Backcountry meals

[W_sommers]

Hey new western hunter here and I’m struggling to find backcountry food that won’t kill my stomach. I’ve tried the mountain house and peak refuel meals and can’t hardly keep them down due to acid reflux problems. Wondering if anybody has tried packing in with some real food. Plan on spending 4 days packed in at a time. Open to any suggestions.

 

[P Carter]

Backpacking meal sites have all sorts of suggestions. I use couscous as a base and go from there—bacon crumbles, sausages, tuna, packet chicken, with whatever spice combination you want.

You can do the same with instant rice.

Here’s a good place to start: https://andrewskurka.com/tag/backpacking-meal-recipes/

 

[BBob]

Hey new western hunter here and I’m struggling to find backcountry food that won’t kill my stomach. I’ve tried the mountain house and peak refuel meals and can’t hardly keep them down due to acid reflux problems. Wondering if anybody has tried packing in with some real food. Plan on spending 4 days packed in at a time. Open to any suggestions.

Dehydrate and package my own. There's been many threads here on Rokslide discussing it.

Search results for query: dehydrate

rokslide.com

 

[keystone112]

I haven’t tried them yet but Gastronome looks great.

 

[W_sommers]

Dehydrate and package my own. There's been many threads here on Rokslide discussing it.

Search results for query: dehydrate

rokslide.com

Hadn’t thought about that but it would be worth a shot. Thanks

 

[W_sommers]

I haven’t tried them yet but Gastronome looks great.

I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks

 

[TaperPin]

There are a lot of regular foods I’ve taken and been happy with, although there is often a weight or taste penalty. I’ve also had good luck eating things that don’t agree with me at night for breakfast. Eating some spicy dinner for breakfast and oatmeal at night sounds weird, but I don’t mind it.

Anything with flour really gets my heartburn going, but when it’s part of banana bread, the bananas seem to temper my gut. It wouldn’t be super light weight, but I could survive an entire week on nothing but this delicious invention.

Rice causes less heartburn than pasta and I kind of enjoy the powdered chicken gravy over rice. Dehydrated pees go with anything. Bags of dehydrated chicken breast can work with a lot of different meals.

I don’t have a sweet tooth so I don’t carry a lot sweet things, but it does cause me less heartburn and calories per pound are as good as any dehydrated meal.

I thought I had tried enough antacids to not be happy with any of them, but my acid reflux was keeping me up starting about 3:00 am regardless of any antacid taken before bed and I started getting a little cough, like a smokers cough. My doctor prescribed Prilosec and it’s been a game changer. The over the counter stuff is the same thing, but generic prescription stuff is less expensive and a higher dose. I’ve started using hot sauce again and can eat Chinese and Mexican food again at night. It works so well I only have to take it once every two or three days and haven’t had a single heartburn or reflux situation in a month. The over the counter box says it may take a number of days to be effective, but it worked well the first night.

 

[W_sommers]

There are a lot of regular foods I’ve taken and been happy with, although there is often a weight or taste penalty. I’ve also had good luck eating things that don’t agree with me at night for breakfast. Eating some spicy dinner for breakfast and oatmeal at night sounds weird, but I don’t mind it.

Anything with flour really gets my heartburn going, but when it’s part of banana bread, the bananas seem to temper my gut. It wouldn’t be super light weight, but I could survive an entire week on nothing but this delicious invention.

Rice causes less heartburn than pasta and I kind of enjoy the powdered chicken gravy over rice. Dehydrated pees go with anything. Bags of dehydrated chicken breast can work with a lot of different meals.

I don’t have a sweet tooth so I don’t carry a lot sweet things, but it does cause me less heartburn and calories per pound are as good as any dehydrated meal.

I thought I had tried enough antacids to not be happy with any of them, but my acid reflux was keeping me up starting about 3:00 am regardless of any antacid taken before bed and I started getting a little cough, like a smokers cough. My doctor prescribed Prilosec and it’s been a game changer. The over the counter stuff is the same thing, but generic prescription stuff is less expensive and a higher dose. I’ve started using hot sauce again and can eat Chinese and Mexican food again at night. It works so well I only have to take it once every two or three days and haven’t had a single heartburn or reflux situation in a month. The over the counter box says it may take a number of days to be effective, but it worked well the first night.

Awesome information. I have a prescription that I don’t ever have to take because I can just modify my diet to eat things that won’t bother me but it seems like the back packing food, especially red sauce pastas and stuff like that, give me heart burn pretty bad. I also don’t usually have a sweet tooth but I do like the idea of lots of calories in a smaller package. I’ll have to try that and the chicken and gravy over rice.

 

[Olympics777]

the heathers choice meals seem easier on my gut than other brands, might be worth a try. Otherwise you are stuck dehydrating your own. Personally I’m going to try Gastronome meals next and see how I handle it, I’ve heard they are easy on the gut.

 

[Chape1rm]

Personally I’ve found that my issue with backpacking food when I started doing backpacking trips was the drastic change in fuel sources compared to my regular diet. The freeze dried meals and most snacks you would think to take on a hunt had an insane amount of carbs vs my normal diet. So not only are you trying to get used to eating something all the sudden that has been freeze dried but your body is trying to adjust where its fuel source is coming from all while getting its ass kicked by mountains and trying to sleep on the ground.

So now my approach is to try to take the same foods I normally eat with me on hunts. For example I normally have meats/fish potatoes and fats from nuts and cheeses with some fruit thrown in for snacks. So for hunts I’ll make jerky, hunter sticks biltong and pemican, bring along chunks or slices of my favorite cheeses, clean potato chips like boulder chips, dehydrated fruits and trail mixes. My favorite meal is rice ramen with Lono life bone broth and chunks of venison cheddar hunter sticks. Taking these foods isn’t much different than my normal diet. I’ll even start eating these specific foods a few weeks before the hunt to prepare my body for it.

Whatever you take with you I think it’s best to let your body adjust to that type of diet and or eat the same diet you normally do. This include drink mixes too. It’s best not to shock your body with all sorts of new foods and drinks while putting it through the stresses of hunting at the same time.

 

[mtnbound]

Hey new western hunter here and I’m struggling to find backcountry food that won’t kill my stomach. I’ve tried the mountain house and peak refuel meals and can’t hardly keep them down due to acid reflux problems. Wondering if anybody has tried packing in with some real food. Plan on spending 4 days packed in at a time. Open to any suggestions.

Gastro Gnome is pretty good and does not give me an issues and it’s real food and not a bunch of crap

 

[sierracharlie338]

I like a good chili Mac to break up freeze dried meals.

Choice of noodle
Dehydrated beans (I like pinto)
Chili seasoning packet
Cheese (I prefer real but you could always sub the kraft style packet Cheese)