lightweight foods?

by **Muskeez** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 1]

We backpack in for 7 days. I actually LIKE Mt. House meals for suppers, as well as a few cocoa packets for a treat. For breakfasts I have found granola and other cereals with powdered milk and maybe some brown sugar to be good lightweight breakfast meals that I can just add water to.

Mid day meals have consisted of gross protein bars that are chalky and have to be forced down. I also pack a variety of nuts and jerky.

My questions are, what daytime meals or bars are better tasting and light in weight? I need to get more variety in my menu this year, and get the total weight of my food bag down a bit. 7 days usually runs about 12 pounds, and I end up bringing some out at the end of the trip cuz my eyes are bigger than my appetite.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Clayton

by **2011bullyelk** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 2]

Every once in a while camofire will have those pro-bars up. They are not half bad and give you a TON of energy, I was surprised last year when I got them.

by **WapitiTalk1** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 3]

I've had good luck with the Jif to Go (they are individual PB containers) with a few restaurant size jelly or honey squeeze packets on MRE style bread for my mid day meal. I can be a big energy snacker during day hunts so granola/energy bars, mini candy bars, and assorted cookie/cracker packages are usually in my quart zip lock for the day's adventure. I absolutely cannot eat when I first get up so I pack an Erin Baker cookie in my quart zip lock also for a big mid morning snack.

by **BrianKY** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 4]

My plan is to portion out my entire day's food. Get big zip locks like above and pack my snacks of granola bars, nuts, crackers, etc. I was considering just taking a jar of peanut butter and loaf of bread for our trip of probably 4 or 5 days. By having it all organized in advanced, I wont run through the food too fast but will also know I have to eat the entire bag to get my calories and keep my energy.

by **erle1139** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 5]

Last year we took a pack of tortillas, some salami or summer sausage (found some that was pre sliced), our grocery store had some small, round, flavored cheese spreads, and condiments we'd get from fast food restaurants. None of them required refrigeration until opened. Tortillas are light and good with anything...pbj, honey, etc.

by **Brendan** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 6]

Last year my day looked like this, all based on being a very high number of calories per ounce.

Breakfast - mountain house with a packet of olive oil. Packet of hydrate and recover.

Snacks and lunch: 3 packets Justin's Almond Butter, 3 Honey Stinger Waffles, 5 oz mixed nuts. Packet of hydrate and recover.

Dinner: mountain house with a packet of olive oil. Packet of hydrate and recover.

Less than 2lbs a day. Snacks, lunch and the hydrate and recover were packed into quart sized bags before the trip. I think I was at 4200 calories a day.

When I was back at the truck, I had a bag of apples, homemade granola bars / cookies, and a bottle of scotch...

by **WapitiTalk1** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 7]

Forgot about the honey stingers.. They're great!

by **hike2hunt** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 8]

I carry some banana chips and jiffy to go peanut butter cups, good combo.

by **Muskeez** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 9]

What is "Hydrate and Recover" ??

by **Brendan** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 10]

http://www.wildernessathlete.com/hydrat ... r-packets/

Plenty of other options for stuff like this, probably cheaper too, but I like the convenient single serve packets.

by **CurlyTail** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 11]

Zone Bars are nutritious and delicious. I also like Peanut M&M's. Salt and Vinegar Pringles go down well. Fig Newtons pack well and are great.

by **SoCo Mark** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 12]

This is a bit off topic, but with my own dehydrator, I dry and package all of my meals. Nothing beats home cooking in the hills. I even dehydrate fruit such as strawberries and then grind them up into a powder and add protein powder and powdered milk. Makes for a great snack drink after just adding water. Dehydrating your own meals isn't for everyone, but I certainly enjoy providing my own meals..

by **Muskeez** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 13]

Thanks for all the great info so far. Mark, what kind of meals do you dehydrate? Can you give some examples? I bought a decent dehydrator last year and did some pineapple, bananas, and apple slices, as well as deer jerky. They turned out great!

by **phall** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 14]

everybody covered some good stuff but nobody mentioned powdered mashed potatoes all you do is mix with boiling water tons of carbs=energy. also smash up some ramen noodles and these two food items pound for pound cant be beat.

by **SoCo Mark** » 04 09, 2015 • [Post 15]

Clayton, I usually always do a pasta with meat sauce, however I use ground turkey or deer or elk- something low in fat as it dehydrates better. I also do a stew, beef stroganoff, a chili and gumbo. I've also done pinto beans and a Mexican type casserole by including rice, ground meat, beans, chili peppers tomatoes and dehydrated cheese powder (found it on Amazon and I think it is the same stuff in the mac and cheese boxes.) I then season it with a simple packet of taco seasoning... All I do is cook up the meal and then spread it out on the trays. I do use the liners that are sold for my dehydrator but when I got them I saw that the liners were just parchment paper that you can get at the store.. I will say the chili and gumbo need to be thick when you spoon it onto the trays/liners, but when you cook it you can add as much water as you'd like. I then rotate day to day. You can also dehydrate a bunch of vegetables and a meat, cooked chicken works good but I also use meat and ham at times.( Warning! dehydrated tuna is really nasty, FYI.) Then, with the dried veggies and meat you can mix them up, add some seasoning of your choice and you have your own homemade soup.. Add some crushed up crackers and it's a great meal. My breakfast is oatmeal, protein powder, powdered peanut butter (Amazon) and instant coffee, add boiling water, wait a few minutes and eat.. You also can add dried fruit or whatever your like though you may want to omit the coffee... I've the ability to eat strange concoctions, so the coffee in my oatmeal goes down and I don't have a cup to clean or extra time making a separate cup of coffee, but that is just me. For snacks I usually do the protein powder, ground up dried fruit and powder milk. I've also dehydrated some canned pumpkin and then pulverized it, added vanilla protein powder, some pumpkin pie spice, powdered milk. Quite tasty actually. The key is experimenting before season. Winter is great for that, but you have plenty of time left before this season... I think the real benefit is it is familiar food. You can put into it what you want and your body will not react to it negatively as it does to some pre- bought packaged dehydrated meals. Trust me, there is something extremely comforting to heating up a bowl of dried pasta with meat sauce and have the same familiar taste that you have eaten for years!

by **foxvalley** » 04 10, 2015 • [Post 16]

The way Phantom has his food organized for each day has huge advantages and should be considered if not done already. I also use a large zip loc bag for the whole days worth of food, but I also separate my lunch in a smaller zip loc that is also kept in the large "daily bag" This makes it easy to just grab the lunch and throw it in your pack.
Breakfast, coffee and oatmeal.
lunch, venison jerkey,candy bar,dried fruit,and granola
dinner, Hormel "complete",pita bread,cheese, and whatever I have left from the day.The dinty moore meals are found in any grocery,come in a dozen or so different meals,and sell for $1.89. Throw in boiling water for 2 min., eat in the container, and all thats left to wash is the fork.
There are better,way more expensive things to eat,but I have found that this is a great place to save $$$,being on an extremley tight budet to begin with.

by **Garrett Drach** » 04 13, 2015 • [Post 17]

Phanton has the food system figured out (IMO). Not only is it convenient, but reduces the excess leftover food that will be have to be packed out. The daytime food we carry, in addition to snacks, are vacuum sealed sandwiches. We use bagels instead of bread (don't compress as much), and will use a variety of meats (turkey, ham, salami) and cheese. We then individually vacuum seal and freeze them solid at home and keep them on ice while driving to the trailhead. We hunt out of spike camp for 7 days, by day two nothing is frozen anymore, but the food bag is hung in the shade, so everything keeps cool until the end of our hunt. We eat the turkey first, ham second and salami last (the order in which meat may spoil the quickest). We also bring small condiment packets that we collect from gas station on the drive there. We've tried eating just snacks during the day, but we never seem to consume enough calories. And sitting down and having a "lunch" during the slow part of the day usually gives us time to relax and plan out the rest of the afternoon/evening.

by **WapitiTalk1** » 04 13, 2015 • [Post 18]

Brendan wrote:Last year my day looked like this, all based on being a very high number of calories per ounce.

Breakfast - mountain house with a packet of olive oil. Packet of hydrate and recover.

Snacks and lunch: 3 packets Justin's Almond Butter, 3 Honey Stinger Waffles, 5 oz mixed nuts. Packet of hydrate and recover.

Dinner: mountain house with a packet of olive oil. Packet of hydrate and recover.

Less than 2lbs a day. Snacks, lunch and the hydrate and recover were packed into quart sized bags before the trip. I think I was at 4200 calories a day.

When I was back at the truck, I had a bag of apples, homemade granola bars / cookies, and a bottle of scotch...

Brendan, what's the olive oil packet for (morning and evening)? I'm guessing it's to keep the logging operations moving along smoothly but wanted to confirm :lol:

. Oh, how do you like the Justin's Almond Butter? I've been eyeballing those for a few years now.

by **CurlyTail** » 04 13, 2015 • [Post 19]

I'll second the powdered mashed potatoes. Go with the Idahoans - they are delicious, fast, and go well with a mountain house main course.

by **Brendan** » 04 13, 2015 • [Post 20]

Phantom16 wrote:Brendan, what's the olive oil packet for (morning and evening)? I'm guessing it's to keep the logging operations moving along smoothly but wanted to confirm . Oh, how do you like the Justin's Almond Butter? I've been eyeballing those for a few years now.

It helps keep things moving :lol:

But, it's also a little extra flavor for the mountain house, and I was losing about a pound a day - so at 250 calories an ounce, I figured a little extra fat for energy would be good. Found these convenient little packets:

Absolutely loved the Justin's Almond Butter. I had Almond Butter, Chocolate Hazlenut Butter and Chocolate Almond Butter. All in convenient packages, lots of calories per ounce, make a great snack.

Here are the Hydrate and Recover packets.

Convenient, but for what they are there are probably better options for the $$$. I've heard good reviews of this stuff.

http://www.nuun.com/

I know Phantom knows these, but these were another big winner for me. Taste great, lightweight, lots of quick energy:

http://www.honeystinger.com/organic-sti ... ffles.html

by **WapitiTalk1** » 04 14, 2015 • [Post 21]

Thanks for the run down Brendan. I need to get a handfull of the Almond Butter packs.. they'd be great on a 1/2 a bagel in lieu of an Erin Baker cookie for breakfast. Over the years I've learned just how important it is (to me anyway) to mix up your daily snack pack. Like Muskeez mentioned in his original post, gnawing on the same old protein bars, etc., each day gets really old.

by **vertical limit** » 04 14, 2015 • [Post 22]

Something that we used to do for a quick, high carb dinner was the dehydrated mashed potatoes (as mentioned above) mixed with stove top stuffing and a gravy packet. Just add boiling water and you are done. And it sticks to your ribs pretty well!!

by **CurlyTail** » 04 14, 2015 • [Post 23]

I have always been a fan of the old orange Tang drink mix. Mostly sugar, but gives you some calories while you hydrate, and I love the stuff. Makes me feel like an astronaut!. Hot Tang for me is great for breakfast and better than Hot Chocolate if you get cold and need a warm up. Tastes about twice as good as most drink mixes these days, especially if you mix it STRONG.

by **Raghorn_Reaper** » 04 14, 2015 • [Post 24]

I have pounded down my fair share of TANG in the Rockies.

I was aiming for 1# of food per day. What are you guys coming in at?

by **Brendan** » 04 14, 2015 • [Post 25]

Raghorn_Reaper wrote:I have pounded down my fair share of TANG in the Rockies.

I was aiming for 1# of food per day. What are you guys coming in at?

For me - I measured 2# at 4000 - 4200 calories of pretty calorie-dense food. I was losing almost a pound a day, so burning around 7000. No way I could do it on 1#, but that also depends on your muscle mass and how actively you're hunting.

Edit: Found my list. This doesn't include Scotch, Apples, Homemade granola bars that were left at the truck.

Food List (Per Day) - 4134 cal

Moutain House (Breakfast) - 800 cal
Mountain House (Dinner) - 930 cal
Olive Oil Packet (x2) - 250 cal
Honey Stinger Waffle (x3) - 480 cal
Almond Butter (x3) - 540 cal
Mixed Nuts (6 oz) - 1134 cal
Starbucks VIA (x2)
Hyrdrate & Recover Packets (x3)

by **Raghorn_Reaper** » 04 14, 2015 • [Post 26]

Wow like everything else, this all adds up quickly. I'm very thin 6'3"..180 but I'm not sure 1# is enough either. Thanks for posting your list! Really enjoyed your earlier writeup also.

by **duckdog28** » 04 21, 2015 • [Post 27]

Peanut butter, creamed honey, and bacon sandwiches on bagels. Will last over a week without refrig.
Light wgt, tastes great

by **foxvalley** » 04 22, 2015 • [Post 28]

CurlyTail wrote:I have always been a fan of the old orange Tang drink mix. Mostly sugar, but gives you some calories while you hydrate, and I love the stuff. Makes me feel like an astronaut!. Hot Tang for me is great for breakfast and better than Hot Chocolate if you get cold and need a warm up. Tastes about twice as good as most drink mixes these days, especially if you mix it STRONG.

I like the taste of tang better, but always go with orange gatorade,as it has the electrolites.I also 1 up the gatorade with a product called "emergent C". I add one packet to the gatorade in the morning to help get me up the mtn.,and bring another packet to add to water at lunch. This stuff gets fizzy when added to water,is packed with electrolites,vitamins,and 2000% vitamin C.You can get a 30 pack of this stuff at any wal mart for about 8 bucks.(Poor mans pick-me-up) :lol:

If there was only one source of protien that i could take,say for a spike camp,or what I consider the most important source of protien,that would be homemade venison jerkey.By taking out all the fat and grissel,this helps the jerkey from getting rancid.It doesn't take much to feel full, as it expands in your stomach,and is about as lightweght as you can get,and you could live on this stuff,and water for a long time.