What's for Dinner?

It seems like everyone we meet inevitably asks what we're eating on the trail. Well, we're actually eating pretty darn well. Dale and I really enjoy food and since this trek is more about the experience than simply getting from point A to point B in a short time, we decided early in the planning process that food would be an important part of our hike. Here's an overview of our food preparation process and description of a few of our meals in the field.

There are several serious considerations when planning food for a long hike. The first is to have enough calories to sustain the intensity of the activity. The second is weight. And the third consideration for us is to have interesting and tasty meals to boot. We're doing pretty well in all three areas, and here's how:

Thanks to our friends Morgan and Sarah Pett we were able to dehydrate a portion of our food while still in Iowa. We experimented with different fruits, veggies, and meats using their dehydrator. Now we are now enjoying light-weight apples, pineapple, kiwi, black olives, bok-choy, mushrooms, peppers, canned salmon, beef jerky and even salsa and tomato paste. (Salsa and tomato paste dry into a fruit leather and provide excellent flavor.) Thanks Morgan and Sarah!

Thanks also to Ivan Katz who lent us his vacuum food sealer so some of the food we made in May would stay fresher until Fall.

While dehydrating worked for many food items, it has some major drawbacks. The primary one is time. Dehydrating three months of food eight trays at a time would have taken much longer than we had. There is also a weight issue – freeze-dried foods are significantly lighter than dehydrated. Additionally, freeze-drying retains more vitamins and nutrients than dehydrating, which is basically slow-cooking at low temperatures. So we looked into freeze-dried foods to supplement. You may be familiar with the pre-made, pre-packaged, freeze-dried meals from brands like Mountain House, but for a three month venture they are prohibitively expensive and create copious amounts of wasteful packaging. But then we discovered a solution – freeze-dried food staples in #10 cans (large coffee can size) that we could break up into ziploc bags and create our own meals. We found two companies online that offer a wide variety of freeze-dried foods at cheaper prices than we could dehydrate them – everything from powdered eggs, to butter, to cheese and berries and veggies. After some taste-testing we picked out some of our favorites and went wild. Not too wild, mind you, just enough to keep our palates engaged and our bodies filled with healthy, nutritious fare!

Freeze dried foods (and more) from Honeyville Grains

Freeze dried foods (and more) from Emergency Essentials

We rounded out our food staples from local grocery stores, stocking up on pasta, mac & cheese, rice, oatmeal, almonds, peanuts, cranberries, raisins, M&Ms, etc. The result is that we have with us a variety of dehydrated and freeze-dried fruits, vegetables, meats and cheeses, plus grains, and snacks in the form of different homemade trail mixes, nuts and Odwalla and Clif bars for quick energy. We also have a spice bag that adds variety and pizazz.

While in Conifer we took over two rooms in my parent's house during two-days of food preparation, separation and repacking for distribution into boxes for mailing. We measured out portions of grains, veggies and fruits, etc. into plastic bags to save space and weight. We made a lot of trail mix. When we looked up from the work we were surrounded by boxes and cans and bags of food. Have you ever thought about how much food you go through in just a month? How about three months? It's a lot of food (keeping in mind we do like to eat well and anticipated needing more calories than normal).

When done, we had ten days of food in our packs for the first leg of the trail in Glacier, a box to leave at the Polebridge Mercantile before getting dropped off to start the trip, and ten others to be sent to post offices (and other helpful businesses) along the route. Each box weighs 20-25 pounds and includes (we hope) enough food to last between 8-11 days. The length of each leg is dependent on the distance between accessible post offices/mail drops along the PNT route and our anticipated rate of travel.

So given all of our preparation, what is actually happening in the field?

We are using approximately three gallons of water per day for drinking, cooking (and rehydrating) and tooth-brushing.

· We are using a little over a quart of white gas every 10 days for the stove – for cooking meals and making hot drinks.

· We are just about finishing our food stocks by the time we reach the next mail drop.

· And we are generally enjoying the food, though after four weeks on the trail we must admit we are getting a teeny bit weary of the same exact dried/freeze-dried options each week. We do manage to mix things up in different and unique ways, however, and that is a least keeping things interesting. Besides, everything tastes pretty darn good when you've hiked a long, hard day.

Here are just a few examples of what we are eating for breakfast and dinner (we tend to snack on energy bars, trail mix, or nuts while hiking) :

· Hot cocoa, or a fruit-smoothie mix for a sweet, sugary treat along with the occasional instant pudding dessert.

· Oatmeal or 6-grain cereal mix with sugar, berries and nuts.

· Eggs dishes with salmon, cheese, spinach, salsa.

· Tomato-based pasta and rice dishes.

· Macaroni and Cheese with broccoli or asparagus, carrots, celery, black olives, and sometimes salmon.

· Rice or Pasta Curry with homemade tortillas

Anny Tessin taught us about and provided a box of powdered coconut milk for the hike!


· Salsa rice with cheese and black beans (super-light, easy to dehydrate and packed with protein).

· And, as an extra-special treat: fresh sprouts! Yes, you can make sprouts while hiking in the woods. They provide a wonderful fresh crunch to our meals. Now we just need to have enough patience to let them green-up a bit in the sun.

While we enjoy cooking our own creations, we miss things like unlimited cheese and fresh meat. We have also begun to crave pastries, chocolate cake and ice cream. So we really, really appreciate the times we hike into town and get town-food, or in the rare and lucky case – a homemade meal from one of the amazing folks we have been meeting on the trail.

Send us any additional food questions and we'll either email you (when we find WiFi) or post additional blogs.