Ultralight Backpacking Food | 7 features you might be overlooking

you're probably agreed that the ultralight backpacking community is growing rapidly but I've noticed that ultralight food folks are consuming isn't the same quality as the gear purchased so today I'm gonna rock the boat a little bit and share seven features of ultralight backpacking food that you might be overlooking first off you might be asking who's this woman and what does she know about backpacking food an ultralight food specifically well my name is Erin Owens makeyou and I'm an ultralight long-distance backpacking dietitian I know that's a mouthful for a career I've been a dietitian for almost 19 years and now spend a hundred percent of my time creating ultralight backpacking recipes and meal planning resources for backpackers based on my own experience as a backpacker and here's a fun fact about me I live and work full-time in a camper van with my husband and our dog and this is currently our backyard so yes I actually do practice what I preach in my opinion there's so much more to ultralight food than just being high-calorie and lightweight just like any piece of gear there's a laundry list of criteria that must be met before food makes its way into my pack so let's break them down meals must be quick and easy to prepare at home and on the trail for me this means that meals are prepared in a single pot and do not require simmering for extended periods of time how exactly is this related to ultralight backpacking the easier meals are to prepare at home the more likely you are to take more nutritious and clerkly dense meals with you on the trail and one-pot meals means your quick-set can be simply a small pot and a spork all of which reduces the weight in your pack food should be low volume while still providing nutrition needed as well as allowing room for necessary gear in your pack for example check out how our ultra light marinated chickpeas recipe compares to this commercially prepared chickpea based recipe actually when you look at this the meal is primarily rice and only a few chickpeas are chickpea recipe provides 750 calories and only one cup serving and five ounce dry weight including the olive oil compared to 850 calories and two servings in 8 ounce dry weight so if you're a numbers fan that means that this is 147 calories per ounce versus 108 calories per ounce our recipes also provide a similar amount of protein and a smaller volume of food recipes require minimal amounts of water to rehydrate which further reduces your pack weight and dramatically decreases the fuel needed to boil that water going back to the chickpea meals our recipe requires only four ounces or 120 milliliters of water which would fit in the bag if you like freezer bag style cooking the China masala recipe requires two and a quarter cups of water or 540 milliliters which would require you to split the meal into two separate bags or cooking a much larger pot than our chickpea meal Oh in our recipe is meant to be cold soaked which means you could leave your pot at home and save several more ounces now I'm not suggesting that you should consume less water by using low low water meals it's important to stay hydrated on trail but I found that by not needing these extra two cups of water for a meal reduces stress around finding campsites with water sources it also reduces the water weight carried when I have to camp at dry sites 4 ounces vs. 18 ounces of water is a huge weight savings less water also cuts your stove burn time which means you can pack less fuel further lowering your pack weight the gram saved are really adding up right recipes need to be pliable so they take up less space in your pack and fill in those nooks and crannies in your bear can if you're able to fit all of your food in one bear bag instead of two your packet weight is going to be less our black bean dip is an excellent example of this it's tiny but it still provides a load of nutrition this meal provides 675 calories in 3.5 ounces of dry weight including the Fritos that go with it at 193 calories per ounce by using recipes like this one and once packed seven day supply of 5,000 calories per day in this very bear can food must taste good if you dread eating the food in your pack then you're likely to eat less than you should and you may end up carrying leftover meals back home or until you find a hiker box to dump them in or you may not want to finish your meals in the wet loaf leftovers will weigh you down if you choose to carry it with you versus dumping the leftover food in the backcountry leftover wet food is the worst in my mind when it comes to unnecessary pack weight I don't know about you but high caloric density food isn't worth its weight if I'm not willing to eat it so here's an example of our strawberry cheesecake that's meant to be two servings but I have a really hard time sharing it with my husband because it's so good contrary to popular belief backpacking food doesn't have to be expensive like the ultralight gear you're also carrying on your back I won't disagree the traditional hiker foods that are considered ultralight can be purchased on the cheap but they don't provide the same nutrition as homemade meals that will keep you from experiencing those sugar highs and lows homemade meals don't have to include those more expensive freeze-dried ingredients either nutritious meals can be made using simple ingredients found in your local grocery store so going back to our chickpea recipe you can buy a can of chickpeas for less than a dollar and dehydrate them yourselves at the herbs and olive oil for a total of roughly $1 per serving if you don't have a dehydrator you can purchase chickpeas already dehydrated and pay roughly $4 per serving which is still quite a bit cheaper than the seven dollars for this commercially prepared meal and finally number seven the calories per ounce piece which is what most folks use to define the ultralight backpacking foods my personal goal is to mean a daily average of 150 calories per ounce that doesn't mean that all of my meals and snacks are 150 calories per ounce which I think sometimes folks try to accomplish with their own food some of my meals or snacks will be more calorically dense while others will be less calorically dense this allows me to eat a wide variety of foods without having to consume high fat foods all day long this method also allows me to meet my protein and carbohydrate goals that encourage muscle recovery and avoid hitting the wall in the afternoon higher fat foods sometimes do not contain that protein or carbs so how does this translate into food weight in your pack for 5,000 calories and 150 calories per ounce your food will weigh two pounds one ounce or 937 grams let's say your calorie goal is only 3500 calories that means that your food will weigh only one pounds seven ounces or 653 grams this example also shows that you don't have to pack those two pounds of food per day like the golden rule suggests but I'll go into that in more details on another day so there you have it 7 features of ultralight backpacking food to consider when planning for your next adventure there's truly so much more to food than just looking at calories and how much it weighs I also believe that food should be high-performing just like the ultralight gear you're carrying on your back ok now here's my sales pitch you can exit the video now but you might want to stick around for just a second if you're interested in learning more about ultralight backpacking food check out our website backcountry foodie com where we offer more than 100 recipes and a variety of meal planning resources specifically focusing on what I described in the video today check out the description below for discounts we're offering on our services also please leave a comment or feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions you have about preparing for your next adventure I'm truly passionate about backpacking food and love helping backpackers just like you achieve their goals okay that's it for today thanks for watching and I'll see you next time

Channel: Backcountry Foodie

Views: 86,947

Rating: 4.9014721 out of 5

Keywords: freezedried, dehydratedfood, backpackingmeals, backpackingrecipes, backpackingfood, ultralightbackpacking, ultralightmeals, thruhiking

Id: Kc4iYFWosX4

Length: 7min 0sec (420 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 28 2020