What do you guys do for food?

[robtattoo]

Pretty much! I weigh each portion before dehydrating & make a note. Add back that weight of boiling water & either simmer it on the stove until it's done (5 minutesish) or add boiling water to the Ziploc bag & let it sit in a reflective coozy for 20 minutes.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Do you catch alot of fish? This will be my first time going to Colorado so I haven't been sure how the fishing would be, but I considered taking some light tackle!

Depends on the unit I'm in but for those with decent lakes, yeah. More than I could eat.



I pack a Jetboil skillet



Sometimes just a bit of foil instead. Depends on whether there's a campfire restriction or not. A Dakota pit works just fine.

 

[jmez]

Breakfast: Instant oatmeal or cream of wheat with a scoop of protein powder, protein added granola and dehydrated fruit. Prepacked vacuum sealed at home. Just add boiling water to the bag. Starbucks via.

Lunch: Chicken or tuna fish in foil packets on a tortilla with a slice of cheese, take various single serve condiment packs mayo, mustard, hot sauce etc. an apple

Dinner: Mt House, starbucks via

Snacks every day: Clif builder bar, granola bar, pack trail mix, pack peanut butter crackers, 1 king sized candy bar

Each days food is in a gallon ziplock bag. Just grab a bag every morning. Use the ziplock for the trash.

 

[gelton]

I ALWAYS pack too much food. Not too much food for a normal person that eats regularly, but too much food for a guy that seems to get altitude sickness for the first 2-3 days of every high country hunt that I have ever been on.

I have found that until I am able to adjust to the altitude, that I can hang up expecting to be able to put down regular meals. Because of that, and through trial and error, I have been able to whittle my meals down by planning each day.

If I know that for the first couple of days I have trouble eating, then I only plan soups for the first several nights dinner. Also plan a soup for lunch. Lipton cup of soup works wonders, Ramen goes down ok too.

It isnt until day 3 that I have my first mountain house dinner and its smooth sailing from there. Last year I packed in for 8 days and had breakfast, lunch and dinner planned for each day and this is what I had to pack off the mountain because I just couldnt eat:

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Backpack Meals for 7-8days


Here's a pic of a meal plan I did 2-3yrs ago. Basically it's a mix of stuff. Some meals large enough to share w/ my buddy like the Idahoan Taters & pasta w/ foil pk chicken. Ramen and hot dogs are always popular the first couple nights. (4 hotdogs crusted w/ salt & vac sealed will keep just fine in the pack for the first 2-3 days.)

Lately I've nixed the hot dogs in favor of dehydrated chicken chunks. And I've been doing more DIY dehydrated meals like Chili mac, stews, and rice & curry dishes like Vindaloo.

I'm also a fan of "lunch bags" which are basically a variety of single serve snacks, cheese or PB crackers, power bars, pepperoni sticks, nuts, crystal lite tea & via pks, a couple coffee nips and jolly ranchers to suck on when water is running low. Its' not hard to pack 600+ calories in a sandwhich size ziplock.

Breakfast consists of fruit & nut granola cereal spiked w/ a little sugar coated corn flakes w/ dried strawberries/blueberries/cranberries w/ powdered milk. I put a serving in a sandwhich ziplock and then vac seal in a foodsaver bag. These I just eat on some ridge top after we get to our first bugling position.
And the Folgers tea bags have been replaced w/ Via pkgs and drank cold. That way I can leave the jetboil stove in camp.


Tip: It's so easy to pack way too much food. So, short yourself at least 1day of food and take at least 2 Ramen meals. I know they aren't much calorie wise, but some nights your just too tired to do much more.
And leave your Mt House meals until the end. They can be divided into two meals if necessary. Just take out half the contents and move to a clean ziplock for the next day.

Hope this helps,
Hunt'nFish

 

[2ski]

The more I eat these, the more I'm liking these. http://perfectbar.com/ Some Town Pump convenience stores sell them in MT. It says they need to be refridgerated but that is to keep the oil in the PB from seperating, i.e. Adam's Peanut Butter. You can have them not refridgerated for a week or so without incidence.

If anyone is looking for something different that I haven't seen mentioned on Rokslide is Fit Crunch. They taste like a candy bar, not a protein bar. 30g of protein and 6g sugar. Not kidding, I think the Peanut Butter one tastes like a Snickers bar. I've seen them a Walmart in the area over by the pharmacy.
http://fitcrunchbars.com/

 

[ureyes]

just add water

I do pretty much anything that is just add water if Im backpacking. Ramen noodles with instant potatoes is a favorite go to. But all meals that can be made with just hot water are subject to being on the menu. I insist on trying everything before I put it on the camp list. I will be eyeing the grocery store shelves months before just looking for possibilities. Just picked up some instant hash browns to try today....Just add water. There are tons of items that are just add water if you look around.

If Im at base camp then we are going to eat GOOD!!!! Dutch Oven Beans n corn bread, Chili, steaks, chicken pot pie,,,, oh yeah!

 

[power54]

Breakfast: Granola with dehydrated milk pre-made for each morning. I like to get up and go. When I get to my morning glassing spot, I just add a bit of water and eat up. I usually have a breakfast bar of some kind for the 8-9am munchies. I do pack a few starbucks packets but I don't always use them since I'd rather just get dressed, pull the bear bag down and find some bulls.

Lunch: Homemade summer sausage and cheese, homemade jerky, dehydrated hummus with pita or pre-made pbj bagel (toasted). Handful or 2 of trail mix.

Dinner: MH, burritos with dehydrated beans/salsa, mac and cheese with tuna packet, etc. Backpacker Magazine has a great backcountry cookbook with good ideas. Hard to beat MH though, just a little pricey.

A Snickers for every day I'm out plus 1 or 2 extra (JIC). Also, I pack each days food (sometimes 2) in a loksak since I'm hunting in griz country. That keeps things organized and apparently scent proof or at least reduced.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I am gonna try some of these this year i think.

http://www.theyummylife.com/Instant_Meals_On_The_Go

 

[Jjamesdean]

I do pretty much anything that is just add water if Im backpacking. Ramen noodles with instant potatoes is a favorite go to. But all meals that can be made with just hot water are subject to being on the menu. I insist on trying everything before I put it on the camp list. I will be eyeing the grocery store shelves months before just looking for possibilities. Just picked up some instant hash browns to try today....Just add water. There are tons of items that are just add water if you look around.

If Im at base camp then we are going to eat GOOD!!!! Dutch Oven Beans n corn bread, Chili, steaks, chicken pot pie,,,, oh yeah!

I really like this idea!

 

[Kevin Dill]

The longer I'm out, the tougher it is to bring enough of the right foods. I'm extremely lazy and absolutely have no interest in doing my own from-scratch food preps. That's partly because I'm often flying to or from a hunt. I want to buy 100% of what I'm taking out there. I'm certain that is opposite of many thoughts, but it's my preference. For breakfast I do a variety of instant oatmeal, raisins, granola, dried fruit, and a couple MH preps. Dinner is always freeze-dried and could be MH, AA, MJ, BP or a couple others. The only time I ever cook food over a stove is if I decide to eat meat from a kill. Grouse, rabbit.....MOOSE....then I might be slicing and frying.

Lunches are what I fight with. I still don't have a great plan which is easy to assemble. It's usually a mish-mash of different things. This year I'm going with bagels, some PB, dry granola, small hunk of salami, few English muffins, Honey Stingers, crackers. I love the sugary dry drink mixes but they have too much weight penalty for me, so I go with the individual packets of lemonade etc added to water for flavor....no calories there, but no weight either. I'm a VIA fan and have been drinking it for years, since it hit market.

If I'm getting dropped into a wilderness camp (bush flight) and have severe weight limits, it gets very tough to eat well. Sometimes I prepare a secondary duffel of extra food and supplies for my pilot to drop if he's back in the area. A couple years ago he landed and left us a box which was loaded with a variety of ham, roast beef, turkey, cheeses and even a large roasted whole chicken! That was more his idea than mine, but the extra food was consumed by my partner and I within a few days.

 

[Brendan]

This was last year, found my list. This doesn't include Scotch, Apples, Homemade granola bars that were left at the truck.

Food List (Per Day) - 4134 cal

Moutain House (Breakfast) - 800 cal
Mountain House (Dinner) - 930 cal
Olive Oil Packet (x2) - 250 cal
Honey Stinger Waffle (x3) - 480 cal
Almond Butter (x3) - 540 cal
Mixed Nuts (6 oz) - 1134 cal
Starbucks VIA (x2)
Hyrdrate & Recover Packets (x3)

I individually wrapped daily food in ziplocs minus the mountain house. 2lb per day total.

This year I'm getting rid of the MH breakfast skillet and swapping in something else - got pretty nasty by day 11.

 

[roknHS]

Depends on the unit I'm in but for those with decent lakes, yeah. More than I could eat.



I pack a Jetboil skillet



Sometimes just a bit of foil instead. Depends on whether there's a campfire restriction or not. A Dakota pit works just fine.

Why cook the heads??? Do you eat them??
I never liked those little white eyeballs staring back at me. Grosses me out. Waste of frying pan space.

 

[Riverwalker]

Instant Stuffing does not need to be simmered, he thought you where talking about the Knor Stove Top type meals. The stiffing is a good choice for a change.

 

[KClark]

Those fish look delicious! Nothing better than fresh trout over the fire.

The head is the best part, or so I'm told. My side of the family doesn't eat heads but now tails are really good, kinda like potato chips.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Yeah I agree, anything that is a 5min meal is fair game; stuffing, Knorr Pasta, Idahoan taters w/ foil pack chicken is easy, but they are best split w/ a buddy otherwise they're too much for one guy.

2ski, will have to check out these Fit Crunch Bars.... they sound awesome. Thanks.
Hunt'nFish

 

[Jeff Martin]

Breakfast:
Starbucks Via (Instant)
Instant Oatmeal and a Breakfast Bar
Or Powdered milk mixed with water and cereal - this sounds nasty but is is just like at home.

Lunch:
Snacks and PB&J sandwiches

Dinner: (I hate MH)
Homemade Spaghetti with deer hamburger dehydrated
Homemade Chili with Deer Hamburger dehydrated
Uncle Bens 1 minute Basmati Rice with packaged Chicken or Tuna

 

[chindits]

I make most of my own food either with the dehydrator or other dried foods. I don't take time to fish, clean dishes, or cook anymore. It's pretty much all zip lock bag meals.

I got sick of oatmeal last year so now I crush up a bunch of cornflakes, add nuts, raisins, brown sugar and powder milk for breakfast and so the only hot water I need in the a.m. is for my coffee.

I don't worry too much about lunch, grab a handful of trailmix or make my own powerbars now that cliff bar doesn't sell the blackcherry nut bars anymore. If I want to go heavy, I'll bring tortillias, summer sausage, and cheese. Lots of time dried humus and tortillias will do me fine.

Supper is based on cous cous now since I don't even have to heat it up. I can just throw some water on it in a zip lock bag and keep on the move for another hour as it rehydrates in my pack. I will sometimes even eat on the go, so I don't have any food smells around my camp. So with the cous cous as a base I put together a curry with just additional spices, nuts, raisins, and dried kale or spinach from the garden. Or I will add dehydrated refried beans, dried parmesan cheese, and once again crumbled up dried kale or spinach to get some greens. Or another meal is I will tear up dehydrated spaghettie sauce leather, add parmesan, and dried greens. I use to use minute rice, but the cous cous rehydrates better with out having to use heat. If I'm feeling sorry for myself, I will partially rehydrate a bag meal and then top it off with some boiling water so it is a hot meal. I don't use a cozy like all those bag a meal officondos use, I just stick it in my fleece hat to keep it warm.

I go pretty light and simple, so YMMV. You don't really need a dehydrator to dry out greens from the garden. Just hang up your leaves with a needle and thread, just like shade tobacco hanging in a barn. You all grew up picking tobacco, I'm sure.