9 day hike menue – group of five

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Just in case anyone is interested in getting 7.5 days of food into bear canisters here is a list of the items we were able to pack. Day one went into the fanny pack I carried and the last day is only breakfast hence 9 days on the trail really becomes 7.5 days in the canisters. The lunches were the BEST part of this trip and everyone loved them !!! Hope you can figure out how the spread sheet works.
Kevin

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Not sure if I can go in and edit to make it post larger so it is readable ??

Kevin

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

To see a bigger version? Be cool to see what you ate!

[Jay Wilkerson]

I would like to see it- Try to get the list bigger- you can DO IT!!

[Jonathan Ryan]

I would love to see this as well if you can make it bigger, can you PDF and save as your gear list file?

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Have it in a PDF now … but I don't see how or where I can add a new gear list ?? I'm close …. help !!

Kevin

[Jonathan Ryan]

goto "Change My Profile" on the menu on the left and under this it gives you the option to upload a PDF

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Jonathan,
THANKS !!! Added it to the Community Gear List and the title is "Food list for 9 day hike"

http://www.backpackinglight.com/backpackinglight/forums/gear_lists/fb5650d209e64a6e67230a7b0f32772a.pdf

Let me know what you guys think. Next year I plan on making all the dinners from scratch as well. Just a LOT of work for 5 people for a 9 day hike! Worth the effort though.

Kevin

[Kathleen B]

Kevin – your spreadsheet works now. I was able to print it just fine from your pdf version. I noticed you had pita bread for dinner almost every day for dinner. How did it hold up by day 8? Were there little green things growing on it winking at you?

I have made test versions of lots of Sarah's recipes, and those of others, so that I have such a large repertoire of food I like I don't need to duplicate any of it on a long trip.

Did you have much trouble coming to a concensus with the 5 people on what to bring? I tend to pack for myself and so does everyone else on the few group trips I do.

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Kathleen,
Glad you were able to print it. I updated the PDF with the actual recipes that were used for lunch. You can zoom in to read all the fine print. I tend to use long winded spread sheets and this was as small as I could make the origional 4 page spreadsheet. Most of the lunches were inspired from Sarah and I could have never come up with all those without her help. I agree on trying not to duplicate the food but I can tell you that NONE of the 5 guys in the group ever got tired of the food repeating. In fact, they told me they couldn't wait for the next go-around. Maybe something about hiking 15 + miles each day ….

The pita holds up fine for that length of time but the temps were close to or at freezing each night. Next trip I would substitute more flour burrito shells as they take up a lot less room in the bear canisters and everyone seems to like mixing them up every other night versus having pita bread all the time.

No problem on the consensus as they always let me do the food and don't really care what I come up with. They said this was by FAR the best food they had ever had while hiking and said they can't wait until I make up the dinners on next years trip. I Will post a few photos of the food in the next couple of days!
Kevin

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Love the PDF! Cool lay out and thanks for taking the time to post it.

There is something about feeding people on trips and they eat better than ever – only downside is they than expect it from then on ;-)

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Yes,
I think I'm now on my fourth straight year of being the "chef" as they prefer to call me!!

Thanks
Kevin

[Kathleen B]

Take a look at Perk's Stroganoff on Sarah's website. That's one I return to frequently. I dehydrated canned beef in my oven instead of using hamburger, and of course, I left out the nasty fungus.

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Thanks for the suggestion! Looking to start working dinners into the new spread sheet now that I have the lunches dialed in !!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Kathleen,

I have a new stroganoff recipe with NO mushrooms. :-D Let me post it this week! I nee dto remake it and shoot photos and all.

I cheat now and often use "beef" TVP – the fake hamburger – from Harmony. I honestly cannot tell the difference.

[Laurie Ann March]

I was also curious about the repeating foods especially the ramen and how the rest of the group felt about that. You'll probably find as you do this more you become like Kathleen with a no-repeat repetoire.

I really like how you set up the spreadsheet.

[Kevin Egelhoff]

This is our 8th. straight year of hiking together as a large group and I continue to quiz everyone on the food after each years hike. I know it probably doesn't sound right but everyone still loves the ramen each night. This is the SAME type of dinner that we have been repeating for all 8 years. Not sure if it is because we are all so tired and hungry after hiking long days or us guys just have simple appetities but we continue to have it every year and they keep saying its a "keeper". Maybe the fact that none of us ever eat this type uf stuff except when we are hiking a few times a year? My goal for next year is to completely revise the dinner portions from purchased freeze dried meals to home made meals like I did for the lunches this year. I'm sure I could reduce the bulk an additional 10%-15% !!! Good enough to maybe be able to pack 9 full days into the bear canisters.

[Paul Wozniak]

Kevin,

I know you are interested in dehydrating all your own food but I do have a recommendation if you are interested in commercial foods. I just got off a 6 day trip and I carried and "cooked" all the dinners. There were 3 guys with good appetites. All dinners came from the Enertia Trail Food line. Hands down the best commercial trail foods we have eaten so far. Typically 16 oz for a 4-person package. We usually ate beyond being full so we wouldn't have to deal with excess food. These are not designed as boil-in-the-bag but cook times are minimal, ie bring to boil + 2 minutes. Delicious. Easy. Compact. Light. Reasonbly priced.

These were recommended by our local hiking shop and they were spot on.

http://www.trailfoods.com/

Paul

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Paul,
Thanks. I will definitely have to look into those. Might be able to mix in a few of those items on the next trip.

I really enjoyed trying out and perfecting all the new menu items for the lunches based on recommendations from this web site. I made up small sample bathes of the lunches and had everyone try them first before committing to the large batches that would be used on the hike. Buying all the foods is definitely more convenient but I would recommend that everyone try to make at least a small portion of their food as they seem to really pack much smaller and taste sooo much better then anything you can buy … IMHO !!!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Heh! I don't mind repeats – I do it often. I usually try new meals on dayhikes – on backpack trips I take what I know sits well and fuels me…so yeah, I have done repeats before. :-) Yum!

I think it is so cool you do it for the guys in your group! I just got done packing my food for an upcoming trip. Do to the miles and the cold weather my food is very, very simple this trip and I am eating the same breakfast, lunch and snacks every day. I need to be thinking "miles, miles, miles" not about my food. I know these items work.

And when we get done I am porking out after Dicentra picks me and our buddy Hoosierdaddy up ;-)

[Jeff Jeff]

Thanks for posting the PDF! This gives me inspiration for trying to cram 10 hiking days into a BV 400.

I happen to enjoy a pack of ramen about every other day or so but I was never able to cram that much of it in my bear can. It ends up being a luxury food for the first night in and that's it.

[Lynn Tramper]

I'm feeling a bit dense today…I can't figure out the meaning of the numbers in the column next to each food item.

eg : Cheddar Cheese 1 lb. 0.2,
Salami 0.2,
Crackers 1

???

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Allison, American weights ;-) Unlike the rest of the world we refuse to change our antiquated ways..lol!

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Hey Kevin,

I saw your 9-day meal list and I was wondering if you could e-mail me some specific information about it. In a nutshell, could you provide the manufacturers (i.e. the exact product name) for the main stuff you mentioned (such as burrito, butter mashed potatoes, Rasp. Emerg C., freeze dried salsa mix, cheddar cheese, chk teriyaki & rice, lasagna, etc.). I'm diabetic so I constantly stuggle in finding foods that work for me, fill me up, give me energy, and aren't quickly perishable. Obviously if these were all made by you, at home, dehydraded, then freeze-dried…then I'm out of luck. But if it's stuff you just picked up somewhere, I'm anxious to know what the products are and where you grabbed them.

Thanks,

James

James, couldn't PM you back do I just posted it here. I updated the PDF to include the locations where I purchased or ordered each item from the menu …with all the info I had. This should help you !!
Kevin

[Kevin Egelhoff]

Allison,
Actually the numbers are probably confusing to many but I use it to add up all the qtys as they go across the spread sheet and then get the total at the end of the column.

Example: Cheddar cheese was a 1 lb block that was shared by the group. Since there are (5) people in the group each person gets 0.2 lbs of it, or you can think of it as 1 lb. of cheese divided 5 ways. In the Oatmeal it say (2) so each person gets two of them because they are individual. Just my strange way of trying to figure out how the items break down.

Kevin

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