Packing it all in

Backpacking Fun

For those who might be interested, here is my meal plan for my recent backpacking trip to Yosemite National Park. 

The goal is to carry as little weight as possible while still providing tasty and nutritious meals.  Of course, you could just not eat and live off the "fat of the land" for at least a week.  One pound of body fat provides about 3500 calories (about what you burn in a day of hiking) and most of us have at least a few extra pounds.  However, it's not that much fun to be hungry for the whole trip.

Clearly you want to avoid carrying any water so you choose dry ingredients.  Carbohydrates and protein provide 4 calories per gram while fats are 9 calories per gram.  The high caloric density of fats provide an advantage so I add olive oil and also choose nuts which are high in healthy vegetable fat.  You normally burn about 2000 calories a day but when hiking this can double.  You don't need to replace all of the calories you burn except on long trips so I aim for about 3000 calories a day which provides for large satisfying meals and snacks.

Here is my menu:

Breakfast:

Museli (oatmeal, raisins, almonds, dried fruit)... (I add hot water)
Coffee

Lunch:

Hummus (Casbah hummus mix is great with added olive oil)
Peanut butter
Wasa bread (dry crackers)

Dinner:

Start with a grain such as:
Brown rice (Safeway has instant "parboiled" brown rice which cooks quickly)
Quinoa
Couscous
Add vegetables:
Dried vegetables (REI carries the "Just Tomatoes" brand of dried vegetables)
Olive oil (adds flavor and high density calories)
Seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic, onion flakes plus your favorite spices)
This is easy to prepare.  Just put everything in a pot and boil for 10-20 minutes until the grains are done.

Snacks:

Gorp (peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, raisins, dark chocolate M&Ms, dried fruit)

I pack about 3000 calories a day.  This menu averages about 5 calories/gram due to the olive oil and the fats in the nuts and chocolate which means that you should pack about 600 grams (1.3 pounds) per day.  You can divide this any way you want.
I also carried about 200 ml/day (7 oz.) of red wine which is terribly inefficient (less than 1 calorie/gram) but is very satisfying with dinner.

A note about protein.
This is a vegan menu and people often ask "What do you do for protein?"
The grains and nuts contain protein.  The grains are about 10% protein (Quinoa is 15% high quality protein) and nuts have about 20% protein.  Fats have no protein.  If you assume that you are eating at least 2000 calories of 10% protein (a conservative estimate), you will consume 200 calories of protein. At 4 calories per gram this gives you 50 grams of protein which is the upper limit of the 35 to 50 grams of protein which is the recommended daily intake.  Your body can't really use more protein (even when exercising) and in some cases it can be detrimental to your metabolism.  Nutritionists recommend 10% to 20% of your calories come from protein. So, this diet contains plenty of protein.