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Food can be one of the most difficult and expensive components of a backcountry trip. Determining exactly what you need for a trip, buying it, and packing it can be a pain. In the day's of olde explorers would use a train of donkeys to carry canned goods. In Asia you can hire sherpa's to carry your goods from place to place. Unfortunately neither of these are a viable option for your average backcountry trip in the America's. We have to carry our own food, so factors such as weight and size are of the utmost importance to us. We need foods that are small and light, yet rich in nutrients and calories. This can be a daunting task for the inexperienced, but it doesn't have to be. This guide will teach you how to plan you meals, how to prepare dehydrated food, how to cook dehydrated food, how to conserve fuel and also includes some basic recipes to get you started. Index:
The hardest part of planning your menu is determining what you need. It doesn't have to be hard - you just need to answer four simple questions: How long am I going for? How many people do I need to feed? How much space do I have? How much fuel can I carry? 1) How long am I going for? How long your trip will last will determine a lot of what you need in terms of food. You can take almost anything you want on a weekend trip (just remember to pack out the packaging). However, you should try to reduce weight - less weight is always better and its good practice for longer trips. Regardless of the trip length there you'll want to consume around 1500 calories each day. For extremely strenuous trips you may want to increase this to 2000 calories or more. On longer tips you may have to consume less then 1500 due to space limitations, but you'll make up the remaining calories by breaking down muscle mass. On longer trips you may need to arrange to have food pickup points along the trip, or get the food from the wild. Keep in mind every day you'll need three meals as well as some snacks for the trail. 2) How many people do I need to feed? The number of people on a trip can play a major role in what you bring. Generally speaking larger groups will have more space for "extra" items such as fresh fruit, snacks and deserts. Smaller groups may have to limit themselves to the bare minimum. The easiest way to plan your menu is to plan for one person and then multiply everything by the number of people present. 3) How much space do I have? The amount of space you have in your pack for food is also something you need to take into account as you plan your menu. If you have a large amount of space you can afford to take bulkier foods such as canned goods, dessert mixes, non-dehydrated fruits and vegetables and breads. As the size of your pack decreases, or the length of your trip increases you'll need to increase the amount of dense foods you carry. For longer trips you'll need to carry only dehydrated foods. 4) How much fuel can I carry? This is another concern when planning your menu. Every time you take anything that requires cooking you must make sure to bring the fuel you need to cook it. It would be nice to eat two or three hot meals every day, but if your going on a trip that's longer then a weekend this is impractical. Generally speaking you can cook 2 meals per day if going for a week or less, but for longer trips one hot meal a day may be all you can have. There are a variety of characteristics that can determine if food is good for backcountry. The main concerns are: size, weight, water content, caloric content and nutritional value.
1) Size You want to pick foods that take up as little space as possible. Unfortunately we don't have a whole lot of control over this but you can minimize size by removing as much packaging as possible as well as compressing the food as much as possible. 2) Weight The usual trend in backcountry travel is to choose items as light as you can find. Food is the opposite - generally speaking the foods you'll want to take heavy foods. These foods will have the highest energy/nutritional values for the space they take up. However, there are things you can do to minimize weight. Remove unnecessary packaging and dehydrate fruits and vegetables. 3) Water content Water content is important when selecting foods. Water is wasted space and weight. That's why we dehydrate - it gets rid of all the water while keeping all of the calories and vitamins. If you're taking lunch meat choose a "dry" sausage, such as summer sausage. This type of food will be mostly meat and filler, with little water content. Fruits and vegetables are mostly water, so dehydrating them can drastically reduce both size and weight. 4) Caloric content and nutritional value The best source of calories is starches. These are much better then sugars because they are more dense (i.e. take up less space), and provide your body with energy for long periods of time. Rice, flour, dehydrated potato's and pasta are excellent sources of starch, and are easily carried by the backpacker. Starches should be consumed at every meal, and your snacks should contain some starch-rich foods (i.e. granola). Once you've taken care of your calories you must take into consideration two other factors - vitamins/minerals and protein. Vitamins and minerals come primarily from fruits and vegetables. For short trips (less then one week) it's OK if your menu is a little short on fruits and vegetables. Your bodies supply of the vitamins and minerals contained in these foods will be sufficient to carry your through the week. That said you should still have them in your meals - it's good for you and they taste great. For longer trips you'll need to find a supply of these substances. Dehydrated vegetables will retain most of their nutritional value, so your average dehydrated meal will have much of what you need. Vitamin supplements can also be used to increase your vitamin intake. A lack of vitamins and minerals can leave you weak as your bodies metabolic pathways rely on these compounds. In extreme cases a lack of vitamins and minerals can result in conditions such as scurvy. Vegetables should be consumed at least twice a day, as should fruit. Dehydrated fruit makes a great snack and can provide you with your daily intake of fruits. Proteins can be found in meat, cheeses, beans, nuts, and soy products. Your body requires protein as a regular part of your diet. Your body can also use proteins as a source of energy (calories). You should eat one meal each day that contains a source of protein. Protein-rich foods (peanuts) can also make up a portion of your snack food, but shouldn't be the sole source of calories. When you plan your menu make sure you pick items you like - there's no reason why you shouldn't have good food while in the backcountry. As you plan your menu keep these things in mind, you want a calorie-dense food every meal, fruits and vegetables twice a day and protein at lest once a day. Breakfast: Generally speaking breakfast can consist mostly of starches. This will provide you with energy for the morning, and is easy to digest. Oatmeal, English muffins, bannock, and toast all make good breakfasts. A small amount of protein or fruit (i.e. peanut butter or jam) can provide you with additional calories and make the meal more enjoyable. Avoid fatty foods as they are hard to digest and will waste energy. Lunch: Like breakfast lunch should provide you with a lot of calories. Sandwiches made from dense bread (i.e. pumpernickel, black bread, pita), cheese and meat will provide you with a lot of energy for the afternoon. Add to this a source of vegetables to ensure you get all of the nutrients you need. If the weather is bad some soup can help warm you up, but keep in mind you'll need additional fuel for this. Supper: Supper should have a mix of starches, proteins and vegetables. This will provide your body with what it needs to recover from a day of physical activity. Meals such as stir-fry, pasta and sheppard's pie are good for supper. A nice hot supper is a great reward for a day's hard work, and will give you the energy for tomorrow. Snacks: It is important to snack while you travel in the backcountry. Your body needs a continuous input of energy-rich foods. Dehydrated fruits, granola and nuts are all great snacks. Small amounts of candy can be added for taste, but avoid excessive amounts as candy provides little caloric or nutritional value. As you can tell dehydrated foods are the food of choice for most backcountry trips. They are light weight, small, yet contain large quantities of calories and vitamins. When it comes to dehydrated foods you have two choices - make your own or buy them. Both options have their ups and downs... Commercial dehydrated meals have the advantage that no work is required to produce them, and they are easy to prepare on trail. The down side is that they are expensive, are often too small and usually don't taste all that good. Many backpackers use these with no complaint, but others have given these food dubious names such as "sliver death", "barf in a bag" and "yuppie food". However, specific foods can be found in a dehydrated form which is great for preparing your own meals. Dehydrated pasta, mashed potato's and eggs can all be used as a base for other foods. They are cheap and using the commercial product saves you a lot of work. Homemade dehydrated food has a lot of advantages. You can make meals you know you'll like. It's a lot cheaper then most commercially available foods and is usually of higher quality. The variety of meals available is limited only by your imagination. The only downside is that it requires more work then the commercial products. Dehydrating your own food is easy. Contrary to what many people believe you do not need a fancy food dehydrator for this. Native Indians have been dehydrating food for thousands of years using nothing more then sun and smoke. Although this method works great I prefer a more modern device - an oven. You can turn your oven innto a food dehydrator quite easily. Simply turn it onto it's lowest setting and prop the door open slightly. Food can be placed on cookies sheets in the oven, and will dry completely overnight. Using all three racks in my oven I can dehydrate enough food in one night to feed four adults on a weekend trip. You can turn almost any meal into dehydrated food. Simply prepare it as you usually would. Once it's cooked spread it out on a cookie sheet and dehydrate it in your oven. To ease dehydration and preparation on the trail cut all pieces as small as possible. Generally speaking you'll want meat to be cut into pieces no more then 1cm x 1cm. Vegetables should be cut as small as possible, or even grated. Frozen vegetable mixes are often already cut to the right size. You can prepare dehydrated foods whenever you wish and store them in the freezer. Foods stored in this manner are good for years. Once the food is dehydrated place it into a Ziploc bag. This bag will both store your food and provide you with a container to rehydrate it in. When your done the meal simply rinse out the bag and place it in your pack. You can then carry it back home and reuse it. If using commercial food follow the instructions on the package. If preparing your own follow these steps: 1) One to two hours before the meal add some water to the Ziploc bag containing your food (note: keep rice, pasta's and potato's separate. Don't add water to these items). 2) Kneed the food gently to work in the water. Keep adding water and kneading the mixture until it is dehydrated. 3) Cook any rice/noodles/potato's that are in the meal. 4) Next heat your rehydrated food until hot - there is no need to cook it. You may need to add a small amount of water during this step. 5) Mix the rehydrated food with your potatoes/rice/pasta and serve. By following these steps you'll have a properly rehydrated and great tasting meal every time, while preserving fuel. These recipes are intended to get you started. Like any other type of cooking nothing here is written in stone - feel free to experiment. Sheppard's Pie: Ingredients:
To Dehydrate: Mix spices and hamburger together and brown in a fry pan. When nearly done add frozen vegetables and cook until vegetables are soft. Drain all fluid and spread mixture on cookie sheet. Dehydrate and place in a Ziploc bag. To Rehydrate: Kneed in water until proper consistency is restored. Cook instant mashed potatoes. Heat rehydrated meat/vegetable. Serve.
Chicken Stir-fry: Ingredients:
To Dehydrate: Stir-fry chicken until done, add some chicken stock for additional flavor. Remove and drain any excess fluids. Stir-fry vegetables in chicken stock. When done mix with chicken. Add teriyaki sauce to taste. Spread on a cookie sheet and dehydrate. Place in a Ziploc bag. To Rehydrate: Kneed in water until proper consistency is restored. Cook rice. Heat rehydrated meat/vegetable. Serve. For additional taste bring some soy sauce.
Rigatoni in a Mean Sauce: Ingredients:
To Dehydrate: Brown hamburger in fry pan, drain and set aside. Fry vegetables in a small quantity of oil. When fried add to hamburger. Mix in tomato sauce, spread on a cookie sheet and dehydrate. To Rehydrate: Kneed in water until proper consistency is restored. Cook noodles. Heat rehydrated pasta sauce. Serve. For additional taste bring some dry parmesan cheese. |
This Page Copyright (2004), Knights of Dionysus
Authored by: Bryan Heit
