backpacking food?
 

I know this question has made the rounds before, but haven't seen it in awhile. What do you take backpacking for food. Here is a parial list of what we take:

Dehydrated foods, good but expensive, just add water and stir: nothing to clean up.
bread rolls (doesn't matter if it gets squashed)
instant oatmeal
granola bars
power bars/gel
candy bars

What would you add to this list?

What would you add to this list if packing in on horses?

RE: backpacking food?
 

On your back:
Beef jerky
Kellogs or Familia brand Mueslix dry cereal (serve with rehydrated dry milk)
GORP: mix of bulk granola, peanuts, rolled oats, almonds, raisins, chopped dried fruits,
sunflower seeds, and M&Ms
Cheddar cheese and rye crisp
Lipton's brand pasta dinners or noodle side dishes
Dried packaged soups

RE: backpacking food?
 

I eat a lot of bagels. If you get the right brand, I get Thomas brand, they are not dry and you can just stuff them in your pockets.
They have a lot of calories.

RE: backpacking food?
 

One item I liked when backpacking was ramin noodles. Very light, cheap, cooks fast and tastes good. I would crush them and and repackage them in baggies to keep the bulk down.
And if packing in on horses steaks and beer of course.

RE: backpacking food?
 

Peanut Butter!!!


Its very cheap and very caloric. Its a bit heavy, but a lot of calories per oz.

RE: backpacking food?
 

I noticed alot of ya`lls stuff has to have water added so im wondering, how much water do ya`ll carry? or do you just find a stream or something?

RE: backpacking food?
 

I pack in enough water to get me to my campsite. I then use a MSR water filter to obtain drinking water ($75 at Cabelas). Just have to know a water source near your camping area.

I had forgotten a nut mix, that is a really good one too as well as peanut butter. And beef jerkey, how could I forget! Bagels and pasta too. Good ones guys, keep um coming.

RE: backpacking food?
 

I like to just go to the grocery store before I go hunting if i have some time and just wonder the isles looking for ideas

RE: backpacking food?
 

Power bars are a good quikie and they make them where they actually taste good now. Sometimes you have a destination to make by a certain time and rather than stop, the power bars are great for a temporary quik fix while enroute. When hunting with a pack/ gear and equipment its easy to burn 3-4 hundred calories an hour and I pack away the gatoraide also and drink up to 6 quarts a day depending on conditions. Not only does it help in replacing body fluids but also helps in muscle spasms such as charlie horses, something you young whipper snappers think happen to other people. A good ole p/j sandwich is loaded with protein as well as a banana/peanut butter sandwich. I keep it in a tupperware container to keep scent away from the critters and especially from the ole griz. Good luck, Bobby

RE: backpacking food?
 

Minute rice. Add a package of dry soupmix, boiling water in 5 minutes you have a great meal. I put this in a quart nalgene bottle with a screw on lid.

RE: backpacking food?
 

RustyOlRanger4x4:

Yes, the idea is to carry dry food and add water obtained near your campsite. The water is the heaviest part of most food. If you can get the water at your campsite, carry it maybe 40 feet from the stream to your cooking, isn't this better than hauling it 15 miles and an aggregate climb of 7,000' (up 2000', down 1500', up 3000', down 1000', and up 2000')?

An important point made by txhunter58 is to filter or otherwise treat your water. Parasites are common in stream water, even mountain stream water. One particular parasite, giardia, is common in the Rocky Mountains and is very unpleasant. In the morning as part of breaking camp filter enough water to drink during the day. When I backpack I stash a quart of fresh filtered water in an accessible outside pocket of my pack. Hiking/backpacking authorities recommend that you drink more water in high altitude to ward off altitude sickness. When you make camp at night and cook, filter more water. Typically you chose to make your camp sites close to water.

RE: backpacking food?
 

RustyOlRanger4x4:

As txhunter58 indicates, you carry a filter or other means to treat water and then draw it from streams as you need it . . . unless you are backpacking/hunting the desert.

Carry enough water in your pack to quench your thirst during the day of backpacking/hunting. For me this is typically a quart bottle stuffed into an easily accessible outside pocket of my pack. The experts, however, advise that you drink plenty of fluids at altitude to avoid altitude sickness, so maybe it is better to carry two quarts of water.

When you choose a campsite for the night, you will choose a spot close to water. Draw water for cooking and cleaning through your filter as part of cooking operations. In the morning, draw water to fill your water bottles as part of camp breaking operations.

It is much easier on your back to haul dried foods which do not have the water in them and rehydrate them at cooking time than to haul fully hydrated foods. The more day's worth of food you must haul the more critical this consideration becomes. Hauling fully hydrated food on an overnighter would be no big deal. Hauling fully hydrated food for a 7 day trip is a different story.

Be advised that there are parasites in streams, even apparently pure, pristine mountain streams. The giardia parasite, for example, is common in streams in the rocky mountains. I have had giardesis and it isn't fun. Vomiting and diahrea concurrently is a challenge you don't need to experience on a backpacking trip. It left me with an unquenchable thirst and a very low energy level. Treat your water if you are wise.

RE: backpacking food?
 

Oops! Didn't see my earlier post and thought operator error on my part had caused it to disappear. Didn't see a new page had generated! Sorry. Tried to delete the second post but couldn't figure this out.

RE: backpacking food?
 

[8D][8D]MIX NUTS AND MRES , THERE SO TASTY AND DOSNT MATTER WHAT KIND OF WATER YOU USE, AND YOU GOT A HOT MEAL IN 5MIN. OR LESS

RE: backpacking food?
 

I don't cook at all, in fact, I take no dishes or silverware of any kind. Not cooking and not building fires lets me insert my camps close to the elk. I commonly camp out within 600 yards of a main elk honeyhole, which lets you get right in the middle of them at daylight.

Breakfast is pop tarts or just dry cereal, like honey grahams or lucky charms. I rebag the cereal into ziplocs. Lunch is usually canned oysters (my one heavy item) speared with a stick, and crackers - again rebagged. Supper I alternate between Pringles potato chips and Ritz crackers and cheddar cheese. Throw in a daily dose of dried fruit and various drink mixes - tang, etc. - and that does it for me.

I've gone up to 13 days on this in summer, up to 8 days in hunting season.

RE: backpacking food?
 

I just got back from a 16 day backpacking trip. My advice: DO NOT take dehydrated food like Mountain House. You won't get near enough calories and your energy level will drop through the ****ter. Your much better off packing the extra weight and taking real food like MRE's or something.

RE: backpacking food?
 

GORP mix is good and lite. I usually eat fresh fruit bananas,apples, oranges, bagles in the morning; gorp type foods(granola bars, nuts jerky,dried fruit) while hunting; then do the better stuff at camp for supper, steak, chili,stew. If you have horses eat like your at home.