Going backpacking...Need food suggestions

[Triumph]

Going on a 5 day backpacking trip this weekend, just me and a friend. I am absolutely horrible with food; I don't know what to choose when just shopping for my apartment, let alone choosing for backpacking. I just...suck at food! We won't be taking any cooking ware: no propane burners or pots or anything. So it's gotta be stuff that doesn't need cooked. All I can think of are power bars or something like that. Give me your suggestions!

 

[DougK62]

It's all about GORP and granola bars

 

[StattlichPassat]

I just chase deer down. Just kidding- I haven't been backpacking in a good 5 years, and have forgotten all the good food available.

 

[richardycc]

beef jerky for proteins, and fruit rollups for that quick energy fix!

rich

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

Don't forget water.

 

[Jzero]

Tuna ain't bad. Cans/pouches don't take up a whole lot of space, and don't require any refrigeration or cooking. Pack along some pita bread and a couple packets of mayo and pickle relish and it's like you're not even camping!

 

[vi edit]

Tuna is a good suggestion. So is pasta. You can buy a two pound bag and be good to go for at least a couple meals. Just add water.

 

[Shelly21]

pasta is always good... first day, you can even make it with ground beef....

if you don't have a grill.... try wilderness salad... don't eat wild mushroom...

 

[Imported]

Regular Fruit Cups.. not the Lite ones!

 

[Yossarian451]

Some homemade beef jerky, and if you get your hands on some, maybe at an army surplus get some MRE. THey are actually pretty good, but our army surpluss went out of business 5-7 years ago so I haven't been able to get any, but they are pretty good and light, and even have the cooking elements inside, nice, but don't eat the toliet paper.

 

[rbhawcroft]

take a pot and do a camp fire, and drop every ingridient into it, take a veg pack and some rice and a tin of tomatoes etc and drop it all in together.

 

[Entity]

Dried refried beans. Usually available at Co-Ops or possibly Fred Meyer.

Rob

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

No offense but you are nuts to attempt a 5-day hiking trip without cookware. You can survive on beef jerky, granola bars, etc. if you absolutely have to, but you owe it to yourself to bring some cookware so you can enjoy hot meals, coffee, and the like.

 

[Electric Amish]

I'd at least take a small cookpot. At the very least in case you need to boil water for drinking or First-Aid.

amish

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: Triumph
Going on a 5 day backpacking trip this weekend, just me and a friend. I am absolutely horrible with food; I don't know what to choose when just shopping for my apartment, let alone choosing for backpacking. I just...suck at food! We won't be taking any cooking ware: no propane burners or pots or anything. So it's gotta be stuff that doesn't need cooked. All I can think of are power bars or something like that. Give me your suggestions!

5 days without cooking? Why not just bring a pot (single, can get one that weighs ~4oz) and cook over a campfire? No cooking is insane (this is coming from someone who hiked fully 1/4 of last year, so you can take my word for it).

Rob

 

[Triumph]

hmmm, ok. well again, I suck at the cooking. i've got my military canteen that has the metal emergency pot with it, i can use that for emergencies. i guess i could also grab a small pot around here somewhere and haul it along. so what should i make?

 

[denali]

Peanut butter, cheese, peperoni, bagles, tortillas, ramen, bars.
ramen is good dry. by bars I mean any of the single serving bar type thing. dried fruit and candy are also good. For the first day you can take hot dogs and use a stick to cook them over a fire. Also take some type of drink powder, kool-aid, gator aid at the end of the day it's nice to drink something other than water.

You can do five days easy without cooking. Last year I went a month without cooking while hiking. After a month a broke down and started cooking.

 

[Aquaman]

I suggest that you go to an outdoors/camping store and get dehydrated meals........... just put it in a pot .......... adds some water......... heat & you have a meal I love them because they are very light & compact.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[cerebusPu]

i did a 3 day hike without cooking and i can tell you it sucks like hell to not have hot food to eat when your done setting up camp. it really sucks when youre starving, thirsty and you dont have anything to eat except nuts and dried fruits.

if you are hiking for 6 days...you will absolutely need the following:

6pairs of clean socks. i can not stresss this enough!!

decent patch of moleskin. <- this saved my poor feet when I developed blisters 10 miles into a 30 mile hike.

water purifier ($70) or iodine tablets ( $8) <- must have at least one of these or else you will get sick from drinking poop water.

one warm meal per day. ramen and tuna is good. ramen and sausage is good. ramen and dirty socks is good. you get the point.

3~4 liters of fresh water to start with per person. use those bottles over and over again until they turn nasty yellow from the iodine.

small lightweight aluminum pot (<$10)

your choice of the following cooking mechanisms:

matches and lighters and some dry tinder.
(hardest to get going in wet weather...but very nice once you get it going)

portable stove that takes propane or butane. (~$60)
we cooked with one of these in the rain and it was great!

esbit stove with solid fuel tablets. (~$10)
i bought one of these from campmor and they are very lightweight and each tablet provides enough fuel to boil 2 cups of water. however they are really hard to light on fire as matches arent hot enough.

 

[CubicZirconia]

I go canoeing a lot up in the Boundary Waters and I've found Peanut Butter and Jelly on tortillas to be a good combination. Its lightweight and pretty decent tasting too. Plus, you can't possibly screw it up. Other than that, I normally take along trail mix (gorp), summer sausage, cheese, and crackers.

 

[Entity]

You can do five days easy without cooking.

You can, but it's generally not pleasurable. I did the first 400 miles of my hike without cooking. I then switched to cooking - it was worth way more than the extra 3/4 pound (stove+pot+fuel) that it warranted.

Rob

 

[Pastfinder]

Take 1 MRE for every day you are hiking.
Also bring 1 exlax tablet for every MRE

 

[Entity]

Originally posted by: CubicZirconia
I go canoeing a lot up in the Boundary Waters and I've found Peanut Butter and Jelly on tortillas to be a good combination. Its lightweight and pretty decent tasting too. Plus, you can't possibly screw it up. Other than that, I normally take along trail mix (gorp), summer sausage, cheese, and crackers.

That's very good advice. High calorie, low weight, good tasting, and seriously hard to fsck up.

Rob

 

[Stojakapimp]

Originally posted by: DougK62
It's all about GORP and granola bars

word up to GORP. But GORP'M is better. you gotta add the M&M's. That's the best hiking food out there. any expert hiker carries that with him

 

[Babbles]

Back when I was in Boy Scouts, I did tons of backpacking and even went on up to Philmont, which, depending on your trip, for me was like 10 days, 70 miles or so.

Anyhow, been a few years since I have done any camping much less backpacking. But, if you plan on being gone for five days without cooking, to be frank, you aren't going to make it.

You want to get a backpacking stove. You may be able to pick up a cheaper Coleman stove for like $40 or so. That has the fuel part connected to the burner.
For a more serious backpacking one, look for some lighter weight model that has a fuel canister that is seperate and can connect to the burner such as this:

Whisperlite

Unless you plan on doing a lot of backpacking in the future you can use some cheap aluminum pots and pans. You should be able to find some stuff at a local sporting good store, or better yet a camping place.
If not check out
REI
or Campmor

But, basically food=energy and that is a good thing.
Also, if you hike 10 miles, or whatever, then as tired as you may be you want to eat and eat well.
Pasta is good, but don't skimp on protein. Canned tuna and/or chicken would be great mixed in with some pasta with maybe some lemon/lemon zest and dressing

Good luck!!