Simplifying Expedition Food With Single Serving Sized Packages

[Jake D]

how could you skip Poptarts? I actually like the Hannafords store brand better

200cal at 52grams breakfast on the go :) on long trips you can mix up the flavors so you don't get bored. if you pack them right they don't get broken too much and the packaging is very minimal.

[Sam Farrington]

Yikes, no wonder folks here only talk in 'base' weights.

Since this is backpacking light, attention must be paid to how much the food weighs. What point is there to pruning down the weight of the gear, often at great expense, if a ton of munchies are carried.

Not that I'd begrudge younger folk their munchies. There is another way, however.
It involves three meals a day, and even when much younger, there was no problem with energy levels while backpacking 6-10 hours a day, and that was before the pack weight was cut in half. All packaging is done using a U-Line packaging tool, looks like a giant stapler, that seals polyethylene envelopes and cuts off any excess, to create the lightest possible package.

For breakfast, a mix of instant breakfast, powdered milk and instant coffee is packaged in an envelope, and dissolved before use in cold water, and warmed if desired. A strip of 'fruit leather' is also consumed. That and a drink mix like cocoa or Alpine spiced cider are enough to provide energy and not feel hungry all day.

For lunch, just one energy food of choice. Tiger's Milk bars are small and light, nutritious, and provide me more energy than the bulkier hyped products. No need to repackage the bars, as no weight would be saved.

For dinner, a starch (rice, potato, pasta) is mixed with freeze dried meat, usually turkey or chicken, and seasoning, and packaged in the same size U-Line envelope as breakfast. Except the seasoning and thickening powders are packaged in a much smaller U-line sealed envelope that is sealed inside the larger envelope. This way, the starch and meat can be simmered till soft, and the seasoning with thickeners and sometimes veggies, can be thrown in later so less time simmering is needed – saves fuel and assures the food is fully rehydrated. The mix is designed to take always the same amount of water, the amount chosen depending on how much food it takes to fill the individual tummy and provide enough energy for the next day.

No longer use the sugary drink mixes. The berryish odors attrack wildlife. But another envelope of hot Alpine cider is nice with dinner.

All of the used envelopes and wrappers for a week fit into a ZipLock one pint freezer bag with room to spare, and weigh almost nothing kept inside the food bag.

With this system, food for a day, including packaging, is well under a pound, and I can go for a month like this, but stop occasionally to enjoy a good home-cooked meal.

A cut down Ursack, resewn with Kevlar thread, is used to hold a light zip-open food bag, and is hung at night. Not recommended for going to Grizz country, but while I don't go there anymore, I may add an odor barrier sack next year for black bears if tests next spring are positive.

Since the dinners are prepared from separately purchased ingredients, they are much more tasty than any prepackaged ones ever tried.

With the lighter food weight, a lighter TOTAL pack weight can be achieved, with more, not less energy and nutrition than derived from the meals bought prepackaged at retailers.

The larger supermarkets have plenty to experiment with, but organic ingredients are available at specialty stores if preferred. The freeze dried meat is mail-ordered.

[Anonymous]

"With this system, food for a day, including packaging, is well under a pound, and I can go for a month like this"

Hi Samuel,

+1

I share your philosophy regarding food being an easy place to drop substantial weight. So far, I've whittled my food down to 19 oz/day, packaging included for trips up to 11 days, and would love to know more about how you got it down 4 or more ounces from there for even longer trips. Would you be willing to post a sample menu of a typical day's worth of food? It would be of great interest to at least me and, I suspect, a lot of other folks here.

Many thanks,

Tom

[Tim Zen]

that is some high cost food. No question SeaBear Wild Salmon is way better than bumble be, but the price is beyond reasonable. Where is the dirt bag hiker food list for the same cals and protein? Justins is such a rip. It is just peanut butter. You won't remember eating that stuff the next day. I am in for buying high priced gear, but the food you just rent.

[Jake D]

yea Tim. Thru hiker style ;) Pringles, tuna pouches, Pasta side, PB in a plastic jar, PB filled pretzels, powdered potatoes, French fried onions, peanut M&Ms, PB crackers, cereal + nido

[Jeffrey List]

Samuel–

that sounds good, but can you say how many calories are in your "well under a pound" of food per day, and what the average cal/oz is? To me those are the key figures saying if it's enough food (for a particular person; obviously it works for you!), and how weight efficient the food is.

Also second the request for some of your menus/recipes.

thanks!

[Kattt]

I agree with Tim Zen on this. The cost isn't really worth it to me. We are not even talking about "expeditions" here or real high density food if taking along a bag of chips….

[DARCY OLSEN]

Costco has 4.5 pound tins of Walker's Shortbread as part of their holiday selection this year . Don't remember the price but am sure
it's cheaper than buying the individual packets .

[Bob Gross]

Years ago, backpackers were getting all worked up over how to pack more calories into a bear canister. Finally it was concluded that the method involves taking five or ten pounds of Walker's Shortbread Cookies and crumbling them up with a rolling pin. Then pour the crumbs into one big plastic bag inside the bear canister. You can just eat with your fingers for the whole trip, and you will probably not run out of food. That's because you will be sick of Walker's Shortbread before you finish all of it.

–B.G.–

[Desert Dweller]

1/3 Mary Jane's Farm Nick's Organic Couch Potatoes with powdered butter added,
1/3 Mary Jane's Farm Bare Burrito,
1/3 Walker's Shortbread (crushed),
Lined with tortillas….
how's THAT? :-)

[Sam Farrington]

Received a PM re ID of U-Line bag sealer.
BPL no longer lets me reply to PMs, but logs me out automatically instead.
Tired of contacting BPL about issues at this point.

The ULINE product is named "8" Impulse Sealer with Cutter," Product # H-161, purchased ca. 2004
The bags are #S-951, 6×6" 2 mil poly bags, 1000 to a box
and
S-5387, 2×3", 1 mil poly bag, 1000 to a box – used to hold anything that would thicken the food mix and impede simmering/rehydration. The little bags are sealed and go into the big ones. Could be a tad bigger, so long as would fit into the larger bags.

[Kevin Flynn]

ProBars.

and something new and very local to the Minneapolis/St Paul area is a paleo-centric bar and snack company called Whole Me.

[Dean F.]

My 'morale' food for a long time has been Fritos Corn Chips. Ingredients: corn, corn oil, salt. Buy the single-serving bags, put a pinhole in the bag to get the air out then cover the pinhole with scotch tape. I found them vital in the Grand Canyon, when I really needed the salt.

Bonus- dual use as a firestarter! They burn almost as well as Vaseline on cotton balls! :)

[Paul McLaughlin]

Samuel – I'd like to second Tom's request for menus and/or weights of food you take. Either you are achieving higher caloric density than I get from my usual foods/packaging, or you're just carrying fewer calories (or a little of both) Either way, I may learn something. I'm usually around 24 oz/day, and I'll lose some weight on a trip.

[Michael Gillenwater]

Unless I missed it, I'm surprised no one has mentioned these guys.
http://www.minimus.biz/

[Gregory Allen]

Hadn't ever seen that store. Pretty cool. Bookmarked for later. Seems more reasonable than repackaging small quantities.

[Sam Farrington]

Tom and Paul,
Sure. It will take some time to put together some menus and weights, so please give me until after the first of the year when there should be time. Will put it on the gear forum where it'll be hard to miss. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

"Sure. It will take some time to put together some menus and weights, so please give me until after the first of the year when there should be time."

Hi Samuel,

Excellent. If I can knock my weight down by even 2 of those 4 oz or so/day, I'll be one happy camper. I'll be looking forward to your input.

One request: Would you be willing to post your data here, instead of in the Gear Forum? This is an established thread that I, and presumably, Paul are already watching. If you establish a new thread in the very crowded Gear Forum, it will be all too easy for us to miss.

Thanks again for responding.

Tom

[Michael Sagehorn]

All of the packaging adds weight.

My breakfasts are simple-Grape Nuts, brown sugar, milk from powder, and dried fruit, plus coffee.

Lunch is cheese, salami, crackers, nuts, chocolate, and sometimes soup from an envelope

Dinner is also simple-dried potatoes from a box, crushed red pepper from the pizzaria, and gravy mix OR rice and gravy mix.

Nearly all the food can be packed in bulk. My pack weight goes down as I travel and with each day. For a week's worth of food, I can pack it all in a stuff bag the same size as my sleeping bag. A few fish add to the variety too.

[Scott Tanner]

I prefer to buy in bulk and package my own meals but I do horde prepackaged condiment packs, spreads, dressings and nut butters. Things like single serving packets of jams, jellies, peanut butter, and honey are great and combine well to make sandwiches or even consumed straight like a goo. Also I sometimes use mayo or cream cheese packets to add to foil packs of salmon or tuna and either eat straight with a spoon, slather on WW bread to make a sandwich or spread on a bagel. Think bagel, cream cheese packet, and foil pack of salmon.. Lox and cream cheese. Great for any meal. Cream cheese is great with jam or honey too.

[Michael Witteveen]

Pepperidge Farms Mint Milanos and a cup of Starbucks VIA coffee.

[Ken Thompson]

Ryan is taking another shot at expedition food for us.

From his Facebook page. copied since I know great deal of you don't do fb.

"I'm violating rule #1 (posting food pics on social media) but we are putting together a series for @backpackinglight on training and nutrition for expedition backpacking and I couldn't resist this one, which @bigskysteph says "best sandwich ever."

It's loaf bread with fresh vegetables, cheese. Must be for short expeditions.

[Brad Rogers]

I repackage food into single serving ziplocks for week long trips at altitude. This helps me moderate my eating and force myself to eat at times and ensures that I do not over eat. On previous trips I either had A).way too much food left over due to loss of appetite at altitude or worry of running out of food when it wasn't divided by meal or B.) not enough of certain types of foods that were more appetizing to me than others at the time.

Now I predetermine each meal and snack and repackage in a ziplock with the weight and day and time to be eaten written on the bag with a sharpie. I try and make myself eat something every two hours of hiking to keep my energy up.

[rick .]

I package to not waste a ton of packaging:

Coffee in bulk
cereal in bulk (Bob's Redmill 10grain)

Lunch and snacks in one quart ziploc with nuts, dried fruit, and homemade bars. Sometimes there's packaged bars too for variety. This rides up front to dig in when there's a vista

Dinner is usually single-serve ziploc meals, solo, and double-serve if with a tarpmate.

This means on a 3day trip I use 2ish ziploc per day. First one empty is trash.

toss in a few morale items:
Fritos
chocolate
nutella repackaged in tiny nalgene jar
tuna packet

[Henk Smees]

Hi Samuel (scfhome),
Have you ever been able to put together the menus and weights or have you posted these in the Gear-Forum as you said – if so, I can’t find these (maybe the search function here doesn’t work well). I’m sure many will be interested (at least I am).

[Author]

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