HELP! Winter Day Hike Nutrition (FOOD)

[ChrisB]

Hey VFTTrs,

I'm tired of munching the same old winter GORP year after year and I need your help.

What high-energy, fun and easy to consume (no cooking/heating/prep, etc.) food do you bring on a winter day hike?

I'd like a mix of fast and slow burning carbs and also sugar buzz calories.

Any suggestions appreciated.

cb

PS No canned hams allowed!

 

[Raven]

I'm convinced you could live for months on baklava.

In all seriousness, it's incredibly calorie dense, loaded with nuts for protein and oils, more than enough quick sugar from the honey, and you don't need to carry a lot. Unless you're a glutton for punishment, I'd suggest buying it. Getting 15 sheets of phyllo individually oiled and layered without incident is harder than most three pitch climbs.

It's not a lot different than taking a gel or a honey stinger. I had a piece before a run the other night. I couldn't be stopped. OPA!

 

[jfb]

I often bring peanut butter and jam on multi-grain bread, cut into bite-sized pieces. Also, homemade chocolate chip cookies.

 

[Mike]

I often bring peanut butter and jam on multi-grain bread, cut into bite-sized pieces. Also, homemade chocolate chip cookies.

I like your suggestion. Do you freeze the pieces before hand and/or carry them in a plastic container in order to avoid "mushing" them together?

 

[jfb]

I like your suggestion. Do you freeze the pieces before hand and/or carry them in a plastic container in order to avoid "mushing" them together?

I usually put them in a ziplock bag and keep them near the top of my pack where they won't get squished.

 

[Stan]

I jam(b) my PBJs into a sandwich sized tupperware. Doesn't take up much space and prevents further oooooozing of the prolific amounts of preserves.

 

[sierra]

Beef jerky, Cliff Bars, Gel pacs, Gorp (although with honey roasted almonds) and a peanut butter sandwich ( sometimes with sliced banana in it too).

 

[Hillwalker]

peanut butter cups. large size and plenty of them.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Corn chips (which double as fire starter, I kid you not!), peanut butter M&M's, jerky (has to be on the softer end), nutri-grain bars, cheese (cut first, remove from hard to open packages), nuts. I hiked with bhsf a few times, and he carries a Nalgene bottle of gorp strapped to his hip. Easy to get to is more likely to eat! Make sure it's handy, whatever you bring. Also, a thermos of tea (any hot liquid) can be very uplifting, and can be carried in a cozy strapped to the waist for quick access. 400+ Winter ascents under our belts but still refining our technique...

 

[Raven]

In winter, I like to have (ironically) summer sausage and cheese as well. sliced/cut ahead of time, it makes for a nice break time snack and gives me more sustained heat and fuel than the quick sugar does.

I get really tired of the same old GORP and PB as well.

Making GORP with different ingredients like dried pineapples, shredded coconut, pistachios, macadamias, etc. is sometimes worth it too if you've got an extra $20 for trail mix by the time you're done.

I also really like homemade protein bars/7 summits bars and have a couple good recipes but rarely take the time to make them.

 

[richard]

I bring pb&j on raisin bread,granola bars, hard boiled eggs and left over Halloween candy.

 

[DayTrip]

Gum drops (not gummy bears - these are the fat soft sugar coated ones). They are basically a poor man's Clif Gel Chew only you get about 50 of them versus 8 Clif Gels for the same money. Price Chopper sells cheap bags of these gummy slices. They come in assorted flavors, they're fast, no mess, have 50 calories in a slice so you can easily regulate how many calories you need, fairly soft even when it is cold (unlike gummy bears). I carry in a jacket pocket when cold or attached to hip belt in a 1/2L Nalgene so I can dump out hands free with gloves on and generally have one with a 4-6 oz of water every 30-45 minutes depending how hard I am working.

On more significant stops I'll have something more interesting. Those Nutri-Grain Oatmeal squares have been my go to this season. They're fairly small and quick to eat, are pretty tasty and stay pretty soft in cold weather even if you forget in your pack. Unless it is a very comfortable day I rarely take elaborate snacks and food with me like I do in the Summer. For whatever reason I just find it less enjoyable and more tedious in Winter. Usually just keep it simple and stomach friendly in Winter.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I like pepperoni, cheddar, Natural Valley Oats 'n Honey granola bars (sometimes I make peanut butter sandwiches out of them), peanut butter, fluff, banana, and Nutella (in some or all combinations). I find mixing the peanut butter, fluff and Nutella to make a pate-like-paste makes it A) not so sticky and B) not so oozy... Hot thermos of soup. And yes, gorp in a 500ml wide-mouth nalgene readily accessible and openable with mittens.

Tim

 

[nartreb]

Most of my stand-bys have been covered upthread. For my PBJ/Nutella sandwiches, I like to use a non-standard bread that resists squishing. Usually that's "Wasa crispbread" (sold in the diet aisle, be careful which flavor as some are very high in fiber); sometimes it's simply a bagel (which, as we all know, can also serve as a weapon in an emergency).

Emphasis on the thermos of hot liquid. Makes any snack ten times better.

 

[Mike P.]

Laughing Cow Cheese, good summer or winter below zero. The wax gets a little hard near and below zero. Turkey Pepperoni is good also, pre cut, it won't freeze.

Cliff bars won't freeze either, I went through too many of those and learned if you don't like it or are sick of it, don't bring it.

 

[nartreb]

Clif bars *will* freeze, unless they've changed the formula recently (In recent years I've filed them under "sick of that", and also under "too much fiber for winter or for above treeline"). While at home packing them, you can press them with a dull edge to pre-separate them into thinner pieces without opening the wrapper, that makes it easy to break off bite-size chunks even after they freeze.

By "Laughing Cow", I think you mean Babybel, sold by the same company that sells "Laughing Cow" cheese . "Laughing Cow" cheese [La Vache qui Rit] doesn't have wax. It's a soft, almost-runny cheese that comes wrapped in triangular foil packets inside a cardboard box. Way too difficult to eat with gloves on. In winter, Babybel is a bit over-packaged too (plastic wrap, then wax); I prefer a harder cheese (e.g. Swiss), sliced and de-waxed in advance (and interlaced with slices of hard salami).

(Babybel is a miniature Bonbel... I don't recall ever seeing original-size Bonbel sold in the U.S.)

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

For a quick lift I love Snickers bars but for something more substantial I use liquid Boost. When noon approaches and I'm feeling hungry I can feel the lift from the Boost almost immediately. I've tried Boost bars but don't like them. In very cold weather I keep the boost in a cargo pocket to keep it from freezing. I found in really cold weather that I had to keep moving so my dog didn't get cold and in experimenting with different things like gels, I settled on the Boost and continued to use it even when I wasn't in as much of a hurry to eat.

 

[hikerbrian]

Grilled cheese, grilled ham and cheese, etc. I cook them in extra butter and let them get extra dark and slice them into strips for easy consumption. Also, pound cake.

 

[whcobbs]

Logan bars, bake them yourself, last forever in dry state, don't crumble, high calorie
Walt

 

[Mike P.]

Clif bars *will* freeze, unless they've changed the formula recently (In recent years I've filed them under "sick of that", and also under "too much fiber for winter or for above treeline"). While at home packing them, you can press them with a dull edge to pre-separate them into thinner pieces without opening the wrapper, that makes it easy to break off bite-size chunks even after they freeze.

By "Laughing Cow", I think you mean Babybel, sold by the same company that sells "Laughing Cow" cheese . "Laughing Cow" cheese [La Vache qui Rit] doesn't have wax. It's a soft, almost-runny cheese that comes wrapped in triangular foil packets inside a cardboard box. Way too difficult to eat with gloves on. In winter, Babybel is a bit over-packaged too (plastic wrap, then wax); I prefer a harder cheese (e.g. Swiss), sliced and de-waxed in advance (and interlaced with slices of hard salami).

(Babybel is a miniature Bonbel... I don't recall ever seeing original-size Bonbel sold in the U.S.)

Yes, Babybel's are what I meant. On bars, they do tend to change formula from time to time. When I last ate them in winter, they were the most pliable of the bars. There are many different kinds now. Clif Bars were the bars I ate over and over until the choice of being hungry or eating another bar was won by being hungry. (I had plenty of stored energy )