Back country food?

[dtrkyman]

Tried searching but didn’t find anything. What are we bringing in for a few days without having to boil water?

Looking at RX bars, of course some trail mix and jerky, any other good ideas?


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[Skyhigh]

I like rolling up salami, pastrami, or pepperoni with cheese in a tortilla. Extremely packable, wont crush, taste pretty good, and are relatively calorie dense.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Peanut butter with tortillas (with or without jelly)
Summer sausage, shelf stable cheese, and wheat thins
Jerky
Carrots with ranch packets for something healthy(ish)
Trail mix
Milano cookies (high calorie per oz and tasty)

As I think about it, unless you cold soak food, the extra weight of many of the alternatives starts to eat away at the weight savings. My stove, 500ml cup, and fuel weigh like 13-14 ounces.

A DIY dehydrated meal weighs like 3 ounces. I’d have to bring two or three times that weight in shelf stable food to get the same fill/calories.

 

[dtrkyman]

How’s the salami and sausage doing in warm weather hunts?

I may still do a few mountain house type meals but not wanting to live on it!


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[GunsAreFun]

I’ve done homemade smoked deer sausage for three days. It could have likely gone longer. You can buy shelf stable sausage (and salami I think) at any grocery store. As long as you keep it in a ziplock and in the middle of the pack (best insulated), I imagine it would last several days.

I hear you with the Mountain House. I really recommend getting a cheap dehydrator (Aldis has had them for $20) and make your own meals. It is super simple, cheaper, and your food isn’t made of 95% salt. Tons of recipes on this forum and online. I did my first dehydrated meal this weekend (jambalaya), and it was perfect on the first try.

 

[dtrkyman]

Yeah I hear ya on the dehydrator. I’ve been primarily truck camping but am looking to start staying on the mountain.

I usually pre make a bunch of food and just heat it up back at camp,but after some a- hole jacked my whole cooler full of food last year I’m looking to stay back in more!


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[rino]

mountain house granola and blueberries. Just add water. Will keep the pipes predictable...

 

[Unclemoe]

You can "cook" house meals without heat fill with the proper amount of water and wait 6 hrs or so so fill it when u wake ip should be ready for lunch same with dinner

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[Coyote188]

Albacore tuna in pouches - bring packets of mayo/mustard and a couple crackers. Add the condiments and crushed up crackers directly to the opened pouch, mix and eat. This is usually my go to lunch option, along with stick of landjaeger. It does create a little trash and requires a utensil, but I have never found that to be a problem.

 

[dtrkyman]

I will be bringing a jet boil, just trying to minimize the MH stuff, I don't mind them too much just do not want to live on em!

 

[BeaverHunter]

Yeah I hear ya on the dehydrator. I’ve been primarily truck camping but am looking to start staying on the mountain.

I usually pre make a bunch of food and just heat it up back at camp,but after some a- hole jacked my whole cooler full of food last year I’m looking to stay back in more!


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Somebody stole your cooler of food? That’s cold hearted. That had to suck.

 

[dtrkyman]

Yes, the first damn day I got there last Jan. Luckily I had some backpacking food in the truck. Had to drive 1.5 hours to town a few days later and get more food.

 

[justin84]

I really like the probar meal bars, especially banana nut bread and oatmeal chocolate.

 

[magnum44270]

I will be bringing a jet boil, just trying to minimize the MH stuff, I don't mind them too much just do not want to live on em!

make your own. buy larger quanities of dehydrated/freeze dried ingerdients and package into meals you like. I usually run lots of soupmixes/veggies and add in bone broth powder and powered butter to bring up calories and protein.

 

[Newtosavage]

Spam singles are my go-to backcountry no-boil food. Throw one on a roll or flatbread and add a packet of mustard for a quick "spamburger" with very little cleanup or waste. They fill me up and personally I think they taste pretty good but YMMV as they say.

The single foil packets of tuna and salmon are pretty good too, and come in a wide variety of flavors to switch it up.

 

[ctjester123]

I like the foil packs of tuna, salmon etc. Great idea for the spamburger! I forget where I found this list from ... some thru hikers, but it became a great starting point for meals and menus. I’ve changed a couple things to meet my tastes etc. I prefer the taste of summer sausage & pepperoni packaged individually like Slim Jim’s vs beef jerky. Plus, they don’t require refrigeration and are are packaged individually. I also don’t always wanna eat tortillas or bagels, so I take a rolling pin and smash down some croissants. Much higher calorie count for the weight and they make a great meal with the cheeses and meats.

 

[SniperHunter]

Many years ago, I was leading a group trip, and I had a central commissary meal based on spaghetti. However, I left it to my cooking volunteers to prepare it. The plan was to cook the spaghetti in creek water that had been boiled. Instead, they cooked it in water that had already been treated with iodine.
There was a starch reaction in the cook pot, and we ate purple spaghetti. Nobody said a word, but lots of noses were wrinkled up when they saw it.

 

[Braigtastic]

I'm going to be trying cold soaking this season. There is a ton of information from through hikers on it and it seems like it will help cut some weight and save time.

 

[mlgc20]

Check out Packit Gourmet. They have several items where you can add cold water. Personally, I like the deli roast beef and the Curry Mango Chicken Salad. Both are great with tortillas and easy to make in the field.

 

[Blackhawk45hunter]

I use my Vac sealer to make meals. The easiest one is to copy mountain house granola and berries. Just buy granola and berries cereal in a box at the grocery store, portion it into vac bags and add powdered milk. Vac-seal and you have mountain house granola and berries for around $1 per pouch.