Food for your trip?

[Cbb]

What do you guys pack for food? Truck camping will allow a cooler of frozen food in vaccuum packs. What about backpacking?

[Swede]

If I get out to backpack, I carry Mountain House and some dried fruit/chocolate/butterscotch, etc. snacks. For the trailer camp which is the vast majority of time, I have some hamburger, steaks, homemade cooked pinto beans, other heat and eat groceries, potatoes, plus fresh fruit and veggies. I always have mixed snacks including energy bars and those grocery store snacks from the bin. Who knows what is in them. It looks like diced chopped fruit, nuts, chocolate, butterscotch, etc.

[jmez]

All my hunting is done out of a spike camp so carry in all food.

Breakfast oatmeal or cream of wheat with protein powder added. Pre-packed/vacuum sealed at home and a starbucks via
morning snacks trail mix and peanut butter crackers
Lunch: tuna or chicken from a foil package in a tortilla with bacon.
afternoon snacks protein bar and granola bar
Supper Mountainhouse meal, starbucks via, 1 king sized candy bar

This all fits in a gallon ziplock bag. Have one packed for every day. Trash through the day goes into the ziplock bag.

[Tigger]

So we tried putting a meal in a ziplock and then boiling it. It didn't work as the bag melted and we had our meal mixed with half a gallon of water! Do most meals float so they don't hit the bottom and melt?

[Brendan]

I pre-package everything. When I leave the truck I grab a gallon size ziploc that holds everything except dinner, which is a heather's choice or mountain house - so 2 bags per day and I don't need to think about it when I'm trying to get ready.

Breakfast - Heather's Choice/Mountain House, Pro-Bars
Dinner - Heather's Choice/Mountain House
Snacks, Lunch, Other: Pre-mixed Protein Powder / Electrolyte Drink Mix. Pro-Bars. Honey Stinger Waffles. Single Serve Almond / Peanut Butter Packets. Mixed Nuts. Daily Vitamins. Olive oil Packets. Some dry spice mix.

I shoot for calorie dense foods and 4000 cal per day when I'm being active, so that's ~2lb per day.

[ishy]

Who's Heather? And why does she get to pick everything?

[jmez]

My meals in bags are all dehydrated. You can add boiling water to a ziplock bag not trouble. If it melted I'd guess the bag was on the bottom of the pan and that was too hot and what melted the bag.

[Brendan]

Who's Heather? And why does she get to pick everything?

http://www.heatherschoice.com

A lot healthier for you than mountain house... I like the taste too, but more expensive.

[Lefty]

http://www.heatherschoice.com
A lot healthier for you than mountain house... I like the taste too, but more expensive.

Good stuff!!

Years past, fresh and canned fruit, canned soups, home made soups. bagels egg sandwiches. About anything oatmeal and nuts.
I was put on a low carb diet, so more egg omelettes, more nut,s less oatmeal, not sure where Im going for food on camping and backpack day trips

[Lefty]

http://www.heatherschoice.com
A lot healthier for you than mountain house... I like the taste too, but more expensive.

Good stuff!!

Years past, fresh and canned fruit, canned soups, home made soups. bagels egg sandwiches. About anything oatmeal and nuts. I was really liking those canned tuna and crackers.

I was put on a low carb diet, so more egg omelettes, more nut,s less oatmeal, not sure where Im going for food on camping and backpack day trips

[saddlesore]

I started eating the Steel Cut oatmeal. It takes a minute or so more to cook ,but stays with you longer. I mix it with a pack of that instant for more flavor. 1/4 cup Steel Cut oats, Pack of Instant, 1 cup of water, boil for 3 +minutes..
You can get a 7# bag of it at Costco which is about a life time supply for about $5. Keep what isn't being used right away in the freezer

[>>>---WW---->]

Get yourself a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer and start experimenting. Just plain hard to beat dehydrated rocky road ice cream when your sweet tooth kicks in. You can do all kinds of fruit and vegetables, soups, chilli, many pasta dishes of your choice. No need for those pre packaged meals and you control the amount of salt.

[Brendan]

Get yourself a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer and start experimenting. Just plain hard to beat dehydrated rocky road ice cream when your sweet tooth kicks in. You can do all kinds of fruit and vegetables, soups, chilli, many pasta dishes of your choice. No need for those pre packaged meals and you control the amount of salt.

Honestly, I think this is the best approach if you have the time... But if I counted on needing to dehydrate my own food, I'd end up starving to death

[Backyard]

Get yourself a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer and start experimenting. Just plain hard to beat dehydrated rocky road ice cream when your sweet tooth kicks in. You can do all kinds of fruit and vegetables, soups, chilli, many pasta dishes of your choice. No need for those pre packaged meals and you control the amount of salt.

Honestly, I think this is the best approach if you have the time... But if I counted on needing to dehydrate my own food, I'd end up starving to death

I agree, but seriously, most of us (I assume) elk hunt a max of 2 weeks out of the year. So that leaves one about 50 weeks to get a few meals dried packed and thrown in the freezer for next year.
I have also noticed that because of our (everyone) strive for quick and easy everything, especially meals, the grocery stores are teaming with quick-just-add-water-stir meals, entree's, and side dishes that are usually packed with all the normally bad (carbs), but good for high mountain bow-hiking;
Instant potatoes (add dehydrated venison, makes a whole meal), all kinds of rice mixes, soups, tortillas, bars, dehydrated peanut-butter even. Just to name a few.
Take a trip to the store with the wife next time and just look, keeping an open mind about what would work for both weight and nutrition for a hunt. You'd be surprised how much there is, and it's far cheaper than most any food that is packaged and sold as "backpacking" food.
I've been doing this for years for both hunting and wilderness canoe trips, and I see more and more options each time I go.
And don't count out the Food Co-op type stores, all kinds of dried foods there.

As far as the bag meal, here's what I do;
I made a cooking coozy the size of a quart bag to fit in, boil my water, puor it in my prepackaged meal that I've slid into the coozy, wait about ten minutes, and eat. the only waste to pack out is a zip-loc bag
I looked up how to make the coozy for about $5 if you had to by the materials. made a couple.

[>>>---WW---->]

Back Yard is spot on "As far as the bag meal, here's what I do;
I made a cooking coozy the size of a quart bag to fit in, boil my water, puor it in my prepackaged meal that I've slid into the coozy, wait about ten minutes, and eat. the only waste to pack out is a zip-loc bag
I looked up how to make the coozy for about $5 if you had to by the materials. made a couple ".

I made my cozy from an old reflextic car windshield cover that I purchased at a yard sale for a buck. No dishes to wash. Just lick your spoon clean and you are ready to go.

[Cbb]

Thanks for the tips guys.

[CurlyTail]

I am huge fan of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes (four flavors to choose from, all excellent) to supplement the Mountain House Dinners. Delicious, quick, easy clean up, light weight.

Make up a batch of Rice Crispy Treats. Cut them into generous squares, and individually wrap in Saran Wrap. These are lightweight, delicious, and do not crush/crumble in your pack. The store bought version taste like chemicals, make them fresh.

I know everyone is into Mtn Ops, Wilderness Athlete etc. but Tang was the original performance drink and I love it hot or cold in the Mountains. Mix up a Nalgene a day to encourage hydration, Pre - measure in a ziplock bag.

I am an advocate of pre-planning your meals, pre-measuring as much as possible, and organizing food into daily meals in a gallon zip-lok bag. That way, one guy has all the food for a specific meal, and you can split up the meals in such a way that everyone carries their fair share and the meals are used up evenly between hunting partners. This way you cannot consume all your food early, and you can plan the calories to your needs. It is a bit time consuming up front, but well worth the effort. Makes it so quick and simple in the field.

I can't eat enough during backback adventures. On a 7 day trip, I usually drop at least 10 pounds, and that is eating until I am full. Altitude and exertion takes the edge off an appetite, and the exertion is all day.

[Fridaythe13th]

We don't pack in food we have a base camp. The general rule is no food that take bread or buns. No hamburgers, BBQ, brats, hotdogs or sandwiches. For some reason it get's smashed every time, and I hate that. May as while bring in a soft shell taco.
Spaghetti, steak, pork chops, jambalaya, and since we're from Minnesota have to have tator tot hot dish.

[N2mywake]

we drop camp so weight is a concern. Like others I prepack in a quart or gallon ziplock my lunch.

Breakfast:
Oatmeal or bar
starbucks via, creamer (non refrigerated liquid), sugar/sweetener)

Lunch (pre bagged)
Tuna, (2 miracle whip packets, 3-4 relish) takes it to another level
cheese crackers
snickers
fork

snacks
peanut m&m's mixed with cashews
Mingua Beef jerky
bar (usually a snickers or twix, sometimes a cliff bar)

Dinner (varies but it's a group meal someone cooks while others filter water, gather firewood)
potato soup
precooked chicken, tortilla (maybe some easy cheese if we're living)
precooked bacon sandwiches warmed on stove/cringles
hamburger helper (if I can find foil pouches of precooked burger), instant mashed potato (with Applewood bacon and cheese)
we always carry 1 jar of Big B Barbeque for dinner one night. it's heavy but it's a camp tradition
we usually pack in lunch meat frozen and eat it the first few days until it and the bread are gone.

I'm sure there's other stuff, but that's the bulk of it. I drink about a gallon of Gatorade a day, I hate that the powder is so heavy but I can't do the g2 stuff.

[Brendan]

From two years ago. Changed some up some this past year.

One Day:


10 Days, minus a mountain house for dinner every night:

[llewokj]

From two years ago. Changed some up some this past year.

One Day:


10 Days, minus a mountain house for dinner every night:

Looks good! What's the green stuff in the plastic bags?


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[Brendan]

Looks good! What's the green stuff in the plastic bags?

The green stuff actually wasn't very good - more "Good For You"

The small bags are varying mixes of protein powder, electrolyte powder, energy drink and "Green Infusion" from Wilderness Athlete. One at Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Caffeine early in the day, but not with dinner - protein powder breakfast and dinner but not lunch...

Easy to dump into a Nalgene, keep hydrated, amino acids / electrolytes, etc. Probably overkill - but works for me.

[six]

Oatmeal packets
Jerky
Protein bars
Nuts
Mountain House
Water flavoring
Protein powder
Peanut butter, honey, bacon wraps
String cheese
Apples @truck (I put a couple in my pocket every time I'm at the truck)
Crackers/cheese/sardines @truck
Canned soups @truck

[WapitiTalk1]

For backcountry camps, similar to what others have mentioned.... instant coffee, granola bars, energy bars, dried fruit, cracker/cookie packets, and a MH meal for the evening (those stinger waffles are good if you haven't tried them).

For base camps as what will occur this September, I'll bring a big bag of potatoes and a few onions and fry em up almost each night as an accompaniment to what Swede brings. Swede is bringing two big Yeti coolers with frozen steaks, chops, brats, salmon filets, chili, elk stew, spaghetti sauce with meatballs, home made lasagna, shredded brisket, kielbasas, NE clam chowder, burger patties, sweet and sour stir fry chicken, and all the other side/accompanying dishes (mac n cheese, sweet potatoes, box rice and noodle sides, boil in a bag rice, vegetables....). Swede will have to chime in if I forgot anything

[N2mywake]

(those stinger waffles are good if you haven't tried them).

I'm going to have to try these.

I will ad i'm usually craving a Big Bacon Cheeseburger (a good one) when I get off the mountain after 10-11 days

[Swede]

RJ, it looks like you have it pretty well covered. Was I supposed to bring the seasoning too?

Hey Brendan, are you planning to bait squirrels on your trip or do you eat that stuff?

[Brendan]

Hey Brendan, are you planning to bait squirrels on your trip or do you eat that stuff?

Ha... No - I actually eat it. That's over 4000 calories per day and pretty healthy. And - I don't know how you guys have time to worry about dinners like you're cooking above - I stagger back into my tent after dark, boil a pot of water, wolf down dinner and go right to bed...

Ok, maybe there's time for dessert...



And I do supplement with the occasional grouse:





But a burger does taste damn good when I head into town for a break mid-hunt...

[Swede]

Brendan, it is very nice of you to bring 40 pounds of shelled nuts to spike camp so the squirrels have a great meal and a stash for the winter. But the booze for the squirrels has to go. Bad! Very bad idea. Those squirrels have a very small brain. That is why some people refer to folks they are upset with as "squirrel brains".
The squirrels need all of heir faculties to avoid ending up like your grouse. They also need all of their coordination to get up and down the trees in their neighborhood. I watched a squirrel fall from a tree once, and I think it was sober. It was just as out, laying on the ground, as if it had been up all night with your whiskey. Of coarse, with 40 pounds of shelled nuts at their disposal, maybe they could just stay on the ground to drink the booze and party on nuts. Who know for sure?

[llewokj]

Looks good! What's the green stuff in the plastic bags?

The green stuff actually wasn't very good - more "Good For You"

The small bags are varying mixes of protein powder, electrolyte powder, energy drink and "Green Infusion" from Wilderness Athlete. One at Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Caffeine early in the day, but not with dinner - protein powder breakfast and dinner but not lunch...

Easy to dump into a Nalgene, keep hydrated, amino acids / electrolytes, etc. Probably overkill - but works for me.

[FACE WITH STUCK-OUT TONGUE AND TIGHTLY-CLOSED EYES]


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[Brendan]

I save my relaxing, enjoyable hunting camp meals for November / December deer camp. Shooting light ends at about 4:45-5:00 so we have 4 hours to kill to make more hot, enjoyable meals. Homemade stews, roasts, homemade sausages, pasta dishes...

Archery elk season - I'm more worried about quick, easy, and healthy to keep me going for 10-12 days... Now, for those of you who want to spend your time cooking and eating instead of hunting - more power to you