Food for Hiking the Appalachian Trail – Part 2, Basics

I’ve really had a hard time discussing my eating plans, especially as they evolve. However, as I tested foods for larger meals on my hike, I fell into a pattern of finding staples and adding more to them. I’ve seen this pattern on hikes, but I haven’t seen any common terminology, so I’ll just use «bases» and «mixins» or «plugins» to organize my choices.

You’ll notice that my bases are mostly starch. Calories are king.

My base meal for dinner during hiking.

couscous

• Cost per ounce: $0.25
• Calories per ounce: 101
• Mixtures: chicken, olives, golden raisins, sliced ​​vegetables, garlic cream sauce, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes

Couscous is almost the ideal starch to cook with hot water. You can quickly Google tons of recipes that are hike-friendly. Additionally, couscous can replace pasta. Sure the mouthfeel is different, but the flavor is close enough for me. I’m considering doing a post just to break down all the options I have so far.

Dried Beans with Rice

• Cost per ounce: $0.53
• Calories per ounce: 140
• Mixtures: Cheese

With little use of mixins, it is basically beans with added rice (or poha) for a complete protein. I’m using canned refried beans and dehydrating them. I’ve seen some online already dehydrated, but the cost was higher. I’ll pour them on tortillas when I can.

Mashed potatoes

• Cost per ounce: $0.37
• Calories per ounce: 110
• Mixins: Any package of seasoned tuna seems to work well.

Quick, easy, high in calories… what’s not to like? Well, maybe the fact that you’re eating instant mashed potatoes. I was skeptical, but Idaho instant potatoes are pretty good. Not Betty Crocker though, I tried them and regretted it.

Poha (roasted rice)

• Cost per ounce: $0.27
• Calories per ounce: 100
• Mixins: Garam Masala, Chicken

Compared to instant rice, toasted rice cooks faster and easier. On the other hand, it doesn’t taste like anything. Like. Rice. So far it has worked in any hiking meal where I would have used rice, such as beans or dals. But if you want the feel and taste of rice in your mouth, choose instant rice. So far I have one dish for Poha only, but it is pretty good. I suspect I’ll tire of this quickly unless I find better recipes.

japanese ramen

• Cost per ounce: $0.32
• Calories per ounce: 122
• Mixins: dehydrated vegetables, peanut butter powder, chicken

Oh, ramen. But you know, with some dehydrated vegetables and a tablespoon of powdered peanut butter, you’re close to “real food.” On trips, I’ve had upgraded ramen for 3 or 4 days in a row, so I don’t expect to get tired of it very quickly.

Dals with rice

• Cost per ounce: ~$0.25 (varies)
• Calories per ounce: ~100 (varies)
• Mixins: None, complete dehydrated food

Covering a variety of different bean dishes, Indian Dals make great dehydrated meals. I plan to dehydrate several different dals so I have at least one every two weeks, if not more.

And now what?

If I look at everything above, I need more. Counting variations I have 15 different meals. Thinking about avoiding getting tired of any food, I want to avoid eating it more than once or twice a week. 15 is greater than 7, so at first glance I’m fine. But I suspect I’ll get tired of some foods and would love ideas if others had them.

Hiking Food Series

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