[RumiDude]

As we all gear up in anticipation for summer, I want to suggest a resource I have used in the last few years, Katie Gerber. To be perfectly clear, Katie is in business offering her diet/nutrition advice, though I have never availed myself of her for pay advice. I have instead subscribed to her email advice from which I get these resources. I have used these free resources as springboards for my own research and developing my own meal plans for backpacking. I wish I had done something similar decades ago. I have come a long way from bringing cans of beans, potatoes, onions, making biscuits, and such waaaaaay back in the 1970s to using freeze dried foods to now assembling my own healthy meals. Buying readymade meals is easy but problematic. The meals are often less than yummy and seriously contain the wrong amounts for me. And having the old ramen bomb or instant mashed potato mess is unpalatable. Combine that with trying to figure out how much food to bring and it become daunting real quick. Anyway, getting a handle on the basic principles has really made food prep easy and my meals satisfying. I list these links, but I want to emphasize I have NO FINANCIAL INTEREST or connection with Katie Gerber. I have absolutely no connection with Katie other than subscribing to her email newsletter. I do know she guides now for Andrew Skurka and has her own business as a nutrition advisor. She has had her own journey in trail food as well. I do not subscribe to everything she advocates, but she does have a good basic approach, IMO. With that in mind, here are the three free resources from her latest email subscription I received. The Thru-hiker Calorie Myth: What Your Diet is Missing & How to Eat for Energy, Endurance, and Optimal Health Instead Macronutrients for Backpackers, an Introduction How to Pack the Right Amount of Backpacking Food With a bit of knowledge and guidance, I have really upped my trail food experience. I often return with little to zero food left over and completely satisfied while hiking. I have really dialed in nutrition as well as proper amount of light weight food. I love talking and sharing about this, so if you have questions, I will try to answer. Rumi~the hungry~Dude

[sarbar]

I'd add one caveat to the younger people: By freeze-dried foods, you meant freeze-dried meals. Not freeze-dried components (ingredients). Freeze-dried ingredients are what they are - either great for us or sheer junk food. Lol. Skittles and cake bites taste great but are not exactly healthy ;-) But fd base ingredients like lean meat, veggies, carbs, and veggies can be great.

[RumiDude]

To give you an idea of how I try to dial in my trail food, let me walk through my current process. First I consider the trip and my likely energy needs, then I craft a sensible menu that meets those Caloric goals as well as the constraints of the trip. For instance, on my Oregon PCT section hike I had rather high Caloric needs so I planned on eating something at least every two hours, which meant I needed four snacks a day, consisting of mainly energy pars and nuts. My breakfasts consisted of a big protein/carb/fat/coffee energy drink plus some bacon jerky. My lunches were basically extra big snacks. And finally my evening meal was a huge main dish followed by a dessert of some kind. On just a nine day trip in the Olympics, I only required two or three snacks per day. Additionally my breakfasts were scaled down as were my evening meals. Since I am putting together my meals, this enables me to dial in the Caloric quantities as well and properly balance my macronutrients. So I buy FD ingredients as much as is possible. I also dehydrate some things. I like to dehydrate spaghetti sauce into a leather. I can make my meals as healthy or as "junky" as I please. It's hard to not use highly processed foods when assembling light backpacking meals, but slowly I have discovered more healthy options and incorporated them into meal prep. Rumi

[sarbar]

If you have a freeze dryer it's super easy. Ok, I know...most don't have one. Freeze dried pasta is so much better than dehydrated I'll be honest. Recently I freeze-dried tons of jars of both salsa and pasta sauce I canned last summer. Super easy to do *line the trays with parchment paper, 3 16 ounce jars per tray. Freeze solid, then freeze-dry. It powders like a snap.) If you encounter someone locally with a Harvest Right, see if they'll let you fd a few items. It changes a lot in making meals. Obviously there are a few limitations...oily food is a no go. But overall it's pretty awesome, especially if you grow the food as well.

[RumiDude]

One of the things I do disagree with Katie Gerber is the amount of protein needed. I tend to think think that a person involved in backpacking needs about 1.2 - 2 grams of protein per kg of body weight. I shoot for at least 100 - 145 grams of protein per day. I get most of my fat through nuts and a bit of olive oil added to the evening meal. If I have the bacon jerky for breakfast, that helps also. So I use protein heavy energy bars for snacks. As a treat snack, I always have a Payday candy bar that sooths my sweet tooth while giving me that protein from the peanuts. It's always my afternoon snack, kinda my motivation to get me through the day. I always stop to thoroughly enjoy it rather than eat it while hiking. Too often chocolate based bars like snickers get really messy in the summertime. YMMV I have dark chocolate sometimes for a dessert treat before sleep. Dark chocolate seems to hold up better in the heat. For extra, incase of emergency or delay food, I take extra nuts (peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and cashews, with macadamia nuts sometimes) and dark chocolate. Lots of good vitamins, minerals, and fat and well ... dark chocolate for the spirit. It's all great Calories to weight ratio and not bulky. About the olive oil, test yourself before you go so you know your limit. Either that or bring plenty of toilet paper, if you know what I mean. Rumi