Which backpack meals to use

[dzlfarmboy]

For my recent elk hunt this is what I used and thought it worked well

Breakfast- instant oatmeal and Swiss miss

Lunch- clif bars or granola

Dinner- mountain house meals( pretty tasty for what they are)

 

[Mike 338]

I like home cook'in. In the winter, I dehydrate various hamburger helper meals/chili..., seasoned the way I like them, vacuum seal them and toss them into the freezer so they're ready to go whenever I need them. I stick the food in a freezer bag left unsealed and then then the vacuum bag sealed around that. Dehydrated food takes longer to re-hydrate than freeze-dried. When preparing tonight's dinner, I add some water to tomorrows dinner in the freezer bag and zip it up and it's perfect when I need it the next day. Instant oatmeal for breakfast along with a fist full of dehydrated blueberries. I pack P-n-J along with trail mix and some apples for lunch which is heavy but I like it. You can dehydrate fruit rolls for snacks as well. You can get all the calories you want from your own cooking with your own dehydrated meals.

Experiment in advance. Some food don't re-hydrate well like corn and eggs.

 

[Tikkamike]

I have used mountain house and back packers pantry.. I will never buy back packers pantry again. mountain house is much better.. I have also eaten my share of MRE's and they arent bad but mountain house is better if you have a jet boil

 

[Timber338]

Breakfast is oatmeal and coffee maybe a protein bar if I can stomach it. lunch is peanut butter and honey on bread. I shop around for the most protein/calorie dense bread. For snacks before/after lunch i have power bars and mountain house blueberry granola. Then dinner is mountain house. My two favorite "flavors" are mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes with chicken breasts. I usually stock up on those and then alternate each night. mac and cheese has more overall calories while the mashed potatoes and chicken has more protein.

Then I leave several extras mountain house dinners at the truck as well as LOTS of other food. apples, bananas, chocolate milk... stuff that is great but too heavy to pack in at the start of the hunt. Then once I get an elk down and am making trips to the truck with quarters, I bring extra food back down to camp. I really like the 4-person serving bag of beef stew by mountain house. I burn more calories than an averaged sized person because of my size, so getting in enough calories is always a challenge. I have come to realize that I don't need to replace every calorie I burn, and that is not realistic anyways. I know I'm going to lose about 5-10 pounds over the course of 7-10 days and then just eat like a horse once I get back home.