Heart Healthy backpack food ?

[DWR D]

Looking for recommendations for hearth healthy backpacking food.

Low salt, low fat (especially low saturated fats)

Is there such a thing in freeze dried food?

thanks for you recommendations and insights.

[HkNewman]

For normal budgets, I’d say those flavored tuna (and now white meat chicken) pouches come to mind.  Think they discontinued the flavored salmon.  Also certain vegetables will keep for a little while (carrot sticks, etc..).

For breakfast barley based “Grape Nuts” for which I’ll use powdered coconut milk.

Once on a long trail for awhile, I start thinking calories, taste, and vitamins as the activity has been shown to be healthy in a cardiovascular sense.

Been looking for even healthier meals to at least start a trip with but just get advertisements.  I’ll be following this thread to get more ideas..

[Jason McSpadden]

My recommendation would be getting both of Laurie March’s books:  “A Fork in the Trail”  and “Another Fork in the Trail.”  One can learn a lot from her.  We’ve found almost all of her recipes and recommendations to be great.  Now, we basically make the meals we normally like at home (low sodium, high unsaturated fats, vegetables, grass feed meats, etc.) dry them, pack them and then prepare them on the trail.

[dirtbag]

You can also check out backcountryfoodie.com

Wildzora.com

Maybe Peakrefuel.com

 

[Bonzo]

Unsalted nuts should work.  I love a walnut/cashew blend myself, especially with dry Cheerios™, some very dark chocolate and home-dried blueberries.  All of that stuff is pretty good for you, and it’s so calorie-dense that you don’t have to carry much of it to help yourself refuel.  If you do have serious sodium issues, consider unsalted peanut butter; according to Harvard Medical, “Unsalted peanut butter has a terrific potassium-to-sodium ratio, which counters the harmful cardiovascular effects of sodium surplus.”

Packet meats will be good, quality olive oil is great for adding flavor to anything, powdered eggs are objectively superior to all other foods – 😁 – and I’ve found that I taste the mineral salts more than I taste table salt, so I can use much less for flavoring.  Ditto for soy sauce.

If you have a favorite vegetable, look into buying it in bulk quantities, dehydrated or freeze-dried; a few boxes of that kind of stuff can take you a long way if you package your own meals.

[DWR D]

Thanks for the replies. In order to focus down to what I am looking for:

* Hoping to avoid actual cooking, but I could end up doing that.

* would like to find freeze dried dinners that are low in saturated fats, cholesterol, and salt.

* some of WildZora selections work… some don’t

* Everyone has a different prespective and state of health. To me Peakrefuel is cardiac food… to be avoided… high fats, salt, and some high cholesterol… their focus seems to be on high calories, meat, and fat…. not my cup of tea…

Thanks a ton, keep the suggestions coming… and not only freeze dried dinners, but also lunch snacks? I pretty much have breakfast down: coffee and whole grain cereal with non-fat pow milk.

D

[Bonzo]

I’ll double-down on a heart-healthy trail mix for lunch.  That’s no-cook and simple to make, and you can tailor it to your taste.

Dinner: whole grains are a good go-to, if you can spare the time and fuel to simmer…which isn’t really “cooking” in my book.  Look into dehydrated sauces, as well; you can make stuff that’s almost entirely veggie-based and that also tastes wonderful.  I like making dehydrated chili from cooked beans and venison; add some chilies and alliums and you’re good to go.  That’s a just-add-water meal that always satisfies.

[DWR D]

Bonzo..

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll try the cheerios in my trail mix for sure… chocolate… hmm… saturated fats… a little would be okay, but with chocolate I don’t know when to stop :)))   better to just not bring it.

I also like the idea of dehydrated beans… and I can buy those.

Wonder if anyone knows of a packaged brown rice that is cooked and only needs to be hydrated???? Could mix with beans… and maybe some Pack it Gourmet freeze dried chicken breast… on a tortilla… yum…

Pack it Gourmet makes a “Many Beans Salad” that is delicious with zero saturated fats and 770 calories… too much sugar, but that’s probably okay when working so hard out on the trail… Would like to find more things like this… no cooking; just hydrate with hot water.

Wild Zora offers their “Summit Savory Chicken” that only has 1 gram of saturated fat… though only 350 calories, I have mixed in dehydrated beans with this and tastes great… again, would be great to find more freeze-dried means like these two above where I don’t have to cook at home or in camp…

Thanks for suggestions…

D

 

 

 

[Bonzo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll try the cheerios in my trail mix for sure… chocolate… hmm… saturated fats… a little would be okay, but with chocolate I don’t know when to stop :)))   better to just not bring it.

Just to clarify, I said dark chocolate.  70% cacao or more.  Lots of minerals, flavonols, antioxidants, and two-thirds of the fat in dark chocolate comes from stearic and oleic acid, which do not raise your LDL.  As far as when to stop…well, that’s easy: you throw a few small pieces into your mix, and that’s all you have.  It’s not like you can just pop into the grocery store when you’re out on the trail (at least not in most cases) to get junk food.  That said: do what’s best for you, because only you know what that is.

Wonder if anyone knows of a packaged brown rice that is cooked and only needs to be hydrated????

Minute Rice makes a brown rice, yes.  Or, you can cook and dehydrate any rice you like and then re-hydrate it on the trail.  Same thing, just much cheaper.

too much sugar, but that’s probably okay when working so hard out on the trail…

I’d rather have too much salt than too much sugar, because I can deal with too much salt with nothing but more water (and I may need the salt anyway).  Sugar is metabolized, no matter what.  The more important point, here, is that the absolute best way for you to get exactly what you need is to package your meals at home; I have to do that, myself, albeit for different reasons.  Most of the pre-packaged meals will be extremely high in salt, sugar, fat or other flavor enhancers, so if any one of those categories falls into your no-go list it’s much simpler to invest in a few basic staples and start packaging meals at home.   It’s also cheaper, because the meals that don’t use tons of the aforementioned are often extremely pricey for what you get.

Wild Zora offers their “Summit Savory Chicken” that only has 1 gram of saturated fat… though only 350 calories, I have mixed in dehydrated beans with this and tastes great… again, would be great to find more freeze-dried means like these two above where I don’t have to cook at home or in camp…

Looks tasty, but I can do a lot more with $12.95 than a single 3 oz. meal.  I honestly don’t want to afford to consistently eat at that price point.  Bonus points to them for not using a ton of additives in the food, though.

[BC Bob]

I have a dehydrator and make my own meals.  It’s not difficult and there are lots of good recipes out there.  Things like fruit, beans, rice, veggies, mushrooms, tomato sauce all dehydrate and rehydrate well.  Then you can control  the salt, sugar, and fat.  Add spices for additional flavour.

I also make my own granola.  Mostly oats, ground quinoa, raisins, minimal nuts and seeds — low on fat, no sugar or oil.

For additional protein, I sometimes add rice, pea, or whey protein isolate powders (the whey is New Zealand grass-fed).

To be heart healthy, I minimize nuts and seeds, avoid oil and powdered eggs, and use cocoa instead of chocolate.  (Although on backpacking treks I usually relax the rules to minimize weight and boost calorie density.)

 

[Bonzo]

To be heart healthy, I minimize nuts and seeds, avoid oil and powdered eggs, and use cocoa instead of chocolate.

That’s odd; all of those are on my dietician’s “good for your heart” list.  Well, good oils, at least.

[BC Bob]

That’s odd; all of those are on my dietician’s “good for your heart” list.  Well, good oils, at least.

They can be on a “good for your heart” list but that’s always in comparison to a less healthy alternative, eg. good oils are “heart healthy” compared to butter.  But even extra virgin olive oil is about 14% saturated fat.  Nuts and seeds are OK but in limited quantities — they are very high in fat.  Eggs are high in cholesterol.  And I forgot coconut — very high in saturated fat.

[DWR D]

Good discussion above… of course, the word “good” is in itself a relative term… how good? good for who(m)? good in what circumstances? good relative to what? Perspective is everything when it comes to relative terms. Are you 20 years old or 70? My perspective comes for an unplanned helicopter ride, 3 stents and a 12 week coronary diet class… the most important thing I learned from the class: don’t believe what is printed on the front of food packages… if it says “heart healthy” on the front of the package… read the back, read the nutrition section… often (maybe even most often) what is labeled ‘heart healthy’ is actually not even close. And be skeptical of ‘fad foods’ like coconut oil (actually high in saturated fats)..

I am starting to get the point about dehydrating you own meals… it’s just that getting away on backpacks is already so stressed with things to get done before going, I dread taking on yet another project in that regard… life is so busy it’s hard to keep up with things as is…

But maybe make it easy on me… give me a recommendation of a dehydrator and a backpack dehydrated food cookbook and/or recipes of your own… if I don’t have to spend the time to research these things, I would be more likely to give it a try…

Still, I think my preference would be to buy packaged ‘heart healthy’ backpack food if I can find it. I generally don’t mind the price… when compared to a restaurant mean, even the most expensive freeze dried food is cheap (and the view much better :)….

Thanks…. great discussion…

D

[Bonzo]

My perspective comes for an unplanned helicopter ride, 3 stents and a 12 week coronary diet class…

I try to be heart-healthy with the majority of my food, but my concerns are nowhere near the levels that yours must be after an ordeal like that; I think the absolute safest option for you is to make your own stuff that’s tailored to whatever you learned in your diet class.  That kind of info likely supersedes any info you’re going to find here.

Suggestions: there are tons of backpacking-food recipe sites and books, but since I don’t have to follow heart-healthy stuff the way you do, I don’t tailor my meals to that kind of thing.  I stay with healthy fats, healthy proteins, and not-too-much sugar if I can help it.  Jason’s suggestions above are a good place to start.  FlatCat Gear has some good suggestions as well, but they’re more cooking-intensive.

Dehydrator: Excalibur makes a great one.

[BC Bob]

It’s been a decade since I bought my dehydrator.  Looking at Amazon, I see they’ve changed quite a bit.

There are lots of newer books.  This one looks good.  It has advice on which dehydrator to buy.  The great thing about dehydrating is you can make the meals weeks in advance.

 

[DWR D]

Looked at The Dehydrator Book at the link provided by Bob…

Interesting: the author’s son has a company that sells packaged backpack food: Food for the Sole… Google it… some interesting meals…

Question: what is the difference between dehydrated food and freeze dried food? Would freeze dried remove more moisture and therefore be lighter weight?

D

[Bonzo]

Question: what is the difference between dehydrated food and freeze dried food? Would freeze dried remove more moisture and therefore be lighter weight?

That’s pretty complex, but a simplistic explanation would be: freeze drying can yield higher quality (texture, color, rehydration time, etc) at the expense of much higher cost.  Dehydration is simpler and much cheaper, but doesn’t always create the same quality as freeze-drying.  You can also get longer shelf life of the foods with freeze drying, but in practice I haven’t seen much degradation of quality on vacuum-packaged examples of either process because most people don’t exceed the shelf life of dehydrated foods (up to five years), much less that of freeze-drying (fifteen years, or more).  Freeze-drying does remove more water from the food and thus creates a lighter product, but the weight savings are minimal unless you’re calculating large quantities of one method against the other.  There are claims that freeze drying preserves more nutritional value than dehydrating, but I don’t know enough of the science to speak on that particular aspect of the comparison.  I will say, however, that the claims regarding freeze-dried foods maintaining the texture of the original food (once rehydrated) are not at all accurate.

[Jeff]

Last Summer, the BPL crew did a podcast on making your own food. It’s worth a listen if you’re just getting into this. Dave Swink talked about a sweet potato dish that sounded delicious and pretty healthy. One of the resources they mention is Backpackingchef.com, which I’ve found to be a great resource over the years.

You don’t have to buy the best dehydrator just to get started. We picked one up at Aldi for cheap and it works well enough. While making your own food does take a good amount advance planning, that’s at least half the fun for me. I also think the peace of mind of knowing what you’re eating is worth it.

[Paul Leavitt]

https://www.backpackingchef.com/

His cookbook and website are my go to when dehydrating my meals.  The techniques he uses are very clear and meals are tasty.  I usually pack chili and beans/rice/hot vegies/dehydrated lean ground beef,  and pasta/veggie/bean or meat dishes.    You have to decide what is healthy  and how much  you need of course.   It’s also fun to experiment.  You control the spices and salt content.

I buy dehydrated veg beans and soup mixes at harmony house. Santafe Bean company dehydrated beans are great.   Any rice you like can be cooked then dehydrated then rehydrated on the trail.

Excalibur 9 tray dehydrator is what I use.  Works great and stood the test of time ( 7 years and counting)

[Bonzo]

I have .pdf copies of those books; I’ve found them very useful, although I’ve altered the recipes here and there to suit my still-adolescent palate.  Venison-chili-mac FTW.

Also, definitely get the FlatCat cookbook if you want to do some more involved cooking/baking.  None of it is complicated by any means, but if all you’re looking to do is burn some water it might be a bit too much for you.  But… the deep-dish pizza is nomtastic.

[DWR D]

“Last Summer, the BPL crew did a podcast on making your own food. It’s worth a listen if you’re just getting into this….”

After listing to this podcast it confirms what a huge time commitment this is… I might get to it as a new hobby some day, but I think at this point I want to return to an appeal to you guys for leads on commercially available freeze dried dinners that are healthy… at least low saturated fats and low or no cholesterol… probably vegetarian would be closest to my needs…

Thanks, I love all the great suggestions…

D

[Bonzo]

I completely disagree that it’s a huge time commitment.  I pull out a recipe, assemble ingredients, and package up five or six at once.  In an hour I can have dozens of meals.  If I’m making ingredients I can spend about the same amount of time, and then box up the results later that day.  It takes less time than getting to my local hiking trails on any given day, and I only do it once every few months.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Soooo00…what is “heart healthy” depends on your doctor to be honest. High fiber, minimally processed, high in vegetables, etc – and what you can eat.

And your price point as well. This is huge. I wrote a post recently about prices….and it has been my top post since it went up.

https://trailcooking.com/2021/02/09/why-are-freeze-dried-meals-so-expensive/

You get what you pay for. You can buy meals ready that are healthier in general (Patagonia, Peak Refuel, Trailtopia, Heather’s Choice, Wild Zora, etc) that are reasonable and some even low in sodium. Look for those high in protein, low in processed carbs.

Fat isn’t your enemy, if it is a good oil. When you hike oil fills in for calorie density and helps with digestion so you don’t get bound up…..it also keeps you warmer at night.

With heart healthy go for as little sugar as you can. Sugar is really bad for us :-(

For brands, hands down, Wild Zora is the winner. It is meat, vegetables and some spices. Serve it over rice or quinoa if you want carbs. It isn’t cheap, but you are not buying CHEAP INGREDIENTS.

Or learn to make up meals and do your own thing. I can help you with that. I’ve been doing this for a very long time.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Interesting: the author’s son has a company that sells packaged backpack food: Food for the Sole… Google it… some interesting meals…

Food For The Sole meals are not half bad….they sell a sampler pack that is good.

https://trailcooking.com/tag/food-for-the-sole/ for the reviews.

[Daniel Oxnard]

If you really want to eat heart healthy freeze dried meals, what about just getting freeze dried veggies and simmering them with some spices and parboiled brown rice (low glycemic index).

And Sarah is spot on with the “Sugar is really bad for us :-(“. Not just bad, really really bad, especially in our sedentary society.

Drs. Mark Hegsted and Fredrick J. Stare were fundamental in our societal shift in embracing sugary garbage and denouncing fats, directly leading to obesity and diabetes which in turn lead straight to ischaemic heart disease (number one killer of human beings in the world).

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.html?_r=0

The cycle in a nutshell = excess sugar — weight gain and diabetes — bad knees — harder to move around to lose weight — weight gain — harder to move around to lose weight = vicious cycle that ends with ischaemic heart disease.

 

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