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Trip Meal Planner
I use a meal specific planner to plan my multiday trips. Here is the excel form I developed and use.
click here to download the meal planner file
Dehydrated Food
I have basically given up on commercially available backpacking food. I find almost all of it too high in sodium,
too highly seasoned, and too expensive. I have switched to dehydrating my own food using a Nesco/American Harvest Dehydrator
Snackmaster, shown on below.
I have had good success dehydrating apples, peaches, tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, pesto, stews, soups, lasagna, casseroles,
and herbs. Beef jerky works well, but be sure to use the absolute leanest beef you can find. I burned out one
dehydrator motor when the fat ran down into the motor.
The best cookbook I have found to date on dehydrating and recipes for dehydrating is Backpack Gourmet by Linda
Frederick Yaffe (Stackpole Books 2002). I am particularly impressed in that her recipes seem to be very nutritionally
balanced and work very well in the dehydrator.
Meal Suggestions.
Breakfast.
1. Oatmeal. Buy the bulk instant
oatmeal in the huge boxes. Figure 3/4 of a cup per person per meal. Add the number of cups needed into a mixing
bowl. Add the amount of sugar you need. Add your choice of items to make it interesting and increase calories.
Some of our favorites include: raisins, currants, dried apple pieces, and other dried fruit pieces (cut them down
to about 1/4 inch size pieces). Place in ziploc bags in quantities needed for individual meals.
2. Pancakes. When you get up in the
morning, and the weather looks unsettled, and the marine forecast sounds unreliable, make pancakes. Since pancake making
takes time, by the time you are done eating and cleaning up the weather uncertainties have usually resolved themselves.
I use the instance pancake mixes that just need to have water added. Pancake mix is one of the few items I store in
a nalgene bottle rather than a ziplock bag, since a hole or accidental opening in the food bag is a disaster. Carry
oil in a seperate plastic bottle, and put that bottle in a ziplock. The oil gets on the bottle threads and then onto
everything - that's why the bagging. Use olive oil for the pancakes, and you can use the same oil for the hummus, stir
fry, etc. later ont the trip.
3. Granola. Your choice of granola,
and use the irradiated milk or rice milk in the individual serving size boxes. The boxes seem pretty durable and have
survived many days in the food bag.
Lunch.
1. Hummus and pita bread. I like
the dehydrated hummus made by Fantastic Foods and available at large grocery stores. Pack the hummus powder in
a ziplock, and place in a sandwich size tupperware container. At breakfast, use some of your hot water to mix up the
hummus in quantities as desired in the tupperware. Add olive oil if desired. Seal the tupperware and use as a
serving container at lunch. Spread on pita bread, which seems to have a pretty good life expectancy on trips.
I have found it to hold up better than tortillas.
2. Refried beans. Dehydrated refried
beans made by Fantastic Foods and available at large grocery stores. Pack the bean powder in a ziplock, and place
in a sandwich size tupperware container. At breakfast, use some of your hot water to mix up the beans in quantities
as desired in the tupperware. Seal the tupperware and use as a serving container at lunch. Spread on pita bread,
which seems to have a pretty good life expectancy on trips. You can also spread it on saltine crackers. To protect
the crackers in transit, store them inside a pringles potato chip can.
3. Hard salome and cheese. A stick
of Hebrew National salome and a block of cheese about the same size will make two lunches for me and requires no utensils
other than my pocket knife. Even in hot weather, the salome is good for a weekend just stored in a ziplock bag.
4. Chicken or Tuna in a bag. Buy
the chicken or tuna in a pouch as found at grocery stores. Serve on pita or crackers. Warning: in raccoon
or bear country carefully wash out and bag the pouch after use to avoid attracting animals.
5. Fresh fruits and vegetables added to
lunch: apples, carrots, oranges all carry well. Bananas do not do well.
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Dinner.
1. Noodles and sauce. Add water to
pot. Add dehydrated vegetables of your choice. Boil water and add egg noodles. When noodles are about 5
minutes from cooked, add can or pack of chicken or tuna. Complete cooking. Drain off most of the water.
Add contents of dried sauce mix package (several flavors available - alfredo and pesto recommended, many more available at
the grocery store). Stir. Eat. A good one pot stick to the ribs kind of meal. Instead of using dehydrated
vegetables, use fresh ones added 5 minutes before the noodles are done.
2. Stir Fry. Stir fry vegetables
of your choice in the fry pan with olive oil. Add squirts of water as necessary to help steam the vegetables.
Broccolli, carrots, squash, peppers, onions, green beans work well. Serve with starch of your choice and soy sauce.
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