With that said, I guess I'll put out a few disclaimers about my choices. I'm something of a health nut, so I tend to shy away from a lot of traditional backpacking staples, many of which upset my stomach anyway. So off the bat, here are my general not-so-strict guidelines:
- I eliminate most dairy products
- Most pork and beef products, too
- As much gluten as possible
- And things really high in sodium.
- If it has a lot of sugar, I at least try to make sure it's got a good dose of protein, fat, and fiber to go with it.
- If it's organic, that's a win too.
- I'm not entirely convinced on the whole non-GMO thing, so that's not really a priority.
On dehydrators and food sealer systems: I realize that I could be preparing very tasty, vegetable-filled, customizable, and much more economical meals by dehydrating my own ingredients and combining them to my liking. After all, I am an avid cook at home and love the idea of getting creative with my meals. This noble concept suffers from just a few pitfalls that have prevented me from diving head first into DIY mode. First and foremost is that my better half would probably go nuts if I added two more pieces of cooking equipment to our small apartment. Second, is time. Being in dental school, many of us have trouble carving out time to stuff a Subway sandwich into our face holes, let alone devoting countless hours to recipe R&D. To many this last point reeks of laziness, but all I can really say is, "priorities, man." I anticipate the humble dehydrator/food-saver combo will occupy a prominent place in my future kitchen, but I'm not quite there...YET!
Okay, so on to last year's hits and misses on the John Muir Trail. If you read my blog on my last trip, you'll know I would have done a few things differently. At the risk of being repetitive, as well as opening old wounds that have almost healed (blehhh), I'll refrain from delving into too much detail.
Culinary Misses 2014
- Invest in a long spoon if you are using pre-packaged dinners like Backpacker's Pantry. It makes for a cleaner eating experience. Otherwise, my SnowPeak Titanium spork is amazing.
- Research how to rehydrate pasta and pasta sauce properly. And whatever you do, make you sure you have enough water for the pasta or else you will have a gummy, inedible mess on your hands.
- Cooking for breakfast. Ever. My numbingly cold hands are absolutely useless in the morning, thus rendering my stove inoperable. This is not hyperbole folks. I dunno if it's poor circulation or what. So I just pounded a few PopTarts I nabbed in the hiker barrels as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning.
- Don't pack anything you feel just so-so about, EVEN if it's the healthiest thing on the planet. In my experience, there has been one, and only one exception to this rule, and that is Trader Joe's banana chips. I never like those things in the real world, but put me up at 9,000 feet, and I will devour a whole bag.
- Don't make my own oatmeal. Again, if you read last year's posts, you'll understand my complicated love affair with oatmeal.
- I got kind of sick of Apple Pie Lara Bars, and I am hesitant to invest as heavily in the Whenever Bars again.
- Tuna packets and condiment packets. The tuna smell just latched onto everything. The condiments were prone to exploding (thankfully I placed them in plastic bags).
- Trader Joe's Turkey Jerky. I shiver to even think about this stuff.
- Dried fruit. Other than raisins.
- The following meals I would not eat again:
- Outdoor Herbivore Sunrise Tofu Scramble
- Outdoor Herbivore Chickpea Pesto Penne Pasta
- Trader Joe's Chana Masala (I dehydrated in the oven): pretty tasty, but chickpeas didn't rehydrate very well and I just sort of got tired of the flavor.
Gastronomical Hits 2014
- Pamela's Bakery Whenever Bars and Figgies&Jammies. They're gluten-free, but I swear everyone I know who tries these falls in love. I don't know what I would have done without these.
- Trader Joe's PopTarts. What can I say? They saved me after my oatmeal became a puke-fest.
- Oh Yeah! Vanilla Almond Victory Bars. Such a delicious dose of protein. Although they've changed the recipe and it's not the same (insert sad face).
- Krave Jerky and Perky Jerky. These two companies make some DELICIOUS jerky.
- Justin's peanut butter packets (honey PB and Vanilla almond butter)
- La Tortilla Factory corn tortillas (love the texture of these)
- The following meals were some of the most satisfying trail meals I could imagine:
- Outdoor Herbivore Switchback Soup and Stuffer (has cheese, but damn it was worth the bloating)
- Outdoor Herbivore Naked Freckle Burrito (break up some Have'A Chips over either of these two O.H. meals and you will not regret it)
- Trader Joes Mac 'n' Cheese White Cheddar Shells (again, with the dairy...but it's so good)
There were a lot of items that didn't make either list, like Kind Bars, wasabi crackers, green & chamomile teas, and Pro Bars, as they fell in the middle of the pack—I could either have them again or not. In general, I felt that besides my oatmeal debacle, I did a pretty good job on food. No problems fitting things in my bear canister. I would say that given that I lost almost 15 pounds off my 138 lb. frame, I definitely need to consume more calories, something I am addressing this year.
Which brings me to this year's plans! The following goals should make sense in light of the aforementioned hits and misses.
- Bring more savory/salty snacks (sample solution: Kind Strong Bars)
- No home-made oatmeal
- Find equally delicious dairy-free alternatives for meals
- No-cook breakfasts
Perhaps the most eventful development in this year's trip planning was having contacted a couple of my favorite companies to see if they would be interested in helping sponsor our journey with some of their products. To be clear, I have read several articles out there about sponsorship, including this great one by Carrot Quinn. In light of such commentary I thought I would include a short bit about why I reached out to these companies at all. First and foremost, I absolutely love their food. Even if their company ethics were not transparent, well-intentioned, and aligned with my values (which they are), I do not think I possess the will power to deny myself one of the true carnal pleasures of eating while on the trail. Second, many of these companies are relatively small health food companies whose corporate values really do shine, and I'm all for supporting small businesses. And while they are generously supporting our trip, some with a few bars, others with several boxes, I am happily a life-long customer and would recommend their products to anyone. I would not be pedaling their products if I didn't want to spread the word about how awesome they are. With that said, here are some of our generous supporters.
- Krave Jerky: You've definitely seen this stuff in stores. Some think it has a little too much sugar, but I can't get enough of the Turkey Basil Citrus jerky.
- Perky Jerky: Somewhat less prevalent than Krave, but equally delicious. The original flavor turkey jerky is unreal. It's really tender, and the guarana addition is a nice pick-me-up.
- Square Bar: I'm not a big chocolate fan, but these protein bars are great. The founders are really friendly people, and portions of their proceeds go to Not For Sale, a really important cause to me.
- Health Warrior: I eat their chia bars on a daily basis, and they're a tasty way to incorporate chia into my diet.
- Vigilant Eats: My solution to not making my own disgusting oatmeal was to leave it up to the professionals. They make really good, convenient oatmeal. Favorite flavors are Goji Cacao and Coconut Maple Vanilla.
- Dang Foods: A family-run company, their coconut chips are really addicting
- That's It Bar: My solution to not getting sick of dried fruit is to take a couple of these with me every day. They're really simple and taste great.
- The New Primal: Another delicious option for jerky. I have regularly incorporated their products into my rotation.
- Essential Living Foods: While the Cayenne-spiked flavor doesn't light my fire, the Coconut and chocolate flavored Keen-Wah Bars and trail mixes make for good trail food.
- Primal Pantry: Another incredibly simple and tasty bar that uses low-glycemic dates for sweetness. The Apple-Pecan flavor has become my substitute for Apple-Pie Lara Bars.
- Simple Squares: While the Sage flavor is more refined and something I would be more apt to reach for in every day life, the coconut and chocolate flavors are absolutely crave-able on the trail.
- Wild Friends: I love the variety of nut butter packets they offer, and the founders seem like wonderful people.
- Bumble Bar: Another small business serving up a unique organic bar. The sesame-centered bar is really unique and delicious.
- Jay Robb: Not exactly a small business, but they put out some high quality, delicious protein powder.
- RJ's Licorice: specifically the raspberry flavor. It's the only candy I'm bringing, and it's really really delicious.
I would apologize for the repeating words like "tasty" and "delicious," but there are only so many words to describe food, and I am not about to pose as one of those Food Network talking heads who utterly misuse and abuse words like "nutty" and "toasty" to describe every morsel they ingest. I tried to be as transparent about this whole sponsorship thing as possible, and who knows, it may alienate a select few, but I hope you give these companies a shot because they make some tasty, generally healthy grub.
I thought I would wrap up here by posting some lists and photos of the food I'll be taking. I've also included a typical day's food for me, as well as a comprehensive list of all the food I'll be eating.
Typical Day of Food:
| Breakfast | Calories | Grams Protein | Grams Sugar | Grams Fat (Saturated) |
| Vigilant Eats Oatmeal | 300 | 11 | 6 | 7 (1.5) |
| 1 Scoop Generation UCAN Pom-Raz Sports Drinks | 100 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lunch | Calories | Grams Protein | Grams Sugar | Grams Fat (Saturated) |
| Corn Tortillas (3) | 270 | 15 | 0 | 3 (0) |
| Nut Butter (6 Tablespoons) | 570 | 18 | 2 | 45 (7.5) |
| Raisins (1/4 cup) | 130 | 1 | 24 | 0 |
| Dinner | Calories | Grams Protein | Grams Sugar | Grams Fat (Saturated) |
| Good To-Go Marinara with Penne | 920 | 24 | 30 | 26 (3) |
| Olive Oil or Coconut Oil (1 Tablespoon) | 120 | 0 | 0 | 14 (2) |
| Generation UCAN Vanilla Cream Recovery Drink | 100 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| Snacks | Calories | Grams Protein | Grams Sugar | Grams Fat (Saturated) |
| Jerky (3-4 oz) | 250 | 27 | 30 | 0.5 (0) |
| Kind Strong Bar | 230 | 10 | 6 | 16 (1.5) |
| Square Bar | 210 | 12 | 14 | 9 (6) |
| Chia Bar (2) | 200 | 6 | 10 | 10 (1) |
| That's It Fruit Bar (2) | 200 | 1 | 44 | 0 |
| Whenever Bar | 170 | 2 | 10 | 7 (1.5) |
| Lesser Evil Super 4 Snacks (2.5 1oz servings) | 275 | 7.5 | 1 | 7.5 (0) |
| Pesto Spread | 160 | 7.5 | 2.5 | 11.5 (1.5) |
| Chia Seeds (4 Tablespoons) | 240 | 12 | 0 | 18 (2) |
| Vigilant Eats Oatmeal | 300 | 11 | 6 | 7 (1.5) |
| Trader Joes Banana Chips (3 servings) | 480 | 0 | 27 | 33 (30) |
| Total | 5225 | 173 | 212.5 | 1214 (59) |
Comprehensive List of Food:
| Breakfast Items | Lunch Items | Dinner Items | Snacks |
| Vigilant Eats Oatmeal | La Tortilla Factory corn tortillas | Good To-Go Classic Marinara with Penne | Pamela's Bakery Whenever Bars |
| Generation UCAN sports drink | Outdoor Herbivore Pesto Spread | Good To-Go Classic Herbed Mushroom Risotto | Pamela's Bakery Figgies & Jammies |
| Wild Friends Nut Butter Packets | Good To-Go Three Bean Chili | Square Bars | |
| Yumbutter Superfood nut butter | Backpacker's Pantry Cuban Coconut Beans and Rice | Jay Robb Whey Bars | |
| Raisins | Mary Jane Farms Sesame Ginger Rice | Keen-Wah Bars | |
| Banana Chips | Mary Jane Farms Thai Fusion | Essential Living Foods Trail Mix | |
| Outdoor Herbivore Switchback Soup and Stuffer | That's It Fruit Bars | ||
| Outdoor Herbivore Naked Freckle Burrito | Simple Squares | ||
| Health Warrior Chia Bars | |||
| Health Warrior Chia Protein Bars | |||
| Kind Strong Bars | |||
| Oatmega bars | |||
| Quest Protein Bars | |||
| Go Macro granola/coconut bars | |||
| Epic meat bars | |||
| Bette Lou's Fruit Bar | |||
| Lesser Evil Super 4 Kale/Roasted Garlic Snacks | |||
| Krave Jerky | |||
| Perky Jerky | |||
| The New Primal Jerky | |||
| Primal Pantry Bars | |||
| Bumble Bar |
