Alternate backpacking meals ideas?

[Alchase]

I use sandwich Thins, as a thin alternative to bread for sandwich meals. I have also used tortillas, they work fine, though I like the taste of the sandwich thins much better. Around camp I stuff them with lunch meat, cheese lettuce and onion.
When hiking I throw in a couple single serving Peanut Butters and some jelly packs or single serving tuna packs. Neither have to be refrigerated. You can add condiment packs (mayo, mustard, onions) as well they weigh almost nothing.

[Okanagan]

What is your priority?  Is it to go as light as possible or to eat well?  Most of us go somewhere in the middle but on some long, steep strenuous hunts I have opted for as light as possible.  And then on one backpack hunt high hunt when huckleberries were ripe, my son and I carried a reflector oven and all the fixin's for pie. 

For a three day hunt you don't have to cook anything nor carry any cooking gear.  My comments lean more to the 3 day trip than to longer.  Here are some alternatives to the usual freeze dried.

Dry roasted soy beans are light, loaded with calories and are a complete protein.  I like them and have carried them more in recent years than I have trail mix.  Bulk food section.

Another option that keeps for several days is pre-baked potatoes, a bit overdone with less water content.  Clean, tidy to carry and eat and you eat peel and all.  They go better with a smidge of salt.  I love small baked yams and they are terrific nutrition but they retain more weight and are messy to carry so I usually don't.

A chub of summer sausage is not light weight but you eat all of it and it packs protein and salt.  In Fall weather a chub of sausage will easily last three days without refrigeration.  A chunk of cheese and crackers go well with it.  The weight saving is no cooking gear of any kind, which is a double bonus because when you eat stuff, the weight/bulk is gone, with no pot or stove etc. to continue carrying. 

I've carried a ziploc bag of cooked macaroni and a cooked steak or hamburger patty for the first evening meal, before it spoils. 

Raw oatmeal is plenty good if soaked in a bit of powdered milk.  Put milk and oatmeal in bag, and add water when you want to eat it.  Use a separate bag for each planned meal of it.  One pink Baskin Robbins spoon makes it taste better, as does mixing it with granola.  I don't add sugar.

If you are going to cook, the dehydrated veggies in supermarket bulk sections are light to carry and a handful of them tossed into most pot-cooked meals adds favor and nutrition.

I hiked with a couple of Himalaya climbers, serious dudes, who carried whole barley.  It is about all that they ate, and each night when we camped they would start a cup or two of it soaking which they would cook and eat the following day. 

[vandeman17]

I've thought about the tortillas wrapped around this combo, but I worry about the honey soaking through. It will soak through bread....which is even more delicious it seems, but it does make for a sticky mess. The bagels are stout and don't get messed up too easily. They will get squished in your pack and the bagels just seem more robust.

Put pb on them first and leave out for like 10-15 minutes then add honey, bacon and roll. Haven't had it soak through yet.

[kselkhunter]

Good tip.  Thanks.

[kselkhunter]

What is your priority? 

Priority is a dry camp. No cooking stove or fuel for this trip. Not going for ultralight on this trip.    And just two nights, 3 days for this specific trip.  For my longer 10 day backcountry hunt I'll be near a water source and have the freeze dried meals.

Thanks for the food advice.  I'll be bringing up some fried garbanzo beans as one of the snacks.  I might give the pre-baked potato a try.  Maybe pre-stuff it with some protein.  That's a good idea. 

 

[jackmaster]

MRE,S they require no water or heat and you get everything you need and then some!! The new ones they have out now are way better than the ones we had in the late 80s early 90s

[swift]

I've thought about the tortillas wrapped around this combo, but I worry about the honey soaking through. It will soak through bread....which is even more delicious it seems, but it does make for a sticky mess. The bagels are stout and don't get messed up too easily. They will get squished in your pack and the bagels just seem more robust.

I just mix my PB and Honey together with a little powdered pb2 ( to thicken a touch)

Put pb on them first and leave out for like 10-15 minutes then add honey, bacon and roll. Haven't had it soak through yet.

[couesbitten]

Buy a large pepperoni pizza, put it all in a ziplock, dinner for days!

[trapp01]

Some backcountry chefs in here. Me-dry top ramen with the spice packet sprinkled on top. Dried fruit. Loose granola and jerky.

[JL]

I'd second the MRE's for simplicity and nutritional value. The entrees weighs about 8 oz. per. The shredded beef has 40g of protein. You could take a few of these and some other stuff.

[THunt]

I make bacon, PB, and jelly sandwiches on French bread.  Doesn't soak thru,  minimal cost and really fills you up!

[haugenna]

Spam singles.

[Seahawk12]

MRE,S they require no water or heat and you get everything you need and then some!! The new ones they have out now are way better than the ones we had in the late 80s early 90s

Where do you buy your mres?

[Smokey Bear]

If I am in an area that allows fires, I will freeze two or three brats and bring them.  Easy to cook over the fire with a stick.  I will also bring the small ketchup and/or mustard packets.  For the next night I like the tuna and/or chicken packets, with a small mayo packet and some crackers. 

[jackelope]

MRE's are too heavy and too large. You can do a lot better for a lot less weight. My .02 is if you're going to bring MRE's you might as well bring a stove and filter and go the rehydration route with some chili Mac n beef.