What do you eat ?

[JP Hunter]

Hay guys,
I hunt a week at a time and freeze dried food gets old. I thought of MREs, but I don't like there wight. I know it's not that much a difference but when I'm hiking 15 miles in one ounce plays with my head. I use instant oatmeal for breakfast and trail mix, power bars.
Any suggestions of how to keep it light or something to brake up the monotony. I also us Wilderness Athlete vitamins and hydration supplements. I tried there Altitude pills and loved to results.


Thanks for the help
Joe

 

[bigsky]

I agree, I can only eat Mountain House for so long, then it gets old. David Long recommends in his book "Public Land Mulies" to bring flour tortillas with Deviled Ham on top of it... High in carbs and calories. For a powdered mixed drink I use "Emergen-C."

Bigsky

 

[kaboku68]

Power bars, Metrx Big Cookie Bars and Metrx Protein shakes

I am a big believer in powerbars, and Metrx shakes. They really help when you are amping up over high inclines and declines. They bring a sustained energy rush that lasts longer than typical gatorade and powerade.

I generally will have a power bar or a prohealth bar for breakfast so I can hunt without cooking and sometimes that early hunt can take all day.

I also am a firm believer in the power of peanut butter and pilot bread but I am a crazy Alaskan and this is power for the course.

Sincerely,

Thomas

 

[Coyboy]

Romin noodles, feather light.

 

[tscott]

We have our main camp at 8100 feet. The first of deer season I climb with pack to 10,000. I start equipped for a two days hunt. I'm not a big fan of bird food or freeze-dried stuff. For AM I eat some sort of power bars and down some water. I carry jerky, pepperoni, small candy bars and water to get thru the day. For dinner, I packed elk beer sausage and a couple of buns.[ I take some of those little packages of mayo, mustard and catsup that you get at fast food places ] I have a candy bar for dessert.
Oh, I forgot one of the most enjoyable things I pack up that mountain, red wine that I put in a empty water bottle. It smooths out the bumps so I don't need to carry up an air mattress.
Good Luck

 

[bigsky]

I also like using Cup-O'Noodles. They are lightweight and provide their own container. I stir some Tuna fish in (StarKist has small, flat packets) to liven it up. With a little Tabasco sauce stolen from a MRE. Baam!

Bigsky

 

[Dan 19]

Hay guys,
I hunt a week at a time and freeze dried food gets old. I thought of MREs, but I don't like there wight. I know it's not that much a difference but when I'm hiking 15 miles in one ounce plays with my head. I use instant oatmeal for breakfast and trail mix, power bars.
Any suggestions of how to keep it light or something to brake up the monotony. I also us Wilderness Athlete vitamins and hydration supplements. I tried there Altitude pills and loved to results.


Thanks for the help
Joe

I eat alot of Lipton Sidekicks while sheep hunting.They are very light,filling easy to cook and they have a great variety of flavors.
gun)

 

[Dan 19]

While backpacking for any animal, weight is the most important thing. Food is heavy no matter how you look at it. If you can eat for around a pound a day your on the right track.Lipton sidekicks are very light, taste good and have a variety of flavors.gun)

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Macaroni and cheese with the powder cheese mix. Kraft mixes up better. Oatmeal packets for breakfast. Use powder milk for the mac and cheese, and the oat meal. Lunches are heavier for me, various bars, trail mix, and some deer salami. If you are in an area where there is some fishing, bring aluminum foil, squeeze margarine, lemon pepper, and garlic salt. Use all the ingredients liberally, especially the butter, wrap up in the foil and cook in the fire.

Steve

 

[dogdinger]

i agree with most all the posters here....good food is a real issue... i swear i could not look a pack of raman noodles in the eye for years after my first sheep hunt....another suggestion i have found that works for me is minute rice. easy to cook, add some tuna or jerky, spice it up with any number of sauces that are light and packable. i also take some instant mashed potatoes along. a ziplock baggy full will make a fine meal...add some powdered milk in the bag and all you need is water. i always visit KFC the day before a backpack hunt and load up on condiments.....butter, grape jelly, katsup, etc.....the alum foil for fish or other critters is a real good idea....never leave home without my wrist rocket for grouse.....i always wanted to try to eat a whistle pig, but never have managed to get one when i'm in the mood. anybody here ever eat one? they eat grass just like a rabbit, prob taste similar. AJ

 

[Michael Eichele]

One way I have found to break the freeze dried blues is to eat only one per day and I add a bit more water and let them sit longer. They are much more appealing this way. Also up here it is usually cold, wet and the mountains are very steep. When youre this drained, a mountain house for dinner is a welcome treat after eating oatmeal, power bars and jerky all day.

Breakfast = 2 packages of oatmeal and beef jerky. Not mixed of course. I do not get very far on oatmeal alone but with some protien I am good for quite a while.

I dont ussually eat a formal lunch. I snack through out the day on jerky, power bars, balance bars, fruit and nut bars etc.....

Dinner = freeze dried food. I still typically eat jerky and/or a power or balance bar to suplement the freeze dried dinner.

I dont take any candy or other garbage. Strictly high protien and nutritious food. I stick to lots of carbs and moderate amounts of protien during the day for energy and endurance and heavy doses of protien and water before bed to recover from overworked muscles.

I take one freeze dried meal per night, two power bars per day, two balance bars per day, 2 bags of oatmeal per morning and one pound of jerky for every 4 full days.

 

[Topshot]

On most ultralight back pack trips I cook some meat before I go. I then take oats, bread, Vegemite and packet tuna.
This means I need no cooking equipment at all as all food is eaten cold.

If it is to an established base camp, way back in the sticks I take in as much food of all types as I can carry, everything not eaten on the first trip for the season is then sealed in a plastic drum and left there for next time. I also get my kids to pack food in for me to eat on other trips when they are at school. They hate to have go to school while the old man is out back packing for deer. ha ha.

I have done a few survival type hikes where I took one cooking pot and a 5kg bag of rice and nothing else to eat! I cought trout and shot deer to have with the rice cooked over an open fire. These are great trips and the pack is VERY light. But I tend to loose a bit of weight on this diet.

 

[silvertip-co]

Pls keep this thread going, I have never learned to eat good stuff in the high country and is interesting to see your responses. Even pbutter crackers get old( but now they kill ya).

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Pls keep this thread going, I have never learned to eat good stuff in the high country and is interesting to see your responses. Even pbutter crackers get old( but now they kill ya).

Unfortunately I think the more variety you put in the diet the heavier it will get. Purhaps doing the base diet for a week, and then throwing 1 or 2 dinners that are a "treat" to break up the monotany.

You could always get yourself a donkey and pack in 150lbs of food, and live good.

Steve