The Santa Fe beans are expensive and someone else suggests casa corona in a 3# bag. Boom. Done.
The Santa Fe beans are expensive and someone else suggests casa corona in a 3# bag. Boom. Done.
I will turn 70 this month.When I started primary school a Coca-Cola cost 5 cents and gas was under a quarter a gallon.Let that sink in a while......... But I would think if you like dehydrated bean items they will always be lower on the price scale compared to the more processed ready to eat meals out there.Ditto for dehydrated potatoes and rice.
Minimum wage was .75/hr in 1952 as well.
Lol the average yearly income was $3,515 .
Yet we survived.
Wayne
Back to the OP, planning food for an AT thru. It’s fun to plan while you’re at home itching to go, sort of vicarious way to “go”. And you could provide yourself with more variety, less expensively from home. But at the cost of having to make your hiking schedule synch with your logistics schedule. Hitting PO’s on time, hostels having space at the time you arrive etc.
One of the beauties of the AT is the dense network of along the way supply that you can adapt as your hike evolves.
My SOBO logistics were to bring 10 days of food with me to AT Lodge, pay for the midway food drop because that much food wouldn’t fit in my pack. After that I would just try to tilt my town shopping to have more 9cal/gram fats tha 4cal/gram protein and carbs and still be palatable. Always added 2-3 tbsp olive oil or ghee to dinner, +4-600 cals
HYOH, but that approach let me focus on my hike, without either speeding up or slowing down to meet my box on time.
Nice job bringing it back on track Hank.
I have roughly the span of a year yet to weave plans together. No worries. Presently I am fiddling with a staple regular carry of food to span X number of days between towns-PO's/stops/resupplies. Ample and adequate nutrition is my main focus. Variety not so much.
I am the sort who can eat the same main meal day after day after day. That certainly eases and streamlines the logistics for me but I realize that not everyone can stand that type of monotony.
MM
“I did it. I said I'd do it and I've done it.” ~Grandma Gatewood
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace". ~Jimi Hendrix
FBC is freezer bag cooking
1/2 cup of minute rice, 1/2 cup of dried veggies from Harmony House, packet of tuna, chicken, or Spam. You can vary the combinations endlessly, and use potatoes (instant masehd or Harmony House dried) or cous cous instead of rice. some samples:
rice, peas, peppers, teriyaki tuna
rice, black beans, buffalo chicken
potatoes, cabbage, peas, SPAM
Inexpensive, lots of variety, and you can carry the products in bulk to minimize waste packaging.
Recently I modified Skurka's excellent recipe to make red beans and rice, and I even carried along some Andouille sausage. When the weather gets colder one can carry some foods that might normally spoil.
I used Minute Rice (Jasmine), Santa Fe refried beans, some Harmony house dehydrated red beans, Zatarain cajun seasoning and the sausage. Crazy good. I'd eat this at home any time.
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The Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter ~ Cam "Swami" Honan of OZ
Basmati Rice, red lentils, curry, salt, olive oil. (optional meat - chicken, tuna pouch, bacon bits, etc). 125 g of dry ingredients, 2 cups water, and eveything else in pot, boil, put in pot cozy, let set 20 min, eat.
Why? Tastes great, cheap, nothing processed, basmati rice and red red lentils cook fast enough there is no need to pre cook, dehydrate). Lentils are good dource of fiber and potassium. Dahl bat (lentils and rice) fuel Nepelese porters.
All meals pre-prepared and sealed in plastic. Measured and weighed. High protein, moderate fat, low carb. Based on dehydrated meat (homemade sliced steak, hamburger, ham, bacon, not commercial freeze dried), dehydrated cheese, olive oil, dehydrated vegetables, and spices particularly dried garlic. Cook 2 meal/s day; breakfast (around mid morning after hiking), wing it for lunch with jerky, nuts, cheese sticks, dried fruit, 95% chocolate. It's the steak and eggs diet! Satisfying, nutritious, no more expensive than buying commercial foods. Avoids downstream problems of high carb/sugar based hiker diets="T2D starter kits".
When I thru-hiked, my main meal was a Protein/Recovery Shake at my 3-3:30 break before cranking out another 10-15 miles.
Take Time to Watch the Trees Dance with The Wind........Then Join In........
Breakfast:
Instant coffee w/ hot cocoa powder
pop-tarts
Snack:
cliff bars
Lunch:
tortillas with blend of Peanut butter and nutella
Dinner:
Knorr sides w/ packet of chicken (or tuna)
I use a packet of mayonnaise for the "oil". Mayo is basically oil and egg yolks, and it melts into the dish so you don't see or taste it.
packets of hot sauce and/or soy sauce add flavor when desired.
After dinner drink:
sleepy time herbal tea.
Breakfast—paleo or Keto granola, instant coffee
Snacks bars and nuts
Lunch—an extended snack
Dinner—a freeze dried 2 serving if last town had an outfitter. 4 serving Mashed potatoes with Fritos and olive oil or ghee if no outfitter. Clif Builder bar for dessert.
I think the great Andrew Skurka hiked the AT almost exclusively on trail mix just to save time and effort. He calls it, "caloric drip". Brilliant. He's both a hiking prodigy and a hiking legend.
-- Probably written after hiking 8 miles and drinking a beer or two.
One of my favorite things to make is what I call, "Instant Thanksgiving". It's essentially stuffing mix with a packet of chicken, a packet of chicken or turkey gravy mix, a couple of 100 calorie packets of nuts and dried fruits, tvp, dried parsley, freeze-dried corn, freeze-dried scallions, butter or ghee, water, and whatever else you can think to add.
1 packet StarKist Premium White Chicken (80 cal)
1 packet Watkins Organic Chicken or Turkey Gravy Mix (80 cal)
2 packets Emerald Cashews, Almonds, & Cranberries (200 cal)
1/4 c (about 1/2 oz) Karen’s Naturals freeze-dried corn (50 cal)
1/4 c (about 1/2 oz) Bob’s Red Mill TVP (80 cal)
1/3 pkg (about 2 oz) Stove Top chicken or turkey stuffing (220 cal)
1 T dried parsley
1 T freeze-dried scallions
2 T butter or ghee (220 cal)
2 cups cold water
Total calories: 960 calories
At home, pre-mix corn, stuffing mix, parsley, and scallions in a baggie. At camp, mix water, gravy mix, chicken, fruits and nuts in pot (use water to rinse out chicken packet, it holds about a cup). Add butter. Heat until boiling, stirring frequently, then remove from heat, add remaining ingedients, stir to combine, cover, and allow to rest at least 5 minutes to rehydrate. Uncover, stir again, and enjoy!
Pack trash in the baggie you used for the stuffing mix, and dispose of properly.