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Lucky! We want ultralight gear, but we can't afford it right now Backpacking without it is a struggle, to be sure.
Random question, but what do you do for food? We haven't done a longer hiking trip in the wilderness (like longer than 3 days without being able to stop in a town), because that's all the food we can carry) yet because we don't really know how to deal with the food situation. Almost all of the dehydrated meals we've found have soy in them, and I'm deathly allergic, so it's not an option. We probably won't leave Europe for a few more years now (and in Europe, you're always able to stop in towns, because it's Europe), but I thought I'd take the chance to ask. Even if you do eat the dehydrated stuff, do you know about any sites with recipes where you can make your own?
Lucky! We want ultralight gear, but we can't afford it right now Backpacking without it is a struggle, to be sure.
Random question, but what do you do for food? We haven't done a longer hiking trip in the wilderness (like longer than 3 days without being able to stop in a town), because that's all the food we can carry) yet because we don't really know how to deal with the food situation. Almost all of the dehydrated meals we've found have soy in them, and I'm deathly allergic, so it's not an option. We probably won't leave Europe for a few more years now (and in Europe, you're always able to stop in towns, because it's Europe), but I thought I'd take the chance to ask. Even if you do eat the dehydrated stuff, do you know about any sites with recipes where you can make your own?
Dollar General was where I generally resupplied. I could eat for a week off $25. My menu looked like this:
Breakfast-2 pop tarts
Lunch-Tortilla bread with tuna fish+optional condiment(I liked putting BBQ sauce it it)
Dinner-Dehydrated potatoes mixed with a Pasta Side(could save a few dollars and get Ramen). Boil 2 cups of water, have Idahoan potatoes and Pasta Side mixed in a plastic bag, pour water into Ziploc bag, mix a bit, wait ten minutes. The great thing about eating out of Ziploc bags was I never had to do dishes. I hate dishes.
Snacks-Honey buns, M&Ms
My food list could have been made a bit lighter but it was cheap and it was tasty. I would generally pack 3-5 days of food depending on how far the next town was. I never needed more than five days of food.
I tried to find articles on soy-free food for backpacking but all that turned up was gluten-free meals. I am not quite sure if they are related. Honestly, for all the fuss that is made about soy and gluten I don't even really know what they are other than stuff that is found in food.
Thanks! That sounds more or less how we eat when we backpack (save a few regional differences...eg. we do porridge instead of pop tarts, because that also packs pretty light and it's really filling).
Soy and gluten allergies aren't related. I can eat gluten just fine, but I can go into anaphylactic shock if I eat soy. Most people who claim "sensitivity" to those foods are jumping onto a bandwagon and faking it, but some people really do have celiac (where your intestines attack themselves if you eat gluten, or something like that), and soy is a pretty classic food allergy where your body thinks you've caught some deadly disease if you eat it and your immune system attacks itself. It's not fun times, and not something I want to do when I'm a few days hike from the nearest hospital!
I posted a new thread in the Appalachian Trail subreddit asking about soy-free backpacking food. I've seen hikers with all sorts of diets out there. Should be some info floating around.
I myself am not much for the outdoors and hiking. But the thing with Soy,it is turning up in a lot of things. Sometimes they do not say it is in something. I had noticed a lot of TV dinner type stuff(I do a lot of Microwave stuff) Even if they don't say it has soy,I can taste the difference,and the texture is different. They use it as a filler to stretch the meat. Even though they are supposed to tell you what is in things,they do try to hide it using science terms most people are not familiar with. I am not allergic,but I dislike the taste and texture of soy additives.
MAGIC is MAGIC,black OR white or even blood RED
all i ever wanted was a normal life and love.
NO TERF EVER WE belong Too.
don't stop the tears.let them flood your soul.
When camp, whether its for reenacting, hiking, expedition canoeing, we buy everything separate and mix-and-match DIY. For a shorter trip (like a week or less), we'll premake the meals. For a longer trip, we mix and match "in the field" (or wherever). These days its mostly car camping or somewhere (like the national park fort) where we are parked nearby or have storage (as opposed to carrying everything). However, both Hubby and I have done our fair share of take it with you...
Buying premade dehydrated meals are $$$.
When my BFF and I used to camp together hard-core, we handled it like this:
Veggies and fruit: freeze-dried or dried fruits and veg from somewhere like here https://www.northbaytrading.com/ or here http://shop.honeyville.com/
Also, we have a dehydrator and dehy some of our own stuff. Plus (since they usually last a while) we generally take a few oranges and/or apples, which can be shared and are usually a pleasant surprise. And I know most of the wild edibles in the places we camp, so salad or sauteed something is usually do-able at least every few days depending where we are.
Protein: nuts, lentils (since they cook faster than other beans in conventional cooking and generally don't need to soak), freeze dried beans or peas, seeds (millet, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seed), dried or freeze-dried meats (the second of the two sites I linked above have a number of them), peanut butter, the packets (not cans) of tuna or salmon, hard cheeses
Seasoning/etc: salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper, basil, and cinnamon for seasoning; baking powder, coconut oil (it works in place of butter or oil), a wee bit of olive oil (for the things coconut oil would be blegh with), dried milk, powdered buttermilk, sugar, mini chocolate chips, tomato powder, and jam in a can
We had one pot with a lid that turned into a frying pan, one stove that fits inside the pot and pan, a knife and wooden spoon for the pot, and two slightly oversized stainless mugs which act as cup, bowl, and plate and two of those knife/fork/spoon things (not this brand, but something like it). Hubby and I still do this, but with some extra cups and sporks now...
I used to have a notebook that had a whole bunch of recipes for turning all that into pizza and cookies, etc...along with bits of poetry, camping songs, stories, local flora and fauna in the places where we camped, etc...I'm not sure what happened to it. But, either way, it's not hard to turn all that^ into stew, biscuits and gravy, shepards pie, etc. ERm...and obviously, you don't take it all at once (unless you are doing something crazy long)
We also generally take a "real meal" for the first night (something we've mixed/prepped/premade at home)--a favorite is taco salad: taco flavored meat with rice and tortilla crumbles over lettuce...if you prep it all at home, leave it in a cooler on the trip to your starting point, and pack them right before you leave, it stays decent (depending on the time of year and climate) til dinner.
I posted a new thread in the Appalachian Trail subreddit asking about soy-free backpacking food. I've seen hikers with all sorts of diets out there. Should be some info floating around.
When camp, whether its for reenacting, hiking, expedition canoeing, we buy everything separate and mix-and-match DIY. For a shorter trip (like a week or less), we'll premake the meals. For a longer trip, we mix and match "in the field" (or wherever). These days its mostly car camping or somewhere (like the national park fort) where we are parked nearby or have storage (as opposed to carrying everything). However, both Hubby and I have done our fair share of take it with you...
Buying premade dehydrated meals are $$$.
When my BFF and I used to camp together hard-core, we handled it like this:
Veggies and fruit: freeze-dried or dried fruits and veg from somewhere like here https://www.northbaytrading.com/ or here http://shop.honeyville.com/
Also, we have a dehydrator and dehy some of our own stuff. Plus (since they usually last a while) we generally take a few oranges and/or apples, which can be shared and are usually a pleasant surprise. And I know most of the wild edibles in the places we camp, so salad or sauteed something is usually do-able at least every few days depending where we are.
Protein: nuts, lentils (since they cook faster than other beans in conventional cooking and generally don't need to soak), freeze dried beans or peas, seeds (millet, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seed), dried or freeze-dried meats (the second of the two sites I linked above have a number of them), peanut butter, the packets (not cans) of tuna or salmon, hard cheeses
Seasoning/etc: salt, garlic powder, lemon pepper, basil, and cinnamon for seasoning; baking powder, coconut oil (it works in place of butter or oil), a wee bit of olive oil (for the things coconut oil would be blegh with), dried milk, powdered buttermilk, sugar, mini chocolate chips, tomato powder, and jam in a can
We had one pot with a lid that turned into a frying pan, one stove that fits inside the pot and pan, a knife and wooden spoon for the pot, and two slightly oversized stainless mugs which act as cup, bowl, and plate and two of those knife/fork/spoon things (not this brand, but something like it). Hubby and I still do this, but with some extra cups and sporks now...
I used to have a notebook that had a whole bunch of recipes for turning all that into pizza and cookies, etc...along with bits of poetry, camping songs, stories, local flora and fauna in the places where we camped, etc...I'm not sure what happened to it. But, either way, it's not hard to turn all that^ into stew, biscuits and gravy, shepards pie, etc.
We also generally take a "real meal" for the first night (something we've mixed/prepped/premade at home)--a favorite is taco salad: taco flavored meat with rice and tortilla crumbles over lettuce...if you prep it all at home, leave it in a cooler on the trip to your starting point, and pack them right before you leave, it stays decent (depending on the time of year and climate) til dinner.
That's all really helpful!
I might see if I can borrow a dehydrator next time I'm in Canada. The other issue there is that all food is insanely expensive, so it helps if you can do it yourself. My mom really wants to buy me one here as a gift for whatever reason. I might take her up on that. Food is less of an issue here because in Europe, there are so many towns and so little true wilderness hiking opportunities that you can usually stock up every 2-3 days. But it could still be helpful, especially if we end up doing Corsica next year (as far as I understand it, the middle of the island is fairly uninhabited).
Beans and lentils are unfortunately out for me (same issue as soy), but I'll definitely look out for salmon in packets. I come from a salmon fishing town (and that's where I do most of my hiking when I go back) so I'm sure that's an option around there.
A couple changes are I am using Zpack's Arcblast for my pack instead of the Zero. I am also using an Enlightened Equipment sleeping bag instead of the Zpacks. Weight is the same.
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