mail drops advice

[Ryan Linn]

I've been putting together a plan for mail drops for my hike in October, since I will mostly be stopping in towns that have little more than post offices. I've got most things worked out, but if anybody has any input I'd love to hear it.

To start, I put together a table of caloric density for a bunch of foods, then decided how many days' worth of food I'd need. The rest was simple. For example:

Breakfast/Lunch for the first 5-day stretch: 18 instant oatmeal packets (3 per day, including the morning I pick up the mail drop), 10 clif bars (2 per day), 4 oz banana chips, 1 pound gorp, 8 oz dried mangoes, 5 snickers bars, 8 oz sesame sticks.

This comes out to 6 pounds, averaging 2331 calories per day. I haven't weighed dinners yet, but they're expected to add 500-750 calories per day.

The big question is: do you think this is enough? My mail drops seem to average between 1900 and 2400 calories per day, but the volume seems like it could be a little low.

When I get to dinners, I'll need to start thinking of ways to mail olive oil without it leaking. Any advice on that?

Thanks!

[b s]

Olive Oil Packets

I placed a small bottle of olive oil inside a couple ziplocs in past resupplies, but this seems much easier.

The food you have listed (with dinners) would be enough for me, especially for the first five days of a long hike. My appetite usually doesn't kick in for a week or so. I'd be ok with that menu for a while but would probably need a more substantial lunch later on in the hike. Something like instant hummus or peanut butter/nutella on a tortilla worked for me as a main lunch and then I snacked on the cliff bar/snickers/gorp throughout the day.

On a side note, I tried the oatmeal breakfast on my fist long hike. Lasted about a month and to this day I have trouble putting it down. Just me though.

[Ryan Linn]

I saw those at packitgourmet and thought "70 cents an ounce? that could get expensive." But then I just did the math and it's really not much more than buying it in bottles at the grocery store.

Problem solved!

[Greg Mihalik]

Ryan,
Go to Subway.
Ask them for Olive Oil packets.
They will give you a handful for free.

Go to the next Subway, ask them….

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

The packets are worth every penny. No leaks, no measuring, no putting too much in! :-) And you can get organic or regular, as well as a blend of canola to save money.

[Author]

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