So During my Last Trek, one thing that was really creating havoc was my food bag, yeah the weight of that bag is way too much and I was struggling while carrying it. So after the trek, I promise myself that the first thing I'm gonna do after reaching home will be researching the high dense ( contain high carbs and another nutrient) and lightweight food which helps to reduce our efforts and weights as well.
So After all research did, I thought I should share these tactics with tripoto travelers too.
During trek weight of your bags is really a major factor and keeping food weight down is a critical backpacking skill that usually takes the experience to master. Most seasoned backpackers opt for lightweight, calorically dense foods that are very easy to prepare. With this mentality, ease and weight tend to trump nutritional value, which can sometimes lead to a heavily processed food bag.
Before starting here are some PRO TIPS-
AVOID ANY KIND OF CANNED FOODS - Canned foods are almost always way too heavy, don’t have enough calories, and create bulky trash to pack out, so try always to avoid these kind of food.
ALCOHOL - Generally speaking, it’s not good to drink alcohol right before going to bed. But Some times specifically when it is a friend casual camp then you carry them in trusty, lightweight containers.
REPACKAGING FOOD - It’s always a good idea to repackage food in ziplock bags to reduce bulk and have the ability to reseal containers. If you can't close a food package securely, chances are it will explode in your pack and make a big mess.
Now for Food, I love to have BROWN BREAD and PEANUT BUTTER in breakfast and as we can't eat bread daily during the whole trek so I prefer GRIND OAT MEALS(QUAKER) and MILK POWDER. And for small hunger, you can put some chocolate(Nuts ingredient) Yoga Bar which is very helpful for a quick hunger.
So for Breakfast here are some options.
1. Brown Bread and peanut Butter
2. Grind oats and milk powder
3. Yoga Bar and Chocolates
4. Any Bread spreader
5. Coffee and tea
Now after a good and healthy breakfast, it's time to for a healthy lunch, so for lunch. I commonly make sandwiches with egg, vegetable, and cheeses. Eggs tend to hold up well on the trail and provide relatively dense calories. Butter and cheeses will easily last a few days, though they’re not great choices for hot weather treks.
1. Cheese Sandwich
2. Egg Sandwich with vegetable salads.
3. Peanut butter sandwich
4. Supplement shakes with milk powder.
Mostly I eat vegetables and fruits for proper digestion.
And now last but not least DINNER. So here try to avoid heavy dinner as we don't have comfortable beds or weather so it might be a problem if eat too much at night so I normally make instant soup and instant noodles (small quantity).
DINNER
1. Instant Soup
2. Instant Noddles
3. Apple or some other fruit
So that's all I carry during my treks which are light weighted, easy to make, healthy, easily digested, with lots of calories. But as You’ll be burning a ton of calories on long hiking days, so eating a small snack every hour or two is a good way to keep your engine running.
Here are some recommendation-
1. Yoga Bars
2. Snickers
3. Dry fruits
4. Fruits
5. Candies (Not too much)
6. Crackers
And please and please don't leave wrapper of these snacks behind you, travel like a responsible traveler not like a nut.
Recently I visited Parvati valley and believe me I was shocked with the garbage people to throw between trails which were total bullshits. So please save the mountains so we can show our children that the world is still beautiful and clean.
Dasvidaniya!!
Happy Travelling!!
Be Safe
Mach's Gut.