What is everyone taking? Last year I packed for 9 days. Those meals consisted of A few mountainhouse, ramen, oatmeal, cheese, landjaeger, clif gels, stinger waffles, nut butters/ tortillas, pudding with powdered whole milk, and coffee.
This year I need to pack for 13 days. Coffee hasn't agreed with me much lately so I'm going with dark chocolate cocoa and powdered whole milk for the calories.
I usually just use a GSI kettle and a optimus crux stove for everything but there are trout in the area this go around.
What do you guys and gals like to take?
Trail mix I make myself, oatmeal, freeze dried. Use a kelly kettle.
MAP
I'm new to this, so learning. I have a food dehydrater and so made my own meals for the Montana spring bear hunt I went on in May. I cut lots of steak up thin and dried it, as well as, carrots, potatoes, etc. I made my own soup mixes using the dried meat and veggies plus adding in pasta or rice. It was ok but I ended up eating the same dang thing every day and it got a bit old. I will probably do some of the meals plus purchase others for variety. I also took some fig/protein bars that had chocolate. I took coffee and enjoyed that once a day with my main meal at around 1 pm. My breakfast and late day snack were pemmican. I made it by drying good quality beef and then pounding it up with the back of my axe head against a rock. the stuff was about the size of rice up to about pea size. Then I melted rendered tallow and mixed it in and made it into bars that I wrapped individually. On the way out to do the morning or evening hunt I would drop my bear proof food bag out of the tree by the light of my headlamp, load up my pack with a few bars, and go off to hunt. To replace the morning coffee I brought chocolate covered toasted coffee beans.
I need to probably get a stove. My wife has one thats an old Coleman but its pretty heavy. I was gonna take it but just used a hot fire of small pine twigs which worked well.
-Dan
While backpacking I've taken summer sausage, hard cheese, Jerky which can be rehydrate and mixed with your raman or idaho instant mashed potatoes.
I've also made moose goo, it's a mix of peanut butter, honey and cornstarch. Very good and high in calories. I put it on tortillas.
Another nice meal consists of stove top stuffing, crasins and chicken in those foil pouches. It's like thanksgiving on the trail!
Knorr sides are also a good substitute.
Good luck and be safe on the hunt.
Check out "Freezer Bag Cooking" on the internet.
Besides the Mountain house, try foil packages of tuna, salmon, chicken or spam. Mix them with ramen noodles, Knorr rice or pasta mixes, or Idaho mashed potatoes, just put mixes in a freezer bag, add hot water and squeeze to mix. Then add meats and eat from bag, no clean up. Also use jerky or summer sausage, stick cheese with tortillas or flat bread for lunch. Breakfast is usually oatmeal or granola mixed with powder milk or protein powder. Snacks are PB crackers, granola bars, trail mix etc. Starbucks Via instant coffee in morning and Emergen-c drink mix in evening. Or Crown Royal nip to celebrate.
We did some high calorie MRE style breakfast bars, beef jerky, hard salami on the hunt and mountain house in the evening, oh and we take triscuits to eat with the salami. The local military surplus has little packs of dried fruit and sugar cookies, brownies etc in real durable MRE packaging as well as the breakfast bars I mentioned above. We only usually do four or so day hunts and go home for a day or so and then back up
If you can haul in a food cash prior to the hunt it can make things nice. Even if its half way in can help. I like to stash comfort foods and heavy MRE's, canned meats, water if possible. 13 days is hard to keep your fat intake on just freeze died stuff for me. I have always had to hike out and get restocked or have a cash of goodies close by. This is coming form a guy that dosen't count ounces and has been know to take forzen steaks in for the first night with potateos, onions form the food cash hauled in before hand.
Rob - along with a similar list to yours some bagels or hard rolls, and summer sausage, to go with the cheese.
Some Carnation Instant breakfast. And maybe some pop tarts.
Vacuum sealed smoked salmon.
Powdered Gatorade or better yet some p90x recovery drink.
If there are trout I'd definitely carry a take down fly outfit, and carry some Andy's seasoning, a bit of oil to fry them up. Otherwise, I'd just go with the 2.50 pre made Hormel meals off the shelf at Walmart. They are decent warm or cold.
What ever you want to take give it a good trial run here at home before the trip. Sure you can live on anything but you shouldnt have to. I also supplement with vitamins to be safe while on a long hunt.
13 days is a long time to carry your food for. Wow. I like a can of sardines in oil for my lunch but 10 cans alone woud be heavy. Two packages of oatmeal for breakfast is 26 bags!
I like halwa (made of ground sesame, cashews) it keeps perfectly well, tastes great and is fat, protein and carbs. The Romans made it and it's the perfect food.
I made pemmican a couple years ago real pemmican, pounded dry meat and fat mixed in. It's also the perfect food a piece the size of a walnut will keep you feeling satisfied for a few hours.
That kind of trip needs close attention to every detail, sounds like fun!
A couple things that haven't yet been mentioned:
FISH OIL. I take 10-15 a day in the mountains. They are extremely calorically dense (200+ cal/oz) and keep your joints moving noticeably better, cutting way down on soreness. Essential.
For a stove - I won't go back to hauling fuel and a Jetboil. I use a $1 wood burning stove I made from a baked bean can, and bring vaseline-soaked cotton balls to get it started. Find a big can and make your cutouts, and you're ready.
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I think Mountain House meals are a ripoff, even when I get a deal on them at $4 each. They are all noodles, with barely a hint of meat and vegetables in them. I make my own freezer bag meals, either from bulk freeze-dried ingredients (Emergency Essentials) or Knorr sides, plus my own dehydrated meat and veggies. Saves a ton of money and is better on top.
Also, I add healthy portions of parmesan cheese to most of my dinners, and powdered whole milk (Nido from Walmart) and vanilla protein powder for breakfasts. If you don't, then you end up eating all carbs and no meat/fat/good stuff. That gets tough after a few days. Gotta find a way to get plenty of real protein (coming from something that had a face on it) and vegetables.
Pistol Pete, is that a titanium cup? If so, how does it do when heated?
Yes, it is, and it does great. Gets covered in creosote though.
One more tip I forgot - if there are trout around, take a tenkara rod. Mine weighs 2 ounces and cost $35.
Don't forget some sort of comfort food for a treat now and then. A Snickers bar does the trick for me and delivers some nice calories.
I've been really happy with my stove/kettle setup the last few years. I got 9 days out of a small canister last year heating meals and coffee for 2 people.
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I really think this year may require a trip back to the truck for food resupply. Last year I killed an elk on day 4 so resupply wouldn't have been an issue. :pray:
Another one... instead of using Vaseline soaked cotton balls, soak them in refined coconut oil. They are solid below 70 something degrees but warm into an oil with body temp. They light just as easy as Vaseline and you can use it to cook with (fry fish), eat, and it is antibiotic in nature. Doesn't smell either (refined version).
You think you have it rough...I just found out I am gluten, wheat, egg, and milk allergic. Planning this year's meals will be a challenge!
When I was doing solo dall sheep hunts, I would take equal weights of hard smoked/dried salmon (higher in calories than dried moose), peanuts and almonds, and dried fruit. The meals were boring as all get out but it kept you going until you ran out. Biggest problem was rationing your food for the number of days you were going to be out.
here's my list for 12 day tahr hunts
total weight including minimised packaging is 4kg total, 333.33grams/day (8.8 pounds total)
breakfast-
1/day 35gram sachet of quick oats
lunch-
a portion of camembert or brie cheese.
2x 125gr wheels for the 12 days.
'vita wheat' biscuits
2x 250gr packets for 12 days
half a stick of salami
pack of 6 for 12days (168grams)
1/day museli/nut bar
portion of jerky
150grams for 12 days
1/day fun size mars or snickers bar
1/day powdered sports drink sachet
dinner-
1/day absolute wilderness freeze dry meal.
misc-
15 tea bags
coffee, chocolate drink sachets from motels
Lean hamburger mixed with Panko bread crumbs can be fried up then rinsed in warm water to remove excess fat then dehydrated and will rehydrate well and is almost like the original hamburger. Adding some seasoning to the burger before frying works well. I like to take leftover spaghetti and sauce and dehydrate it then mix in the dehydrated hamburger. Using the freezer bag method it tastes like and has the texture like my wife makes it. You can do that with chili, goulash, and many other home cooked meals. Just replace the meat with the foil pouch meats (which can be dehydrated/rehydrated) or the dried burger.
One thing to think about is carrying a small thermos (https://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Stainless-Folding-Spoon-Midnight/dp/B0017IFSIS) (you may want the 24oz size) with it you can put your dried meal in it then add boiling water left over from breakfast. The meal will be hot and ready for lunch and you don't have to carry a stove. You can do the same at night so your breakfast is ready to eat while you heat water for your coffee and or lunch. The thermos is a bit heavy but no more than a stove and fuel you would need to do lunch away from camp.
I like the tuna in a foil package. Different flavors. Packs easily. Tortillas and hot sauce. I pack tortillas in a water bottle.
Almonds, raisins mixed together. Peanut butter and honey also. I like the cotton balls in coconut oil idea.
Clint no wonder you're so skinny, that's one day of food for me!
You can make your own dehydrated meals pretty simple. I dont do the outwest thing but camp/kayak alot and that is what I do - much better - much much healthier! and youll be alot more "regular" as well!
J
Ben, those are some great ideas. I have a dehydrator and am always looking for new things to do with it.
This topic is full of good ways to eat in the back country. I may never go into the back country again, but a lot of these things are also very useful in a base camp. :thumbsup:
One thing I will be taking again is landjaeger suasages. I love those things for lunch with a little cheese.
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One thing we are doing this year on our Moose hunt is what I call caloric engineering. Calculate the number of calories it takes to run your body normally. With me it's about 2000 a day. Now add the exercise for the hunt and adjust the number.
With our moose hunt I calculate about 3000-3500 cals per day to maintain fitness and health.
So now as I make and dehydrate meals and make energy bars etc. I have a goal to provide 3500 cals per day each for John and myself.
One of the worst feelings is to be half way through your hunt and out of energy and have to quit. I've had it happen and seen it happen to others.
Mike
Good point Mike. I've had it happen to me several times on solo hunts. After hunting hard cooking and eating was the last thing I wanted to do, but it is critical to the success of your hunt. So plan meals that are simple, quick, high in calories, and are very appetizing or you'll have a hard time getting the energy and strength you need.
I really liked bagels with nut butter and trail mixes. I will not eat mountain house products for reasons involving internal organ systems which I will not share here lol
I'm using the Kraft skillet dinners as my base and adding 1.5# of moose burger instead of the 1#. Also I have additional cheese packets to add when rehydrating. These run about $2.50 each and will make two meals. Should be able to get 750 cals per serving if done right.
Mike
Yo pistolpete, what's the story on the fish oil pills? My body always hurts so bad when I wake up in the morning after long days of crushing mountains. What kind do you use? The only thing I found about them with regards to soreness and body recovery is that they "help support bone health".
The ratios of protein, carbs and fat are important too.
I also like the individual servings of tuna. Last time I took small zip lock baggies with pre measured minute rice. Boil water, dump the rice in and let it set for a couple minutes. I took the packets of individual slices of Spam and would dice it up and put it in with the rice. A little hot sauce and it was a pretty dang good meal.
A lot of the stuff you eat three days back in the mountains by yourself is bland. I take a zip lock baggie and fill it with individual packets of ketchup, mustard, texas pete, A-1 sauce, Soy sauce etc. I picked up all of them at various fast food spots.
QuoteOriginally posted by Mikewarren33:
Yo pistolpete, what's the story on the fish oil pills? My body always hurts so bad when I wake up in the morning after long days of crushing mountains. What kind do you use? The only thing I found about them with regards to soreness and body recovery is that they "help support bone health".
Mike, I think it has to do with the anti-inflammatory qualities, but I'm not sure. I buy Costco brand, and end up taking what amounts to 3-5000 mg of Omega-3's per day. I take them at home too, and when I stop taking them, my knees tell me. Last trip, I forced them onto my buddy, and he was amazed that his shoulder (which had been giving him problems) didn't hurt the entire trip. So it really seems to help joints - though I don't know about body/muscle aches. But regardless of whether or not it even helps, it definitely provides a lot of cheap calories.
Here is a good site for good meal info. Backpacking chef (http://www.backpackingchef.com/)
Much appreciated Mr. PistolPete.
PistolPete...I like your stove idea and had actually been looking at similar DIY options on Bushcrafting sites. I am guessing you get it going with the cotton balls then feed with twigs? Just makes sense to me to use what fuel is already all around the mountain! Those fancy little fuel stoves cost a bunch too...
Dan
I tried the little DIY gasifier stove a few years ago but didn't like it for extended trips. Heat control if you want to do anything but boil water is a problem, multiple rainy days are a pain with them, and the overall time it costs to use on a hunt isn't worth it for me. They are a fun project for casual trips though.
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My hunting partner carries a Kelty Kettle and we use that for 95% of the cooking. I carry a DIY cat stove in case it is raining or too wet. For boiling water the kelty Kettle is the ticket.
QuoteOriginally posted by oldrubline:
PistolPete...I like your stove idea and had actually been looking at similar DIY options on Bushcrafting sites. I am guessing you get it going with the cotton balls then feed with twigs? Just makes sense to me to use what fuel is already all around the mountain! Those fancy little fuel stoves cost a bunch too...
Dan
You got it. Cheaper, lighter, and simpler. Not faster, but not much slower, either.
I always have several packs of precooked bacon. C'mon, that stuff will last FOREVER. I use it on tortillas with peanut butter. Plenty of calories there.
I really like Patrick Smith's wild casserole. Google search should turn up the recipe. Big bag dehydrated weighs nothing, and will easily handle a week. It's one thing that I don't get sick of too.
You can get the butane stoves on Amazon for $10 to $25. Around here fire bans are common so a stove that has a shut off is required. Sometimes there is a complete ban of any stove so you have to go no cook.