First multi day hike

[wildernesswanderer]

Finally getting away for out first multiday hike, and just about have everything planned except or food. Any good books, ebooks or websites that talked about planning, what o take etc etc. don't have a dehydrator...yet and ont want to buy the camping store over priced food either.

Any tips greatly appreciated

[Tortoise]

How many days? Will you have any food drops? That makes a fair difference, especially getting enough protein on long walks. But these days you can get protein powder drinks from supermarkets that seem to be on special quite often - i tend to take that now as some of my emergency food.

I only had a quick look, but i think there's a fair bit of info on this forum re stuff you don't need a dehydrator for. It's just a bit tedious finding it if you're not particularly good at searching (like me!)
You don't have to buy expensive stuff from the camping shop - unless weight is crucial. No, even if it is! Tried it once. That was enough for me, tho others keep buying it

I'd be looking for a dehydrator if you have enough time. A second hand one I bought years ago is still going - one of the best things I ever bought.

[wayno]

dried fruit
nuts
seeds
rice
lentils
chocolate if the weather isnt too hot..
muesli bars
museli
milk powder
salt

[Pongo]

Without a dehydrator it can be pretty hard having meat on the trail. To remedy this find a local italian deli and pick up a stick of cacciatore salami from them. This stuff will keep quite well (it's stored unrefrigerated). It's not dehy, but it's full of fat and protein so makes for good hiking food imo.

Peel and chop it and add it to your meal of an evening to bulk it up. Or have it with cheese and crackers for lunch. For a quick and easy packet job, add it to powdered mac and cheese with whatever dehy veg you can get your hands on.

[wayno]

bear in mind if water is hard to come by, eating a lot of high fat or dried food will increase the amount of water you need
takes four ties more water to digest protein than carbohydrate, ten times more water to digest fat...
dried foods like dried fruit, seeds, nuts will suck water from your body when you eat it...

[Son of a Beach]

I would highly recommend the eBook Food to Go. (NB: If you buy after clicking that link, I get a tiny commission, so I am biased).

It is an excellent resource for all food related issues for bushwalking, including dehydrating, meal planning, and much more. As a moderately experienced walker, I even got a few good tips from the book.

[geoskid]

Thanks for that reminder Nik, I had forgotten about Franks book. I just bought it from your link.
I've gotten into a rut with my walking food. I had started thinking about our food for upcoming NZ trip and wondering what to do.
We are staying with an Aunt in Dunedin for 3 days prior to starting the walks who is a great cook and she has a dehydrator
I think we are now sorted.

[wayno]

http://andrewskurka.com/2012/food-plann ... hru-hikes/

[Son of a Beach]

That's good to hear - and I hope it does help. My bushwalking food was not as completely bland or freeze-dried as what some people have, but I did used to struggle with ideas for variety. Since reading that book along with other ideas from these forums and modifying some of our usual 'home' dinner recipes for the bush, my bushwalking food has improved out of sight.

For some examples of how my bushwalking food has changed, see this topic. Some people may even appreciate some of the meal ideas from that topic.

[wayno]

Thanks for that reminder Nik, I had forgotten about Franks book. I just bought it from your link.
I've gotten into a rut with my walking food. I had started thinking about our food for upcoming NZ trip and wondering what to do.
We are staying with an Aunt in Dunedin for 3 days prior to starting the walks who is a great cook and she has a dehydrator
I think we are now sorted.

in NZ? huhu grubs, and fern root

[geoskid]

in NZ? huhu grubs, and fern root

I tried witjuti grub when living in Alice Springs, apparently similar, and the taste was fine, just the explosion of goo on first bite was hard to take to. I'm certainly no Bear Grylls.
The restaurant at the resort I worked at up there used to buy in Witjuti Grub soup in a can - did'nt go through much of it though.

[wayno]

or weta's. bear grylls described it as one of the worst tasting things he's ever eaten

[wildernesswanderer]

Thanks for the replys. We are going on a 5 day 4 night hike

[ULWalkingPhil]

Its nice if you cook them first. I never tried them not cooked.

[MartyGwynne]

measure out how much breakfast food you normally eat and bag up portions for your walk (one for each breakfast) - I mean cereal or muesli and add powdered milk.
Then work on lunches (again one for each day) dry bickies or wraps (your choice - but I find the wraps will dry out three times quicker when out on a walk as opposed to in the fridge) depending upon how hot it will be I will take a block of hard cheese (not tough luck but something like parmesan taken out of plastic wrapper and rewrapped in cloth or greaseproof paper and slipped in an unsealed ziplock bag) a stick of salami (the harder the better) I also like to take a whole continental cucumber which comes wrapped in plastic (I just love the thought of cucumber sandwiches being served for lunch...)
Dinner time - the most important in my opinion will take some planning (and some pre-trials at home cooked in your camping stove) easy no brain meal fillers are instant potato and cous cous (you can get ones from supermarket with all sorts of flavours added and are quite delicious - I keep some in the pantry at home)
Main meals can be made using salami as the meat part (if sharing with someone else then use a different one than you do for lunch) Bacon can be take along quite safely un refrigerated for the first day or two (just keep it out of the sun and if it is not looking good then don't eat it) if you can get some powdered tomato then that is good to make a pasta sauce with otherwise a couple of tomato paste sachets will do. You can add any amount of dried foods (veggies) either ones from supermarket or asian grocers.
You can dry your own food as per other threads here. I have walked with people who used commercial dehydrated food and were very happy with it (7 day walk).
For pasta choose the one which has the least cooking time (angel hair pasta takes 1-2 mins or even some of the noodle cakes or packets from the asian section).
Dried mushrooms are easy to source and if you like them are good to add to any meal - a suggestion would be a bit of a carbonara pasta. Packet cheese sauce dried mushroom bacon/salami and lots of fresh garlic.
there are a few instant puddings where you just add cold water or even hot water.
Make up a few bags of nuts berries lollies and chocolate along with a few muesli bars for snacks along the track.
I always enjoy a cuppa soup prior to main course.
Take some gatorade or similar sports drink in powdered form to give you a bit of a boost during the day.
Tea and coffee as required (I just take tea leaves and either make a pot of tea or just put the leaves in the cup) coffee can be instant (YUCK I live near Melbourne so love good coffee so take ground coffee and do it hobo style - add it to boiling water then turn stove off and stir and tap the side of the pot to let the grounds settle and slowly draft off a lovely aromatic cup of coffee add sugar and yum (oh add milk if you must).
Enjoy.
Marty

[wayno]

if you're going to use the sports drinks like gatorade, make sure you check the instructions, some recovery drinks instructions arent for when you are exercising and dont take into account extra water needs, in hot weather , i'd be careful about mixing to instructions, you may need to dilute it with more water. the more energy in the drink the more of the water will be used up digesting the energy and the less you will have to rehydrate
personally i stay away from those things, the sugar can spike your desire to over consume and over hydrate. best thing about water is you know when you want it, and you tend to know when you've drunk enough, just have it with a little bit of salt

[MartyGwynne]

Good point wayno I only use gatorade stuff when I am rather tired (or others in the group have pooped out) I do mix it rather weakly and generally take it back home with me.
I did not mean it to be a staple to be used every day. It is a good little pick up when the group is feeling rather tired we sit down and share something and then feel very rested and happy to walk on for the next bit.
Marty

[wayno]

its ok, you're among friends, you can admit your addiction to gatorade, there is help out there available..

[Onestepmore]

Miso soup is always our starter for overnighters, and I add dried peas and poo... mushrooms (you can buy these in packets from the same section in the supermarket as the miso packets). It already has small bits of dried tofu. It's a great quick hot drink while you muck around and organise the rest of your meal. Have fun - I'm still to do multiday walks, so will be interested in how you get on food-wise