Resupply food – from supermarkets, a redcoat needs help…

Ed,

Hope all is well mate.

No doubt the locals will be along with advice.

Not exactly answering your question but I can highly recommend the scran from Pack it gourmet if you where looking to get some freeze dried meals sent to your starting town.

Best of luck with the trip.

Do you have this book? It includes info such as
The Planning Guide section (110 pages) is a collection of tips from previous thru-hikers on a variety of hiking topics such as: Route Choices, Transportation, Guidebooks and Maps, Permits and Identification, Navigation, Gear Choices, Clothing and Footwear, Trail Town Information, Advice on Trail Food, Maildrops and Resupply.
The Town Guide section (68 pages) has detailed information for 23 towns and resorts including: ● How to get to/from each town/resort ● Town Maps ● Maildrop Information ● Exactly what each town/resort has for resupply, lodging, restaurants, ATM, phone, internet, fuel, shower, etc.
Yogis books have great detailed info.

ed,
I haven't walked the CT but have re-supplied at a lot of American groceries. I think you can bring either stove fine with fine American re-supply food. Unless you're wanting to work a bit, most of the grocery re-supply works fine with just hot water in a pan.

Knorr works good because the wrappers burn quite well. if you can find (check ahead) the 3oz foil wrapped pkgs of spam, you're all but carried there for dinners. (but the spam wrappers will not burn completely in a small fire)

for full fat powdered milk (nestle Nido) and the spam in foil, it might be best to call around prior to the trip. these items have sketchy availability in some locals.

maybe one could use google maps and get an overvue of the town first , then sort of plan a route for shopping. might save lost time in town. a bit of effort and it might give you phone numbers for the food stores as well.

and Not to Forget, many Colorado towns have an informed, useful, and attractive lady working in the town's visitor center/chamber of commerce, and such places.
these woman know pretty much everything and are a fine source of local information.

I think you will be OK with either stove, provided the gas is a screw on type, not the bluett type.

Knorr sides are fairly pervasive…I often find these in refilling stations, though, variety is limited.

Lots of types of dried sausages, I prefer the mediteranian stuff. You can get a lot of different kinds, depending on the grocery you visit. Probably not haggis, though.

Dehydrated soups, dried beef, various bread/muffin mixes (fried in a pot works well) salami, jerky, spam, Knorr sides, are staples. Various "junk" foods have a lot of calories, around 160/oz. You can poke these packages with a pin to let out excess air. Sauce mixes are pretty good if you catch a trout or two, mix the sauce with rice, bed the trout on the rice and boil the water and let it stand till the rice is cooked. Lots of stuff you can cook, but hardly epicurean delights.

Ed,

I know nothing of CO or its trail, so I can't be of assistance there.

But if you're flying through DC at all either way, and want to take a day to see the sites here, I'd be happy to get you from the airport (any DC airport, including BWI), play tour guide for the day, you can crash at my place for the night (single malt included free) as long as you don't mind lots of dog hair, and I'll dump you unceremoniously at the airport the next day with a Pepto Bismol if necessary.

From Peter: for full fat powdered milk (nestle Nido) and the spam in foil,

If you wanted either of these, I can get them locally and ship to you in CO as well.

Doug

I think Peter's on to something the rest of us have missed. I bet they love Brit accents.

Yeah, there is nothing like strolling in with an accent and charming the ladies ;-) Hehehe!!

Speaking of charming ladies, Sarah's website, http://www.trailcooking.com, contains lots of recipes using supermarket ingredients. It's well worth a good look!

Everyone – thanks for the input, really useful; delayed reply as I have been in the hills :-)

Anna – the book looks good but at $27 postage I think I'll pass and stick with Mags guide..

Doug – that is a very generous and kind offer; Mike is more the Scotch man than me (although he was doing rather 'well' just on beer last weekend)! I think I'll probably be 'direct' into Denver (have to decide whether to go or not this week really), but might hit the East coast on the way back….I'll message you my e-mail address. Is Nido hard to find there?

I have been practicing my plummy vowels in anticipation of charming helpful ladies (there is always a first time)….

What type of foods would you prefer?

What % protine/carbs/fats? How about tuna and Salmon? How many hot meals per day, do you prefer vegtitarian/vegan/meat based protine?

A simple resupply could contain things like:

Oatmeal, granola, powdered whole milk

Energy bars, pop tarts, summer sausage, bagels, dried fruit, pasta, rice, beans, coucous

Olive oil, knorr sides, Lipton sides, pouches of chicken, tuna, salmon, SPAM, Vienna sausages, cheese, peanut butter, Gorp, snickers, payday bars.

Walmart even carried a limited selection of freeze dried meals in the spotting goods department in many stores.