High Sierra Topix

Thick cut bacon from a butcher, cooked at home has been on my menu lately. I have it with the dehydrated steel cut oats for breakfast and/or at lunch with some crackers, nuts and dried apricots. never any issues with spoilage. I can't handle lots of processed sugar anymore.

bobby49 wrote:It seems like you are carrying a lot of foil and plastic weight, and the tuna doesn't have that many calories.

Yes, that's true. They're OK for day hikes, but I don't think that I would take these backpacking, or not very many of them. I just happened to see these for $1.00 apiece and thought I would try them. Really not very efficient for calories, but they add some protein and flavor.

To get to your original question, I would add the following: Tortillas. They are about the same diameter as the bear canister. Dried fruit and nuts. Instant tea with dried whole milk (Peak) and masala chai mix. I like dried flavored chickpeas (Saffron Road), but they're probably not very space or calorie efficient. And as I said before, the Epic salmon jerky strips, but mostly as a treat on a long trip.

You can also have breakfast late, maybe an hour after you've hit the trail and are in a warm sunny spot. We have cold oatmeal, fruit, and nuts, soaked overnight.

Salami and cheese and triscuits, for short trips. Bars of various kinds for longer. String cheese fits in holes in the bear can pretty well. Sometimes I get the bean and cheese burrito mix from Packit Gourmet to mix it up.

I sometimes get new items from amazon, because it will put forth interesting options - the latest was Greenbelly meals, sort of a double portion of a nut bar -- fairly decent but overpriced, could probably accomplish the 600 calories with three or four Kind bars (or whatever bar you like).

bobby49 wrote:Where does one purchase a tuna salad packet? I've never seen it in a store.

My local Ralphs has several varieties, both name brand and house brand.

John

Well I have lunch down to a science these days.

1 Cliff Bar (I have several flavors that I still really like: Pomegranate Chia, Macadamia Chocolate Chip, Sierra Trail Mix are some of them)
1 1.5 oz pack of Trail Mix (Peanuts, Almonds, Cashews, Chocolate Chips, Cherry and Peanut Butter Chips) This is the Tempting Trail Mix from Trader Joe's.
1 Fiber One Bar (Lemon or Brownie Chocolate)
or
1 Ritz Cheese Crackers snackpack

Plus a Handful of Wheat Thins or Cheese Itz. I usually eat 2 ounces a day.
Russian Beef Salami that won't go bad for many many weeks without refrigeration. I usually cut up a little bit to put on the crackers.
A block of cheddar cheese that I'll slice a little bit off each day. An 8 ounce block lasts me with difficulty 13 days. I wrap the cheese in vinegar soaked cheese cloth and it stays super fresh and does not sweat.

This sounds like a lot but actually it's not when you count out the calories. Lunch for me is extremely important to keep going through rough cross country terrain or peak bagging. Honestly it's my favorite meal while backpacking.

alpinemike wrote: Russian Beef Salami that won't go bad for many many weeks without refrigeration.

That's a new one for me. Is that anything like what we call Beef Summer Sausage?

On longer trips sugar is just empty calories. You still need carbs but get some with added nutritional value. I also take one good quality multi-vitamin a day since no matter how careful you are, it is hard to get all the micro-nutrients you need on any backpack diet. I avoid candy in any form. A lot of trail bars are just candy in disguise. I avoid sugary drinks because it is a lot of weight for little nutritional value. Backcountry water is very tasty without adding stuff. If you take some spicy herbal tea bags, you can put them in your water bottle and have "sun tea".

Digestibility can be improved for any food if you take the time to chew it well and drink plenty of water with the meal.

On longer trips you have to keep bulk down to fit all in a bear can. Here is where lunch food can be a problem. Trail food to me is the least efficient type of backpack food - generally bulky and weighs more per pound than food you cook. So I tend to eat large breakfasts and dinners and just nibble a little during the days. I am a morning person and wake up 5AM starving! No problem eating a double portion of oats or other cooked cereal. My favorite nibbles are nuts (Almonds my favorite) and seeds, dried fruit (drink plenty of water), and cheese sticks. I also like the "soy" nuts. Summer sausage, in small amounts, add flavor, but not too much or I get a belly ache.

Go to a store like Trader Joe's and just look around for all kinds of stuff that may work. Get good quality hard cheese (keeps better than soft) in lots if different kinds. On long trips, variety is the key to not getting tired of the food.

Although I do not do it myself, I know many people who just spread peanut butter (or almond butter) on tortillas. I would rather just eat the nuts and avoid the messy sticky aspect of peanut butter. Although it does not keep as well, cream cheese is also a good spread.

Be aware that a lot of trail bars become a gooey horrible mess when overheated inside a bear can day after day. I hate opening a trail bar, only to get totally sticky, and have to deal with the messy wrapper.

One more thing: You mentioned PB&J for the first couple of days. You might like PB2 (dehydrated, defatted peanut butter) for later days. I took it backpacking once, but decided that I'd rather have a handful of peanuts. But that's just me. It's not bad.

Actually I think it's quite different from summer sausage. It only contains beef so it's actually quite lean. The fat from my experience is what causes the greasy oily mess and eventually it going bad. This sausage is quite hard and has a very smoky taste to it. I believe it's smoked slightly as well. The only place I can suggest looking for it is in a Russian Store or International Market. Anyone who's tried, by the way has liked it.

alpinemike wrote:Actually I think it's quite different from summer sausage. It only contains beef so it's actually quite lean. The fat from my experience is what causes the greasy oily mess and eventually it going bad. This sausage is quite hard and has a very smoky taste to it. I believe it's smoked slightly as well. The only place I can suggest looking for it is in a Russian Store or International Market. Anyone who's tried, by the way has liked it.

Yep, I had some from an Eastern European Market. Also LandJagger is a German sausage that is dry cured so it lasts as well as jerky but with a better flavor and texture in my opinion. Both are superior to summer sausage or the like that really need to be refrigerated. These dry cured salamis came about as a means to preserve meat without refrigeration after all.

And, protein is very important to maintain muscle and physical performance. I always plan my meals to at least try to ensure a minimum of 100 g of protein per day. Really though, for someone my size, 120 to 140 g would be preferable when engaged in strenuous physical activity. It's not just the calories, and on anything longer than 3 days, I will look at the balance of fat, carbs, and protein. Micronutrients would quite frankly take too much time to research for a trip.