Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Trail Food Ideas

This post is mainly for personal reference, and I will continue to add to it as I come up with more ideas. I tend to be unimaginative in the food department, and glancing at this list while hiking the PCT will help me remember some of the food ideas I have had. 

Some things to focus on
- Caloric content (enter stores with a certain number of calories in mind to purchase). Aim for average of 400 calories per 100 grams. 
- Protein content: the more, the better. Cheese, meat, eggs, dairy products, protein powders, etc.
- Fruits and vegetables: maximize consumption on days in town and the day afterwards.
- Whole grains and complex carbohydrates: sugars are all too easy to come by and don't provide long-lasting energy
- Salt, spices, and vinegar-based sauces: do I have any cravings to satisfy? 

Foods for the trail (ideas)

- peanut butter; combine with cookies, crackers, and bread
- olive oil; pour in soups, mashed potatoes, and on bread; need to get plastic 16 oz bottle to carry oil
- cheese; string cheese and mozarella cheese
- sardines and tuna (occasional, for protein and fish oils)
- junk food as necessary: Oreos, Snickers, Butterfingers, Pop Tarts (if desperate)
- mashed potato flakes (check mixing requirements; powdered milk is expensive)
- whole grain pasta??? (what about sauce, though?)
- packaged soups??? (Ramen, Lipton, etc.)
- sandwiches: peanut butter and jam, or meat, cheese, and vegetable 

Foods to eat in town or shortly after leaving (ideas)

- juice from concentrate (mix myself shortly after purchase)
- cottage cheese
- ice cream
- box of cereal (or two) with milk 
- apples, bananas, tomatos, lettuce, spinach, grapes, baby carrots, etc. with sandwiches or with dip
- canned fruits and vegetables if fresh is unavailable
- hot dogs??? (can heat up on fire w/ titanium stakes, but how do I carry ketchup and mustard?)
- meat: any cooked meat, such as lunch meat or ham (will need flavorful sauce)
- sandwiches with meat, lettuce, spinach, tomatos, etc. (need to find sauces in small amounts, possibly stealing from McDonald's...)

2 comments:

  1. Tubes of Pesto Sauce with added olive oil for the decrease of inflammation and increase of caloric intake fantastic on pasta! I also like to have garlic flavored olive oil with a package of parm. cheese and a few red pepper flakes mopped up with a crusty bread on the trail. Yum Yum. Also, Small convienence stores and minibus.com have travel packets of almost any condiment you could imagine, and you can buy them in single servings.

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  2. You can also take a packet of gravy mix and add a foil packet of chicken and serve that over pasta.

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