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Simple and Easy Food Ideas for Hiking
from: GorpIn case you didn't know, backpacking is the greatest diet-and-exercise program ever invented. When you're hauling a 30-pound pack over a 3,000-foot mountain, you can eat as much as you want and still lose weight.
So the question isn't to eat or not to eat: It's what to eat. And how much. A rule of thumb: Figure about 2 pounds of food per day per person. You're looking for food that will keep your energy up. It also has to be lightweight, resistant to spoilage, and easy to prepare with a minimum of fuss, fuel, and cooking utensils. Oh, yeah: it helps if it tastes good. Here are some basic guidelines for the backcountry.
Basic Staples:
- A plastic container of olive oil
- Instant milk
- Parmesan cheese
- Packets of clarified butter (available from distributors of freeze-dried food)
Breakfast:
- Pop tarts
- Cereal
- Bagels (they pack well for a couple of days).
- Cereal or granola bars
Lunch:
- Cheese
- Salami or other preserved meats, like beef or turkey jerky
- Peanut butter
- Crackers (don't repackage these; store them in the original containers or they will crumble), tortillas, chips, or breadsticks.
- Nuts and other snack foods.
Dinner:
Convenience foods.Mac and cheese, Lipton noodles or rice dishes, and Ramen soups are big backcountry favorites, mostly because of the no-fuss factor. You can add variety: A can of tuna goes well with Mac and cheese; a dash of fresh Parmesan adds flavor to noodles dishes, and packets of freeze-dried vegetables go well with practically anything.
Pasta.Thin is better than thick because it cooks faster. Some hikers swear by less processed pastas, such as whole wheat and corn pasta (available in health food stores).
Other instant foods.Instant rice, instant potatoes, and stuffing mix can also be mixed with sauces, cheese, veggies, or canned meats.
Sauces.You can make your own tomato sauce by combining a six-ounce can of tomato paste, a package of spices for making spaghetti sauce, and water: it makes enough for two hungry hikers. Other instant sauces are also available, but check to see that they don't require other ingredients.
Spice kits.Hands down, the easiest thing you can do is pack along a few spices. For a short hike, you can use mini-zipper-locking bags for storage, but on a long trip, you'll find that over time the zipper channels get blocked with a combination of dirt and spices. To avoid that problem, buy tiny plastic containers, available in outfitting stores. (Don't use film canisters, which are contaminated with chemicals.)
Here's what to put in them:
- Salt and pepper
- Cayenne pepper sauce
- Soy sauce
- Garlic and oregano (can be mixed together)
- Onion flakes
- Dried mushrooms or sun-dried tomatoes (lots of flavor per ounce!)
- Boullion cubes
Home dehydrating.If you can cook it, you can dry it. Dehydrating meals brings home-cooked food right to your tent. Dehydrating works especially well with sauces, chili, thick soups, and fruits and vegetables. If you think you'll be doing a lot of dehydrating, spring for a multi-tray dehydrator.
Warning: it takes a little bit of experimenting to get the quantities right.
Health food stores.Health food stores carry an interesting assortment of foods that work well in the backcountry, including quick-cooking grains (cous-cous and polenta are practically instant), unprocessed cereals (more nutritious), interesting instant soups, and just-add-water foods, including black beans, refried beans, and hummous.
Asian food stores.If you like noodle soups, but don't want to eat the same thing day after day, try the offerings at an Asian market, where soups come with a wide variety of noodles and species, including packets of dried onions and spicy oils. Also check out packaged miso soups.
Fresh Foods.Onions, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, and garlic can all survive a while without refrigeration. You can't take too many, because of the weight, but a little bit of fresh flavor goes a long way to add zest to soups and sauces.
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