Meal replacement shakes.

[Alexander S]

Has anyone tried those meal replacement shakes? I’m trying to work out ways of managing and lightening bulk and weight for those last, unsupported 110 JMT miles.

My thinking is that I could replace some of my breakfast and/ or lunch with replacement meal powder to make everything fit into that 440 cu Bear Vault.

Anyone tried these on a longer hike? Liked them? Can recommend a brand?

Thanks, Alex

[Matthew / BPL]

I cannot recommend a brand but I saw many people on the JMT last summer who had one or two meals a day in shake format. One guy had a small bag of peanut M&Ms and he’d add one to each shake as an edible shaker-ball to help break up and clumps. He used a bodybuilder shake from GNC that provided about 500 calories iirc in a snack sized ziplock baggie.

Same dude also had a bag of crushed triscuits and macadamia nuts that he would dump into a foil pack of tuna with some olive oil at lunch each day. He was a thinker.

I’d like to hike the JMT using a smaller bear canister next time. I’ll definitely be using both of these tricks along with a liberal dose of fats.

Are you a member of the Yahoo JMT group? John Ladd has tons of great information about food and nutrition in their massive library of PDFs. Good stuff.

[Alexander S]

Thanks,

That’s more or less what I was thinking, – a high calorie GNC body builder shake to take some bulk / weight out of the 2-3 days I may not fit into the vault. I never drink anything like that so i have no experience with it.

I may cheat and send my Ursack to the last resupply point for the overflow (if there is overflow). Ken at the general story at Yosemite Valley sez that bears are mostly devoid in the last higher elevation stretch anyways.

I just got added to the JMT Yahoo group and I’m still figuring out how to navigate it.

[Matthew / BPL]

Yeah the Yahoo Group system is a nightmare but it’s worth it. The JMT Facebook group is full of great information as well but the signal to noise ratio can be frustrating at times.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

The voice of sanity here:

Just be aware of the ingredient list. Otherwise you could be eating a lot of isolated soy or golden pea protein.

But also, just because it is compact doesn’t mean you will even like it. If you con’t shake it well, those drinks are nasty. You need a shaker ball to break up the clumps. You will smell the drink out of your pores when you sweat. You will probably fantasize about crunchy foods……

[Matthew / BPL]

Sarah is right. I got very bored of Larabars and Honey Stinger Waffles on my JMT thru. I will take less of those and more sunflower seeds and sesame sticks next time. I think shakes are a good idea but don’t rely on too many of them.

[Alexander S]

Well the other thing is that I don’t really want to buy a giant can of GNC shake to make meals for just a few days worth.

I’m not even a fan of shakes in the first place but the image of my 50L pack trying to fit a Bearvault 450 plus 3-4 more days of food is making me anxious. I could dip into Independence and pick up a USPS package but I don’t want to lose a day or the immersion.

[Matthew / BPL]

1. How many days of travel are you planning for from MTR to WP?
2. In the end, food is always 4 cal/gram for protein or carbs and 9 cal/gram for fat. I realize your constraint may be volume more than weight but there is a relationship between the two. You may want to think about more fat rather than protein shakes. The answer may be peanut butter and salami.

[Alexander S]

thanks Matt/Sarah,

I was thinking about 8 days from the ranch to WP. In the past I have “easily” fit five days into my ursack alone so the bear vault may actually be enough anyway as it has a slightly higher capacity in volume.

This is why I was thinking that I could get both the lower bulk as well as the higher calorie density in a shake. They make them for cancer patients and anyone wanting to gain weight. In the end I will prolly just pack more carefully than usual and see how it goes with the bearvault 450.

How many days did it take you on that stretch? What was your food strategy?

[Quin P]

Hi Alex,

I’ve tried a bunch of different meal replacement shakes in the backcountry and so far haven’t found anything that really does the job. Most of the stuff out there is loaded with saturated fat, or tastes just down right awful! Doing some research, there’s a new meal replacement shake from a company called xxxxx that seems to be personalized to an individual’s body type and activity level. Excited to try it out and will let you know how it goes!

-Quin
—————————
First posting from Quin. Relationship to xxxxx company unknown. Enquiries made.
Roger Caffin
Online Community Monitor
BPL

[Tom K]

Consider creating your own shakes from basic building blocks.  You can use various protein powders, Nido dried milk, and maltodextrin to supply protein and carbs, then supplement it with real food like nuts, dried fruit, and granola  to supply fat, fiber, phyto nutrients, and “crunch”.  It is easy to come up with a daily calorie count of 2100 calories in a compact package of 17-18 ounces.  For the mileage you mention, I could get it all in a Bearikade Scout for 8 days.  It’s also a lot cheaper.

[Greg Mihalik]

“.. the image of my 50L pack trying to fit a Bearvault 450 plus 3-4 more days of food is making me anxious.”

It makes me curious. You intend to put your Pack in the BV?

[Aaron S]

I’m not sure if shakes are the answer or not, but I will say that Shakeology has single serve samplers hat taste pretty good and are packed small.  FWIW I don’t bring them with me, but it might work for you.

[Quin P]

I guess the real problem taking up all the space in my pack is the BV itself. Does anyone have a solution besides sticking it in their pack and taking up 40% + of the volume? None of the BV straps out there seem to properly fasten it to the outside.

[Larry C]

I use USANA Nutrimeal shakes. Since they are “meal replacement shakes” and not “protein shakes” they have a better balance of carbs, proteins and fats. Plus, they taste really good. They come in single serving pouches or a 9 serving bag. Sometimes I double up or fortify the shake for more calories.

[Ben H.]

I agree, strapping the bear can outside of the pack is a better, more efficient, use of your pack.  The BV500 has some grooves that make strapping it down easier, but the BV450 is too squat to effectively strap it down.  They sell cloth containers with attachment points but that sounds like it would end up heavier than just sticking it in your bag.  Lighter1 and BearBoxer small models have the form factor for easier strapping but they have less capacity than the BV450.

[Alexander S]

Thanks all.

I’m really liking the USANA Nutrimeal idea to add for a meal or two and I may add this on my Wind River range push.

I ended up fitting all of the last eight days of food from MTR to Whitney into my BV450 but it. was. really. tight.

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