Here in Ukraine and Russia we have a slightly different assortment of foods, and certainly none of the freeze-dried variety. I have been influenced by Ray Jardine in my recent development of trail diet (using whole grains and letting yourself take more food, but of natural origin). I have used this with great success up to four days in a row without tiring of anything, but I have not tested it in a real thru-hike.
Breakfast:
I take a whole-grain cereal, add dried bananas, and pound it to reduce the size, then add milk powder and mix, then divide it up by days into sandwich bags. 250g each morning. Eat with cold or warm water added depending on what I feel like.
Daytime:
Gorp with cashews, raisins, M&Ms, figs, and dried bananas, divided into 500g bags for each day
Dinner:
Buckwheat with vegetable oil and cheese. Buckwheat is the most wholesome of the whole grains and is a traditional staple in Eastern Europe, but hard to come by in the U.S. I fill up half of a 1/2 liter bottle in the late morning or afternoon and fill up the rest with cold water, and by dinnertime the grains have softened and expanded and just need to be heated up, saving all of the nutrients. 250g per day.
I also take along honey and have some as I sip warm/hot water, because this hydrates you better than other hot drinks.
This set-up is simple and uses minimal fuel and provides 4000 calories in 1 kg of wholesome food a day.
Something I would like to incorporate is animal fat — a very popular super high-calorie backpacking staple in Eastern Europe that also helped Amundsen stay alive in his South Pole voyage. It doesn't sound too appetizing to American ears, but if you try it, you just may like it…
