Thanks for the vegan option ... as a WFPB Professor Emeritus in Medicine who is getting back into backpacking at age 70 I really appreciate you perspective.
my hiking and backpacking food includes, peanut butter, nuts, dates, dried apples, banana chips etc, oatmeal, granola bars, sardines, beef jerky, trail mix, beans, a little rice or some small packages of stuff like cornmeal mix, noodle fettucini etc, maybe a bit of candy something that prob won't melt easily. maybe a small pack of tortillas or bagels.
@@billdickson1142 Your an idiot. Sugar is essential to any long duration exercise, converts to glucose and is used for energy. You want quick digesting energy. Dumb boomer been doing it wrong his whole damn life.
Thank you! I follow the autoimmune protocol and it is nice to see that you have valued your nutritional value, calories, and taste in your pack; keeping yourself healthy, attending to your values, budgeting, and having tasty food. I really appreciate your video. Happy trails.
What I really eat on the trail: Breakfast: 5 double cream oreo Lunch: 60g salame, 60g swiss cheese, 100g piadina (like a tortilla) Dinner: 100g pasta 60g dried cooked beans+carrots+leek+tomato with olive oil and leftover salame or cheese Snack: 100g between almonds and m&MS, 60g chips Am I doing anything wrong?
Ad Astra , I would ditch the cookies. What kind of chips are they? Depending on that answer I might say keep or ditch. There are some good ones out there too. It comes down to personal choice though, so to each their own.
Aaron, my hat off 2 u !!! For myself I like a higher carb count at lunch but at times the trail ahead determined meal values. I'm a firm believer that food is a tool so use the right tools 4 the job at hand. I'm in total agreement with ur mantra. Education is a gift, pass it on 🙂🙂🙂 Thanks so,so much for your help and time for this and other videos of such nature
Tracy Kooken Thanks for sharing that the video was helpful. T-minus 53 days and we’ll be in our van full-time producing the content that’s been swirling around in my head the last two years. Stay tuned for future videos!
As a vegan, I tend to eat too many carbohydrates. Fat has 9 calories per gram while carbohydrate and protein has 4 calories per gram, so a lightweight calorie dense diet for backpacking will be heavier on the fats. Hiking will definitely burn the calories and a fat rich diet isn't bad as long as they're high quality fats, not artificially hydrogenated fats that have traditionally been found in snack foods.
I've only stumbled across your videos today and I've watched a number of them. They are really great with excellent detail. Having a plant based diet, I really value your knowledge with regards to nutrition. Thank you Aaron
I like really filling dinners when backpacking. Light food stuffs do not do it for me. Oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter in the morning, pitas bread with cheese salami and mayo for lunch and a nice dinner.
Got news for ya. Chicory, a huge component, in kind bar making, is of no nutritional value and generally leads to stomach upset. It's a cheap filler. You are eating garbage.
Diet is totally not the same as daily day life with individual especially in thru hike, some people hike with light load at 30 miles/day. Some people hike with 30-40 Ibs of load and hike about 10-15 miles/day.
Corbin Ky says Hi! And thanks for the video ma’am! I keto and have began my pursuit of the Sheltowee Trace hiker challenge come Jan 2021. Good to see recipes and ideas I can use or manipulate on trail to stay consistent.
So many AT thru hikers seem to be sugar addicts hiking like zombies to the next town or gas station for their next fix. Does all that walking really provide a good excuse for them to be pouring candy and cookies down their throats at the rate they are inclined to do? Seems it would be a good time to optimize health and drop excess weight for those who need to, not look for excuses to indulge in more garbage foods.
I Mari I like to compare thru hiking to other endurance activities. Cyclists, marathon runners, trail runners, etc don’t eat garbage. They fuel for performance. Thru hiking requires the same kind of fuel for the body to keep up with the energy demand.
I’m happy to see some alternative trail meals. I generally eat a very low carb/cal diet because I am pre diabetic and I have noticed so much of what many hikers eat is all carbs and sugar. I know that if I were hiking all day I would need to eat more carbs than usual but I still want to maintain a diet more similar to what I normally eat. Food for thought.
Yes, every person's diet is going to be very individualized, these are just some comparison ideas! I'm glad you have found something that works for you :)
Another great source! As a new multi-day hiker, I find I currently spend a lot of time researching meals. I would love to get to the point where I am comfortable with the cals/nutrition I pack in my meals and always having many days of prepped meals I can grab from the cupboard and head out the door.
That's exactly what our online recipes/meal planning service does for you. You pick and choose what you want to eat and it calculates the nutrition, weight and water for you. It also generates a shopping list based on what you choose. Our recipes are also designed to be easy to prepare and shelf-stable for at least a season so that you can have grab-and-go meals. I might be biased 😉 but our new site is pretty cool. If you want to take your food game to the next level, you can take the site for a 30-day test drive. backcountryfoodie.com Use coupon code: TH-cam20 for 20% off as a thank you for watching.
Any of the 3 is "ok" , but honestly in #1 I would ditch the cookies, honey bun, trisquits and cheese. #2 I would ditch the Fritos for better chips, and trade the snickers for a better chocolate snackbar. #3 I would ditch the cookies and snickers for something healthier that was still chocolate. All 3 could use some improvement, but they are ok. They are really individualized, so to each their own.
Another great video and I apologize for asking all the questions, not even sure you're still monitoring this vid. So you've come up with a nice healthy selection for your daily intake, you're hiking the AT and you start out packing say 6 days worth of your food. Now it's time to repack are you mailing out your homemade stuff for you to replenish every 6 days or are you now at the mercy of commercially bought food and how do you maintain your healthy eating then?
Thank you! We do mailed resupply boxes for our hikes. We're also putting together resources for healthier choices when resupplying in-town is the only option.
What does your menu cost per ounce when you add in the postage to ship it to your resupply locations? Your plan is fine for the first few days when you have food from home, but on a thru hike you can't carry the entire hike in food from home. If you aren't buying locally in the trail side towns, you have to ship the food from home and that isn't free. So it should be included in the cost.
Yup! Some folks use our recipes for just a few days, and some use them for their whole thru-hike! It definitely costs some money to ship out resupply boxes. Shipping cost will vary based on where you're shipping from, so its difficult to factor that into our recipe costs. Thank you for the feedback.
How long a hike can you do this for though? I presume you aren't carrying 2 weeks - 6 months worth of food with you all at one time, so how do you home cook your meals for a thru hike? I'm off on a 2-3 week thru hike next week, but can't see an alternative to buying food en route. I could prep meals for the first 3 days or so, but after that it would just get too heavy I think!
I did it for my PCT thru-hike! It takes some planning, though. I prepared meals and portioned them into resupply boxes and sent them to myself along the trail. We're also coming up with some resources for healthier resupply ideas if your only option is resupplying in-town.
Vacuum sealing is brilliant. I don’t know why I’ve been fussing around with ziploc bags this whole time. As a vegan hiker I also do lots of meal prep before going out mostly out of necessity. It’s super cheap since I buy things in bulk and then just pack it up into various recipes.
Backcountry Foodie ... Silicon bags are a good option for a day hike, but much too heavy for a long distance hikes. We sometimes reuse trail meal packaging for our homemade trail food, you just add water and eat from it and no need to do the dishes!
This is so awesome! I’m delighted to have discovered your channel and would love to hear further breakdowns for what you recommend for carbs / fats / proteins when expending lots of energy every day 😊
Apologies for the delayed response. Great suggestion! I actually have a livestreamed masterclass that I give about this very thing. The next class is on Jan 30th. Here's the link to register if interested in checking it out: www.eventbrite.com/e/breaking-through-the-wall-improve-performance-avoid-bonking-tickets-135888587423?aff= We have another class coming up towards the end of February about efficient meal prep at home and on trail as well as how to simplify the planning process.
haha! We're not exactly sure what we are now that we've been in our van full-time for almost two years. After emptying our storage unit in Seattle last summer, we've "lived" in Santa Fe, NM and then moved on to Grand Junction, CO and are now enjoying southern Arizona. Who knows where our "home" will eventually be. :)
It adds fat calories. The fat can be difficult to get in trail food other than nuts, meat, and cheese. The oil can make a meal have better "mouth feel." One of the dishes in Aaron's cookbook -- I think it's the parmesan ramen or pesto ramen (???) -- was *meh* without the oil but it's fantastic with the oil. If you're only doing hikes of less than a week, it's not going to be cold at night, and you're not already consuming a fair amount of oil, skip the oil. Aaron warns that suddenly adding all this oil to your diet can cause, um, gastric distress. ;-) But if it's going to be a cold night, that extra fat will make a difference in keeping your body warm all night.
hi🌷 Good job, they all look doable but how do u carry a 3 day supply of food & water, is there any room left for the tent, electronics & filter ? It wud take me a wk to eat that much food, guess I still haven’t found my real hiker hunger yet, my little dog did, was kinda funny!! u can cook for me anytime! 😊🐾
My recipes are specifically designed to be low volume so that I can carry plenty of food without using up a lot of pack space. It only takes a few days for my hiker hunger to kick in. Also, I actually look forward to eating my food (it tastes REALLY good) because I can't afford to eat such high calorie foods on a regular day at home.
The nose wipe to the left nostril and transference to left leg at about 7:30 without missing a beat was well done. But truthfully I'd have to be abandoned on a desert island before I'd eat any of that over packaged and processed stuff. My home prepared meals apart from high fat keto shake and coffee in the morning for a week weighs about 2.2 kg. But saying that it was a well balanced and very informative professional video with lots of appeal. Thanks
Haha! It was a cold day when this was filmed. We decided to leave it in because we kept having to stop/restart every time my nose started running. Glad you found the video informative. :)
Depends on what's included in your diet. For most vitamins and minerals, it's not too difficult to meet the recommended daily amounts if you eat relatively healthy while on trail. Using fortified foods like Carnation Breakfast Essentials powder can help because it provides a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. I use it as part of meal replacement drinks. Eating a wide variety of foods on trail also helps because you're not limiting the nutrients consumed. For trips under two weeks, a supplement isn't likely necessary. I would be more concerned for a thru-hiker that's eating only a limited variety of processed foods. Low iron and vitamin C can be an issue in this case. Hope that helps. BTW...Sorry for the slow reply. We've been in the process of moving.
Vegan here, attempting to thru hike the AT in April 2020. Almost all of my food is being sent in 5-10 day increments via drop boxes with few exceptions (Damascus, Roanoke, Charlottesville, anywhere that has a Kroger or Walmart nearby). Have been prepping all my own food and have spent roughly $270 on almost five months of food, including over one hundred (yes, I've counted) Lära, Clif, Luna, and Kashi bars which I've found on insanely good sales. Breakfast will almost always be instant oats with chia seeds and nuts chased by instant coffee, snacks will be an energy bar, vegan trail mix, powdered peanut butter on a tortilla with bananas or apples if I've picked some up in town as a little treat for myself. All of my dinners, with the exception of ramen noodles, are homemade using real veggies and have been dehydrated. High-protein vegan Mac n cheeze, chickpea curry, eggplant curry, lentil soup w/dehydrated tomatoes and spinach, mixed vegi soup with alphabet pasta shapes, high-protein pasta with sauce, rice n beans, and a dank veg chili with textured vegetable protein! There's a lot you can do with 10lbs of rice, dried beans, spices, and some research and creativity. If you're a fellow vegan and feel stumped on meal ideas, I hope my comment was able to help. Edit: If you don't have a dehydrator, using an oven or toaster oven set between 120-150°f will work just as well. It might be more costly and use more electricity, but it gets the job done Edit 2: if you don't have a Costco membership, you can get a Costco gift card without having a membership. Right now they've got bulk packs of trail mix, jack fruit meals, and coconut clusters that are vegan friendly and are great for drop boxes.
Haha! I like to think I'm nice. 😀 Hope this and future videos will help. Maybe check out our "How many calories should you pack?" video that we just posted last week?
I now prefer Aldi rice dishes - red beans and rice, dirty rice and Jambalaya, each with some crumbled Butler Soy Curls for protein. The Butler Soy Curls are a better tasting version of texturized vegetable protein (TVP). It's a great meat substitute, on the trail or at home. Available on Amazon, along with soy sauce powder, coconut milk powder, Real Lime crystals, dried shitake mushrooms, dried refried beans.... Butler Soy Curls also make GREAT vegan jerky using any jerky recipe, and it's a wonderful option for hiking if you can avoid eating it all on the first day.
Thanks for the video. I'm also a vegan/vegetarian, I'm starting my PCT hike in about 3 weeks. I prepared all my re-supply boxes almost the same as you. I feel a lot better now after watching your video. Wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing. I feel a lot more confident now, thank you.
Lyle Olson Do you have an Instagram account? Would love to follow along to see how your meal planning plays out as I enjoy learning from others. Have a great trek!
Yes! Since this video, I've switched to cold cereal with nuts/seeds, dried fruit, coconut flakes, and whole milk powder. Super yummy, easy to make, and nutritious!
For long-distance hikers, I focus more on meeting carbohydrate (minimum of 6 g carb per kg body weight) and protein (1.2 g protein per kg body weight) needs within the hiker's calorie goal instead of % total calories. Let's say the hiker plans to consume 4000 calories per day and weighs 150 lb (68 kg). Carbs: 6 x 68 kg = 408 g carbs x 4 kcal/g = 1632 calories/4000 calorie goal = 41% total calories from carb. Protein: 1.2 g x 68 kg = 82 g protein x 4 kcal/g = 326 calories/4000 calorie goal = 8% total calories from protein. What's leftover (2042 calories) comes from fat or 51% total calories from fat. If the calorie goal is 3000 calories, carbs and protein would be a higher percentage of total calories when compared to a 4000 calorie diet. Does that make sense?
Yes, I did my thru hike and I made 7 months of meals, which no one did in 2011... So I am obsessed with the numbers... this is great information. Please break more information down about the exact numbers overall... it helps to "digest" what functional fuel is being fed and flowing through the body, and how that works... BEST for you, but bottom line, we are all humans, and can take queues about digestive matters very well... Let's see some new stuff!?
7 months worth of food...that's impressive!! We've been slow to produce more content because our time has been spent adding new content to our ultralight recipes + meal planning platform. It's grown so much that we're currently building a brand new platform. We're also working on launching a backpacking food production business. We've been busy behind the scenes here at Backcountry Foodie. 😀 We have set aside time starting next month to hopefully film new videos. Will see if we can pull it off with everything else on our plate. Stay tuned...
Not really. After a full day on trail, I typically don't have the desire to cook. I just want to eat and go to bed. Most of my meals are freezer bag style and ready in 5 minutes or less.
Love all those different options, but I am missing some more environmentally aware packaging solutions - there is just way too much plastic everywhere ...
Sorry for the slow reply. :( Agree 100%. Since filming the video, I now use biodegradable zipper top pouches for my meals. We currently sell them in our shop, but our store will be closing soon. I hope to move them to our regular site next year after returning from my hike. backcountryfoodie.myshopify.com/products/large-biodegradable-stand-up-food-pouch
I’d really like to have much higher vegetable content. How to get that in? Also curious how to cut the fat down for myself, because at 67 I really don’t need it...I typically hike 10-12 miles a day, not pounding the dirt all day!
Eating the same quantity of veggies on trail as at home is certainly a challenge. Personally, I don't think dehydrated or freeze-dried veggies taste nearly as good as fresh ones. Instead, I look forward to eating salads and fruit bowls when resupplying in town or going home after a multi-day trip. You can certainly pack fresh fruit/veg and consume them on the first day but most don't hold up well in a backpack. To cut down the fat content: leave out the oil recommended in recipes, use fat-free milk powder instead of whole milk powder, use half portions of nuts required by recipes, reduce the portions of butter, cream cheese and/or sour cream powders called for in recipes. Similar ways that you would reduce fat calories when preparing fresh meals at home. Hope that helps.
I'm a little late to the game. Ok, two years late. LOL! We're starting to film videos again and are looking for topic ideas. Anything you'd like to see us cover?
6 days food in my pack weighs about 7 lbs for 5000 calories, using single serve tuna, spam, Twisted Flavor Co. 3.5oz flavored couscous packets, dehydrated mountain meals, peanut butter, protein bars, Epic bars, coffee, and ramen noodles. Your list was for 1 days food if I'm not mistaken @ 2.6lbs. If so, that means 6 days meals would weigh 15.6 lbs, double the weight of my food; too heavy for my taste, pun intended . Great video, short, informative, and to the point, I just think the supply list was a bit heavy for the calories.
5000 total calories for 6 days or per day? 5000 calories per day x 6 days = 30,000 calories / 7 lbs food (112 oz) = 268 kcal/oz. Straight oil is 240 kcal/oz. Based on the menu you shared, it's not possible to carry only 7 lbs at 5000 calories per day. Maybe a math error by accident?
I personally do not use beef because I'm vegetarian and rice/tortillas provide little nutrition for the weight. As a dietitian, I focus on maximizing the nutrition while weighing as little as possible. I prefer to use quinoa, lentils, chickpeas, etc in place of rice. Although, there's nothing wrong with those foods if they're foods that you enjoy.
Thank you for sharing even with is europeen peolole, interesting and helfull ! Little question concerning parmesan (great receipie you have !): isn’t it an issue to have parmesan with you in the trail ? I thought this should be kept in low temperatures (4 to 8 dégrées C). Flo
Hard cheeses, like parm, are safe to eat on trail without refrigeration. I've found that it's good for about 30 days (except when it's really hot outside). For meals that I prep well in advance of a trip, I leave out the cheese and add it when the meal is consumed.
Mike Healy Since producing the video, I’ve focused on creating recipes that use ingredients found at local grocery stores making it easier to prepare homemade meals while resupplying and for last minute trips when you don’t have time to order ingredients. The new recipes are included in our 175 recipes dashboard. The 75 recipes dashboard is based off of my original cookbook which focused on primarily large portions for my thru-hikes. The new recipes are for a wider range of hikers. backcountryfoodie.com/ recipes Thanks for subscribing and supporting our work! 😊
great video, as someone who needs to lose weight any low calorie lunch ideas for someone who is hiking just during the day, my hike is around 6 miles but I tend to do a couple of miles more on top
I'm not a fan of undereating while hiking to lose weight. IMO hiking is a sport and we should fuel our bodies like an athlete would. By not eating enough, you'll risk hitting the wall which isn't fun and can be hard to recover from. If you're hiking less than 3 hours, you really only need to eat a snack because your body should have enough carbs (glycogen) stored to stay well fueled. If you're hiking more than 3 hours, eating something every 60-90 minutes is a good idea.
I eat a Keto diet but on trail not so much especially dinner. I am still able to eat mostly keto but not 100 percent. I eat mostly store purchased dehydrated meals for dinner and for those most part I think things have worked out well. I have only done about three weeks on trial at a time so I am not sure how things would go after say four months or more. What does concern me is as an older person who is in very good shape and not having much fat on me to begin with is if I was to start losing weight that it would be muscle weight. Being in my 60s I really can’t afford that. Just something I think of. When I do hit a town I will eat an insane amount of food. Normally about every 4 or 5 days I tend to end up in town if only for part of the day. I don’t take many zeros.
Ideally, you should be able to eat enough every day so that you don't have to "binge" during town days. That way you're not playing catch up and your energy level will be more consistent. Being keto makes that a bit easier because the food is more calorically dense allowing you to fit more in your pack. Agree that being a lean hiker and losing weight will most likely be muscle weight loss which isn't ideal. Keeping up the calories will be super important.
You demonstrated what makes life so interesting , diversity/variety. Or as I liked to say before the foreign cars became popular... Everyone doesn't drive a Ford. Basically interpenetrated... Different folks , Different choices.
Chuck Littleton Exactly! No one diet meets everyone’s needs. My meal planning methods work for me but not necessarily everyone else. Thanks for the comment.
Chuck Littleton PS- You may not find our cookbook on Amazon when you go to purchase it. Had to take it down because the publisher’s print quality was subpar. I do have a few copies left for sale on our webpage. Hoping to find a new publisher ASAP.
I love both! Ghee can get messy quickly because it doesn't take much of a rise above room temp for it to soften. One of my favorite trail mix recipes: mac nuts, dried tart cherries, dried pineapple tidbits. YUM!
I have never understood this sentiment. Modern candy is disgusting and has way too much sugar. If I think its disgusting in normal life why da fuq would I bring it into the backcountry? Is it a peter pan never grow up kind of mentality or something?
It's been almost twenty years since I last worked with diabetes patients. Assuming they still recommend counting carbs and combining with protein and fat with each meal/snack... We do offer low-sugar (20 g protein, 60-80 g carbs, 5-15 g fiber and wide range of fat per serving.
I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan. But it is beginning to interest me, to improve my health and for the environment. So can you do a video on vegetarian options for hiking. I'm not interested in vegetarian or vegan stuff posing as meat. I do like a lot of vegetables and fruits, I enjoy humus. I normally do a high protein, carb diet. But for a through hike that's going to change
My oldest turned vegan, now she's just a vegetarian. But I took her to a local restaurant her in Portland that a friend told me about, called Native foods, all plant based. I had tacos that were delicious, I could eat them all the time, she had a breakfast burrito.
@@oo-rx8uz We make chickpea tacos at home that are yummy! Just mash up canned chickpeas and add taco seasoning instead of using ground beef. They dehydrate really well for a trail food option, too.
Anyone else notice that the percentages added up a bit off? 102%, 103%, and 99%. Shouldn't theses all equal to 100%? Not trying to be mean or anything, but my math OCD is doing epileptic fits in my head right now seeing those totals.
Can I get a video on protein options I need 220 g of protein a day a lot of the backpacking videos of a higher carbohydrate higher fat just looking for More protein options while fishing and hunting when I can’t cook
That is a lot of protein. Not sure when I'll get around to making another video but here are a few ideas to boost protein without adding a ton of weight/bulk - milk powder, egg white powder, chia seeds, ground nuts, nut butters, and freeze-dried meat. Things like jerky and tuna packets add a lot of protein but they're super heavy and bulky. I like to add it in where it's not so noticeable. Hope that helps for now.
I tried to go back and find it but it appears that he's replaced it with a more recent blog post. We're on our way back to Seattle to clean out our storage unit. I can try digging up my notes from the video and shoot you a message.
Great video! Thank you. Do you have Suggestions for packing food 3500-5000/day for 10 days. I understand it’s personal preference but was wondering what works for you? Do you pack each day’s food in one large ziplock or was that just for demonstration purposes? Thx!
I like to pack a single day's rations in it's own bag. That way I don't have to keep track of how much I've eaten (or still need to eat) over the course of the day. This also prevents having to dump out my food bag each night to decide what to eat the following day. The single bag of food stays inside my pack on top of everything else where it's easy to access. This prevents having to dig into my bear bag several times a day. Since filming the video, I've switched to using zipper top tortilla bags that I've collected, washed and reused instead of using gallon ziploc bags. Hope that helps.
It depends on how much food each person needs per day, and how many miles/day you'll be hiking! Thru-hiker standard diets are less calorie-dense, so you'll likely be able to hike fewer miles with the same lb/day of food as compared to UL backpacker meals.
Do you run out of energy before the end of the day? Do you get "hangry"? Are you not recovering well overnight and feel sore the following morning? Then, you might not be eating enough. Everyone's needs are very different.
check out Poshi by Velma Farms, they are vegan, no sat fat, gluten free, non GMO Fresh Veggies in a light weight sealed package, 1.76 oz ... I've had the green beans, asparagus, artichoke hearts, and cauliflower.... healthy, packaged well, light weight. yummy!
Heidi Hill Thanks! We just moved into our van full-time and will start creating videos about meal prep in the coming weeks. We’re still figuring out this van life thing. Lol!
I usually run from "registered dieticians" the state brainwashing and disinfo is almost as bad as that provided to doctors and dentists.... but did find some good info in your post. Keep up the good work,
Not being able to read the ingredients of your food.... but it still does not look that great. Here is a good book for you: smile.amazon.com/Feeding-You-Lies-Industrys-Playbook/dp/1401954545/
Joe Tittiger Couldn’t agree more! Not all dietitians are created equal as many preach instead of teach. I strongly believe in working with folks and their current situation versus asking them to follow guidelines that are oftentimes unreasonable.
I am a new vegetarian by choice. As I’ve began my journey I’ve found that I feel great plant based but as I learn more I’m concerned with being able to balance all the vitamins etc that I need. I’ve learned that vegetarian people are deficient in b12 etc etc.... any idea on a easy way to make sure I consume all that I need for proper health?? HELP!!!
If you're a lacto-ovo vegetarian B12 isn't usually an issue because dairy products and eggs provide B12. If a vegan, you might need to take a B12 supplement. Iron and zinc are commonly deficient because those are found in larger quantities in red meat. Plant sources of iron include: lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu, cashew nuts, chia seeds, ground linseed, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, kale, dried apricots and figs, raisins, quinoa and fortified breakfast cereal. Plant based sources of zinc: beans, chickpeas, lentils, tofu, walnuts, cashew nuts, chia seeds, ground linseed, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, wholemeal bread and quinoa. If you do a google search you will likely find a chart of some sort providing the serving sizes for each of these to meet your daily vitamin and mineral needs. If you load up on a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains you'll likely get everything you need. Hope that helps a little.
Postage can sometimes be equivalent to what folks have to pay for a taxi/uber to/from grocery stores. Food is also oftentimes more expensive in town as well. I think it works itself out in the end. I'll do a better job this season tracking how much I spend during my thru hikes and report back after returning. Stay tuned...
This is a relatively old video made when I first started tinkering with DIY backpacking meals. My diet has evolved with time to include less added sugar to reduce inflammation. As I get older, I don't recover as well as I used to.
I'm not sure which peanut butter you're interested in. The packets or PB powder for the drink. All of the ingredients that we use in our recipes are listed on our Foodie's Pantry page - backcountryfoodie.com/pantry The PB we use can be found under the Nuts section. Hope that helps.
Pinterest is a great place to search for dehydrated fruit recipes. We have a board dedicated to dehydrating food. Maybe you'll find something there? www.pinterest.com/backcountryfoodie/dehydrating-food-tips/
You're welcome! The recipe is also great for meals at home/work when you don't have time to cook. Pull out a bag from your trail food stash and the meal is ready in 5 minutes. Just leave out the oil to reduce the calorie load. Enjoy! :)
Thanks for the vegan option ... as a WFPB Professor Emeritus in Medicine who is getting back into backpacking at age 70 I really appreciate you perspective.
my hiking and backpacking food includes, peanut butter, nuts, dates, dried apples, banana chips etc, oatmeal, granola bars, sardines, beef jerky, trail mix, beans, a little rice or some small packages of stuff like cornmeal mix, noodle fettucini etc, maybe a bit of candy something that prob won't melt easily. maybe a small pack of tortillas or bagels.
@@billdickson1142 ok boomer
@@billdickson1142 Your an idiot. Sugar is essential to any long duration exercise, converts to glucose and is used for energy. You want quick digesting energy. Dumb boomer been doing it wrong his whole damn life.
Good to see that you're taking on some common misconceptions about trail food. Thanks!
Thank you! I follow the autoimmune protocol and it is nice to see that you have valued your nutritional value, calories, and taste in your pack; keeping yourself healthy, attending to your values, budgeting, and having tasty food. I really appreciate your video. Happy trails.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video. 😊
What I really eat on the trail:
Breakfast: 5 double cream oreo
Lunch: 60g salame, 60g swiss cheese, 100g piadina (like a tortilla)
Dinner: 100g pasta 60g dried cooked beans+carrots+leek+tomato with olive oil and leftover salame or cheese
Snack: 100g between almonds and m&MS, 60g chips
Am I doing anything wrong?
Depends how much gas you’re releasing the next day.
Ad Astra , I would ditch the cookies. What kind of chips are they? Depending on that answer I might say keep or ditch. There are some good ones out there too.
It comes down to personal choice though, so to each their own.
Awesome video! I would love to hear about the detailed nutritional comparison of the three diets. Thanks!
Hey Dan! We're finally able to set aside some time to film new videos. Any topics that you'd like to see us cover? More detailed nutrition content?
@@backcountryfoodie don't forget the marshmallows for roasting
Aaron, my hat off 2 u !!!
For myself I like a higher carb count at lunch but at times the trail ahead determined meal values. I'm a firm believer that food is a tool so use the right tools 4 the job at hand. I'm in total agreement with ur mantra. Education is a gift, pass it on 🙂🙂🙂
Thanks so,so much for your help and time for this and other videos of such nature
Tracy Kooken Thanks for sharing that the video was helpful. T-minus 53 days and we’ll be in our van full-time producing the content that’s been swirling around in my head the last two years. Stay tuned for future videos!
Traky boy , food is fuel.
As a vegan, I tend to eat too many carbohydrates. Fat has 9 calories per gram while carbohydrate and protein has 4 calories per gram, so a lightweight calorie dense diet for backpacking will be heavier on the fats. Hiking will definitely burn the calories and a fat rich diet isn't bad as long as they're high quality fats, not artificially hydrogenated fats that have traditionally been found in snack foods.
Thank you so much for sharing this. Tons of information in this video and some solid options for food that isn't just sugar and Mountain House meals
Glad you found it helpful. We hope that you'll find our upcoming backcountry meal planning videos useful as well. Stay tuned! :)
I've only stumbled across your videos today and I've watched a number of them. They are really great with excellent detail. Having a plant based diet, I really value your knowledge with regards to nutrition. Thank you Aaron
Thank you so much for your kind words!
I like really filling dinners when backpacking. Light food stuffs do not do it for me. Oatmeal with a scoop of peanut butter in the morning, pitas bread with cheese salami and mayo for lunch and a nice dinner.
Peanut butter on a Kind bar! Wonderful, Thank you!
It's delicious!!
Switch to almond butter my friend, easier to digest and doesn't cause inflammation.
Got news for ya. Chicory, a huge component, in kind bar making, is of no nutritional value and generally leads to stomach upset. It's a cheap filler. You are eating garbage.
Great job!!! So clear and orginazed. Helpful video!
Glad you liked it. :)
Diet is totally not the same as daily day life with individual especially in thru hike, some people hike with light load at 30 miles/day. Some people hike with 30-40 Ibs of load and hike about 10-15 miles/day.
Corbin Ky says Hi! And thanks for the video ma’am! I keto and have began my pursuit of the Sheltowee Trace hiker challenge come Jan 2021. Good to see recipes and ideas I can use or manipulate on trail to stay consistent.
Enjoy your hike! We'd love to know how you use our recipes- reach out with any questions!
Wonderful video, thank you for the specifics and look forward to your other videos
I'm glad it was helpful! Thanks for sticking around :)
So many AT thru hikers seem to be sugar addicts hiking like zombies to the next town or gas station for their next fix. Does all that walking really provide a good excuse for them to be pouring candy and cookies down their throats at the rate they are inclined to do? Seems it would be a good time to optimize health and drop excess weight for those who need to, not look for excuses to indulge in more garbage foods.
I Mari I like to compare thru hiking to other endurance activities. Cyclists, marathon runners, trail runners, etc don’t eat garbage. They fuel for performance. Thru hiking requires the same kind of fuel for the body to keep up with the energy demand.
very informative! thank you :) and lots of interesting foodie ideas I'm not sure I would have thought of...
Thanks for your kind words!
I’m happy to see some alternative trail meals. I generally eat a very low carb/cal diet because I am pre diabetic and I have noticed so much of what many hikers eat is all carbs and sugar. I know that if I were hiking all day I would need to eat more carbs than usual but I still want to maintain a diet more similar to what I normally eat. Food for thought.
Yes, every person's diet is going to be very individualized, these are just some comparison ideas! I'm glad you have found something that works for you :)
More videos Please. This was really good.
Brian MD We’re another 3 weeks or so out from finishing our van build. After that, we’ll be working full-time on video content. Stay tuned. 🙂
Thank you for the valuable information, I can see that you went to a lot of effort to provide accurate and detailed analysis.
You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed it!
Another great source!
As a new multi-day hiker, I find I currently spend a lot of time researching meals. I would love to get to the point where I am comfortable with the cals/nutrition I pack in my meals and always having many days of prepped meals I can grab from the cupboard and head out the door.
That's exactly what our online recipes/meal planning service does for you. You pick and choose what you want to eat and it calculates the nutrition, weight and water for you. It also generates a shopping list based on what you choose. Our recipes are also designed to be easy to prepare and shelf-stable for at least a season so that you can have grab-and-go meals. I might be biased 😉 but our new site is pretty cool. If you want to take your food game to the next level, you can take the site for a 30-day test drive. backcountryfoodie.com Use coupon code: TH-cam20 for 20% off as a thank you for watching.
Any of the 3 is "ok" , but honestly in #1 I would ditch the cookies, honey bun, trisquits and cheese.
#2 I would ditch the Fritos for better chips, and trade the snickers for a better chocolate snackbar.
#3 I would ditch the cookies and snickers for something healthier that was still chocolate.
All 3 could use some improvement, but they are ok. They are really individualized, so to each their own.
Ditch the snickers 😮 that's sacrilege
Tate B, I like an organic vegan dark chocolate.
Agree, too much sugar. Milk chocolate is heinous.
Thanks for the quality video!
Glad you liked it! We're finally finding some free time to start filming again. Are there topics that you'd like to see us cover?
Only in Us! You show what is needed for 2-3 days. But i still like the video.
Henrik Ördberg ... definitely 😅 I would ditch all the sugar crap, but if you just count the calories - this would last me 2,5- days 🤪
I think you have done an excellent job. I wish you great success in your foodie venture.
Dave Sanders Thanks!! We have big plans for Backcountry Foodie early next year when we take the business on the road full-time. #vanlife
Another great video and I apologize for asking all the questions, not even sure you're still monitoring this vid. So you've come up with a nice healthy selection for your daily intake, you're hiking the AT and you start out packing say 6 days worth of your food. Now it's time to repack are you mailing out your homemade stuff for you to replenish every 6 days or are you now at the mercy of commercially bought food and how do you maintain your healthy eating then?
Thank you! We do mailed resupply boxes for our hikes. We're also putting together resources for healthier choices when resupplying in-town is the only option.
What does your menu cost per ounce when you add in the postage to ship it to your resupply locations? Your plan is fine for the first few days when you have food from home, but on a thru hike you can't carry the entire hike in food from home. If you aren't buying locally in the trail side towns, you have to ship the food from home and that isn't free. So it should be included in the cost.
Yup! Some folks use our recipes for just a few days, and some use them for their whole thru-hike! It definitely costs some money to ship out resupply boxes. Shipping cost will vary based on where you're shipping from, so its difficult to factor that into our recipe costs. Thank you for the feedback.
How long a hike can you do this for though? I presume you aren't carrying 2 weeks - 6 months worth of food with you all at one time, so how do you home cook your meals for a thru hike? I'm off on a 2-3 week thru hike next week, but can't see an alternative to buying food en route. I could prep meals for the first 3 days or so, but after that it would just get too heavy I think!
I did it for my PCT thru-hike! It takes some planning, though. I prepared meals and portioned them into resupply boxes and sent them to myself along the trail. We're also coming up with some resources for healthier resupply ideas if your only option is resupplying in-town.
Another amazing video! Thanks for sharing such valuable info!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Vacuum sealing is brilliant. I don’t know why I’ve been fussing around with ziploc bags this whole time. As a vegan hiker I also do lots of meal prep before going out mostly out of necessity. It’s super cheap since I buy things in bulk and then just pack it up into various recipes.
We're working on finding more earth-friendly vacuum seal bags. Since filming this video, I've struggled with the amount of plastic waste created. :(
Backcountry Foodie ... Silicon bags are a good option for a day hike, but much too heavy for a long distance hikes. We sometimes reuse trail meal packaging for our homemade trail food, you just add water and eat from it and no need to do the dishes!
This is so awesome! I’m delighted to have discovered your channel and would love to hear further breakdowns for what you recommend for carbs / fats / proteins when expending lots of energy every day 😊
PS High five from a fellow PNWer!
Apologies for the delayed response. Great suggestion! I actually have a livestreamed masterclass that I give about this very thing. The next class is on Jan 30th. Here's the link to register if interested in checking it out: www.eventbrite.com/e/breaking-through-the-wall-improve-performance-avoid-bonking-tickets-135888587423?aff=
We have another class coming up towards the end of February about efficient meal prep at home and on trail as well as how to simplify the planning process.
haha! We're not exactly sure what we are now that we've been in our van full-time for almost two years. After emptying our storage unit in Seattle last summer, we've "lived" in Santa Fe, NM and then moved on to Grand Junction, CO and are now enjoying southern Arizona. Who knows where our "home" will eventually be. :)
this was so informative, thank you!
Erin Soto Photography Glad to hear it was helpful. We’re super excited about future videos we’re finally going to have time to produce. Stay tuned...
Hey Thanks always great video
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Dumb question, but why the olive oil?
I know that roman soldiers got a daily ration of olive oil, but it's new to me that Hikers do this too now. :D
It adds fat calories. The fat can be difficult to get in trail food other than nuts, meat, and cheese. The oil can make a meal have better "mouth feel." One of the dishes in Aaron's cookbook -- I think it's the parmesan ramen or pesto ramen (???) -- was *meh* without the oil but it's fantastic with the oil.
If you're only doing hikes of less than a week, it's not going to be cold at night, and you're not already consuming a fair amount of oil, skip the oil. Aaron warns that suddenly adding all this oil to your diet can cause, um, gastric distress. ;-) But if it's going to be a cold night, that extra fat will make a difference in keeping your body warm all night.
@@kimkremer8915 Thanks for the detailed reply! Makes sense!
Would love to see suggestions for other diets/swaps for keto and paleo diets :) this was a great video!
Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks for the video. Good nutrition on the trail is not easy like junk food.
It's actually easier than most realize. :) Future videos will share tips on how to eat healthier in the backcountry. Thanks for watching.
This is very interesting thank you so much for sharing take care my friend
thank you!
hi🌷
Good job, they all look doable but how do u carry a 3 day supply of food & water, is there any room left for the tent, electronics & filter ? It wud take me a wk to eat that much food, guess I still haven’t found my real hiker hunger yet, my little dog did, was kinda funny!! u can cook for me anytime! 😊🐾
My recipes are specifically designed to be low volume so that I can carry plenty of food without using up a lot of pack space. It only takes a few days for my hiker hunger to kick in. Also, I actually look forward to eating my food (it tastes REALLY good) because I can't afford to eat such high calorie foods on a regular day at home.
The nose wipe to the left nostril and transference to left leg at about 7:30 without missing a beat was well done. But truthfully I'd have to be abandoned on a desert island before I'd eat any of that over packaged and processed stuff. My home prepared meals apart from high fat keto shake and coffee in the morning for a week weighs about 2.2 kg. But saying that it was a well balanced and very informative professional video with lots of appeal. Thanks
Haha! It was a cold day when this was filmed. We decided to leave it in because we kept having to stop/restart every time my nose started running. Glad you found the video informative. :)
@@backcountryfoodie it was cute. I'm glad you didn't wipe that from the clip 😂
At what length of hike do you recommend starting a multivitamin? I haven’t worried about it for trips under 2 weeks.
Depends on what's included in your diet. For most vitamins and minerals, it's not too difficult to meet the recommended daily amounts if you eat relatively healthy while on trail. Using fortified foods like Carnation Breakfast Essentials powder can help because it provides a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. I use it as part of meal replacement drinks. Eating a wide variety of foods on trail also helps because you're not limiting the nutrients consumed. For trips under two weeks, a supplement isn't likely necessary. I would be more concerned for a thru-hiker that's eating only a limited variety of processed foods. Low iron and vitamin C can be an issue in this case. Hope that helps. BTW...Sorry for the slow reply. We've been in the process of moving.
The tropical trail rice sounds awesome! Where can I get the recipe?
Bearanoia Mom who Hikes Its secret for now. We’re including it in our future cookbook. 🙂
Vegan here, attempting to thru hike the AT in April 2020. Almost all of my food is being sent in 5-10 day increments via drop boxes with few exceptions (Damascus, Roanoke, Charlottesville, anywhere that has a Kroger or Walmart nearby). Have been prepping all my own food and have spent roughly $270 on almost five months of food, including over one hundred (yes, I've counted) Lära, Clif, Luna, and Kashi bars which I've found on insanely good sales.
Breakfast will almost always be instant oats with chia seeds and nuts chased by instant coffee, snacks will be an energy bar, vegan trail mix, powdered peanut butter on a tortilla with bananas or apples if I've picked some up in town as a little treat for myself. All of my dinners, with the exception of ramen noodles, are homemade using real veggies and have been dehydrated. High-protein vegan Mac n cheeze, chickpea curry, eggplant curry, lentil soup w/dehydrated tomatoes and spinach, mixed vegi soup with alphabet pasta shapes, high-protein pasta with sauce, rice n beans, and a dank veg chili with textured vegetable protein!
There's a lot you can do with 10lbs of rice, dried beans, spices, and some research and creativity.
If you're a fellow vegan and feel stumped on meal ideas, I hope my comment was able to help.
Edit: If you don't have a dehydrator, using an oven or toaster oven set between 120-150°f will work just as well. It might be more costly and use more electricity, but it gets the job done
Edit 2: if you don't have a Costco membership, you can get a Costco gift card without having a membership.
Right now they've got bulk packs of trail mix, jack fruit meals, and coconut clusters that are vegan friendly and are great for drop boxes.
It sounds like you've put in a lot of work to prepare for your thru-hike. Well done!! Thanks for sharing. 👍
What happened with your hike? This year has certainly derailed a lot of plans.
This was very interesting. A lot of good info ! Please keep up these types of videos!
We just filmed a new video yesterday (2/26) about ultralight backpacking food. Should go live today!
I don't know who this woman is but she seems nice :). I backpack but don't know too much about what to eat while out so I think this might help
Haha! I like to think I'm nice. 😀 Hope this and future videos will help. Maybe check out our "How many calories should you pack?" video that we just posted last week?
I now prefer Aldi rice dishes - red beans and rice, dirty rice and Jambalaya, each with some crumbled Butler Soy Curls for protein. The Butler Soy Curls are a better tasting version of texturized vegetable protein (TVP). It's a great meat substitute, on the trail or at home. Available on Amazon, along with soy sauce powder, coconut milk powder, Real Lime crystals, dried shitake mushrooms, dried refried beans....
Butler Soy Curls also make GREAT vegan jerky using any jerky recipe, and it's a wonderful option for hiking if you can avoid eating it all on the first day.
I've heard that out soy curls but haven't had a chance to try them. Thanks for the suggestion.
Thanks for the video. I'm also a vegan/vegetarian, I'm starting my PCT hike in about 3 weeks. I prepared all my re-supply boxes almost the same as you. I feel a lot better now after watching your video. Wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing. I feel a lot more confident now, thank you.
Lyle Olson Do you have an Instagram account? Would love to follow along to see how your meal planning plays out as I enjoy learning from others. Have a great trek!
Not yet, but it's on the list for next week.
I just opened one. I think it's Lyle0851
so much food and weight is still low, great informative video.
When you recommend CPF percentages, you should explain what the percentages represent. Weight? Calories?
CPF percentages?
Grape Nuts with powdered milk and a teaspoon of sugar is a very high calorie overlooked breakfast for backpacking.
Yes! Since this video, I've switched to cold cereal with nuts/seeds, dried fruit, coconut flakes, and whole milk powder. Super yummy, easy to make, and nutritious!
Very helpful. At 6:12 you say for "typical diet"; do you these change for long distance backpacking?
For long-distance hikers, I focus more on meeting carbohydrate (minimum of 6 g carb per kg body weight) and protein (1.2 g protein per kg body weight) needs within the hiker's calorie goal instead of % total calories. Let's say the hiker plans to consume 4000 calories per day and weighs 150 lb (68 kg). Carbs: 6 x 68 kg = 408 g carbs x 4 kcal/g = 1632 calories/4000 calorie goal = 41% total calories from carb. Protein: 1.2 g x 68 kg = 82 g protein x 4 kcal/g = 326 calories/4000 calorie goal = 8% total calories from protein. What's leftover (2042 calories) comes from fat or 51% total calories from fat. If the calorie goal is 3000 calories, carbs and protein would be a higher percentage of total calories when compared to a 4000 calorie diet. Does that make sense?
@@backcountryfoodie Hi and thanks. yes. very helpful. great content in your channel
pgreenx You’re welcome and thanks! 😊
Thanks for the wealth of information.💝
Thanks for the support!
You are awesome, thank you!
Thank you and you're welcome. 😊
Yes, I did my thru hike and I made 7 months of meals, which no one did in 2011... So I am obsessed with the numbers... this is great information. Please break more information down about the exact numbers overall... it helps to "digest" what functional fuel is being fed and flowing through the body, and how that works... BEST for you, but bottom line, we are all humans, and can take queues about digestive matters very well... Let's see some new stuff!?
7 months worth of food...that's impressive!! We've been slow to produce more content because our time has been spent adding new content to our ultralight recipes + meal planning platform. It's grown so much that we're currently building a brand new platform. We're also working on launching a backpacking food production business. We've been busy behind the scenes here at Backcountry Foodie. 😀 We have set aside time starting next month to hopefully film new videos. Will see if we can pull it off with everything else on our plate. Stay tuned...
@@backcountryfoodie that sounds great... I am a willing person to try recipes or give comments, you can call me my trail name, "Supachef".
This is one of my fave videos! Do you like to cook on the trail too?
Not really. After a full day on trail, I typically don't have the desire to cook. I just want to eat and go to bed. Most of my meals are freezer bag style and ready in 5 minutes or less.
The other food is no competition to yours!! Yours looks WAY better
Our recipes are pretty yummy! 😉 After working FT on Backcountry Foodie the last four years, our new recipes are even better than those in the video.
I loved this video! Great info!
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
Love all those different options, but I am missing some more environmentally aware packaging solutions - there is just way too much plastic everywhere ...
Sorry for the slow reply. :( Agree 100%. Since filming the video, I now use biodegradable zipper top pouches for my meals. We currently sell them in our shop, but our store will be closing soon. I hope to move them to our regular site next year after returning from my hike. backcountryfoodie.myshopify.com/products/large-biodegradable-stand-up-food-pouch
I’d really like to have much higher vegetable content. How to get that in? Also curious how to cut the fat down for myself, because at 67 I really don’t need it...I typically hike 10-12 miles a day, not pounding the dirt all day!
Eating the same quantity of veggies on trail as at home is certainly a challenge. Personally, I don't think dehydrated or freeze-dried veggies taste nearly as good as fresh ones. Instead, I look forward to eating salads and fruit bowls when resupplying in town or going home after a multi-day trip. You can certainly pack fresh fruit/veg and consume them on the first day but most don't hold up well in a backpack. To cut down the fat content: leave out the oil recommended in recipes, use fat-free milk powder instead of whole milk powder, use half portions of nuts required by recipes, reduce the portions of butter, cream cheese and/or sour cream powders called for in recipes. Similar ways that you would reduce fat calories when preparing fresh meals at home. Hope that helps.
This was very informative and interesting. Thanks
I'm a little late to the game. Ok, two years late. LOL! We're starting to film videos again and are looking for topic ideas. Anything you'd like to see us cover?
I can’t take all the sugar and sodium in packaged foods. Love your tips!
Same here!
6 days food in my pack weighs about 7 lbs for 5000 calories, using single serve tuna, spam, Twisted Flavor Co. 3.5oz flavored couscous packets, dehydrated mountain meals, peanut butter, protein bars, Epic bars, coffee, and ramen noodles. Your list was for 1 days food if I'm not mistaken @ 2.6lbs. If so, that means 6 days meals would weigh 15.6 lbs, double the weight of my food; too heavy for my taste, pun intended . Great video, short, informative, and to the point, I just think the supply list was a bit heavy for the calories.
5000 total calories for 6 days or per day? 5000 calories per day x 6 days = 30,000 calories / 7 lbs food (112 oz) = 268 kcal/oz. Straight oil is 240 kcal/oz. Based on the menu you shared, it's not possible to carry only 7 lbs at 5000 calories per day. Maybe a math error by accident?
What is in your coconut ginger drink for breakfast? That sounds good.
Coconut milk powder, whole milk powder, cane sugar, ground ginger. Delicious!!!
How about bringing rice, beef, seasonings, tortillas and so on rather than bringing the usual processed foods?
I personally do not use beef because I'm vegetarian and rice/tortillas provide little nutrition for the weight. As a dietitian, I focus on maximizing the nutrition while weighing as little as possible. I prefer to use quinoa, lentils, chickpeas, etc in place of rice. Although, there's nothing wrong with those foods if they're foods that you enjoy.
Backcountry Foodie , There are different kinds of tortillas and rices.
@@backcountryfoodie On a long distance hike you need meat and fats. Most LD hikers are eating junk food.
Jessica Thompson Agree. There are a variety of tortillas and rices.
Thank you for sharing even with is europeen peolole, interesting and helfull !
Little question concerning parmesan (great receipie you have !): isn’t it an issue to have parmesan with you in the trail ?
I thought this should be kept in low temperatures (4 to 8 dégrées C).
Flo
Hard cheeses, like parm, are safe to eat on trail without refrigeration. I've found that it's good for about 30 days (except when it's really hot outside). For meals that I prep well in advance of a trip, I leave out the cheese and add it when the meal is consumed.
Good video, nice and clear explanation. Thanks
Thanks. Glad it was helpful.
Her homemade food sounds so delicious and i didnt know olive oil came in airplane bottles lol
It is pretty yummy and the recipes are getting better and better as I experiment with combinations of ingredients.
Oh yeah. Sooo good info. This is how I like to eat but no vegan I'm good on cobalamin. And foraging greens helps folate.
We're actually working on a foraging project now. I'm looking forward to learning more about it and adding fresh greens to our backpacking meals.
Just subscribed...enjoy your approach...however, how are you able to create “your” meals on a thru hike like the AT? 😊
Mike Healy Since producing the video, I’ve focused on creating recipes that use ingredients found at local grocery stores making it easier to prepare homemade meals while resupplying and for last minute trips when you don’t have time to order ingredients. The new recipes are included in our 175 recipes dashboard. The 75 recipes dashboard is based off of my original cookbook which focused on primarily large portions for my thru-hikes. The new recipes are for a wider range of hikers. backcountryfoodie.com/ recipes Thanks for subscribing and supporting our work! 😊
great video, as someone who needs to lose weight any low calorie lunch ideas for someone who is hiking just during the day, my hike is around 6 miles but I tend to do a couple of miles more on top
I'm not a fan of undereating while hiking to lose weight. IMO hiking is a sport and we should fuel our bodies like an athlete would. By not eating enough, you'll risk hitting the wall which isn't fun and can be hard to recover from. If you're hiking less than 3 hours, you really only need to eat a snack because your body should have enough carbs (glycogen) stored to stay well fueled. If you're hiking more than 3 hours, eating something every 60-90 minutes is a good idea.
@@backcountryfoodie thanks for advise
I eat a Keto diet but on trail not so much especially dinner. I am still able to eat mostly keto but not 100 percent. I eat mostly store purchased dehydrated meals for dinner and for those most part I think things have worked out well. I have only done about three weeks on trial at a time so I am not sure how things would go after say four months or more. What does concern me is as an older person who is in very good shape and not having much fat on me to begin with is if I was to start losing weight that it would be muscle weight. Being in my 60s I really can’t afford that. Just something I think of. When I do hit a town I will eat an insane amount of food. Normally about every 4 or 5 days I tend to end up in town if only for part of the day. I don’t take many zeros.
Ideally, you should be able to eat enough every day so that you don't have to "binge" during town days. That way you're not playing catch up and your energy level will be more consistent. Being keto makes that a bit easier because the food is more calorically dense allowing you to fit more in your pack. Agree that being a lean hiker and losing weight will most likely be muscle weight loss which isn't ideal. Keeping up the calories will be super important.
You demonstrated what makes life so interesting , diversity/variety. Or as I liked to say before the foreign cars became popular... Everyone doesn't drive a Ford. Basically interpenetrated... Different folks , Different choices.
Chuck Littleton Exactly! No one diet meets everyone’s needs. My meal planning methods work for me but not necessarily everyone else. Thanks for the comment.
Chuck Littleton PS- You may not find our cookbook on Amazon when you go to purchase it. Had to take it down because the publisher’s print quality was subpar. I do have a few copies left for sale on our webpage. Hoping to find a new publisher ASAP.
Great video, thanks for the pointers :-)
Glad it was helpful!
Thank-you! Any thoughts on Ghee? Macadamia Nuts???
I love both! Ghee can get messy quickly because it doesn't take much of a rise above room temp for it to soften. One of my favorite trail mix recipes: mac nuts, dried tart cherries, dried pineapple tidbits. YUM!
Are you truly hiking if you're not surviving off of candy though?
Haha! Don't get me wrong. I've eaten my fair share of sour patch kids while on the trail. :)
Candy bars and pop tarts.
gummy bears, Trolli, Sour Patch kids. and little debbie honey buns.
I have never understood this sentiment. Modern candy is disgusting and has way too much sugar. If I think its disgusting in normal life why da fuq would I bring it into the backcountry? Is it a peter pan never grow up kind of mentality or something?
This is great! Thanks.
You're welcome! :)
Can you do hiking meals for diabetics?
It's been almost twenty years since I last worked with diabetes patients. Assuming they still recommend counting carbs and combining with protein and fat with each meal/snack... We do offer low-sugar (20 g protein, 60-80 g carbs, 5-15 g fiber and wide range of fat per serving.
I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan. But it is beginning to interest me, to improve my health and for the environment.
So can you do a video on vegetarian options for hiking. I'm not interested in vegetarian or vegan stuff posing as meat.
I do like a lot of vegetables and fruits, I enjoy humus.
I normally do a high protein, carb diet. But for a through hike that's going to change
Absolutely! I'll add it to the lineup of videos we have planned. We aren't fans of vegetarian foods posing as meat either. Stay tuned...
My oldest turned vegan, now she's just a vegetarian. But I took her to a local restaurant her in Portland that a friend told me about, called Native foods, all plant based. I had tacos that were delicious, I could eat them all the time, she had a breakfast burrito.
@@oo-rx8uz We make chickpea tacos at home that are yummy! Just mash up canned chickpeas and add taco seasoning instead of using ground beef. They dehydrate really well for a trail food option, too.
Anyone else notice that the percentages added up a bit off? 102%, 103%, and 99%. Shouldn't theses all equal to 100%? Not trying to be mean or anything, but my math OCD is doing epileptic fits in my head right now seeing those totals.
Toga Chicken Yeah, I mention the rounding errors in the description section for the video. No worries. I’m OCD, too.
Can I get a video on protein options I need 220 g of protein a day a lot of the backpacking videos of a higher carbohydrate higher fat just looking for More protein options while fishing and hunting when I can’t cook
That is a lot of protein. Not sure when I'll get around to making another video but here are a few ideas to boost protein without adding a ton of weight/bulk - milk powder, egg white powder, chia seeds, ground nuts, nut butters, and freeze-dried meat. Things like jerky and tuna packets add a lot of protein but they're super heavy and bulky. I like to add it in where it's not so noticeable. Hope that helps for now.
This has Macros!!!! Well done. This is a big miss on other food videos.
That’s the nerdy dietitian side of me. Glad the info was useful.
Do you have the link to the middle hikers diet? Very interested in knowing the exact amounts of each food he/she used.
I tried to go back and find it but it appears that he's replaced it with a more recent blog post. We're on our way back to Seattle to clean out our storage unit. I can try digging up my notes from the video and shoot you a message.
@@backcountryfoodie Thank you so much, that would be super helpful.
5:50 why do you use bottles of oil instead of packets for olive oil
Great question! The packets are notorious for leaking. I also don't like the waste created by the packets. Bottles can be recycled and/or reused.
Great video. Nice options. ✌️
Thanks! 😊
Great video! Thank you. Do you have Suggestions for packing food 3500-5000/day for 10 days. I understand it’s personal preference but was wondering what works for you? Do you pack each day’s food in one large ziplock or was that just for demonstration purposes? Thx!
I like to pack a single day's rations in it's own bag. That way I don't have to keep track of how much I've eaten (or still need to eat) over the course of the day. This also prevents having to dump out my food bag each night to decide what to eat the following day. The single bag of food stays inside my pack on top of everything else where it's easy to access. This prevents having to dig into my bear bag several times a day. Since filming the video, I've switched to using zipper top tortilla bags that I've collected, washed and reused instead of using gallon ziploc bags. Hope that helps.
@@backcountryfoodie Thx!
how many miles can you hike w/ all that
It depends on how much food each person needs per day, and how many miles/day you'll be hiking! Thru-hiker standard diets are less calorie-dense, so you'll likely be able to hike fewer miles with the same lb/day of food as compared to UL backpacker meals.
suddenly feel like i'm eating nowhere near enough
Do you run out of energy before the end of the day? Do you get "hangry"? Are you not recovering well overnight and feel sore the following morning? Then, you might not be eating enough. Everyone's needs are very different.
check out Poshi by Velma Farms, they are vegan, no sat fat, gluten free, non GMO Fresh Veggies in a light weight sealed package, 1.76 oz ... I've had the green beans, asparagus, artichoke hearts, and cauliflower.... healthy, packaged well, light weight. yummy!
Thanks. I'll check it out!
Wow! Your food looks amazing!!
Heidi Hill Thanks! We just moved into our van full-time and will start creating videos about meal prep in the coming weeks. We’re still figuring out this van life thing. Lol!
Backcountry Foodie, Good luck.
I usually run from "registered dieticians" the state brainwashing and disinfo is almost as bad as that provided to doctors and dentists.... but did find some good info in your post. Keep up the good work,
Not being able to read the ingredients of your food.... but it still does not look that great. Here is a good book for you:
smile.amazon.com/Feeding-You-Lies-Industrys-Playbook/dp/1401954545/
Joe Tittiger Couldn’t agree more! Not all dietitians are created equal as many preach instead of teach. I strongly believe in working with folks and their current situation versus asking them to follow guidelines that are oftentimes unreasonable.
Joe Tittiger , plus different people have different needs.
I am a new vegetarian by choice. As I’ve began my journey I’ve found that I feel great plant based but as I learn more I’m concerned with being able to balance all the vitamins etc that I need. I’ve learned that vegetarian people are deficient in b12 etc etc.... any idea on a easy way to make sure I consume all that I need for proper health?? HELP!!!
If you're a lacto-ovo vegetarian B12 isn't usually an issue because dairy products and eggs provide B12. If a vegan, you might need to take a B12 supplement. Iron and zinc are commonly deficient because those are found in larger quantities in red meat. Plant sources of iron include: lentils, chickpeas, beans, tofu, cashew nuts, chia seeds, ground linseed, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, kale, dried apricots and figs, raisins, quinoa and fortified breakfast cereal. Plant based sources of zinc: beans, chickpeas, lentils, tofu, walnuts, cashew nuts, chia seeds, ground linseed, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, wholemeal bread and quinoa. If you do a google search you will likely find a chart of some sort providing the serving sizes for each of these to meet your daily vitamin and mineral needs. If you load up on a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and grains you'll likely get everything you need. Hope that helps a little.
@@backcountryfoodie, your response is the reason I LOVE following RDs who are also endurance athletes. Thank you for the science.
Snickers and whiskey is where it's at.
haha! Snickers are definitely one of my happy foods when the trail gets tough.
and you forget the cost of postage to ship your resupply
Postage can sometimes be equivalent to what folks have to pay for a taxi/uber to/from grocery stores. Food is also oftentimes more expensive in town as well. I think it works itself out in the end. I'll do a better job this season tracking how much I spend during my thru hikes and report back after returning. Stay tuned...
I'm really surprised to see KIND bars in your fold given the high fructose yuck yuck syrup. That stuff will kill ya!
This is a relatively old video made when I first started tinkering with DIY backpacking meals. My diet has evolved with time to include less added sugar to reduce inflammation. As I get older, I don't recover as well as I used to.
Hi could you please send me the link for the peanut butter thanks for sharing best wishes
I'm not sure which peanut butter you're interested in. The packets or PB powder for the drink. All of the ingredients that we use in our recipes are listed on our Foodie's Pantry page - backcountryfoodie.com/pantry The PB we use can be found under the Nuts section. Hope that helps.
Backcountry Foodie you got me there I will have to see it again 😊
I can’t eat crapppy tooo gotta have good food trying to find yummy ways for dehydrated fruiy
Pinterest is a great place to search for dehydrated fruit recipes. We have a board dedicated to dehydrating food. Maybe you'll find something there? www.pinterest.com/backcountryfoodie/dehydrating-food-tips/
They ADD metal shavings for the iron! :(
crikey one of them packs would do me 2 days
Yeah, it's a ton of food! I only eat that much when hiking 20+ mile days. Typically pack a little over half that much per day for a weekend trip.
All three bags were bad choices for weight
That rice sounded awesome, you have a recipe?
Yes, all of my recipes will be made available once my webpage is redesigned to support digital downloads. Hoping to launch the new page next month.
Can't wait! Thanks for the video!
Yay! Looking forward to it. And thanks for the Sundried Tomato Couscous recipe this month. Mixing up a batch this weekend. Looks delicious (and easy!)
You're welcome! The recipe is also great for meals at home/work when you don't have time to cook. Pull out a bag from your trail food stash and the meal is ready in 5 minutes. Just leave out the oil to reduce the calorie load. Enjoy! :)
Took your advice and made a batch tonight. It was excellent and so easy & fast.