What do you all do for food in the back country?

TauPhi111

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Sep 10, 2017
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Ohio
Hi guys,

I'm going on my first back packing back country hunting trip this year and wondering what you all do for food. All of my big game hunting has been out of a camp or day trips from home where I can pack real food or come back to home/camp for meals. When camping in the back country when you want to keep pack weight down, do you guys pack lightweight foods that are ready to eat or to cook, or do you just pack a shitload of Mountain House? If real food, what do you pack?
 

NDGuy

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Feb 13, 2017
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Tree bark and Rocky Mountain Oysters

In all seriousness tho I am going to do MH, Pro bars, and Heather's Choice Packaroons this year and see how they all do for me. Also packing some jerky and peanut butter to spread on the stuff pro bar or just a spoon full.

On my truck hunt all of the above and some brats, burger, and ramen.
 
OP
TauPhi111

TauPhi111

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Tree bark and Rocky Mountain Oysters

In all seriousness tho I am going to do MH, Pro bars, and Heather's Choice Packaroons this year and see how they all do for me. Also packing some jerky and peanut butter to spread on the stuff pro bar or just a spoon full.

On my truck hunt all of the above and some brats, burger, and ramen.

Lol, I think once you procure some Rocky Mountain oysters, food isn't your main priority anymore.
 
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B-Fast: quick oats with dry milk, vanilla protein powder, raisins and coconut oil. Also have freeze dried strawberries and apples for something different to add to oatmeal.

Dinner: MH, Bear creek soups with chicken foil added for protein. Ramen noodles with chicken foil for protein as well as coconut oil.

Snacks: protein pucks, dried apricots, Reese's PB cup. Pop tarts

Lunch: Honey Stinger waffles with PB and bacon.
Foil tuna in a tortilla.

Starbucks instant coffee with coconut oil.
 
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TauPhi111

TauPhi111

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B-Fast: quick oats with dry milk, vanilla protein powder, raisins and coconut oil. Also have freeze dried strawberries and apples for something different to add to oatmeal.

Dinner: MH, Bear creek soups with chicken foil added for protein. Ramen noodles with chicken foil for protein as well as coconut oil.

Snacks: protein pucks, dried apricots, Reese's PB cup. Pop tarts

Lunch: Honey Stinger waffles with PB and bacon.
Foil tuna in a tortilla.

Starbucks instant coffee with coconut oil.

Seems as I research this topic, coconut oil is a popular thing. Why is that other than it is probably very calorie rich?
 

colersu22

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Breakfast- oatmeal pack, honey stinger waffle and starbucks via

Lunch/snacks- Probar, beef and cheese stick, trail mix, fruit snacks and gel shot

Dinner- AlpineAir meal and a snickers

I also take single packs of ice tea or orange juice to mix in my water for some flavor and the NUUN tablets to help with cramps.

When I added it all up I was only 2200 calories and I have to force myself to snack throughout the day. I did not weight everything so cant tell you how much it was but would guess 1.5-2lbs per day, I package them in gallon freezer bags and put them in a mega kifaru pullout.
 

Gorp2007

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Seems as I research this topic, coconut oil is a popular thing. Why is that other than it is probably very calorie rich?

It's shelf stable and calorically dense. It's also solid at room temperature, so it won't leak out and make everything greasy like some other oil types. Basically, it's a quick and easy way to add some good calories to things like oatmeal and coffee without relying solely on sugar.
 

William Hanson (live2hunt)

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Mostly I bring a lot of food I don't eat, because I plan for calories I know I'll need but the altitude kills my appetite so I'm usually doing good to get in 1000-1500 calories the first few days.

Live2hunt custom shelters
 

Jordan Budd

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The lists above are pretty much on point with mine. To add though, a great pro hunting breakfast/snack option is Off Grid Food Co.

The altitude is going to kill your appetite probably but it's fairly important to eat your daily amount of food, especially if it's like a 4-5+ day hunt. Add some kind of a drink mix in there and your good to go... I like Mtn Ops Ignite and WA Hydrate and recover.
 

RockChucker30

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I don't have time for a "breakfast" or a "lunch", so I tend to snack all day instead.

On my elk hunt this year I took 3 oz jerky, 2 epic bars, a tanka bar, lara bar, kind bar, plus 3 oz almonds and 3 oz fruit leather. Then dinner is a dehydrated meal, Hawk Vittles or similar. I also sprinkled in some jalapeno tuna and salmon pouches for added protein. For some reason I always crave hot spices and salt when I'm out.

Next backpacking trip I'll cut out the epic and tanka and double or triple the jerky and raise the almonds and fruit leather up. Oberto bacon jerky was like eating a ribeye after 3 days. I could've licked the bag.

I also take several vanilla GU gels for extreme activity. Like doing 3k vert on steeps on day one then packing into another area day 2 with the trail starting with 2k gain in 1.5 miles or so. Two GU's that morning, then another couple on the last day which was another 3k+ day.
 

jmez

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Breakfast: instant cream of wheat or oatmeal, scoop protein powder, dehydrated fruit and granola. Via
am snacks: granola bar and trail mix
lunch: foil packs of tuna or chicken on a tortilla, precooked crumbled bacon, 2 Goulden spicy mustard packets
pm snacks: protein bar, packet of peanut butter crackers
Dinner: mountain house meal, king sized candy bar, Via

Each day's food is in a gallon ziplock bag, use the bag for trash. I eat all of it every day. Altitude doesn't affect my appetite at all.
 

E in CO

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Mountain House granola with blueberries and also MH Chili Mac or MH Chicken Fried Rice, some trail mix, dehydrated fruit, jerky, Emergen-C, Starbucks Via. For a treat, I take a bagel and small travel pack of peanut butter. A few Cliff Bars and Cliff Blocks with caffeine round it out. Sure it gets old after a few days but that just helps keep ya motivated.
 

Owenst7

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Jun 19, 2017
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Reno
I like to scope out my local grocery store bulk section. WinCo is awesome for this is you have one local to you.

I try to average around 110 calories/ounce. I read the labels of everything as I'm shopping, and only really allow or something lower if it's a special treat, like smoked salmon.

Carbs and protein are 4 calories/gram. Fats (like olive oil, i try to incorporate an ounce a day when i can) are 9 calories/gram.

One of my favorite dinners is:
1.25 ounce instant/dehydrated refried beans
1.25 ounce instant rice
1 ounce parmesean/romano powder
1 ounce corn nuts
Taco seasoning and whatever else to taste
You can slip some fat like olive oil or butter in for calories, but it ends up around 110 cal/ounce and around 25 grams of protein IIRC.

I've been doing old fashioned oatmeal with raisins, powdered whole milk, and whey powder for breakfast. It preps just about asfast as instant just with boiled water and soaking.

Field Trip brand jerky has the most protein/ounce that I've found. I try to alternate this with salmon for protein. Salmon is heavy but if i alternate it with jerky, the weight averages out and i dont get sick of either.
 

BCSteel

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Dec 31, 2014
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My wife and I did 8 days of hiking a few weeks back. This was our food list.

Breakfast: oatmeal with chia, buckwheat and cranberries. 1 cup for me, 1/2 cup for her.

Lunch: we didn't have a "lunch" per se but would have a few breaks throughout the day. Total for me was 4 Elevateme protein bars, 2 fruit source bars and 2/3 cup of trail mix. My wife had 2 protein bars, 2 fruit bars and 1/3 cup trail mix.

Dinner: some variety in our dinners mostly rice and/or bean and/or quinoa soups with dehydrated sockeye salmon.

My wife was just over 2000 cals and I was just under 3000 cals. We were never hungry but we were also never really full. My wife lost 5 lbs and I lost almost 10 lbs.

Edit: our total food weight for the two of us for 8 days was 21 lbs. We came out with 4 fruit bars and 3 protein bars.
 
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Feb 17, 2017
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This year I had 11day and 9day hunts. I shot for 125cal/oz with 190gr protein and 180 gr fat per day.
Total daily calories is 4100/day. You need to figure out what body type you have and your metabolism and meal plan accordingly.
This includes figuring out how many calories you will burn in a day...
Food is like fuel for your pickup...you can't drive 300 miles on 2 gallons of diesel.

I dehydrated most of my meals but threw some heathers choice and backpacker pantry in there.
Altitude may affect your appetite...never hurts mine and I still lost a few pounds from my 6' 160lb frame.
average day:
morning-oats, spices/sugar, quinoa, flax seed, chopped almonds, dried fruit vac sealed...add 6oz boiling water sit for 5-10min
660cal and weighs 5.3oz...MH breakfast skillets every 3rd day for variety.
midday-lara bars, protein bars, seed/nut mixes (spread on cookie sheet drip butter/carmel and heat to form bunches then vacuum seal)
dried venison with no cure/salt and drip sesame oil on it , daves killer raison bagel with powdered PB adding water and then bacon crumbles on top, smoked salmon, tortillas w/almond butter, cashew crunches made by taking cashews/almonds mixing with brown sugar butter sea salt and dried mangos or cherries then heated in oven into clusters
-the bacon PB daves was the MVP of the trips...soooo good!

Huge tip...that I learned the hard way several years ago...always have an extra 1500cal stashed in your pack (protein bars, nut clusters, etc) besides your normal midday food...there will be times that you don't get back to camp that night/bivy out...that stash will be a life saver! You will not notice the extra 10-12oz.

supper-custom meals involving smoked salmon or venison...or heathers choice and some backpacker pantry. add coconut oil/olive oil. 2oz bags of flaming hot Cheetos were amazing and 160cal/oz, protein bar for desert or coconut cookies dunked in warmed dehydrated milk was also excellent.
 

Owenst7

WKR
Joined
Jun 19, 2017
Messages
513
Location
Reno
This year I had 11day and 9day hunts. I shot for 125cal/oz with 190gr protein and 180 gr fat per day.
Total daily calories is 4100/day. You need to figure out what body type you have and your metabolism and meal plan accordingly.
This includes figuring out how many calories you will burn in a day...
Food is like fuel for your pickup...you can't drive 300 miles on 2 gallons of diesel.

I dehydrated most of my meals but threw some heathers choice and backpacker pantry in there.
Altitude may affect your appetite...never hurts mine and I still lost a few pounds from my 6' 160lb frame.
average day:
morning-oats, spices/sugar, quinoa, flax seed, chopped almonds, dried fruit vac sealed...add 6oz boiling water sit for 5-10min
660cal and weighs 5.3oz...MH breakfast skillets every 3rd day for variety.
midday-lara bars, protein bars, seed/nut mixes (spread on cookie sheet drip butter/carmel and heat to form bunches then vacuum seal)
dried venison with no cure/salt and drip sesame oil on it , daves killer raison bagel with powdered PB adding water and then bacon crumbles on top, smoked salmon, tortillas w/almond butter, cashew crunches made by taking cashews/almonds mixing with brown sugar butter sea salt and dried mangos or cherries then heated in oven into clusters
-the bacon PB daves was the MVP of the trips...soooo good!

Huge tip...that I learned the hard way several years ago...always have an extra 1500cal stashed in your pack (protein bars, nut clusters, etc) besides your normal midday food...there will be times that you don't get back to camp that night/bivy out...that stash will be a life saver! You will not notice the extra 10-12oz.

supper-custom meals involving smoked salmon or venison...or heathers choice and some backpacker pantry. add coconut oil/olive oil. 2oz bags of flaming hot Cheetos were amazing and 160cal/oz, protein bar for desert or coconut cookies dunked in warmed dehydrated milk was also excellent.

I've been doing well on ~2400 calories a day, even on 14 mile days. I'm 5'10" 160 lbs...wonder how much weight I'll lose if I'm out for the whole 20 days I packed for haha. I'm stashing a bunch of stuff in my truck, so I guess I can always hike out and grab a dozen or so Idahoan potato packs.
 
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