FOOD

I guess I don't have to tell you that you need to eat to survive. If the food available is poor or limited, if you're travelling hard and fast and therefore missing meals, or if you simply lose your appetite, you can soon start to lose weight and place your health at risk.

Make sure your diet is well balanced. Even if you are scared to eat the food in the country you are travelling in. Sure you might get sick from the food though you won't feel any better if you don't eat at all. Eggs, tofu, beans, lentils and nuts are all safe ways to get protein. Fruit you can peel (bananas, oranges or mandarins for example) is always safe and a good source of vitamins. Try to eat plenty of grains (rice) and bread. Remember that although food is generally safer if it is cooked well, overcooked food loses much of its nutritional value. If your diet isn't well balanced or if your food intake is insufficient, it's a good idea to take vitamin and iron pills.

When you are going out on a trek or an expedition, remember that planning the food you bring is just as important as the rest of the equipment you bring. Good hiking food should be tasteful, nutritious, filling, easy to carry, easy to cook and cheap. As you can gather it’s not easy to find food that does all this for you. Here I give some pointers that might help you plan for a more successful trek!

When you plan the food it’s important to think about what kind of trek you are embarking on. Is it a day hike, a weekend trip or a two week expedition. For a shorter trek or an adventure with little carrying, then you can bring more fresh food and don’t have to worry so much about the weight.

Trekking food is unfortunately often all about weight and energy. You eat to survive, not to enjoy yourself. This can be seen for example on an expedition. The energy/weight ratio is pretty bad with most normal food. Sugar is not high in energy: it only has about as much as oats. The claim that sweet stuff and raisins are high in energy is a myth. They give you energy quickly, but not very much of it. The only stuff that really helps is fat. It is in chocolate, peanuts, bacon, lard, some cookies, some granolabars coconuts and other nuts and seeds, powdered high-fat milk, and first of all - oil. 100 grams of soybean oil contains 3800 Kj of energy, while sugar only has 1600. Having said this, to only bring oil and just drink that is to no use! Even if you manage to push it down, your body is unable to extract energy from the concentrated liquid. Besides how fun is it???

I think good food is the key difference between that backpacking disaster and the fine expedition. My friend Sebastian once brought fresh crab, strawberries and champagne when he went camping. He was always the happiest, even during really bad weather. If you have tasty well prepared food that is hot and filling, you can deal with nearly every other hardship.

Keeping this in mind, fresh food is unfortunately not always the best thing to bring. It’s heavy to carry and might get bad if you don’t eat it right away. As I said before it all depends on what kind of trekking or climbing you are doing. The length of the trip and the amounts of water that need to be carried are of great concern when planning food for any trek. I believe trekking is all about balancing various kinds of discomfort. You have a choice between a heavy backpack with good food, less tasteful food, cold, moisture, hard bed, hunger and thirst. You can compromise so you have a little of all, but the fact still remains that improving one aspect sets you back on another one. I believe that "pack light" is the first commandment. That is not always and easy task though. Whatever the ways you chose to "suffer", this will seem as nothing compared to the view of the wonderful mountain experience you will get in return. Trust me!!!

It is good to add some fruit and substitute local stuff whenever you can. This is not something you can rely on though, especially during a winter hike. You should always pack to be self sufficient.

Food that is light and easy to carry is the so called “specialized food”, that has been dried or freeze dried. This food can be bought it hiking stores and some larger grocery stores. This “specialized food” has its place because it is very light and designed specifically for long trips where weight is necessarily minimized. It works particularly well for treks of a week or longer, for several day big wall climbing expeditions, and for mountain climbing. Is it nutritious? Yes, in most cases it has the protein, carbohydrates and fat that you’ll need. Easy to cook? I have to say yes here. It’s all in one bag, all you need to add is the water. Some sorts needs to lie in water before you cook it and if you are hungry as no tomorrow then you’ll get some nail-biting minuets before it’s done. Tasteful? No, not really. It doesn’t taste bad, though to add some extra salt and flavor is a good idea. I love spicy food and I usually bring some piri piri with me. Cheap? No, it’s unfortunately VERY expensive. Don’t worry though, to dry your own food is really easy. Continue reading and you will learn how!!

To dry your on food is not a hard task at all. Why spend a lot of money on expensive “specialized food”, when you can do it a lot cheaper on your own. Then you can add what ever you want to make it more tasteful and you’ll know exactly what you eat.

Almost everything can be dried. In this example we are drying meat sauce for pasta.

• Cook the pasta sauce as you usually do with meat, tomato sauce, onions, mushrooms or what ever you want to add.
• Spread the sauce thin over an oven plate and put it in the oven.
• Put the thermometer on 50 C (120 F)
• Leave the oven-door open, just one centimeter is enough.
• Have the ventilation on because otherwise it can smell a bit
• Leave it like that for the night until everything is totally dry.
• Take it out and put it in a bag.

Easy enough? You can dry fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, beans…… What ever you like. Remember that beans and root vegetables needs to be cooked before dried!!

How much food will I need. What kind of food is good and nutritious? How do I pack it?

Lets start with how much food you’ll need. It depends on how much you usually eat and how hard work you intend to do. After an 7 hour trek you’ll need a lot of food. “I’m doing a 10 days trek, how shall I carry all the food I need???” Yes, it’s definite a problem. Try to find food that are filling and contains a lot of fat. Doing so then you won’t have to eat the same amount of food, which makes it less to carry.

A good idea can be to pack the food in day bags marked “Day 5” for example. Each bag contains the food you will need for that day. Doing so you will always know you’ll have enough food for the amount of days you are trekking. Also you alternates the food you eat. I know a lot of people who goes out and eats beans and rise for a week. Seems a bit boring to me. In the bag you’ll have the food you want to eat for breakfast lunch and dinner. If you are doing treks for a week or longer then it is a good idea to bring food for one extra day.

Another thing to think about is what the weather will be on your trip. Is it a winter trek in Norway or a warm trek in Arizona?? On a winter trek you’ll need more warm and filling food. Remember a cup of tea, coffee or soup often feels really good. During summer treks you usually don’t feel like eating hot soup for lunch when it’s 45 C (110 F) in the air. You’ll have to eat though, even if it’s really warm. Add a lot of salt to your food and drink lots and lots of water.

If you are on high altitude you might have to change your eating habits. Eat a lot of carbohydrates!! It will cost more oxygen to burn fat and protein than it does to burn carbohydrates. Therefore I recommend you to eat a lot of carbohydrates, especially for dinner during the evening. The main reason is that the supply of oxygen is going to be lower during the night. Of course you’ll need to eat protein and fat too, otherwise you won’t get enough calories. Though the amount of carbohydrates shall be higher. Eat a lot of fat and protein on resting days when your body is able to extract the energy and nutrition. To learn mpre about high altitude click here .

Here under I've splitted up the three different meals for a day to give some tips on what is good to eat. Also the extra snack which can be good to have.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast when doing treks. It’s filling and contains carbohydrates. I usually add some nuts (protein) and raisins (sugar) to give it some extra flavor. Also some cinnamon is great. On my last trek at Mt Kebnekaise I picked blueberries and lingonberries which I added. Yum! Drink a lot of water and if you want add some c-vitamin to the water. Also a cup of tea or coffee feels hot and nice during cold mornings.

Lunch is often eaten out on the trekking path. I think it’s pretty good to prepare your lunch bag in the morning. This way you wont have to pick up your stove and start cooking on the trail. However if you have a lot of time then this can be nice too. I usually boil some water in the morning that I put in a thermos. To the water I add soup and often also some tea or coffee. If I have bread I eat it with cheese. In Sweden we have this flavored creme cheese in a tube which is really tasteful. It’s great on the sandwich or as a pasta sauce. Bread is sometimes too heavy and takes up too much space on longer treks. If I don't have bread I cook a pasta or rise dish during breakfast that I eat for lunch as a cold salad. During longer treks, where I really have to keep the weight down, then I eat soup and after I stuff myself with nuts and chocolate/granola bars. Don’t forget to drink a lot of water!!

Dinner is what you eat when you are tired and hungry after a day with hard work. Make it as tasteful and filling as possible so you will sleep like an angel and look forward to the next day. You’ll need carbohydrates which you’ll get from pasta, rice and bread. You also need protein, which you can get from beans, meat, fish, nuts. Don’t forget fat, add some extra oil or eat a chocolate bar. I don’t eat a lot of meat so my dinners usually consists some dish with beans, dried fish, shrimps or tofu. To that I have pasta, rice or my favorite cous cous.

Extra snack Always bring some extra snack to have in your jacket pocket. In Sweden we call “trail mix” for “Jägarsnus” (hunters tobacco). It contains nuts, raisins and chocolate pieces. By eating this you’ll get fat and protein from the nuts and chocolate, sugar from the raisins and some salt from the nuts. I think it also can be a good idea to bring some c-vitamin powder to add in the water.

I’m not going to write a lot here about the importance of water and what will happened to you if you don’t drink enough. If you want to read more click here . Just remember that you’ll need to drink a lot. Have easy access to your water bottle. On summer treks I think it’s great to put your water bottle at the top of your bag and a hose leading down to your mouth. Then you can constantly take small sips of water. On winter treks it’s harder because the hose will freeze. If it is really cold then your water bottle most likely will freeze too. Get a wide mouth bottle with an isolation cover.

I doesn’t matter if it’s a winter or summer trek, drink a lot. You’ll notice your lack of water easier when it’s warm outside though you need almost the same amount on a winter trek!!

Remember if you drink tea, coffee or sodas that they drive away the fluid in your body, so you’ll need to drink even more.

I’ve been on treks where I had to carry gods knows how many gallons of water, because I had no where to fill up the bottles during the trek. If it’s a winter trek you’ll have to melt the snow to give you water. Don’t eat the snow, thinking it will melt in your stomach and give you fluid. Eating snow will only give you diarrhea. In Swedish mountains we are blessed with the ability to drink the water immediately from the brooks and waterfalls. Last time at Mt Kebnekaise I met some German people who brought a 10 liter can on their trek, because they were not used to be able to drink the water direct from the brooks. In many countries you will most likely get sick if you drink the water from rivers and lakes. You have to boil the water and use purifier. Be careful though, it’s no fun feeling sick in your stomach while hiking. If you do get sick, then you have to drink even more water, because your body will be dehydrated.

On high altitudes you’ll need to boil your water longer, because it will boil at a lower temperature and wont kill the germs. On high altitude you also have to drink more than usually if you want to adapt to the altitude. It’s the key to success!!! It’s hard to boil water up there and it’s no fun drinking the entire time. Most of all it’s cold as h-ll to go out and pie when it’s –20 C (0 F). Though it can’t be helped!!! You’ll have to drink anyway! The consequences if you don't can be severer.

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Cook

Sometimes you don’t have a stove and you have to cook your food over open fire. If you ask me, it’s a lot nicer. It’s nothing like a good camp-fire. You can barbecue your food on a stick or cook it in foil.

Nearly anything can be cooked up as a part of a foil on a hot bed of coals. Use aluminum foil, with the shiny side in to create a pouch by folding the edges over several times. Cut up any assortment of what ever you are having and put it into the pouch. Add a bit of water, maybe a couple of teaspoons. This water forms the steam that will cook the contents, it also however, tends to make the meal bland so be fairly lavish with seasonings, especially salt. Seal it up and place the pouch directly on the bed of coals and turn every three to four minutes until reason says that it is done. Some people like to bury the pouches in the coals, but you must be sure to distribute the coals evenly and don't forget that it will cook faster.

I also have cooked food on hot rocks. Worked surprisingly well.