lightweight & compact hiking BOB food?

[Asavage270]

Looking for something with a high caloric density, relatively small (compared to MRE or Mountain house) and preferably palatable.

A good option I found are the Idahoen potatoe packets, Just ad water and mix well, around 700-1000 calories and they are compact, lightweight, cheap, and not to bad tastin.

I have heard of moose goo but it takes some decent preperation and doesnt store long term.

Anyone else have any ideas?

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[John Gault]

The Tuna and salmon that comes in the tin foil pouches at groceries is good to go.

 

[Asavage270]

The Tuna and salmon that comes in the tin foil pouches at groceries is good to go.

I do throw a few pouches in because i like the flavor but they are generally pretty low-cal.

 

[huthuthike]

This is a good list. You should be looking at what is easy to prepare, palatable to you and make sure that you have adequate water for food prep.

 

[knuckle Head]

This is a good list. You should be looking at what is easy to prepare, palatable to you and make sure that you have adequate water for food prep.

OK some of you are tired of hearing I did the Appalachian trail 12 yrs., ago to you I apologize but I state this to qualify my opinion : )

This is an excellent list, my computer recent crashed and died and am in the process of putting together another list of considerations for a colleague at work for him and his wife. When I get it done soon hopefully I will post.

But in the mean time to add tot he list, I love walmart store brand flavored oatmeal quick easy to make, Mainstay and Datrex energy bars for extra energy, cookies, I loved cookies as an evening backpacking treat, cocoa, jerky, Vienna sausage, on the canned tuna remember tuna in oil is the same weight as tuna In water but twice the calories for the weight (shaking you head, go to your grocer and read the nutrition label you will see I am right here) just tuna in oil is an adjustment in taste buds, but your body will think you for the extra calories.

Last the is really IMPORTANT, most gator aid type mixes have sugar, be careful when giving to a person who is dehydrated, the electrolytes are important but give in moderation to a dehydrated person, you do not want to give a person a sugar rush who is dehydrated, if it contains a lot sugar dilute by at least 1/2 and have them alternate from pure water to diluted gator aid. Yes I have treated people of severe dehydration and I have discussed my methodology with EMT"S and trained S&R personnel and they agree with my above statement.

Also for electrolyte replenishment consider some of these option electrolyte at REI - FREE SHIPPING With $50 minimum purchase. with high potassium and very low or no sugar, also alternate from pure water to electrolyte mix, whenever using an electrolyte replenishment,

 

[fyrediver]

Tanka bars, bites, and sticks:
Tanka Bar :: Real Food :: Real People

Justin Peanut butter packets
Justins Nut Butter - Home

Fun sized candy bars like Snickers

Recovery/Endurance drinks and pastes like Gu or Hammer Recoverite (have a separate bottle for these, you REALLY don't want them in your Camelback!

Nuts in small packages.

Hard candies in single sealed wrappers.

 

[knuckle Head]

For backpacking I remove almost all food from their store packaging and place in vacuum bags and seal them, helps to keep them fresh, reduce smell to help keep critters away while sleeping.

For item like mac n cheese, I put my salt in the vacuum with noodles, cut a little slit in the cheese mix packet and seal it, then when I want to cook , cut off top plastic, remove cheese mix dump pasta in pot of water and the salt is already there, saves a step, no cardboard to deal with, takes up less room in food bag. Do not completely drain water when pasta is fully cooked, leave enough so the cheese mix can be added, the water substitutes the required milk and butter.

For candy bars, oatmeal, cocoa powder, I simple cut a slit into the wrapper, place in a vacuum bag and vacuum seal.

Lights a lot of people pizz away money on expensive lighters, here is what I carried Jeweltones Lighters ? Calico Lighters :: Calico Brands, Inc.
You can find a 5 pack at most walmarts, on the Tobacco checkout lane, I have several in my BOB, GHB, day pack and backpack, I used two the entire length of the A.T. granted I also had a stove with a self igniter on my stove. I did carried Water matches as well but found myself giving them away to people who either forgot to pack them or ran out.

If you use a stove with a fuel canister, after cooking your evening meal leave the stove attached to the canister (providing it is not a leaker of course) it keep you from loosing a small amount of fuel, goes phis when you separate the two, I only cook evening and breakfast, lunch is a cold meal for me regardless of weather, save time, fuel and effort.

 

[TapRackNGo]

regular oatmeal, nuts, brown sugar in a freezer bag. Just add boiling water and wait 10 minutes, then squeeze it out.

 

[Riot]

Just found this...

Homemade Survival Bars
Ingredients:
2 cups oats
2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 cup sugar
3 TB honey
1 3 oz package jello (orange or lemon)
3 TB water

Mix the oats, powdered milk, and sugar together in a bowl: A couple of us used regular oats, a couple used quick oats. I really don't think it matters which you use–whatever you have on hand is fine.
In a medium pan mix water, jello and honey. Bring to a boil. This is just the 3 TB water called for, not the cup of water you'd usually use when making jello. We found that a rolling boil was better than just beginning to boil for the mixing step. The recipe I had specifically called for lemon or orange jello, but we didn't know why that would be, so we made some with raspberry and watermelon jello also. After we tasted them, we figured the lemon or orange were specified due to the high amount of sugar in this recipe! The loaves made with sweet jello flavors were REALLY sweet when they were done!

One of us also mis-read the instructions and mixed jello in with the dry ingredients, so we just boiled water and honey at this step and it gave the final product a slightly different texture, but still worked.

Add jello mixture to dry ingredients. Mix well. If the dough is too dry, add a small amount of water a teaspoon at a time. This is where it got a bit tricky. You want this to be dry, but it has to be moist enough to stick together, and this stuff is stiff!!! Spoons only work for about 30 seconds–you'll end up cleaning your hands and smashing it all together manually. It's possible this would mix together with a mixer instead but be careful about burning up your motor. We didn't even think to try using a mixer–guess we wanted to work those arm muscles!

Add the water a little at a time–do NOT get impatient and just add a bunch of water! You'll be able to stick it together lots easier, but the idea is for it to be dry so the loaf will not mold in your car trunk like your kid's leftover tunafish sandwich

Shape dough into a loaf about the size of a brick. I don't think it really matters what shape your loaf is–it's not like you'll be posting pictures of it on the internet or anything . . . I'm thinking if I do these again I'm going to make smaller loaves anyway and just have 3 smaller loaves instead of one big loaf.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Another recipe I found says to put it in the oven and dry at low heat. That might be better overall. Our loaves got a bit brown on the bottom and we had severe stickage to the pan (think melting/cooking jello+sugar), so you might spray your pan first or use parchment paper on the pan.

Cool. Wrap in aluminum foil to store. I do not know why you wouldn't put it in a ziplock or something, but I guess maybe it stays more dry in the foil. Not sure about you all in humid climates–this probably wouldn't last in foil–I think I'd maybe make sure it was really dry, then vacuum pack it with my foodsaver

This bread will keep indefinitely and each loaf is the daily nutrients for one adult (approx 2000 calories). This is what the paper says. I haven't tested it. My loaves are going in the back of my suburban when I get my car kit put together and we'll see how long they last! This was not too difficult to make. I figured the cost of 1/4 of a #10 can of powdered milk at $2.00 (we got the powdered milk at $8/can–lots of places are more expensive than that) the jello at $ .50 (okay, mine was $.97 because I had to buy it at the little store here in town), the sugar, honey, and oats another $1.00 or so. So on the cheap end, these cost $3.50ish for 2000 calories, compared to $4.95 for 2400 calories of the commercial emergency food bars. These are larger and heavier than the commercial bars also so they'll take up more room in your pack, but also probably be more filling. I will say however, that the orange jello brick (my personal favorite) actually tasted pretty good and not all processed and shorteningy (yep, a real word).

By my count (using the Calorie King website as a reference), the total calories for the recipe are:

Oats, 2 cups: 294
Powdered milk, 2.5 cups: 1960
Sugar, 1 cup: 774
Honey, 3 Tbsp: 192
Jell-o, 1 package: 40

Total calories for the entire batch: 3,260

So while I would normally hesitate to do as 101matt suggests and substitute a no-calorie sweetener for something that adds calories to a survival bar, it doesn't seem like it would do much damage here, and it could help keep people's blood sugar from spiking quite as dramatically. All of the powdered milk should help with that, too, of course, because there's protein in it (and you could add more with some whey/protein powder and a little extra water).

<broken link removed>

 

[Certaindeaf]

I know this is an old thread.. I didn't want to start one just for my "contribution".. and I thought it'd get swallowed right up in the awesome "What did you do today thread". Anyways.

I'll bet a lot of Americans have never tried buckwheat groats (yea, buckwheat is funny.. that Little Rascal), also known as Kasha.. either one, it's just the whole roasted buckwheat kernel.



It's not a wheat at all, it's more like a seed of a thistle I think.
Russians and folk yonder eat a whole lot a buckwheat groats.. for many thousands of years.
It has all of the amino acids that the human body needs (as does meat and eggs etc.), is higher in protein than oatmeal groats (and about melts in your mouth compared to oatmeal), tastes great and is very easy to prepare.
I just boil a cup of water, take it off the heat.. add 1/2 cup a Kasha, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Add a little salt and eat. It's very tasty and there's as many Kasha recipes as there are rice recipes.
I first and finally laid my hands on some only a couple months ago.. Winco bulk bins, organic (Bob's Red Mill) and like $5/lb. That sucks but I got a half pound anyway to try it out.
You can, as I found out today, also get it more/most easily from any ethnic Russian market for $1/lb.. I got my larger stash that tastes better than the Winco stuff at Good Neighbor Grocery Store Portland OR.. Russian stores are everywhere.
Oh, and speaking of this thread, there's a cool Rus on youtube.. he actually brings buckwheat on any old camping, trecking. whatever trip he goes on..

I hope you try out some buckwheat (as I call it), I think you'll like it.

 

[Raidingtime]

Looking for something with a high caloric density, relatively small (compared to MRE or Mountain house) and preferably palatable.

A good option I found are the Idahoen potatoe packets, Just ad water and mix well, around 700-1000 calories and they are compact, lightweight, cheap, and not to bad tastin.

I have heard of moose goo but it takes some decent preperation and doesnt store long term.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Top Ramen, Pop Tarts, Rice/beans, peanut butter, olive oil, hard candies, peanuts, theres plenty of things.

These are the things that I eat when backpacking, over night bicycle riding, long trail runs, etc.

I almost never purchase those expensive freeze dried high sodium foods.

MREs are good but expensive

 

[Camelfilter]

Nut butters in single serve squeeze pouches, Justin brand from Target. Make sure your used to whichever nut butters you put in there.

Tuna pouches from Walmart.

Oatmeal.

Pure Protein brand protein bars. Best value from Costco when they have the 18 pack on special. However, available from many retailers in more flavors. ~20gprotein, ~200calories. Note: many protein bars are similar nutritional value, but similar to the nut butter above, make sure your used to them.

Candy, varies. Snickers & Peanut M&M's are favorites, but sometimes empty calorie ones get in the rotation just for a change.

Emergen-C drink packs.

Gum, & nicotine gum for me.

Most of the list above run about $1ea, or less (much less on the oatmeal).

Just bought some pilot bread crackers in #10 cans & tried some. Quite good. Well food saver up some individual meal packs of them for the BOB's. They will be great with the nut butters.

 

[Riot]

I know this is an old thread.. I didn't want to start one just for my "contribution".. and I thought it'd get swallowed right up in the awesome "What did you do today thread". Anyways.

I'll bet a lot of Americans have never tried buckwheat groats (yea, buckwheat is funny.. that Little Rascal), also known as Kasha.. either one, it's just the whole roasted buckwheat kernel.

Wow, thank you for pointing out this little guy...doing some research and I've noticed that it is a great, well-balanced, food!


Buckwheat Nutrition Facts & Calories

What should be noted, as previously stated, is its amino acid score. Buckwheat, even as a supplemental food source, is a great prepper food.

You can make flour from it
You can make beer from it
You can make bread from it

Add to the fact that it even has a few grams of protein in it and it really is a great overall food!

 

[jsparks747]

I take a 1 gallon bag and fill it with a homemade mix of raisins, peanuts, almonds, cashews, unsweetened dried cranberries, and some m&ms. Full of calories and not much sugar so you don't get a big rush and feel tired later. I also bring some bases like Idahoen potatoes or rice that I can add some rabbit or squirrel to if I get one to add some variety.

 

[Kristina]

I like these: <broken link removed>

They are about the same size as the potato pouches, tastier, and don't require water to be edible. I took some of these on a 300 mile off road bicycle trip. Water access was going to be an issue so I wanted something relatively light that wouldn't require any extra water for prep or consumption.

 

[AMProducts]

I like these: <broken link removed>

They are about the same size as the potato pouches, tastier, and don't require water to be edible. I took some of these on a 300 mile off road bicycle trip. Water access was going to be an issue so I wanted something relatively light that wouldn't require any extra water for prep or consumption.

I eat a lot of those, they're good, but not really enough food if you're really exerting yourself. (note: it may be enough food for you, but ~200 calories is not enough for me) I got myself into some trouble on a recent snow camp where I didn't eat enough the day before, and didn't eat enough while doing it. Ended up paying for it with general malaise and over-all feeling like S---.

I wrote about it, on my sometimes blog: How to fail at snow camping (1/3)
There are a total of 4 parts, 3 parts story, one part conclusions.

I've had mixed results with the Mountain House foods, most of these are about 800kcal, which is a good portion if you're augmenting it with other food (on snow camp, I didn't and I paid for it). My kinda standard meal has become:

Mountain House
About 1/3-1/2 of a summer sausage or if available, 2-3 baby-bels and half the meat.
Packet of hot cocoa (if it's cold, if not, it's hot tea)

The foods list posted earlier was pretty good, when I priced it out in terms of food kcal/$ the top performers were summer sausage, pepperoni, peanut butter, canned cheese. However it's hard to make a diet off of this, and you need at least a little bit of carbs.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Looking for something with a high caloric density, relatively small (compared to MRE or Mountain house) and preferably palatable.

A good option I found are the Idahoen potatoe packets, Just ad water and mix well, around 700-1000 calories and they are compact, lightweight, cheap, and not to bad tastin.

I have heard of moose goo but it takes some decent preperation and doesnt store long term.

Anyone else have any ideas?

I loves me some o them Idahoen mashed taters and they are sooooo easy to fix!!! Seriously I love em.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Oh, Man, those Tater Packets ARE good. SO far the Sour Cream and onion is still my fav, but the cheese is a close second. never thought about it, but that would make a good BOB carry!

 

[Caveman Jim]

I'm just about to finish one of my GHB's & food is all I have left to plan & pack. Can one be relatively certain that their GHB's will carry enough of everything one will need in ALL scenarios? Depending on how many miles and the terrain well have to cross to get home.