Food for back country hunting

[huntersdog]

A selection of mountain house freeze dried food packs.

 

[UCFJed]

Lots of good replies already, but one thing I've done to save weight is by putting my Jetboil meals in freezer bags instead of the plastic they come in. You save a few oz per meal, but over a long enough journey it shaves a few pounds. I've used the "Ziploc Slider Freezer Bags, Stand-and-Fill" ones before and it's way better. Another thing to consider, after you have used the food, the weight of your trash adds up.

 

[couesbitten]

the weight of your trash adds up.

Not if you burn it every evening like I do.

 

[mtwarden]

Lots of good replies already, but one thing I've done to save weight is by putting my Jetboil meals in freezer bags instead of the plastic they come in. You save a few oz per meal, but over a long enough journey it shaves a few pounds. I've used the "Ziploc Slider Freezer Bags, Stand-and-Fill" ones before and it's way better. Another thing to consider, after you have used the food, the weight of your trash adds up.

https://www.rokslide.com/forums/thr...t-and-volume-of-your-backcountry-food.231506/

 

[UCFJed]

https://www.rokslide.com/forums/thr...t-and-volume-of-your-backcountry-food.231506/

Looks familiar! Nice Hyperlite flex.

 

[WyoHuntr]

Old thread, I know, but this is a helpful chart. I threw some FBombs in my daily rations, last year. I also switched over to Peak Refuel, since they have a good calorie count

 

[mtwarden]

^ that's handy- thanks!

 

[SoloWilderness]

I'm in the camp of 1.5lbs+/day. Generally hunting off my back for 7-10 days at time. 3000/cal+ day. 6'2", 215lbs. I get hangry if I don't eat, and my focus starts to drop off. So food is a necessary evil. I wore myself out on eating bars all day when I was younger, so need more of the comfort food, so I'll actually eat it, instead of staring at another 20g protein bar in horror. I do hunt near water frequently, so can carry less water during the day to offset food weight. (100 oz max during the day, try to empty it twice while hunting). Use a gravity filter in camp (Platypus) carry one for the whole group, someone else carries a fuel cannister for me to offset. Iodine or drops during the day.

Typical:

Breakfast:

-2 packs protein oatmeal w/ 1/3 pack of Mountain Ops Ammo protein powder added. Add dried papaya, raisins, cranberries, walnuts, brown sugar.
-Every third day I get a MH breakfast skillet, as the oatmeal slurry gets old, its potent, but not the tastiest. - Tried out the Peak Refuel this year, way better. Probably going to mix in Gastro Gnome and Offgrid breakfasts as I'm able to acquire some.
-Dried fruit to munch while packing up - Mangos, apples, bananas, pineapple.
-Deathwish instant coffee + MCT packet
-32 oz of Mountain Ops Ignite or Enduro - chug and refill my bottle for morning hydration and wake up boost
-This year I'll be rotating in a heavy meal that one of my buddies turned me on to : Vac seal fresh avocado, dried eggs, pre-cooked bacon. Heavy but a nice treat for the first couple of days.
-Vitamins, Mountain Ops Ox, B vitamins, C vitamins, Glucosimine

Grazing/ Snacks/ Lunch:

-Pro bar meal (x2/ day)
-Gorp: Almonds, dried fruit mix, M&Ms, jerky bits, honey cashews, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes (1/4 lb/ day)
-Jerky/ hard cheese/ salami
-Snyder's infamous butthole sandwiches (vac sealed) - Dave's Protein bagel - blueberry/ cinnamon raisin, crunchy peanut butter, honey, bacon (1st 3-5 days) - Burned out on these this year. Going to straight foil packs for lunches.
-Foil packets of tuna/ chicken/ salmon (lemon pepper, teriyaki, etc.) (2nd 3-5 days)
-Mountain Ops Enduro or Ignite. Emergen-C Hydrate. Powdered coconut water.
-Fun size Snickers (for when I go all Aretha Franklin)
-Honey Stinger bars/ waffles
-Honey Stinger or other energy bites/ gels
-Orange/ day for 1st 3 days
-Gummy Bears - energy bursts/ pick me up (My hunting partners give me crap for my 2 lb bag, but are always asking for them by the 3rd day....)
-Justin's maple almond butter packets

Dinner:

-Mountain House Pro meal or Peak Meal (Teriyaki Chicken w/ rice, Chili Mac, Primavera Pasta w/ a salmon foil pack added, meat lasagna, sweet & sour pork) - Add foil packs to these of shredded beef or chicken every 2-3 days for extra protein - Switched to Peak Refuel this year, once I run out of Mountain House backstock, this will probably be the go-to due to the better protein content and all around better taste.
-Tortillas/ pitas
-Hard cheese, salami
-Cholula, sriracha, soy sauce packets packed in with my days food bag for flavor
-Mountain Ops Slumber or Spiced cider/ tea
-32 oz Mountain Ops Enduro

I often grab a deli sandwich and some cookies for the long grind in. My friends eye them jealously while they chew on protein bars. I'm going to eat enough bars over the next week, might as well have one last taste of civilization.

I have been known to hide a 6 pack of IPAs in a secret location along the trail in the creek to ease the grueling pack outs. People laugh at me on the way in, then they will trade basically anything for one on the way out with 100lbs on our backs and 5 miles to go to the trucks....

Also pre-stage food/ fuel bags at our high camp if we can get in for a scouting trip close to the season, but I typically hunt the same canyons every year, so often don't bother.

 

[Seeknelk]

If I was doing same trip I'd be 1.7-2 # per day and still be in a large deficit.
If you want max calories per oz just fill your pack with macadamia nuts. Or sticks of butter.
No, seriously, if.you go real heavy on nuts, test em all beforehand. My tongue swole up and got a sore throat from F- bomb nut butters and other nuts I had last year. So I don't do nuts anymore.
Anyway, Peak refuel has incredible products if you ask me. I can eat them and not have gastric distress like from 30 year rated MT House.

 

[sneaky]

Man, if any of you were near central Idaho I'd make you a deal on some Peak Refuels. Way too heavy on the parmesan cheese in them for my taste. Should have tried some before buying a bunch lol.

 

[isocyanate]

A great way to add easy calories at night is to pack instant mashed potato pouches. Use the empty bag from the evening’s peak meal and viola. 500 extra calories of starch, with a side benefit of killer sleep. Throw a little bourbon on top of that and a bear could drag my tent off with me in it, I’d never know.

Edit: (and this is just me) but I love good water, so I pack an MSR mini works filter. It’s just one of my splurges.

 

[mtwarden]

found this on the Exo site- innovative 800-ish calories breakfast

eat it cold or hot

https://exomtngear.com/blogs/articl...e-for-backpacking?_pos=1&_sid=b5611b6f3&_ss=r

 

[mfllood3800]

Snacks- what ever direction you go, be mindful of trash accumulation. I try to remove all items from original packaging as it's too moisy anyway, and then place them in my daily bags so I only have 1 baggie vs a bunch of colored trash.

 

[Luked]

Have mine for elk set up for between 3200-3500 calories per day.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[scott85]

I will say this, if I can't eat something on the couch watching tv, there is no way I'm going to be able to eat it on the mountain. All my food must past the couch test.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. Snacks all day. Camp chow for dinner

 

[Brook.Trout]

Lot's of good stuff here. I like the ideas of adding oil. A couple things to add/consider:

• For meat, I've precooked bacon. It lasts, it's calorie dense, it tastes good cold, and who doesn't like bacon.
• Tuna in foil packs added to vegetarian freeze dried meals.
• I always bring garlic powder for freeze dried.

Things I haven't tried but am curious about.

• Bullet proof INSTAMIX Keto Creamer packets to add to my morning Starbucks via. I drink my coffee black, but I think this would be a good calorie dense boost in the morning. I figure if I'm already drinking coffee, I can calorie up at the same time.
• Ghee - shelf stable, concentrated butter

Tuna in foil packs is a good idea, my very first sheep hunt I packed canned tuna, didn’t have anything to open the cans, tried smashing with rocks and I can’t remember what brand I bought but they were tough ass cans and couldn’t get them open. Too heavy and had to pack the darn things out!

I’ve never heard about garlic powder, must have some calories the. I assume?

 

[Brook.Trout]

I recently discovered moon cheese, super lightweight and calorie dense!

 

[Highhuntin]

My experience is more with long distance hiking and backcountry trail work than hunting, but I think modularity is really key. If you can come up with meals you can throw your trail mix/gorp and oil/ghee in, regardless of whether it's breakfast lunch or dinner, it simplifies things while still landing just short of monotony.

Little things I've thought of here and there:
-Ghee is my preference, since olive oil in oatmeal is a little strange.
- I take halva instead of chocolate sometimes, since it has decent ratios of sugars: fats: proteins, and is around 145 calories / oz. I also throw it in oatmeal.
- cold soaking is almost never worth it. Boiling water for cold soakable staples like couscous, instant potatoes, oatmeal etc. is a valuable comfort boost.
- dehydrated smoothies with your protein powder of choice become a weird fruit leather that's an excellent lazy snack
- peanut butter or tahini are excellent additions to ramen, but peanut butter is obviously more versatile
- for first days out, fruit that you can eat whole with no waste like apples or kiwis are worth the brief extra weight

Can you tell me more about the dehydrated smoothies? I make a vegetable smoothie every day and miss them when not at home!

 

[S-3 ranch]

Eskimo Ice Cream:

• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening**
• 1 cup sugar, granulated
• 1/2 cup water or berry juice (or 2 cups loose snow)
• 4 cups berries (blueberries, cloudberries, cranberries, salmon berries, or blackberries), fresh***

Eat Like an Eskimo With This Native Ice Cream

A modern spin on a traditional Alaskan Native staple.

spoonuniversity.com