Cheap Food While Hiking the Trail

[partinj]

Well guys and girls i was at a checker where i live two weeks ago they have a really good dollar menu now if most the fast food have dollar menu you could get fast food petty cheap as you hike just other way to cut cost of your Thur-Hike What do you think

[JAK]

1 cup of Oatmeal at $0.75 per pound = 607 kcal
1 oz of Brown Sugar at $0.05 per ounce = 107 kcal
=====================
714 kcal for $0.25

[hobojoe]

It's pretty nasty for you but I have been known to carry a dozen double cheeseburgers out of town. I wouldn't recomend it....

[Deerleg]

From a previous thread:

I have paid as little as 29 cents a pound for corn meal (medium to corse)...just add hot water, a little brown sugar and maybe some powdered milk and the slow release energy will keep you hiking for hours for only pennies!
Maybe not high energy, but long lasting and cheap!

[JAK]

Now your talkin'. Sticks to your ribs.

Here is a recipe for buckwheat porridge if you ever come across a cheap source of buckwheat.
http://thisfoodthing.wordpress.com/2...-by-dukelupus/

[aaroniguana]

I had it down to about $6.50 per day. But that was with mail drops (including postage) which aren't very efficient. Haven't replanned yet.

[Chaco Taco]

It's pretty nasty for you but I have been known to carry a dozen double cheeseburgers out of town. I wouldn't recomend it....

Havent you also been known to do it in town also? Remember, I know where you live fool

[double d]

Snickers and Balance bars are a good source of complex energy and if you look around, you can find great deals on both products.

[Darwin again]

You will slowly starve to death eating snicks and bars while trying to hike the AT.
Ditto with most of the freeze dried foods, plus they are expensive.
Oatmeal (quick oats) is the cheapest, best thing you can carry, imo.

I make packages out of sandwich baggie of 1/3 cup oats, a teaspoon of dark brown sugar, a pinch of cinnamon, then I squeeze the air out and spin the baggie so that I've got a tail, which I tie into a simple knot. That's one breakfast. All I need to do is add it to boiling water in my camp cup, stir and let it sit a short while.

Also, a well-kept secret hiking food: Barilla cheese and spinach tortelini in the little bags. Also, the three cheese flavor is great. One bag will make you two big hearty meals. For added goodness, carry a ziplock of grated parmesan cheese. great.

Also nutritionally good while inexpensive: bagels, cheese, crackers like wheat thins, peanut M&Ms, peanut butter, chocolate covered raisins.

Save your money on maildrops and use it to buy groceries in towns, except the few places (hot springs, port clinton, etc.) where mail drops are a good idea. Package the foods at your town stop just before these places and send them to yourself up the trail in a flat-rate priority mailing box, which I've found is usually cheaper than finding a regular box, packing it and etc.

You can hike and eat fairly cheaply by supermarket shopping all along the way.

[rafe]

You will slowly starve to death eating snicks and bars while trying to hike the AT.

IIRC, snickers work for Mags.

Also, a well-kept secret hiking food: Barilla cheese and spinach tortelini in the little bags. Also, the three cheese flavor is great. One bag will make you two big hearty meals. For added goodness, carry a ziplock of grated parmesan cheese. great.

Agreed. Barilla's stuff makes a great alternative to Liptons or ramen.

[kayak karl]

fastfood is ok for first meal back on trail i guess, but since i worked in the industry for 15 years the smell and taste makes me sick. give me a good Gyro any day.

[Appalachian Tater]

The little tortellini are especially good if you cook them in a broth made with a bullion cube and add pepperoni and sun-dried tomatoes.

[Yahtzee]

Honey buns for breakfast. Can get 2 for $1 at most stores. They pack 500 calories each, usually.
Butter or Oil. Nothing adds calories and takes away the famished feeling the leaves you gouging your food bag two days too soon.

[JAK]

Snickers and Balance bars are a good source of complex energy and if you look around, you can find great deals on both products.

Snickers and Balance bars and such will never be cheaper nor more nutritious than real food. Its almost always best to avoid over packaging, over processing.

[Cowgirl]

Snickers and Balance bars and such will never be cheaper nor more nutritious than real food. Its almost always best to avoid over packaging, over processing.

I agree!

my trail food staples are pretty much what I eat at home:

raw nuts........................1 cup = 1000 calories
sweet potatoes...............1 large = 450 cals
oats...............................2 cups = 600 cals
dried fruit.......................1 cup = 430 cal

and you get a ton of vitamins and minerals especially the much needed potassium by eating this way.

[StubbleJumper]

CowGirl,

I must confess that I was a little surprised to see sweet potatoes on your list of trail foods. Do you pack raw sweet potatoes, or is it possible to purchase a dehydrated variety? If they're raw, do you just put them into the fire to cook them?

[partinj]

If you can take sweet potatoes why not bake potatoes. Oh yet by the way i did not mean i was gone to bring fast food o n the trail with me. I was just saying that the dollar menu at most the fast food places would be the cheap way to eat while you are in town.

[Cowgirl]

I cube the sweet potatoes up and then boil them for a few minutes then let them sit in the hot water for a while to keep cooking then I mash them up and add some walnuts & honey. A big tater can weigh almost a pound and makes a nice meal.

I don't do fires since I am a "stealth" camper but it would work that way if you know how to regulate your coals and would have to pack tin foil.

If I can't find sweet potatoes, regular white ones are just as nutritious. I just prefer sweet.

The idea of eating fast food is scarey to me because of all the additives and toxins that are in those types of foods.

[elray]

Minute oats and brown sugar, throw in a little powdered milk and it's a delicious hot meal that I never tire of. My Mother raised the three of us on a shoe string and we ate the darn things nearly every day, little was I to know that they would someday become my favorite AT supper!

[kritter]

I like to bring dehydrated refried beans. Most grocery stores have em pretty cheap. It's a good way to add a lil protien into your diet out there.