What do you guys take for food on backpacking/hunting trips?

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dallssheep

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I have been dehydrating my own food but that is definitely time consuming!

Mountain house packs so far seem to be my #1 go to but at about 8 bucks a meal they are not nearly as inexpensive as my own made stuff.


I do enjoy how light the meals are! For me Ounces count!
 
I have done a lot of backpacking, and even sold high end backpacking equipment once upon a time.
I never liked the store bought freeze dried pouches. MRE's are ok, depending on the entre, however I always unpacked them and left all the heavy packaging behind. The grocery store is ripe with things that are great for packing. The oriental section at my store has lots of lightweight, easily prepared meals.
 
I like using the mountain house light and low prep no mess. Lick your spork clean and dishes are done. I think 8$ is well worth it they also fill me up.
 
I haven't gone on long voyages deep into the wilderness...but on what trips I have taken that were 3-4 days I take a can of beanie weenies for each day I plan to be out, plus a cup of dry cereal for each day I expect to be out. If I'm in areas where I may need extra rations I take extra but usually I'm in places where if you walk for 5 miles you hit a road. Packing in for elk or something similar I would do the same but also carry jerky and more lightweight foods. I have also considered packing popcorn as a multi - use item. Can be fishing bait, bird bait, or a nice snack. Dried beans also come to mind as a good option.
 
I like using the mountain house light and low prep no mess. Lick your spork clean and dishes are done. I think 8$ is well worth it they also fill me up.
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I'm also a fan of the Mountain House meals. You can find them for less than 8 bucks - sometimes almost half that - by checking "big box" discount stores for the "Premium Meal Assortment" boxes which are collections of 10 to 12 pouches. I've seen these boxes for as low as $35 at my local Costco, so that's less than 4 bucks per meal.

For winter backpacking and climbing trips, these meals have a wonderful secondary use. Once you have poured in the boiling water and stirred up the contents you can reseal the pouch and put it inside your parka for the 10 minute waiting period. It feels pretty good when the temps are below zero.
 
Oatmeal, lentils and pasta for carbs. Dried meat; meaning jerky, shredded beef, pastrami, salami, or sliced ham for protein. Lentils need to be soaked for the day but pasta and the soaked lentils cook up in about 15-20 minutes. I take those retort packages of clams or tuna to go in the pasta with tomato paste. It all goes into one pot per meal.
I take a one cup coffee press, about the size of a pop can. That and enough bourbon or rum for one shot per night and I'm feeling pretty civilized and not too weighted down.
 
There are plenty of instant pasta/rice/noodle and soup dishes that can be prepared over a small stove.
My old time standby is a package of Lipton Butter Noodles with a can of tuna thrown in.
Add a small size apple pie for dessert and you are all set.
 
I go to Kroger and purchase a bag of their trail mix. which is a mixture of different seeds and nuts and a bottle of Odoul's non- alcoholic beer.
 
For backpacking, I usually pick up some mountain house or other brand of freeze dried meals. I mostly go for the rice and chicken and the breakfast skillets. There is just something about being able to pour hot water in, seal it up and wait a few minutes.

Those meals are boring, but simple and you only need to be able to heat water, so fewer pots/pans to carry/clean.

If you get tired of those meals...which happens. You can put together some other options like ramaen noodles, dehydrated potatoes, mac and cheese.

Sometimes the wife gets fancy and dehydrates fruits, vegetables and ground beef/venison with noodles or rice for stew.

I usually only plan those meals for breakfast and dinners. and try to make mobile lunches like granola bars, ritz crackers and single servings of peanut butter, along with a pack of smoked sardines, tuna or kippers.

I always bring some dark chocolate or snickers.

Venison jerky comes frequently.

A percolator and some ground coffee.

I sometimes take oatmeal, but it is a sticky mess.. so I avoid it.
 
We often camp in the cold and the wet and the wet n cold.....so we take a few days worth of anything along. In the boat or sled we have a "Grub box" with rasins, oats, salt/pepper, coffee stuff, spices, and rice, noodles whatever can sit a long spell before ues....and theres likely a chunk of Caribou or a Fish or two along in a seperate box, incase the weather/hunting aint so great. I have a graet nesting and locking military cook pot set, a German Squad type, nice and big, stuffed with all the family needs to get something hot made and served.

I also carry a Travel bag I take on all boat/snowgo rides, with my possibles bag and a 3 day lifebooat ration and 2 MRE's with heaters for emergency. Clories galore for deep cold survival, Waterproofed matches, toilet paper and a warm meal go pretty far in the Arctic.
I carry a German army canteen with two cups, US army Cook pot set to thaw ice and make water and cook, as I eat "out" quite a bit. In a bad siuation up this way, hot fluids can be a real life saver as can melting water for my snowgo's coolant system, or just haveing lunch.
 
Given the logistics you deal with, I'd think the situation demanding the use of the toilet paper could be life threatening in itself. I guess a guy could build a snow commode to go along with an igloo though....makes me shiver just thinking about it.
 
Cliff bars, freeze dried coffee, and when I have time I make pemmican.

For homemade pemmican i use ground bison, blueberries, beef suet, a squirt of honey, and a small handful of macadamia nuts.
 
I forgot to mention Cliff bars! Living up in Juneau Alaska i have yet to find mountain house for less than about 7.50 each so today i went to the store with my girlfriend and she didnt have to drag me.


should have seen her jaw drop when i agreed to go and didnt make a fuss. Picked up some Knorr brand rice and noodle mixes that were 10 for 10$. Will play with those with some dehydrated meat and see how that goes!


Caribou how was the hunting this year? It was absolutely terrible for us in South East Alaska. I havent seen a deer (even on the side of the road) since August. Been a weird, snowless winter for us
 
A mixture of stuff. A jar of peanut butter always goes. Mac and cheese is light and easy to fix with some boiling water, trail mix, some type of jerky. I don't take a whole MRE package, too heavy and bulky, but have used some of the components at times. Boiled eggs are good for the 1st day if the weather is cool. I have used several of the various pre made meals sold by mountain house and others. They are good, and but expensive. I'll usually save those for a special treat.

Lately I've been using these a lot. Of the energy bars these are the best I've found. There are several stores locally that sell them, or they could be ordered online. Bought in boxes of 12 they are just over $1 each.

http://www.ohyeahnutrition.com/collections/all/products/good-grab-bars-45g
 
dallssheep said:
I have been dehydrating my own food but that is definitely time consuming!
Click to expand...

I like to cook high-calorie meals at home and freeze dry them myself. That's the way to get exactly what I want. This might be a bit of anomaly since my company does freeze drying in large scale and I've "borrowed" one lab dryer we normally use for making smaller than factory scale production line batches, medical products and R&D.

I probably shouldn't recommend a machine I have no first hand experience with, but Harvest Right sells a small freeze dryer that costs a fraction of what "real" machines go for. It also has an automated program which makes operating it very easy but on the other hand limits the programming adjustments you most likely need for products like high-fat foods and berries.
 
I have not done a lot of camping on foot, but when I have tried to keep the weight down I have found it much, much cheaper to use supermarket ingredients rather than special "camping" or "survival" food. Cold granola with powdered milk, hot instant oatmeal, dried fruit, instant coffee, powdered drinks, instant ramen noodles or noodles and sauce, "deluxe" mac and cheese, granola bars, a few cans of tuna, spam, deviled ham, etc. Many things can be bought in larger sizes and then packed in small, light plastic containers. Things like Mountain House individual pouches are something like $8 for one entree, while just grabbing stuff in the supermarket you can eat all day for that much.
 
Like Robert and Owlnmole, I too believe in granola bars on my one day hunt away from base camp, along with a canteen of water, not to mention a small first aid pack.
 
Be careful with power bars and cliff bars on a cold morning. I cracked a tooth on one on a cold winter morning. It was a porcelain/veneered tooth, but I'm still cautious.
 
I'm one of those freaks who loves the way MREs taste. They make me feel great and unlike many people, they do not grind my gastrointestinal system to a halt. I also like the fact that they come with handy extras like matches, TP, heaters, and moist towelettes. However, I find them to be too heavy even if you strip them down, so I usually reserve them for situations where I'm near the vehicle.

I now use mainly mountain house. I carry two mountian houses per day I expect to be out plus some dried fruit, nuts, and instant coffee. I'm rarely out for more than four nights in the backcountry. Longer trips require more skillfull and thoughtful food selection to keep the weight and bulk down.

Yes, mountain house is expensive, but it's an easy way to have a couple hot meals eveyday.

By the way... some of you guys sound pretty hardcore. A can of beenie weenies and some dry cereal? some corn if you feel like "treating yourself"?Trail mix and O'Doul's? Poptarts and a water filter? No way, man. I keep my setup fairly minimal, but food is where I splurge a bit. With you're guys' menu, I'd probably be looking for an excuse to head home early by day 2 :D.

And this is coming from a guy who routinely cooks one giant pot of soup on Sunday and eats it breakfast, lunch, and dinner all week long.
 
ScrapMetalSlug said:
Cliff bars, freeze dried coffee, and when I have time I make pemmican.

For homemade pemmican i use ground bison, blueberries, beef suet, a squirt of honey, and a small handful of macadamia nuts.
Click to expand...
I would like to hear more about this. How exactly do you make it? What is the recipe? How long does it keep?
 
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