than ten days Increase the proportion of dehydrated or freeze-dried foods, or arrange for food resupply.
On longer expeditions, the types of foods you can carry become more limited. You may need to supplement your diet with vitamins and minerals to make up for nutrients that you may not be getting.
One of the things to think about in your menu planning is how you are going to cook. Are you bringing a stove, cooking on fires, or not cooking at all? If you have a stove, is it designed for extended cooking, like the MSR Whisperlite, or just to boil a small amount of water, like the Ezbit stove or the JetBoil? If you are going ultralight and have a simple “boil a cup of water” stove, then you are limited in the types of food you can cook (more prepackaged things like instant oatmeal, ramen noodles, and good old mac ’n’ cheese). Knowing how you are going to cook is a key factor in deciding what foods you are going to bring.
The one-pot meal approach is used by lots of hiking travelers. By planning your meal around the ability to cook it in one pot you can decrease cooking time and reduce the amount of fuel needed, another important weight factor for you ultralighters.
You can be much more creative with a multipot meal, but it also may require multiple stoves. Also, think about the activities of the trip. For example, on a winter camping trip where you may be having to melt snow for water, you may need a lot of your fuel and time for that task, so a quicker one-pot meal may be best.
You understand what a good diet is and how many calories each person is going to need. But how are you going to carry all that? For three-season back-packing, assume that each person needs about 2 pounds (0.9 kilograms) of food per day (this increases in winter). You need to plan your menu with the weight of the food in mind. On some trips, like a rafting trip, weight may not be an issue. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Some foods are lighter than others, and packaging, especially cans, adds weight.
Fresh foods, such as fruit or vegetables, are heavy because they contain water, but they provide a welcome treat on the trail.
You can save weight by eliminating the water carried in foods. For example, carry dried beans instead of canned beans, which contain water. Beans, chickpeas, and black-eyed peas require soaking. You can rehydrate them on the trail by placing them in a full water bottle overnight. Once soaked they will be rehydrated and ready to cook. (This also decreases the cooking time and saves stove fuel.) If you plan to rehydrate, think about water availability on your route. The other way to rehydrate beans is to place them in water, boil them for two to three minutes, and then let them soak for at least an hour. The longer the beans soak, the softer they get (but don’t soak more than 24 hours).
TRICKS OF THE TRAIL
Freeze-dried foods Cooked or fresh food is frozen and then the water is allowed to sublimate off. This removes about 99 percent of the water and leaves most of the nutritional value.
Dehydrated foods Dehydration is a process using heat to evaporate water slowly. About 90 percent of the water is removed during the dehydration process. Some nutrients are also lost. Dehydrated foods can take longer to cook, which adds weight back into your pack in terms of extra stove fuel.
Both freeze-dried and dehydrated foods save on weight but require significant amounts of water to rehydrate. In situations where water is limited, these foods may be a problem. Whenever you are thinking of packing prepared freeze-dried or dehydrated foods, try them out at home first. You want to know that you will like the taste and know how much it actually makes. It may say it feeds four, but after a long day of hiking, it might only feed three.
Plan your meals to use the heaviest items first and then move to lighter-weight items at the end. This way you will quickly reduce the amount of weight you will be carrying.
You can feed yourself pretty cheaply on the trail. Dried and freeze-dried foods are lightweight, but you pay more for someone to do the processing. If you have the time, you can dehydrate foods yourself with a food drier.
This is important in terms of weight and minimal impact. (See “Leave No Trace Hiking and Camping.”) Glass, cans, and foils should be avoided as much as possible since they add weight and must be packed out. Glass containers are obviously unwise to carry in a backpack, unless, for example, you want to scrape the honey off the inside of your pack. A simple way to repackage any food is to use sealable plastic bags such as Ziploc or plastic bags tied with loose knots at the top. Double-bagging is important with powders and grains to prevent leakage if one bag tears. Spices often can be purchased in small plastic containers. Whenever possible, bag all the contents of a meal together and label it “Lunch Day 2,” “Dinner Day 3,” etc. Another approach is to put food items in separate stuff sacks—breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Leave No Trace camping begins at the store. The idea is to be environmentally conscious when buying items by evaluating the packaging of different foods and brands.
Reduce the amount of packaging you buy by buying in bulk. Choose items that are bulk packaged rather than individually wrapped. Many local supermarkets and health food stores sell items in bulk, which you can repack on your own. This can also reduce your costs.
Recycle all cardboard, glass, and other original packaging when you repack your food. Look for food brands with recyclable packaging.
Reuse After a trip, plastic bags that have no holes can be washed out and reused. Other containers are reusable, too (e.g., a plastic peanut butter jar). Tupperware or other plastic containers can be reused.
On longer trips, and even short trips in hot weather, it is usually not possible to carry fresh foods or meats for very long because of spoilage. Here are some guidelines for how long different foods will keep:
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits stay fresh for different lengths of time. Harder fruits like apples, oranges, and tangerines are best. If you buy softer fruits like pears, peaches, or nectarines, buy them before they ripen and let them ripen on the trail. Avoid putting easily smushed fruits like bananas in your pack unless you are very brave. Think about using items that are in season or grown locally over items that are brought in from far away. Reducing the impact of what we buy and where it comes from is another part of the Leave No Trace ethic.
Carrots, potatoes, garlic, onions, and other root vegetables can keep for two to three weeks.
Dried fruits last for months.
Cheeses and Dairy
Note: The ability of cheese to keep unrefrigerated for extended periods of time is primarily based on the moisture content of the cheese.
