Hiking Meals

[plumeja]

What's is it that yu take out with you when you hike. I like taking bannock. It is simple when carried in zip lock dry then mixed with water when you need it. It makes a good warm treat when your out and about

[albertatrout]

I make all my own food packs, day hikes i just make trail mix (dehydrate all kinds of fruit to mix in). Multi day i make food packs (pasta, rice, quinoa, potatoes). One of my favorite meals (very simple) is basically rice (instant), soup base, dehydrated veggies (zucchini, onions, sometimes broccoli) and dehydrated burger (seasoned, browned, preferably elk or game as low fat preserves well). Cooks in about 10 minutes on my whisperlight, just add water. Its almost as good as a fresh made dinner after hiking all day.

[plumeja]

I make all my own food packs, day hikes i just make trail mix (dehydrate all kinds of fruit to mix in). Multi day i make food packs (pasta, rice, quinoa, potatoes). One of my favorite meals (very simple) is basically rice (instant), soup base, dehydrated veggies (zucchini, onions, sometimes broccoli) and dehydrated burger (seasoned, browned, preferably elk or game as low fat preserves well). Cooks in about 10 minutes on my whisperlight, just add water. Its almost as good as a fresh made dinner after hiking all day.

Do you have a dehydrator to make this yourself or do you buy all the ingredients?

[fishinglibin]

I order in cause if it is not delivered in 1/2 hour it is free.

[ÜberFly]

My wife and I dehydrate all our own! Ezzy Peezy - bought a used dehydrator off of MEC gear swap site for $20!! Have a bunch of great recipes Moroccan stew, veggie chile, thai green curry. All the stuff you buy has way too much salt and is super expensive! Have learned a few things over the years about prep. to make things easier when rehydrating, so if you have any specific questions, ask away!

[plumeja]

I'm now on the hunt for a dehydrator found a few ideas on how to make one. It involves a bulb and CPU fan.

[ÜberFly]

Super easy to dry food in a conventional oven. We did that for a few years before getting a dehydrator... Just spread out whatever you are drying as thin as possible on a cookie sheet (may need to use some parchment paper or a silicon mat so things don't stick especially liquid, i.e. spaghetti sauce - it's a pain in the ass scraping plus you may lose some of the food). Set your oven at it's absolutely lowest setting and leave the door open about 3" - 4" - also works a bit better if you use a small fan to blow into the oven (I used a table fan on a chair), unless you have a convection oven. Most things take about 8 - 10 hours to dry. The one draw back is the entire house smells like whatever you are drying! LoL. We can use the dehydrator in the garage... A couple of suggestions... If you are drying any kind of meat (not ground) make sure to slice it as thin as possible! It will rehydrate much faster on the other end. Also, bring an extra empty 1 litre wide mouth Nalgene with you as you can put the dried food in there the morning before the evening meal and put some boiling water aprox 1" above the level of the food (if you can check it at some point during the day to add more water if necessary - might not be possible depending on how easy it is to access your food as it will be hung) - but be careful not to add too much water as it will ruin your food. You may need to experiment a little until you get it worked out.

[albertatrout]

Do you have a dehydrator to make this yourself or do you buy all the ingredients?

 

I dehydrate almost everything myself, I only buy the occasional ingredient (like a few berries or fruit varieties i can't get locally). Currently trying to find a new fuse for my unit but last year i dehydrated close to 200 lbs of fruit, veggies, meat etc, most of which we produced ourselves. Great way to deal with surplus summer vegetables and fruits, and makes for high quality camping food. Another one of our favorites is dehydrated backyard apples which can be re-hydrated in oatmeal out camping to create a pretty good "apple crisp", great breakfast at 7000-8000 feet.

The dehydrator has led to a fun hobby which was born out of me being too cheap to simply buy all the ingredients.

[SilverDoctor]

A good quality Scotch.

[zed]

i did a two-nighter once with 18 super cans of pilsner and 12 wieners, epic trip...

[SilverDoctor]

There was a time when cans of Pork and Beans was king.

[Hawgstoppah]

I've never done an overnight hike in my life, so I am watching this thread with interest! I'd love to camp up somewhere like Barnaby.... it's on my list.

[albertatrout]

I've never done an overnight hike in my life, so I am watching this thread with interest! I'd love to camp up somewhere like Barnaby.... it's on my list.

That is a beautiful area for sure, lots of lakes/ valleys/ ridges worth exploring. If you plan it right, lots of huckleberries and saskatoons can be found to supplement your meals.

[zed]

There was a time when cans of Pork and Beans was king.

that time never ended

[Smitty]

Kind of neat that this thread came up. I was reading this Mcleans article: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/03/11/powered-by-fruitcake/

 

So based on that article, did some research:

 

http://www.wildflourbakery.ca/bread.htm

http://www.alpinebakery.ca/bakery/bakery.html

http://sectionhiker.com/logan-bread-recipe/

http://howtowilderness.com/2012/07/29/how-to-survive-logan-bread/

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/logan-bread/

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=63394

 

 

So how about it - does anyone carry a fruitcake or Logan bread concoction with them? Just wondering...I never have. I remember being told in my family they would send fruitcake or "indestructible" bread to soldiers during WW2.

 

One other observation - I'm sure those bakeries make a great product, especially that one in Whitehorse, but whoo-whee, it is expensive!

 

I'm intrigued...kind of like the Lord of the Rings Elvish way-bread concept ("Lembas" it was called...)

 

Cheers,

-Smitty

[albertatrout]

Kind of neat that this thread came up. I was reading this Mcleans article: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/03/11/powered-by-fruitcake/

 

So based on that article, did some research:

 

http://www.wildflourbakery.ca/bread.htm

http://www.alpinebakery.ca/bakery/bakery.html

http://sectionhiker.com/logan-bread-recipe/

http://howtowilderness.com/2012/07/29/how-to-survive-logan-bread/

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/logan-bread/

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=63394

 

 

So how about it - does anyone carry a fruitcake or Logan bread concoction with them? Just wondering...I never have. I remember being told in my family they would send fruitcake or "indestructible" bread to soldiers during WW2.

 

One other observation - I'm sure those bakeries make a great product, especially that one in Whitehorse, but whoo-whee, it is expensive!

 

I'm intrigued...kind of like the Lord of the Rings Elvish way-bread concept ("Lembas" it was called...)

 

Cheers,

-Smitty

Most cheaper fruitcake is a very bad idea, it tastes really awful when you're overly hungry and the sugar loading hurts the gut something fierce. Im sure some guys can handle it but not me. I was on a 3 day hiking trip once where we just took cheap fruitcake, could hardly eat a bite after the first day due to the sweetness, ended up just living on reserves and half a bag of jerky for the trip (great way to drop 10 lbs). I did have a piece in my emergency kits for several years, it definitely doesn't seem to go bad, just gets harder. I have made similar "breads" much lower in sugar, oatmeal base with nuts, peanut butter, fruit, etc and they were awesome. Id share a recipe but just moved and haven't found that binder yet. The best one energy wise had like 3 lbs of butter and 12 cups of oats or something like that. Supplement that with the odd bit of jerky for protein and its not so bad. I'm sure you could find one you'd like, my favorite is kind of a oat chocolate banana loaf with fruit bits.

[muha]

Cold smoked bacon(uncooked)

Varieties of cheese

Tomato

White bread

Good vino

 

Dried food, no thank you

 

[Pipestoneflyguy]

Wow, after reading this thread, I have to say, my jerky, mini babybel cheese, vegetable thins crackers, and gas station sammies never felt so inadequate !

 

Overnighters,... I will toss in the MSR stove and some Mr. Noodles - I guess that counts as dried food LOL

[Pipestoneflyguy]

All that drying seems like alot of work - if I am trying something new, I am going with Beans and Scotch !

[ÜberFly]

_{Rob, I don't think it's too much work at all (though I'm sure there was a hint of sarcasm within your post). What we do is anytime we make a "dryable" meal for a regular dinner at home, we just make more (double the recipe) and portion out the excess and then dry it (or put it in the freezer and dry it later)...}

[albertatrout]

All that drying seems like alot of work - if I am trying something new, I am going with Beans and Scotch !

 

Depends on the length of trip. I did a backpack sheep hunting trip a couple years ago and every ounce of dry food was well worth it. Our food ended up being about a pound each/ day which is enough weight; our packs still weighed around 65 lbs on the way in and a bit over 100 lbs each for just over 30 km on the way out. We ended up covering 150 km and did over 15000 feet in elevation gain over 8 days. The few days spent drying food ahead of time was very well spent. I agree its a lot of work if you're just doing 1-2 days but anything more makes it a wise investment. I do a few 4-5 day trips down in the Castle every summer and always consider the dry food well worth it, plus it tastes great if you get your recipes figured out. Cans of beans are really heavy, especially when you're going 40-50 km.

[plumeja]

I think I'm going start making double of things on the weekends so I can dry them over night in the oven.

Can you over dry something with the oven door open

[ÜberFly]

No! But you can under dry! LoL

 

I think I'm going start making double of things on the weekends so I can dry them over night in the oven.
Can you over dry something with the oven door open