Eating on the Trail - Jack

Hey everyone!

Today I'm going to discuss one of my favorite topics - food! Having the right food on the trail is of the utmost importance in order to have a happy hike. Getting enough caloric intake and the right kinds of nutrients is essential in order to hike big mile days. To give you an idea of what I like to bring with me on the trail I will give an example menu along with an approximate calorie count.

Breakfast

For breakfast I usually like to bring something that I can eat while I hike in the morning. Or, sometimes I'll find a pretty spot to eat where I can have breakfast with a view. Poptarts were by far the best breakfast choice for me. They come in at around 380 calories depending on the variety, and you can have one or two packages. I liked to change up the flavors so I didn't get sick of eating them. Another good choice of breakfast food is protein bars, and some hikers even cook oatmeal. I prefer not to drag out the stove in the morning, and opted to get moving early instead of cooking a hot breakfast.

Lunch

Lunch was usually eaten around 10:00 AM because I would usually get up and start hiking around 6:00. For my lunches I liked to sit down for a half hour and slip my shoes off to air out my feet a little before getting back on the trail. My lunches consisted of a package of tuna or spam, some crackers, cheddar cheese, a protein bar, and a snickers bar. This comes out to around 1000 calories! Some hikers preferred to eat a tortilla filled with precooked bacon, cheese, and some veggies, or peanut butter and jelly. A big lunch was important to me and it kept me energized throughout the day.

Dinner

I usually only have one hot meal per day on the trail and I save that for dinner. Hikers have come up with clever ways to add flavor to their food on the trail. Some of my favorite ways to spice up my dinner, literally, was to add bacon bits and sriracha sauce to just about everything I ate. Some hikers will carry pre-mixed seasonings such as Mrs. Dash. For dinner I usually ate Knorr Pasta Sides. These are great because they have a massive variety of flavors, they are cheap, and you can cook them in the bag. these are around 500 calories per bag, but I usually added a packet of tuna or spam to it to make it closer to 700 calories. I would also usually eat another snickers bar for desert which added another 250 calories.

Snacks

When you're hiking long distance trails, it is easy to keep weight off. So easy in fact, that last summer I ate around 3500-4000 calories a day and still lost 15 pounds! Thus, it is ok to eat when you're hungry. I carried a ton of snacks including jars of peanut butter (high in protein and fat), nutella, almonds, candy bars, and extra crackers and protein bars. I would always shove a few snacks towards the top of my backpack that I could access easily during the day.

I was truly amazed to see the variety of foods you can bring with you on the trail. Most importantly, figure out what works for your diet and what you're hungry for. After a few weeks on trail you get "hiker hunger" which gives you the unnatural ability to eat copious amounts of food. Feel free to comment and give us suggestions for food to bring on the trail!

-Jack

This is what my food bag looked like when full ~10lbs

Breakfast with a view 

Near Bentonville, Virginia, Shenandoah National Park