Continuing our discussion of muh wilderness, lets talk about food
How much should I bring?
Daily caloric needs are a lot higher when you're running from snakes and (probably) lost in the woods. Some people claim there's a magic number; "bring 3500 calories a day." Well it's not that simple. Your personal needs will vary with body weight, pack weight, elevation changes, length your covering each day, and so on.
But you need a starting point, and 3500 per day is a good one. So how much food is that?
Calories per ounce and what not to bring
You might be tempted to grab some MRE's or canned stuff and head out the door. This is fine for a short trip; everything can be eaten as is with no need to bring a stove and cook. But beyond a day, the weight of these items can negate the benefits. So people begin looking at dried and dehydrated food.
For everything I bring I shoot for a minimum of 120 cal per oz., so roughly 2lbs of food per day.
Dinners
I base my meals around carbs. Carbs have a high calorie density and carb rich foods keep very well when dried. Fats have a much higher calorie density but can go rancid very quickly.
There are store bought options like Mountain House and Backpacker Pantry. Other store bought options are just plain every day things like instant mashed potatoes, minute rice, couscous, Knorr pasta sides, and so on. These things cook quickly or instantly, and only require boiling water. Some people dehydrate full meals at home and rehydrate on the trail. Olive oil is a common way to easily boost calories.
Other "meals"
I rarely cook breakfast. I'll usually have something like powdered doughnuts (for short trips) or a meal replacement bar. Pop tarts are crazy popular for some reason.
Snacks revolve around four catagories: salty, sweet, salty and sweet, or some kind of protein. Again, shooting for 120 cal per oz., though not always. None of this is written in stone. I'll graze throughout the day rather than have an actual lunch, with snacks about every two hours.
That's not to say I've never brought a lunch. A really easy one is something like wheat thins (140cal per oz, I think), some find of meat like sausage or pepperoni (super high caps), and extra sharp cheese.
Spoilage?
How long food marked as "refrigerate after opening" will last without doing so depends on environment. Hotter temps will turn cheese mushy in a day while colder temps are the same as a refrigerator. A normal two or three night trip won't spoil most food you'd try to bring. And extra sharp cheese will surprise you with how long it lasts.
Hanging food
Even if there aren't any bears around, this should be done. Rodents, opossum, armadillo, pigs, coyotes, skunks, badgers... there are a lot of animals that want your food.
You could also just hoist it over a branch. The PCT method is bear specific; the bears figured out how to take down food bags that are just slung over a branch.
Example of one of my favorite meals
Pretty simple, but you'll have to buy the dehydrated refried beans online.
Basically:
- 3/4 cup dehydrated refried beans
- 1/2 cup minute rice
- 2 tbsp taco seasoning
- cheese
- Fritos
The beans, rice, and taco seasoning are packed together, with the cheese and Fritos seperate from everything. Boil 10-12oz of water, dump in the beans and rice, and boil for 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from heat, and stir in your cheese. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, the add the Fritos.
7 day trip example
http://andrewskurka.com/2014/week-of-backpacking-food-breakdown/
Stives and whatnot
We covered this in another thread, here: https://bbs.dailystormer.com/t/forest-wizard-teaches-us-how-to-make-20-portable-stove/125538
Anyway...
It's an easy subject; bring what you want to eat. But it can be pretty complex as well; make sure to add fiber so your not constipated from a high-carb diet, have enough protein even though it's weight generally isn't ideal, the weight:morale ratio, and so on.
Always experiment at home before you leave. I met a couple on the PCT who were picking raisins out of their trail mix that they brought from home and realized neither of them liked raisins.
