Winter Trail Nutrition

Obviously, having trail mix on the trail is a no-brainer. But finding one with the right balance of nutrients that you need while hiking (especially during thru hikes) can be difficult, so I thought I'd make some recommendations. While most trail mixes are high in calorie content (which is ok), most of those calories typically come from fat. You don't want a lot of fat calories. You want a lot of carb calories. You still want some fat calories, of course, as those are going to give you long term energy, but you need a mix, and the point of trail mix is to give you energy between meals. Protein and fat calories take longer to digest and provide energy while carbohydrate calories give you energy faster. So, a mix is necessary! Mix #1 From Hiking Dude If you want someone to just tell you what to make, I'm going to recommend this recipe. It has a great balance of fat calories and carb calories, and should be made dehydrating your own apples and bananas if possible. Here's what to include: Food Wgt Cal Fat Pro Carb Banana 28g 100 .5g 1g 26g Apple 28g 70 .1g .3g 19g Raisins 28g 85 .2g .8g 22g Chocolate 28g 150 10g 2g 16g chips Pretzels 112g 380 3.4g 9.2g 78g Animal 56g 250 7.6g 3.4g 42g crackers Totals 280g 1035 21.8g 16.8g 203g According to Hiking Dude, this will be enough to get you through an 8 mile hike calorie wise. Or, make your own! Mix and match ingredients, but make sure you keep your ratios of the fats and carbs in a ratio of about 15-20% from fat, 70-80% from carbs and the remaining from protein! Here's some great ideas: #1 Oven baked chickpeas, popped popcorn, pretzels, cheerios or chex, banana chips (dried banana), wheat crackers, oat granola #2 M&M's, various dried fruits, pretzels (this is pretty traditional, but leave out the fatty, fatty peantus!!) Or, add any of these things to your standard trail mix, while leaving out the peanuts if you can bare it! dried cranberries dried blueberries dried pineapple (dried at home, not sugared) almonds sunflower seed meat goldfish crackers shredded coconut butterscotch chips white chocolate chips Reese's pieces mini-marshamallows granola whole-grain Cheerios Then, use some seeds and beans to add in your protein and fats and you're good to go! Time for me to go make my own mix....

Ultimate Thru-Hikers Food

The one pound (454 gram) snickers bar is here - 2160 calories, or just enough for dessert! Just think: we usually pack 10, 20 or more of the smaller bars on the left in our packs and refill packages. Now, with the GIANT slice and share bar--we can pack significantly less! It's not so big that it can't be packed; not so small that we have to bring too many. Sorry guys, I'm not sharing any of this 11 inch beauty!

How to Rehydrate that Dehydrated Food!

A friend recently asked me a great question: if she dehydrates a homecooked meal to rehydrate on the trail, how can she know how much water to add? That's a seriously great question. I pretty much use one of three different techniques: 1) Follow a recipe meant for dehydrating and rehydrating; it'll tell you how much! 2) Weight your meal before you dehydrate it. Weight it after dehydration. Convert the weight difference to the amount of water, and use that amount when on the trail! 3) Just cover the food with water for 10 minutes and let it set. Add enough water that it is covered again, bring to a boil and then you're good to go! Sometimes, this will be a little runny, so you can add some potato starch to thicken it up (depending what it is!) Do you have any other tips for rehydrating food on the trail?

How to Freezedry for Trail or Camp

It's possible to have delicious soupy meals in winter without having to dehydrate all the taste away! If you're just going on a 3 or 4 day hike and can carry the weight, try this technique: At home: 1) Buy a vacuum sealer. They can run anywhere from 40 to 200+ dollars. Here's some: http://www.foodsaver.com/category.aspx?cid=87 2) Make a home-cooked meal, something with sauce or broth. 3) Line a (small) bowl with plastic wrap. Don't make the bowl too big, or it won't easily fit in the pot you're going to use to boil. Also, it might not thaw easily if it's too thick. Divide as necessary. 4) Pour into the plastic wrap, and wrap it up well! Freeze until it is no longer soupy. If it wasn't soupy to begin with, you can skip this. (**Note! If you want to save on weight, dehydrate it a little bit first, and then do this step. You'll lose some flavor but save on weight.) 5) Take your meal out of the bowl, slide it into one of the plastic bags from vacuum sealer, and remove the plastic wrap that it was in the freezer with. Vacuum seal your meal. 6) Shape it into a round ball and put in bowl. Make it into two smaller meals than one big one, otherwise, it will take too long at cooking time. 7) Freeze the ball! When at camp: 1) Boil water. 2) Put your meal in the boiling water 3) In approximately ten minutes time, remove your meal from the water, and cut the top off. 4) Eat right out of the bag. 5) Use leftover water for tea :) 6) Clean up! You can reuse the bag, if you want. Pictured: Using prepackaged meals, separate and freezedry or vacuum seal! Can be used instead of making your own meal. Enjoy!