Light Food

> I do very poorly with very much fat and protein during the day. This is especially true
> above 10,000 feet elevation,

Yeah, burning fats at altitude is often just not possible. The higher you go, the simpler the foodstuffs you need. But that's OK: you aren't going to live at really high altitudes.

Cheers

"Yeah, burning fats at altitude is often just not possible. The higher you go, the simpler the foodstuffs you need. But that's OK: you aren't going to live at really high altitudes."

Precisely. That's where the really simple carbs come into their own. For me, sports drink type carbs during the day(maltodextrin, glucose), potato soups/mashed potatoes, cream of wheat, etc at either end of the day, plus a little fat and protein. This is for short trips. Pretty spartan, but what the heck, it's only for a short time. Longer trips get more fat and protein, but mostly at night when I am not active. More variety on longer trips, too. It helps to gain weight before a trip, too. That way you can access the fat in ready to metabolize form. It still has to be metabolized, but you dial down your activity level to conform to the amount of O2 available to do the job(a function of elevation and cardio-vascular fitness) and you have a large reservoir of substrate to drive low intensity activity for long periods of time.

> This year I'll pack some Scho-Ka-Cola if I can find a reasonable price for that stuff around here.

Never heard of that before.
"High Caffeine Dark Chocolate" in a shoe polish tin.
Even has a warning for children and the elderly.

Right up my alley!

I love dehydrated pineapple and beef jerky out on the trail. I have found after much experimentation that it goes down much better with a little Merlot.

not following the thread so hope i'm not double posting. I searched the thread for freezer bag cooking and didn't find it. For light, packable, home made boil in a bag meals visit http://www.freezerbagcooking.com I have made some of the meals and i really liked them. They take up little space, are cheap and easy to make. The biggest reason for me to use these vs. of the shelf is it keeps my entire kit MYOG.

-Tim

As per Greg's REQUEST

BIG BULK recipes for SAUCES
Calorie dense, with salt and vinegar and spices added as preservative.
Revised by Mike C! (april 24th 2007)

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middle eastern:
2 cups tahini
1 cup olive oil
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup falafel powder
1 TB cumin
2 TB salt
1/2 bunch green onion (finely chopped)
1 cup basil or cilantro
1/4 cup chopped sunflower seeds
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup caramelized onion mix *

(add more tahini to thicken, or more olive oil to thin)

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pesto (non-vegan):
1 cup olive oil
1 cup parmesan
1 cup Ramona
3 cups fresh basil (chopped)
1/4 cup crushed garlic
2 cups sundried tomato (chopped)
1 cup walnuts (chopped)
1 cup sunflower seeds or pine nuts
1 tbs salt
1/2 tbs pepper
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup dry italian spice

(Add more parmesan to thicken, or more olive oil to thin)

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thai peanut sauce:

2 cups peanut butter
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup soy sauce/tamari
1/4 cup veg. oil
4 cloves crushed garlic
1 TB curry paste (green)
1 TB brown sugar
2" piece fresh ginger (shredded)
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts)
1/4 cup hot sauce
1/2 cup caramelized onion mix *

(add more peanut butter to thicken, and more oil to thin)
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indian spice:
1 fresh chopped jalapeno
1/3 cup fresh ginger
6 cloves crushed garlic
1 cup coconut oil
1 TB nutmeg
4 TB garam masala
1 teas cayenne
1 bunch cilantro
2 TB salt
1 TB falafel powder (garbonzo powder)
1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup Shiraka (sp?) chili/garlic hot sauce

blend and simmer 10-15 minutes

(add more falafel/garbonzo powder to thicken, or more oil to thin)
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MOLE:
2 cup tomato paste
1 cup olive oil
6 dried guajillo chilis (chopped)
2 cups almonds (chopped)
1 TB oregano
1 TB pepper
1 teas cloves
1 cup caramelized onion mix*
2 cups raisins
2 TB cinnamon
2 TB salt
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup peanut butter
(simmer 30 minutes)

after simmering blend with:
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup Shiraka (sp?) chili/garlic hot sauce
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*caramelized onion mix
(this is a very flavorful paste that can be added to several recipes)

Fill a big skillet with finely chopped onions, add a LOT of veg. oil. Simmer uncovered for an hour on low heat. Stir often, add salt & pepper. The end result will be a thick brown oily paste. The water in the onions will totally boil off, and it will be replaced by the oil.

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Thank You Mike C!

It won't take much to cut them down to a reasonable quantity.

I now stand a chance of making and trying some of these.

Bon appetite.

I'm not a fan of Top Ramen – it just never felt filling or satisfying – so I experimented with Knorr (Lipton) Pasta/Rice Sides. They're pretty tasty (Alfreado Primavera, Stroganoff, New Orleans Rice, Cheddar Rice etc.) and about 600 calories per packet; if I add freeze-dried veggies and meat, then the caloric value goes up even more. For comparison, Mountain House dinners are also around 600 calories per pouch on average, but nothing needs to be added. Originally I would add a small (5 oz) tin of ham or chicken to the pasta, which added about 250 calories, but after a while I decided the weight penalty was too great and it was well worth it to opt for the more expensive freeze-dried diced beef, chicken, etc.

Another critical refinement was learning about freezer bag cooking from Sarah Kirkconnell (check out her site). Now, instead of simmering the pasta for ten minutes, using lots of fuel and dirtying a pot, I just boil some water on my superlight Esbit stove, pour it into the freezer bag/cozy with the pasta mix, and wait ten minutes while I relish the thought of not having any dishes to wash!

Anyway, experiment with all the variety of dried products at your local supermarket. You'll find dried refried beans, hummus, fish flakes, soy meat substitute, vegetables etc.

Happy trails!

Mike, thanks so much for posting a few of your sauce recipes! Do you have a sense of how well they might keep? I'm doing the JMT this summer and wonder if I can use these in my resupply box that is mailed to Muir Trail Ranch. I'm guessing that box will be mailed off to Muir Trail Ranch 4 weeks before I pick it up. Thanks!

I'd like to try these, but don't want to make a quart at a time.

Is there a "small quantity" version posted anywhere?
Are they perhaps in Mike's book?
Links?

Thanks.

Although when hiking calories are great as you are using alot of energy, my focus is primarily on protein/ gram. Our apetites are regulated by our protein intake, not carb/fat intake (think of how many eggs you can eat vs how much pasta you can eat). Therefore if you have adequate amounts of protein in your diet you can take relatively little food and still feel full.

You obviously still need to take carbs/fats for an easy source of energy but to me proteins are always going to be the main things to look for. There are obviously many views about nutrition, but this is what my thesis focused on, so I am probably fairly biased.

For an intro see: http://eureka.australianmuseum.net.au/9D1CCFC4-9577-71BA-7A38583EE03EC6C2?DISPLAYENTRY=true

Brooks, RC, Simpson, SJ, and Raubenheimer, D 2010. The price of protein: combining evolutionary and economic analysis to understand excessive energy consumption. Obesity Reviews 11: 887-894.

Like I said….

I'd like to try these, but don't want to make a quart at a time.

Is there a "small quantity" version posted anywhere?
Are they perhaps in Mike's book?
Links?

Thanks.

Monty (or anyone else),
Did you get Freezer Bag Cooking to work with the Lipton Alfredo or Rice ? I always get noodles and rice that are still a tiny bit crunchy, and alfredo sauce that won't get creamy.
Thanks.

Packit Gourmet has some of the best tasting dehydrated meals I’ve ever tasted. The Beef Stew and Tortilla soup are my favorites. However, EVERYTHING I have tried from there was great. Just to get started I’d suggest getting one or two meals from them and try them out.

I blend Nido, walnuts and maple and brown sugar oatmeal packets in a 1500+ watt blender so it is smooth. Carry a small Ziploc twist top container and just add water on the trail. Could also add some dried fruit, although I haven't tried it yet. Pretty easy to get to 1000 calories with 2 packets of oatmeal and enough nuts.

I checked out each of the food links in the previous posts and I cannot believe the amounts of sodium in these things!! As a serious question; do they really need all of that? My own dehydrated food has nowhere near that much and of course the shelf life is less than 200 years.

I've learned so much from BPL and the forums about making every little thing count but it seems like the manufacturers of the food aren't on that same page.

Bob

"As a serious question; do they really need all of that?"

Probably not, but they feel that they need to keep the sodium high to keep the perceived flavor high, which leads to higher sales. Most people don't read food labels, anyway.

That's why lots of us prepare our own dehydrated meals.

–B.G.–