Trail Food!
Trail Food – the fuel for the hiker tank 🍌🧀🍔🌭🌮
As I’m spending the remainder of minutes at a hostel, let me share about food. Doesn’t one think of food constantly? When you are a hiker, it is high on the list! 👏😍
When hiking, one burns ALOT of calories. The thru- hiker on the AT, it is estimated, consumes 3000-5000 calories per day. Because of this, some have trouble loosing too much weight. The father of the father/daughter duo from Holland is very tall and looking thin already. He started about 5 weeks ago and has lost 22 lbs. Our challenge is to pack dense caloric and nutritional foods that can be kept in a pack for days without refrigeration 🧊, that won’t get smashed, be too heavy 💪 or take up too much room. The goal weight wise for the pack, is to carry less than 2 lbs of food per day. 😳
There are many approaches to meals. I do know that one thinks about the next meal constantly. Then when one is heading into town, there’s usually a search for a food place that has what one craves- a nice juicy burger 🍔 , 🍟 and a Coke 🥤 or something else. It extremely motivates to think one is just a few miles away from real food! 🚦 📣⏭️‼️
So what does one eat on trail? I’ll share with you what I’m doing. I’m constantly working on adding in more calories, especially at noon since early afternoon is when I seem to hit a low energy period.
☕️ For breakfast I fix instant coffee and add hot chocolate to it. I also have some type of hot or cold cereal 🥣 usually. I have dry 🥛 milk already added. Everything is prepackaged. I like to add dehydrated fruits such as 🍓 or 🍌 . I sometimes add raisins or nuts. 🌰 If I have extra jerky or peanut butter, I sometimes add it for protein. When I can find it, I like 🥓 jerky!
Snacks are next. 🍫 🍬 I’m eating something every 2 hours to keep my energy levels and blood sugar consistent. I use a lot of protein bars, breakfast bars, trail mix, GORP ( good ole raisins and peanuts) and candy. Sometimes I eat more jerky or if I have 🧀 , for protein. One backpacking dietician expert suggests eat both carbs and proteins all day to keep those energy levels more constant. Some mix shakes and drink those. A good protein shake will also add to your hydration.
A quick note on hydration. 💦 💧 It’s extremely important not to get dehydrated and deplete one’s electrolytes. I’ve learned this the hard way. For me, if I’ve not added some type of sports drink mix which has sodium, magnesium and potassium by noon, I’ll do it at lunch. Depending how hot it is and how much you are perspiring hot 🥵 ☀️ determines how much electrolytes one needs. This is something you learn about yourself.
Lunch. 🕛 For lunch, I take off my pack, sit and stay awhile. I try to find a good spot out of the way and preferably one with a view. I take off my socks 🧦 and 🥾 and let my 🦶 rest too. This is the time where I have to make myself eat more. I use the packets of 🍗 , tuna 🍣 and spam 🐷 you can get from Dollar General or other stores. Packets of peanut butter 🧈 and jelly are good too. Tortillas is an easy way to go and add calories. I can make wraps with those or I’ll buy some pepperoni and cheese and if I can find it some 🍕 or tomato sauce. It makes like a pizza 🍕 roll. Jerky is a favorite thing for me too. I love to add all kinds of chips or 🧀 . If I just came from town, I’ll carry an 🍎 , 🍌 or 🍊 to eat right away since they are heavy and hard to store. Some kind of dessert is preferred although I may save it for a snack later- candy 🍬 or cookies 🍪 usually is my choice.
Snack time 👏comes about 2-2:30. I usually have to make this a sit down and rest stop. I’ll eat whatever I put in my snack pocket on my backpack.
Evening meal. 🏕️ By 4pm I hope to be finding camp soon. Once I get to camp- If I’m immediately hungry I’ll mix up my recovery 🥤 . Sometimes it’s carnation instant 🥛 . I also have a protein drink from Plexxus I use (thanks Gabby!). Sometimes I drink it while I set up camp. ⛺️
For the meal, I have pre- made, dehydrated meals as well as a few store bought freeze dried ones. Since the latter is more expensive 💰 , I usually only pack one of those in each resupply box. 📦 Kenneth ships me these pre- packaged meals/ supply boxes at the appropriate time so I can pick up my resupply box at my next hostel. ❤️My trail 😇!
Some of my meals are just dehydrated leftovers from home. Chili, 🍝 , pastas, and rice 🌾 do really well. I also have made up some knorr meals and have added some ingredients of my own such as dehydrated beans 🫘 and vegetables. 🥕 🌽 🥕 🫛 🫘 Of course there are the backpacker favorites of Ramen noodles. One can easily add mashed potatoes 🥔 as fillers. I usually make myself have a vegetable of some kind each day and/or dried fruits 🍎 . One can always add packets of salmon, tuna 🍣 or chicken 🍗 or spam! Don’t forget the spam! Vegetarians can dehydrate tofu and add to their meal.
Olive oil is an essential oil the body needs. I buy little packets to add to my evening meals.
I cook with a jet boil stove. 🔥 There’s many different types of stoves out there. Some just cold soak their foods.
You can see why hikers after a few days on trail race 🏃 into towns to hit the restaurants! I usually am hungry for 🍔 and 🥗 and real ☕️ !
One can learn a lot about how to dehydrate and prepare backpacking foods by going to resources such as backpacking 👨🍳 glenn and backpacker foodie, just to name a couple of You-tube channels. I started with an AT cookbook given to me for Kris’ hike in 2012. Cookbooks can give you more creative ideas. One favorite is Turkey 🦃 trail dinner. It consists of turkey or chicken, gravy, dressing and mashed potatoes! One of my faves! ❤️👏
💕👉More importantly, one not only needs to fuel one’s body but one’s spirit. “ Oh taste and see there Lord is good!” His Word 📕 is food for our spirit and soul, renews our mind and brings healing to our bodies, minds and spirits. ♥️ Digest the Word every day and you’ll stay ready and energized to do what God has for you each day.
💜 Thanks for your interest. God bless you and eat hardy!
