Food Planning
Food planning, storage and preparation: “Fresh vs. Freeze Dried”
During the first year of all our backpacking trips, we used to bring freeze dried foods to get us through the trips. As the years went by, we swapped out all (or most) of our freeze dried foods with light fresh foods. The minimal additional weight was well worth the carry after a long day of hiking.
Here is a list of back country meal ideas, preparation tips and storage tips to help you along your travels that we currently use on our hiking trips.
One of the first things to be aware of, is the need for calories during your trip. According to Wikipedia (height),Wikipedia (weight), and FitDay.com, the average American male age 35 should consume about 477 calories per hour when backpacking. So at 477 in an 8 hour day, a person would need to consume 3816 calories. Seems like a lot huh? One of the things I have found hard to do is carry enough fresh food to get all those calories. This is where power bars come in. They are quick, somewhat tasty and give you a boost when needed. Power Bar Performance bars provide around 230-250 calories so this is a great option to fill in the blank spots. Below is a typical daily intake meal list of one of the days I consume food.
| FRESH FOOD | ||||
| Item | Portion Size | Calorie Intake | ||
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| Breakfast | Tortilla -Breakfast Burritos | 4.1 oz (1 ea) | 130 | |
| Egg (fresh) | 3.5 oz (2 ea) | 160 | ||
| Cheese (cheese stick) | 4 oz (1/2 cup) | 266 | ||
| Bacon Bits (Oscar Mayer, Real bacon) | .5 oz (1 tbls) | 13 | ||
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| Snack | Powerbar | 2 oz (1 ea) | 240 | |
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| Lunch | Flour Tortilla | 4.1 oz (1 ea) | 130 | |
| Peanut Butter Chunky Style | 1 oz (2 tbls) | 376 | ||
| Grape Jelly | 1.4 oz (2 tbls) | 100 | ||
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| Snack | Powerbar – Peanut Butter Performance | 2 oz (1 ea) | 240 | |
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| Dinner | Spaghetti sauce | 4 oz (1/2 cup) | 100 | |
| Elbow Macaroni Noodles | 4 oz (1/2 cup) | 420 | ||
| Corn | 3 oz (1/4 can) | 33 | ||
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| Drink | Gatorade – 16 oz per hour | 128 oz (8 ea) | 880 | |
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| 33.6 oz (2.1 lbs) | 3088 | |||
| FREEZE DRIED | ||||
| Item | Portion Size | Calorie Intake | ||
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| Breakfast | Mountain House (2 serving bag) | 8 oz (1/2 lbs) | 600 | |
| Snack | Powerbar – Peanut Butter Performance | 2 oz (1 ea) | 240 | |
| Lunch | Mountain House (2 serving bag) | 8 oz (1/2 lbs) | 600 | |
| Snack | Powerbar – Peanut Butter Performance | 2 oz (1 ea) | 240 | |
| Dinner | Mountain House (2 serving bag) | 8 oz (1/2 lbs) | 600 | |
| Drink | Gatorade – 16 oz per hour | 128 oz (8 ea) | 880 | |
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| 28 oz (1.75 lbs) | 3160 | |||
As you can see, freeze dried food doesn’t really weigh that much less when comparing apples to apples and only slightly provides more calories when eating the full 2 serving per bag.
To get the extra calories that the food was lacking, I use Gatorade in my water. If your drinking 16 ounces of water an hour it stacks up and gives you that little extra boost. Any suggestions, please comment?