Mmmm...Food....
This is a pretty simple aspect of the trip, although many people have many different ways of going about it. I’ll give you my approach to food, which may give you some ideas. You can go crazy or you can keep it simple; I take the simple approach: how can I get enough calories in every day? As opposed to how much variety can I engineer, I’m looking at how to get 3000 calories per day. On the river, I’m looking at food as body fuel and focus on achieving my alloted calories per day. Last year, I ate as much as I could at each meal, never felt hungry, and still lost 8 lbs during the trip. Here’s my food strategy:
Typical breakfast, oatmeal and dried fruit.
Breakfast:
Pre-package 12 hot cereal breakfasts. I put together ziplocks of oatmeal, cream of wheat, etc. with fruit and nuts to have for breakfast in the morning. I take three packets of hot cereal from the grocery store, combine them with brown sugar, cinnamon, nuts, and dried fruit (raisins) to make one breakfast. Add boiling water and you’ve started the day with 700 calories. Some people prefer MRE sausage and single Spam packets which work well too. Believe it or not, a few members of our group actually enjoyed some sausage and eggs for the first few days of the trip. The weather was cool enough that it worked, but I wouldn’t recommend this for any trip where temps are much above freezing at night. Bagels and english muffins are also a welcome break from the monotony of oatmeal. You may have other suggestions for breakfast, so please chime in.
A slightly more unorthodox, but entirely more delicious breakfest option.
Lunch:
Lunch is simple: Sandwiches, either peanut butter and jelly or hard salami with condiments. For the first few days, I use English muffins for sandwiches, and later in the trip use flour tortillas. I’ve been able to find squeeze bottles for the PB&J, and I raid local fast food establishments for the individual packets of mustard, mayonnaise, relish, etc. In addition to sandwiches, I have different type of energy bars as an extra: Cliff Bars, Power Bars, Big Sur Bars, Pro Bars, you name it.
Oohhh, looks like we've got some red beans and rice tonight! Yum!
The evening meal:
For most of the days I combine a prepackaged pasta with either chicken or tuna. The reason I’m specifying chicken or tuna is that these are the only options I’ve been able find in vacuumed packed pouches. If any one knows of any beef or pork options in pouches let us know. One option that I enjoy are Annie’s noodles: I add boiling water to the noodles, the cheese sauce package that comes with the noodles, and a chicken/tuna pouch and you’ve got around 1500 calories. I’ve also found some flavored pasta packets by Knorr which work really well: again, add boiling water, chicken/tuna, and you have a good calorie fix. As an alternative, I’ve found Ortega Mexican packets as an option: Spanish rice, black beans, and chicken/tuna. Makes my sleeping bag warm all night long. No doubt others have better ideas, and I’m eager to hear suggestions for dinner options. The vacuum packets are much more preferable to cans because they are easier to pack, and they account for no volume or weight after they are used. You might have noticed that only the “cooking” being done is to boil a few cups of water at breakfast and dinner. The pre packaged pasta or rice just requires boiling water to cook. Once cooked all I’m doing is adding the chicken or tuna to the pasta/rice mixture, and possibly heating it a bit more.
These little coffee presses are a must for you caffeine aficionados!
Beverages:
I’m bringing instant coffee and Swiss Mocha for after breakfast and after dinner. I like to add some bourbon to Swiss mocha in the evenings for a little after dinner drink. Many folks are coffee aficionados, and bring by-the-cup presses or single-cup strainers which seem to work fine. I also have tea bags and instant soup packets as other options. A few packets of powdered electrolytes or Gatorade are handy to have, also.
Water:
The only filtered water that I drank was from a filtered water bottle, which I would fill directly from the river or side streams. Otherwise, I was drinking boiled river water at breakfast and in the evening. I had no problem staying hydrated. We had a few water filters on our trip as well, which was nice, and necessary if the river you’re on has much sediment. Collapsible water buckets are also nice for settling out the sediment so your filters can go longer between cleanings.
Food is a highly personal aspect to any camping trip. There are many thoughts, theories, and preferences out there, so please feel free to share yours with us!
