What's in your snack bag?

[BLE]

I generally find eating a good big breakfast, early enough to allow for digestion, is key. When I do that, I generally don't want or *need*, I think, to eat all that much on the trail. I find eating nuts that don't have shells is easy. Bananas ,oranges and apples are good. Pitas and hummus are quite filling and easy to carry. I rarely eat straight candy or really sweet things. I drink lots and lots of water.

I'm also curious about all the posts indicating that eating lots of salty things is important. I really don't know, is that *really* important. I remember hearing how in the past they gave athletes salt tables during games and thought that was generally a discredited practice?

Note: Although I do long and strenous hikes, I'm strictly a day hiker

 

[Ken999]

Probars...expensive but, tasty...

 

[arghman]

Dried cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) & peanut-butter chips.

When it's cold enough to wear more than 2 layers, soup in a thermos, both for the heat value and the envy factor on group hikes.

 

[Doc McPeak]

Everything, for variety is the spice of life!

And usually in too large of amounts!

 

[Steve-o]

nothing healthy.

oberto beef jerky ( oh-boy !!!)
reese's peanutbutter cups ( mini)
hersey's mix-pack ( pb cups,kisses & rollo's)
power bar ( if you can tollerate it)
alway's keep's me going.
an occational adult beverage is nice too!

 

[Neil]

The night before hiking I go to McDonalds and pick up 3 to 7 Big Macs depending on the length of the hike planned. At home I remove them from there little boxes and stuff them into an old 48 oz. tomatoe juice can from which I removed and kept one of the lids. I use that lid to compress the sandwhiches down to as small a size as possible and then ziplock them individually. Super snacks on the trail!

(I once tried this on a 3 day trip in July using a great many Big Macs and in retrospect I feel it was an error. November and later would probably be OK though.)

 

[Sherpa John]

Granola Bars and an Orange

 

[king tut]

i had some really leafy brownies in my backpack.. i forgot what else was in there, man i got the munchies. just kidding hippies, i like granola bars, muffins, water, anything that is cheap and edible. i also like to enjoy a bk or mc d's breakfast before i hike. not very healthy, but lotsa calories to keep me going, which is good so long as i don't have a heart attack.

 

[dougb]

I carry a few tubes of GU, which is sold for bikers and runners. Great for a quick sugar rush, and it keeps forever. I keep a few tubes in my day pack for those unscheduled hikes. For longer hikes, I fall back on GORP.

 

[Miau]

Homemade beef jerky; better than the store-bought stuff at less than half the price and only 20 minutes of actual work.

 

[coldmountain]

Number one best weird little trail snack for me; cucumber wedges dreged in Lowrys.
While I do feel that "Trail mix" is the best possible snack food due to the thousands of variations possible and its high nutrition to low pack space ratio, it can get boring.
When is the last time you said "Im getting tired and hungry.... oh boy thats right I have banana chips and pine nuts to stem THAT tide hoo-boy."
On day hikes I rarely bring more than a few bars or the gu. But longer than say 10 hours Ill bring fruit and a sandwich (turkey & bacon & swiss on wheat is my favorite).

 

[onrhodes]

I'm generally a cashews with raisins and chocolate chips or almonds with the same. Plus lots of water with a gatorade back at the car for that after hike sweetness. Nutter Butters are a nice pick me up too.
As far as the salty issue brought up earlier, yes it is important to keep a certain amount of salt in your system. Though I think that some people might be crossing the term salt and electrolytes a little here and there. I'm coming from a competitive cycling background and anytime you plan on exerting yourself for more then 1-1.5 hours you need to start replenishing lost glycogen stores. It really does depend on your exertion rate how much you need but generally 30-60 grams of carbohydrates an hour will keep your glycogen levels up and prevent the dreaded bonk.
As a cyclist and doing races, it is much easier to carry a few GU or Powergels and then a mix in my bottles such as GU2O or my personal favorite (but not cheap) is Shaklee. If you have not tried them, the Raspberry Cream powergels are awesome. Same with Vanilla Gu.
However with hiking you can opt for a little more variety. You want a mixture of quick energy (simple sugars) and then some more complex carbs and of course some fat. The nuts/raisins/choc chips give me that in a nice easy to carry bundle. I'm also a big fan of the PB&Fluff on some sort of multi-grain bread.
Don't forget some protein after your hike to help rebuild the muscle damage by exercising. A nice chocolate milk of 2% is a quick cheap way to get this.

 

[kmac]

snacks for the trail

If you live near a trader joes, they have awesome sesame honey cashews and almonds. also, we like dried mangos, ginger snaps and we carry a small container of nutella (for apple and cookie dipping). I also, love king oscar smoked kippers with a litlle jarlsberg cheese and crackers. I actually get the mangos at costco-pretty generous bag at a good price!

 

[dropack]

Fish In A Can

Tuna, jake mackerel, sardines and oysters packed in olive oil, are and always will be my choice. I pick a different one each hike and never get tired of them because they all have their own taste and put any of them on a cracker and you have a great treat. Also, they all make you drink lots and lots of water. The mackerel is an acquired taste!

 

[charlos]

baby carrots and hummos
wasabi peas
trail mix with m&m's
strange looking snacks from chinatown which i dont know the name of and test out on my hiking buddies!!!!