Trail Food - What do you bring?

[BeninVA]

Thanks for all your ideas. Buddy - KFC, I will have to try that!! Bacon, Pepperoni, cheese. What more can a ground pounder ask for?!?! Those energy bar things physically make me sick for some reason, there is only one that does not make me sick, but I will not name it because I would like to avoid the ridicule!!

If you have any other thoughts send them my way! Thanks again!

 

[The Sikes]

Depending on how long I'll be out hiking depends on what I bring. I get sick of (I can't believe I'm saying this) sweet stuff. I get real sick of penut butter and jelly. I have been making fake swiss steak sandwichs by Worthington. This fills me up and doesn't taste bad either. I believe it's made of vegetable protien but I'd have to recheck the label. If you use bagels, they seem to hold up alot better the bread too.

I'm still experimenting. We just did our first overnight with a bear canister and now I'm even rethinking what I can bring that will fit in that! Someone suggested tortillas....

 

[Neil]

Smoked oysters! Make sure you bring a ziplock for carrying the can out.
Olives in a small nalgene screwtop container (all others leak!) or olive paste for crackers.
Smelly french cheese and french bread presliced and ziplocked. Mmmmm.
Store bought tuna salad in a sealed tin.

 

[grog]

minnestrone soup

I like to bring a quart of minnestrone made with home made chicken stock and loaded with starches-carrots, potatos, beans, corn, winter squash. A cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano adds some protein to the soup. Add some ww bread and I'm a happy hiker, and I never forget mounds bars. I bring this on long day hikes and for the first day of multible days.

grog

 

[luv2hike]

I like to bring trailmix made with lots of dried fruit, M&M's and a few nuts. Although apples add weight to my pack I absolutely have got to bring one along for the mid-morning snack. I have discovered that making a sandwich of cold cuts and cheese on a soft tortilla holds up better in the pack than bread. I usually make chocolate chip cookies to take care of the sweet tooth. Finally, I pack cold beverages in a cooler and some cheese and crackers for the posttrip ride home.

 

[Double Bow]

When I was down south hikin' with The King, we used to enjoy a nice deep fried peanut butter and Manwich sandwich. Whoa, momma! Ahthankyouverymuch...

These days however, I take pitas and fill them with tuna from those foil envelops (one envelope serves two). I do still find some bars eatable but I also bring along Goldfish crackers, pretzles, spicy peanuts, trail mix (Planters or homemade), fruit leathers or Sharkies, crystalized ginger, cheese and crackers, and a snack size candy bar.

BTW, for backpacking Vendange(sp?) makes these small boxes of their cheapo swill wine that have about four glasses worth and hold up well in the pack. Shamie and I brought a box of Chardonay and a box of Cabernet with us on our weeklong LT trip last week and had no problem with leakage and as you know, everything tastes better on the trail!

 

[Rik]

I don't bring anything. I just follow Neil around!

 

[JOD]

mmm food

For day hikes, because that’s all I do, I bring: 3l Water; qt Gatorade; an Italian Sub from Wayne’s (North Woodstock); gorp from BJ’s (they sell two kinds, mostly fruit and mostly nuts with m&m’s); fig newtons; Power-bar for emergency; and a couple of PBR’s

Jim

 

[twigeater]

ditto on the samosas...

apple, sweet mix, salty mix, cheese & crackers (not the pre packaged stuff), yogurt covered pretzels...other munchies, maybe a sandwich for lunch. Gatorade in a bottle, water in the camelbak. I always bring more than I need, or something I don't like, in case of emergency.

 

[arghman]

peanut butter chips and dried cranberries, for energy food.
(edit: and/or Grandma's Peanut Butter Cookies, a package of 2 is 50 cents, soft & chewy and 200 calories each.)

Sometimes I also bring my Thermos of Envy; in the colder months or in rainy weather I bring hot soup. Sunday I tried bringing ice cream & it did pretty well; I put it in my thermos the night before, put the whole thing in the freezer, was outdoors in 70's F weather from 9:30am on and it was still reasonably ice-creamy (soft but not liquidy) at lunchtime.

 

[dr_wu002]

peanut butter chips and dried cranberries, for energy food.
(edit: and/or Grandma's Peanut Butter Cookies, a package of 2 is 50 cents, soft & chewy and 200 calories each.)

Your Grandmother charges you for her homemade cookies!?

-Dr. Wu

 

[Bob Kittredge]

Home baked banana-walnut-oatmeal bars. Heavy on the complex carbs.

 

[hikeritz]

A few years ago I grabbed some of the fruit snacks we had in the cupboard for my son's school lunches and those have become my favorite trail snack. The ingredient list says they're mostly fruit juice. They come in easy to handle individual pouches and best of all they have fun shapes. I'm partial to the Scooby Doo variety!

For dinners, tortellini (the dried variety travels best) has been the mainstay of my meals for years now. Breakfast is bagels & freeze-dried coffee. Lunch is pita bread PB&J sandwiches.

 

[Double Bow]

Your Grandmother charges you for her homemade cookies!?

-Dr. Wu

Sadly, social security and medicare aren't what they used to be...

 

[twigeater]

I'm with you there hikeritz, though I think I'm sold on the Care Bear variety!
This past weekend at camp the kids made me a bowl of "gummy salad." I hate that gummy bear stuff, but the little red fishies and the kid fruit snacks are good. Plus they keep well in your pocket for quick and easy snacking while moving.

 

[dundare]

I generally take 2 frozen snickers, some kind of fruit, and a bag of beef jerky for snacking. I never eat all the jerky, but munch on a piece here and there throughout the day. For lunch on a dayhike, I have always been partial to a pb and fluff sandwich

One great thing is the the Dole chopped pineapple they sell in the little plastic containers. I chill those to near freezing before leaving home and then keep one or two of them in a lil insulated lunch bag (with my snickers) and an icepack till i hit the trailhead. They taste very very good when you are hot, sweaty, and tired...

 

[Brownie]

Food!

You can always tell a good backpacker from the rest...they always have food!

I am no exception, leaving home the extra change of clothes for more snacks!
Basic stuff:
Nuts
Raisins
Apples...the real fresh kind
Trail bars..a few, but I don't go for those to often
Beef Jerky

and my most favorite....Smoked Salmon

Its great to see so many things in the supermarkets these days with re-sealable zip lock bags.
The salmon and tuna are now available in foil packs.
I used to take full cans!

Jeff

 

[jessbee]

For a snack, definitely homemade trail mix (make sure there's some dark chocolate non-pareils in there, oh yeah), or some oatmeal raisin cookies. I avoid powerbars and clif bars, personally I think they are gross

For lunch, a sandwich on whole wheat bread: hummus with slices of mozzarella cheese. YUM. Maybe some veggies on there too, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.

 

[critter]

what food to bring on a hike is my biggest issue. Many times I cannot think of what I want so I bring a little of this and a little of that and end up bringing too much. My last two hikes were 18 mi and 15 mi and I brought pb&j, cliff bars, granola bars, and that was it for food. It seems to be enough and it goes down pretty easy. I also pack some ziplocks containing pre measured gatorade for a 1 qt nalgene. One thing I hate to bring is subs because they always seem to become a soggy mess for me anyways.