Need New Tricks for Lightening the Food Barrel

Now that I’m old and weak, the only way to extend my tripping career is to get serious about food weight. Meals are easy to lighten up, just go dehydrated. What confounds me are snacks and lunch. Granola, bread, salami, cheese, candy bars, granola - all heavy. I can do dehydrated fruit, but need ideas for super light easy prep snack foods. Any suggestions are appreciated.

It's no different than lightening your other meals. Try not to carry foods that already contain water and choose things that are calorie dense.

Make your own bread
Peanut butter
Nuts
Dried fruit

Alan

How to Make Pemmican​

I like Logan Bread, many recipes are available online. I add more of whatever I like to make it high calorie, so It may turn out a little like fruit cake. I bake it so it is drier and firmer than called for what would be best for home eating so it is not likely to spoil easily in the bush.

Which reminds me of pilot bread or hardtack, a very hard stiff indestructable cracker that sometimes I carry in a round tin. Either risk breaking a tooth on it, or soak up some liquid with it before attempting to eat.

I keep all my meals real simple, especially on my solo trips. The heaviest item for lunch would be peanut butter on Wasa Bread crackers (my long fav Ryecrisp is no longer available) w/jelly or honey. I start watching the peanut butter/honey/jelly jars at home to try to save out the partials with just enough for the planned trip. Other lunch items would be dried fruit like raisins and or prunes, etc.

But I don’t obsess over weight. My 13 years of Wabakimi Project trips conditioned me for humping a lot of weight - chainsaw w/a weeks fuel/bar oil, full sized Hudson Bay axes, folding shovels, 4-man Outfitter version Eureka Timberline tents (one for every 2 people), 1-60L food barrel for every 2 people per week. Uncle Phil’s style of camping had not evolved much from the 1960’s/1970’s.

Black_Fly said:

Now that I’m old and weak, the only way to extend my tripping career is to get serious about food weight. Meals are easy to lighten up, just go dehydrated. What confounds me are snacks and lunch. Granola, bread, salami, cheese, candy bars, granola - all heavy. I can do dehydrated fruit, but need ideas for super light easy prep snack foods. Any suggestions are appreciated.

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Get a smaller barrel and make an extra trip on any portages you need to do.

I have cut down a lot on the weight of food simply by monitoring my actual use and reducing the quantities I take so that I have very few leftovers at the end of a trip (while still having an emergency reserve should I be delayed). I used to return from long solo trips with enough food to cover me for 1 - 2 two weeks (20 - 30lbs).

jdeerfoot said:

The heaviest item for lunch would be peanut butter on Wasa Bread crackers (my long fav Ryecrisp is no longer available) w/jelly or honey.

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Have you tried the peanut butter with honey already in it? That my go-to.

Alan

Many times dinner is my only “true meal”. I’m totally ok most days eating GORP, dried fruit, homemade fruit leather, and homemade beef jerky starting when I get up.

Dinner is commercial freeze dried, or most of the time, home dehydrated.

If there are no portages, all bets are off for meals. Dutch oven, reflector oven, and coolers are all on the table. Many times those trips end up revolving around food.

I camp out of the bed of my truck a lot (mostly chasing fish with a fly rod). I can always live out of the drawers I built in the bed for at least a weekend on a moments notice. If I go longer, or plan ahead I’ll add a drink cooler, and a food cooler.

We tried instant hummus powder this year. Available from Outdoor Herbivore or Amazon. Rehydrate with water and a little olive oil and put it on crackers, corn chips, or tortillas.