium diet. Nearly all the things in stores are high sodium. Also, the sodium content of most Pack-It Gourmet meals is too high, at least for me. I do get vegies (peas, beans, green onions) to add to meals from Pack-It Gourmet. I either dry my meals at home in a dehydrator or get my meals from Mary Janes Farm since most of the things there are much lower in sodium than other places. The nutritional information is listed so you can see the sodium content of everything. The Outpost Meals are right for one person. Here's the link:

https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/food-ins ... -prep.aspx
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by freestone »

Lots of healthy eating options at Harmony House Foods.

It seems like anything not containing sodium tends to be bland. I have also heard that salt is ok as long as there hasn't been a big sodium dump into the food.(?)
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rlown
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by rlown »

kind of need salt when backpacking. Helps you sweat.
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Matt_W
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by Matt_W »

These instant potatoes have zero sodium: https://www.bobsredmill.com/potato-flakes.html. Just add water and your favorite flavor additions. I like to add this tuna, which has 200mg of sodium: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005423RF4/
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Re: Lower Sodium Meals

Post by tahoefoothills »

I think that those salt-free dried bean flakes WD mentioned are easy to prepare, i.e., just add boiling water. And I think that they have a consistency that you can spread on a whole wheat tortilla. I've ordered freeze-dried bulk foods from Mary Janes Farm (a good Moscow Idaho business) that have dried bean flakes in them. You probably could add quinoa or something similar. Hopefully, this is a helpful suggestion to add to what has already been written.
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