Lightest, delicious and most caloric meals per ounce?

Peobably would have been better of thus were posted in Food and hydration.
Questions like this are exactly why that subforum was created??

Thanks, just saw it.

Tabouli with more than the called for olive oil?

No cook, tasty, and hydrates for lunch as you hike in the morning. I save sturdier 8-ounce disposable water bottles for transporting the oil and feel comfortable about them not leaking.

Dehydrated tomatoes instead of the fresh diced ones the box calls for.

Thanks David – do you make it yourself or buy it? Do you have a recipe?

Just buy a box at the store – next to the pasta, in ethnic food or maybe in the health food section. Or let Amazon ship it to you.

If you love it, then consider sourcing more in bulk. As a family, we use it for about one lunch out of every four on the trail.

Anything with a high oil content and nuts are pretty good.

David's Tabouli suggestion is great. At minimum ,I alays seem to bring at least a 4 oz bottle if olive oil ti amp up the calories and enrich the flavor of most cooked meals.,Any savory dish that butter or milk are called for can usually be replaced with olive oil and a bit more water.

It increases calories of a meal by about 15 to 20%

Tabouli, olive oil ,dried tomatoes and packet of chunk Chicken or Tuna is a really well rounded meal.

Good ol' peanut butter is pretty darn good too..But by itself or as a sback with crackers or on piece of chocolate..

my favorite is rice or sometimes wheat noodles, they take 13 minutes to cook. Add peanutbutter, heap a lard or coconut oil, then sesame seed oil for flavor. Cumin, Coriander, cayanne, basil, then I also add my dehydrated carrots and purple beans in the beginning before the water boils, for vitamins, flavor and essential back woods fiber. great soupy or failed and half cooked.

Last year I posted a spread sheet list of commercial backpacking foods with Cal/oz and Cal/gm data with and without fuel weight added in. There are a number of options over 130 Cal/oz. It's posted in the files of the Yahoo JMT Group at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/johnmuirtrail/files/Food%20and%20trail%20cooking/ . I think most of the offerings are still up to date, but do let me know if you see something that needs correcting.

Thanks Russell – how does it taste after all that oil and P&J?

David – the link doesn't seem to work… Very curious.

Update: David – thank you so much! Incredible amount of info in those spreadhseets. Rethinking my approach! :)

This is one of my favorites. Super easy and tastes great after a long day.

http://andrewskurka.com/2015/backpacking-dinner-recipe-beans-rice-with-fritos-cheese/

season it with hunger an it tastes better than a bowl of noodles in the international district. I always keep two amounts on me at all time, cancook it and eat before my work lunch break is over. also dehydrated green onions and powdered garlic add a lot to any high cal meal.

My personal favorite lunch, died salami, cheese of your choice, tortillas!

This combo stays fresh up to several days especially if it gets cold at night. It just tastes so good!

Pretty calorie dense, super quick, and super-duper cheap is Top Ramen. If you don't cook it. I saw an Aussie family in NZ stop for lunch, each pull out their "2-minute noodles", and eat it right from the package.

My wife would never let me call that lunch on a family trip, but on my own – sure. I love food that I can eat as I hike.

Ha – eating dry ramen was one of my favorite snacks back in college! Probably back when it was full of trans fats…

Dry ramen? Doesn’t sound particularly appealing.

If I may, I have my own ramen “recipe”, something I call “ramen plus.” It’s ramen plus some kind of protein along with dried veggies. It’s good enough that my five year old will eat it. :)

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin’ Jim’s Blog

If you like crackers, then most dry ramen straight out of the package is excellent if you est it correctly, IMHO.

To me its a more of a snack, not a meal.

And its all Dave Tbomas' fault that I tried it, due to him telling that story about that NZ family munching on uncooked ramen alongside the "track".. David said he made the joke to the NZ hikers asking if they sprinkled the seasoning packets on their tongues…lol

Me? I separate the layers of the ramen " brick" and then break them into little cracker sized squates and THEN dust s bit of tgeflavoring packet on the noodles. When eaten with plenty of water, they taste great..The beef flavor is like having eaten an ultralight, no cook hamburger.. As a rancher's son, that's pretty cool to me..

Ramen noodles are mostly made of wheat and unlike Italian style pasta kind of ligjt snd porous..They actually taste like a noodle shaped saltine cracker..

The downsides are the noodles are hard and crunchy
not for folks with sensitive teeth or gums.The upside of that is those noodles feel like you are eating a hiker version of a dog biscuit..They will dislodge anything cought between your teeth..lol

Also the MSG from the seasoning packets can upset sime folks stomachs, especuallt if ypu do not drink enough water as you eat it.

As to sodium, the seasoning packets are SO concentrated in flavor, a light dusting on the noodles only use up about half the seasoning packets, so it effectively cuts the sodium, in half ..I would just save the rest on the the trail and dump them into sone other ssvory dish that needed amped up with some beef, chicken or shrimp flavor etc..

As a result of my trials at least one packet of ramen will now be included in my spare food lineup in the pack along with instant Oatmeal packets and hot cocoa/ coffee Both the Ramen and the Oatmeal can be eated right out of the package if needed.. Instant oatmeal packets alsi make great fire tinder..:)

Of all the major brands I have tried ,the TOP RAMEN brand had the best noodle texture and the best fkavoring packet quality. Basically the flavoring is pretty much like a powderd builion..And used in moderation -very good.

It was crunchy, salty, starchy, and slightly fatty – what more reason did I need? Of course, when I was in college it was probably much more salty and fatty than now. Maybe I need to go try it again…

jimmer: nice to know people read what I post. I agree those flavor packets are pretty potent. If I was doing a thru hike, I'd cut a slit and extract most of the flavor packets and tape it crossed.

As my brother once quipped about "Asian-favored noodles", "so that's what they do with the old ones".

Hikin Jim: Agreed, if you're going to cook them, assorted bulk dehydrated veggies help a lot – flavor, nutrients, GI regulatority, etc.

I have this one bookmarked to use soon:

NOLS True Grits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1qvSiSRDiE

The recipe is listed in the "show more" tab beneath the video.

One of my go to is knorr instant red beans and rice, its only 120 cal/oz but I add andoulli sausage and mashed potatoes. Super hearty and filling and will put you to sleep nicely with a super full tummy