Ideas for no-cook diet on the JMT?

[Kevin Yang]

With a little over a month to go until I start the JMT (leisure pace, around 24 days). I'm entertaining the idea of not bringing a stove.

Reasons for this being:
1) I don't need coffee in the morning. Dry cereal, granola bars, dry fruits are fine for me as breakfast.
2) The only reason why I'd need a stove would be for freeze dry dinners, and these things are too bulky to fit in the canister for the final 10-day or so stretch from Muir Trail Ranch to Whitney Portal. I can't imagine fitting 10 of these + all the other food.
3) Less mess. No dishes to wash. Less trash to carry out (maybe).
4) Weight savings. I have a Snowpeak Litemax and it's weight + 2 canisters is about 17oz.

The food that I plan to take are:
– dried salami (lots of it, but worried about too much sodium)
– flower tortillas
– Quaker Oats & Honey & Raisins Natural Granola (very filling)
– Bear Valley Mealpack Pemmican food bars
– trail mix
– dried fruits

I think I'm OK with the sweet items. But I need ideas for more meat/salty stuff. Ideally I'd eat sweet stuff in the morning and afternoon snack. And salty stuff for lunch and dinner.

I've gone months in the past with bland weight training diets and for the most part I was ok with those as long as I can have a "cheat meal" once or twice a week. These I can have at Toulumme, Reds Meadow, Vermilion.

Any ideas, advice, objections?

[George Phoenix]

Hummus
Crackers
Jerky

[Mark Verber]

Off the top of my head I would add meats vacuum sealed in foil including tuna, salmon, and maybe the chicken… the chicken is kind of icky unless warmer. Numerous hard cheeses work. I second the recommendation of hummus. Several items like cous cous and ramon noodles are edible without cooking of you give them extra time to soak.

Other ideas on my recommended food page… including three links to other discussions about no cook meals which are a screen to two below the entry.

[Nate Meinzer]

very high calorie to weight ratio (about 4.3calories/gram). And delicious. Order online in bulk as they are pricey at Whole Foods, etc.

[Mike Clelland]

No cook meals require variety.

Take cheeze, and go to a heath food store and check out the very dense pumpernickle breads – or mana bread.

And – powdered milk and Emrga-C shaken in a water bottle is quite good.

[W I S N E R !]

Date bars!
I've been eating these a lot lately.
I use roughly 1 part mashed dates to 3 parts dry material- oats, chopped nuts, cranberry, whatever…
A good trick for keeping them from sticking is to roll them in sesame seed before storage.

[Dicentra OPW]

This is an article I wrote a few months back for ALDHA-West.

No Cook Ideas. :) Maybe you'll find something that works for you?

http://www.onepanwonders.com/stovefreehiking.htm

[M G]

Although it's more in the sweets category. Halva is a good one.
Flavored Sunkist Tuna with small mayonaise packets make for good tuna salad on tortillas or ryveeta crackers.But if you are worried about sodium some of those flavored tuna packs can be quite salty.

[Jonathan Ryan]

Cheese is a great idea Mike, what kind of cheese do you recommend that could last in a resupply container for a few weeks?

[Timothy Sexton]

For my JMT thru hike I will have gone nuts.
Trader Joes macadamia nuts 210 calories per ounce.
Peanut m&m's about 145 c/o.
Fried banana chips 149 c/o.
Anything with nuts is great and very high in calorie to weight ratio.
Chocolate is also a great option if you don’t mind it melting.
Slim Jims have 150 c/o.
Just look for foods that have close to 150 calories per ounce.
My nickname is the cookie monster so there is no way I will leave behind a 2 and a half pound bag of Famous Amous cookies which have around 145 c/o.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I love the 3 ounce packets of chicken you can pick up from Minimus.biz. Add in some dressing or a mayo packet and you have a great meal.

[Anonymous]

Chocolate. There is an infinite variety of flavors, and many come with nuts, fruit, coconut, etc, mixed in. Also, it is high in calories, and many varieties contain substantial fiber.
Organic Vegan Food Bars and Raw Revolution Organic Food Bars
are both tasty and healthy-lots of fruit, nuts, etc, ground up and formed into soft, chewy bars. Along the line of a Pro Bar, but in different flavors.
Crushed potato, corn, or multigrain chips. Lots of varieties, all fairly high in calories. If you crush them, you can get a lot in a small space.
Energy drinks such as Perpetuem to sip on the move and drip the calories into your system without bothering to sit down and fuss with wrappers, etc. I can go all day on the stuff.

[Lynn Tramper]

Jerky! Turkey, beef, chicken, tofu, venison all make great jerky. You can also dry flavoured tunas (if you have a dehydrator), and then rehydrate with cold water to make tuna salad etc…

Vacuum packed or wax enrobed hard cheeses are hard to beat. Throw in some dried salsa and you can make awesome burritos using rehydrated jerky, cheese and rehydrated salsa.

My favourite lunch: Salami and cheese on crackers. Yum. I cut the salami and cheeses into single servings and vacuum pack them so they aren't exposed to the air for too long. Add some hummus to the meal for an extra special lunch/dinner.

[Kevin Yang]

Thanks for all the great ideas.

Without refrigeration, how long does hummus last? What about sliced salami? How do all of you package the hummus?

I like jerky a lot, the only downside is that they are usually very low in fat so calories/ounce is low.

[Lynn Tramper]

You buy or make powdered hummus (freeze dried is best). It lasts *forever*, and rehydrates instantly in cold water.

Yeah, jerky is kinda low in fat, but that's what the cheeses and nuts are for ;)

The more fat in a salami, the longer it will last, so look for the highest fat choices. Individual servings can be vacuum packed or dipped in beeswax to prolong shelf life. How long it lasts depends on how it's packaged, but also how hot it is…I don't know if I would try to push it to 10 days in mid-summer??? Maybe plan on lots of salami and cheese for the first 5 days, then more nuts and jerky for the last 5 days. Lots of dried fruit, especially bananas and apricots, are needed to balance the high sodium foods with potassium. I often carry potassium tablets on longer trips for this reason.

[Mark Verber]

cheese I have used and found work for several weeks tend to be hard cheeses like Parmigiano-Reggiano (parmesan), Grana Padano, Swiss Gruyere, Cheddar, Gouda, and Monterey Jack. There are also numerous soft cheese that are pasteurized and then sealed which will last weeks (if not years) until you break the seal. I am fond of the jalapeno cheese sold at cost plus. I bit pricy, but adds a nice variety and goes well with salami.

–Mark

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Buy instant hummus and doctor it up with curry or lemon juice (and of course drizzle in olive oil) or just dry your own at home! It lasts a LONG time in that state (a year at least with no issues).
You can get shelf stable prepared hummus in single serving tubes as well.
Regular hummus from the store can be carried for a couple days as well.

[Lori P]

If you have a WinCo in your area, they have lots of stuff in the bulk section. Hummus, dehydrated refried beans, different flours, pizza dough mix, trail mixes, rice cracker mixes, cheap backpacker trail bars, bulk spices, candies, single bags of Stash teas… the selection is three or four aisles in the stores here.

[stefan hoffman]

I dont even try to mix sutenance and satisfaction. I just eat junk food and protein/sports drink mixes.

Sustenance: Meal replacement shakes or just GNC protein shakes w/o creatine or NaNO or any of that stuff. Langers frozen juice concentrate bottles make awesome UL drink mix shakers. Emergen-C (fizzy stuff) added to dry mix keeps it from clumping. Also, Yeast Plus or Brewers Yeast is a good thing to add for a wide range of vitamins.

JUNK: Dry Ramen….i eat the brick like a giant cracker with some of the flavor packet sprinkled on it. Cheeze Wiz and Wheat Thins. Tortillas with a little hot sauce. Canned tuna with lime juice added, either by itself or with crackers. And the thing i crave more than anything while hiking…Gummi Worms/Sour Straws.

[Dicentra OPW]

The brand of salami I buy is shelf stable. The name escapes me at the momment, but it is one that is infused with wine (which is what originally caught my attention). The one I'm holding is a Chianti salami, but there is Pinot Grigo and a few others too. Available at Trader Joes and World Market. In a paper wraper (remove). Good size for 2-3 days worth of lunches or dinner.

[Author]

Posts