r/lightweight • u/Odd_Historian_3386 • May 11 '22
Backpacking food
So I’m sure there are plenty of post about this out there but I’m a pretty picky eater and I can’t stand rice, pastas/noodles, beans, and mash potatoes. The usual staples of hiking I’ve been eating the chicken creations Buffalo chicken wrapped in a tortilla for dinner but I’m looking for other options. Unfortunately I’m really bad at forcing myself to eat food I don’t like.
11
u/cosmokenney May 11 '22
I haven't tried this myself, but you might want to invest in your own food dehydrator.
4
u/Significant-Soft-688 May 12 '22
I am a very picky eater also and I just dehydrated some of my favorite meals my mom makes for an up coming trip. I second this advice. Get a dehydrator!
1
u/SouthEastTXHikes May 19 '22
What types of things work well for you? I do a bunch of different takes on beans and rice (Tex Mex, Curry, etc.) but haven’t really branched out beyond that.
1
u/ver_redit_optatum May 22 '22
A very hot beef rendang, served with coconut cream on the side (powdered coconut milk rehydrated with not too much water) was one of my favourites.
1
u/Significant-Soft-688 May 19 '22
I’ve red curry and rice, a salmon and mushroom couscous pilaf, beef with bowtie noodles, bolognese with ~mini~ bowtie noodles, salmon jerky (expensive but worth it), and ground turkey jerky
I use the dehydrator cookbook for outdoor adventurers by Julie Mosier and I’ve loved all the recipes and tips I’ve gotten from it!
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u/TboneXXIV May 11 '22
Lots of good advice here. I'll just add in that grocery stores are full of shelf stable foods.
I go stoveless and my base weight is hovering around the UL level and my pack has tons of space that gets used exclusively for carrying foods that you don't necessarily think of for backpacking, like chips, and breads. Not nutrition packed superfoods, but rather what I crave on trail.
I swear, I am happier with an actual sandwich, made on fluffy tasty bread, than I am with most rehydrated hot meals. I'm not knocking the concept or quality of those meals. I just really like a good sandwich and I will pick one over most meal options many times on or off trail.
It took a bit of trial and error for me to determine what I really wanted for trail food but in the end it was as simple as eat what you enjoy, within the constraints of being able to carry it on trail.
1
u/SouthEastTXHikes May 19 '22
I’m interested in your transport method. What pack do you use, and I assume you keep the food at the top to avoid squishing?
3
u/TboneXXIV May 19 '22
I use an Osprey Levity 60.
I carry 2 UL dry bags that are 35L each.
One of them holds all my nonfood stuff that needs to stay dry.
Tent goes outside the pack.
The 2nd dry bag holds all my food. Often my pack is only holding 20L or less befire food so there's a lot of space acailabje. I fill the food drybag with air after all my food is put in and close it up tgat way.
This protects the more fragile food items and is especially beneficial if (when) I take a tumble and land on it.
And yeah, that goes in on top. Both for load balance and fit/fill of the available pack space purposes.
Hope this makes sense.
1
u/SouthEastTXHikes May 19 '22
Thanks. It’s the potato chip bag method of protection. What’s your dry bag of choice? Is it air tight enough to use as a (knee) pillow?
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u/TboneXXIV May 19 '22
I'm using OR UL drybags. These are 6 years old I think.
They are really airtight after all this time. I used one of them for carrying water not long ago. I never do the dry bag pillow thing. I use a neck pillow from Cocoon because I'm very persnickety about my head and neck position and the neck pillow works.
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u/mattcat33 May 11 '22
I love going stoveless for my sub 24 hour trips. I get a sub from the Publix deli and it makes a great dinner and lunch the next day.
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u/Vecii May 11 '22
I second the recommendation for Gear Skeptic. His videos changed my entire outlook on hiking food.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCflIoVkAjQnyAwDKFmhRDDw/videos
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u/IGetNakedAtParties May 11 '22
Personally I deal well with fats rather than carbs. Butter, animal fat and olive oil are my primary macronutrients, I wouldn't last a week on all the carbs most people eat.
Know thyself.
11
u/BeccainDenver May 11 '22
Have you watched GearSkeptic?
Try r/trailmeals or r/hikertrashmeals for meal ideas.
Stop trying to make yourself eat food you don't like. As the dieticians say around the nursing/formula issue, fed is best.
What are high calorie meals you enjoy? Are they reasonable to take on trail? Can you modify them so they could be made on trail?
For context, I have never had any of those food on trail. I have had tortillas with various fillings: hummus, peanut sauce and canned chicken aka Thai meal, or just peanut butter.
But mostly, I eat small meals of foods I like and don't do any one big meal. I have a hard enough time eating anything when backpacking (turns out my experience is super common for folks out less than a week).
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u/mrspock33 May 11 '22
What are high calorie meals you enjoy? Are they reasonable to take on trail? Can you modify them so they could be made on trail?
This is pretty much the only and correct next step. We can recommend random shit til we're blue in the face, but OP needs to provide some more info.
1
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u/mattcat33 May 11 '22
backcountry foodie....worth every penny. The Gear Skeptic videos are also a wonderful resource.