[RokIzGud]

Hey thanks a lot TC for taking the time to post that. Definitely some great info there. Thank you and everyone else again for posting!

[pimaCanyon]

It basically comes down to this: If you remove all (or most of the water from a food), you get 9 calories per gram of fat versus 4 cal per gram of protein or carb. So the high fat food will give you more than twice the calories for the same amount of weight. Choices of food with most/all of water removed are almost endless, from nuts and nut butters (or just oils like olive oil) and cheese on the high fat end of the spectrum to crackers and dry cereals on the carb end. Pasta is all carb (with a bit of protein), but adding olive oil bumps up the fat content of the finished dish.

[Dayhike Mike]

I usually bring these:

Energy bar

Average one or two per day. Mmm.

[Token Civilian]

A good way to make that stick of butter a BIT more palatable, if you can cook, would be to brown the butter, then toss pasta in it and shave some Parmesan cheese over it. Mmmmm.......

[sarbar]

Roll it in brown sugar and gnaw on it

[grannyhiker]

Hard sauce! Cream together butter, brown sugar, a little rum or brandy. I've always thought of it as a way to make the Christmas fruitcake more edible: steam the fruitcake and dump a glob of hard sauce (which melts) on top. The more rum or brandy, the more edible!

[sarbar]

Booze, sugar and fat - a perfect food combo

[Spotly]

[Burke M]

I havent compared but the other day I was cleaning out the cabinet and threw a half box of this out. When I picked it up I couldnt help but to think of this thread. http://www.amazon.com/Earths-Best-Organic-Cereal-8-Ounce/dp/nutrition-facts/B000ER3FD8/ref=gronf_njs_1 Anyway I cant imagine just eating this but it would be a good way to supplement some calories if you could find it somewhere for cheap because the box weighs next to nothing.

[sarbar]

Babies love it

[Dayhike Mike]

How about pemmican bars? Not the honey, oats, and almonds glorified granola bars kind, but the 60% fat, 40% protein kind. That's gotta be close to maxing out the calories per ounce, right?

[Dane]

I've been looking at cal/oz of various foods suitable for hiking. Here's what I've got so far: 255 - almond oil 251 - olive oil 250 - vegetable oil 196 - freeze dried sausage crumbles 189 - dried egg yolk 185 - walnuts 180 - almond butter 170 - almonds 167 - peanut butter 166 - peanuts 156 - nutella 156 - cashews 152 - freeze dried ground beef 147 - bumble bar 145 - peanut m&ms 140 - whole fat powdered milk 130 - pepperoni 120 - pro bar 116 - beef jerky 114 - freeze dried chicken 113 - cheddar cheese 110 - bonk breaker 108 - dried egg white 100 - salami 100 - clif bar 100 - clif shot gel 100 - clif shot bloks 95 - summer sausage 95 - gu energy gel 90 - gu chomps 90 - salmon jerky 33- smoked salmon 30 - tuna A 1oz bumble bar with 1oz almond butter on it and 1oz walnuts on top gives you 513cal for 3oz, or 171 cal/oz. Dried egg yolk and olive oil with really super charge your dinner. And while fish is healthy and delicious, it's actually very low on calorie density. I wonder what the consequences of eating food really high in fat and low in carbs for a few weeks would be? I figure your body would be able to adjust to metabolizing fat, though it might slow your glycogen replacement. I'd probably want to do an Atkins-style diet for a week before starting a long hike on this food to prime my system for it.

[dicentra]

Dane, would you mind me stealing your list for an upcoming talk I have? I still need to send you that spreadsheet!

[Token Civilian]

Great list Dane. How about a couple other thru hiker staples - Idahoian brand instant mashed potatoes and Lipton / Knorr Rice and Pasta sides. One thing to consider for thru hiking or long stretches between resupply: One need not limit themselves to ONLY super high calorie density foods nor only high protein / high fat. High calorie density foods are great though for bringing up the average calorie density of ones food load. On the thru hike, I used bagels for my salami & cheese sandwich bread. I like 'em better than tortillas (although there was a lot of folks who smeared PB or nutella on a tortilla and sprinkled some cheese on). I also know they're lower calorie density than say cashews or olive oil. But, that's a trade off I was willing to make to have a more palatable (for me) and balanced diet on the trail. Tuna (or in my case, small pop top cans of chicken) were a good choice to insure I was getting complete protein. Low calorie density? You bet. Cheap (compared to freeze dried) and available at any medium grocery store on the trail - a big plus. A shot of olive oil mixed into the dinner however brought it back up to a better average.

[Gray]