Menu Planning

The upcoming May Long Weekend we will be doing our third annual hike of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail. As we're going to leave Friday right after work, I decided to get my meal planning and preparation out of the way today.

We're spending three nights on the trail, so we'll need 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and 3 dinners, as well as the usual assortment of trail mix and snacks. My goal is to have each day's food weigh under 2 pounds, and cost under $20. I like to have a combination of commercially packaged and homemade meals. A second breakfast is something I'll add for shorter (less than 4 day) hikes as the extra weight isn't noticed. The mornings on the coast in May are cold and wet, so the extra food helps you stay warm. I have gotten away with around 1.5 pounds per day, but was often hungry in the afternoons.

I find it a good idea to label a large ziploc bag for each day you're on the trail, and fill it with all the snacks and meals for that day, with dinner at the bottom and pack up to breakfast at the top. This saves a lot of rooting around in your food bag, and makes carrying food to and from the bear lockers much easier. Additionally, if anything leaks, there's an additional layer to protect the rest of your gear. I'll also label each meal with the amount of water and instructions on a piece of masking tape.


Friday [0 lb 10.5 oz]

• Dinner: Forever Young Macaroni & Cheese w/Veggies (AlpineAire Foods); 6 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Saturday [2 lbs]

• Breakfast: 2 packages of Nature's Path Organic Apple Cinnamon instant oatmeal with a handful of dehydrated blueberries & strawberries; instant coffee, Emer'gen-C instant Cranberry juice (vitamin supplement); Kettle Valley organic fruit snack
• Second Breakfast: 2 small flour tortillas with Nutella
• Lunch: AplineAire Tuna & Crackers, trail mix, granola bar
• Dinner: Ez Matt's Burritos (see recipe here)

Sunday [1 lb 10 oz]

• Breakfast: high energy cereal and powdered mil with a handful of dehydrated blueberries & strawberries; instant coffee, Emer'gen-C instant orange juice (vitamin supplement); Kettle Valley organic fruit snack
• Second Breakfast: 2 small flour tortillas with blackberry jam
• Lunch: Ramen noodles, cheese, trail mix, granola bar
• Dinner: Instant mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy (see recipe below) , stuffing, 3 squares of dark chocolate

Monday [1 lb 5 oz]

• Breakfast: 2 packages of Nature's Path Organic Flax n Oats instant oatmeal with a handful of dehydrated blueberries & strawberries; instant coffee, Emer'gen-C instant citrus juice (vitamin supplement); Kettle Valley organic fruit snack
• Second Breakfast: 2 small flour tortillas with nutella
• Lunch: Thai Kitchen Garlic & Vegetable noodle soup, crackers & cheese

Misc: [5 oz]

• Gatorade powder, sugar, powdered milk, tea bags, 1 emergency meal (soup), extra snack

Well, I spent under $60 and altogether it weighs about 6 pounds. Success! When I get back I'll post a summary of what worked well and what didn't (and why.)

RECIPE: Instant Mashed Potatoes
1 cup instant potato flakes
1 tablespoon Kraft Parmesan Cheese
1 pinch of garlic salt
1 tablespoon skim milk powder
half of a 21g package of mushroom gravy mix

At home: package the first 4 ingredients into a regular ziploc bag, and the gravy mix into a ziploc freezer bag.
On the trail: boil 1.5 cups of water, then carefully pour half a cup into the gravy bag and allow to reconstitute. Pour the potato mix into the remaining cup of water and mash with a fork. When the gravy is ready (about 5 mins) pour onto the potatoes and enjoy!

Book Review: Lip Smackin' Vegetarian Backpackin'

Full Title: Lipsmackin' Vegetarian Backpackin': Lightweight Trail-tested Vegetarian Recipes for Backcountry Trips
Author: Christine and Tim Conners

This book is the sequel to the top-selling Lipsmackin' Backpackin': Lightweight Trail-tested Recipes for Backcountry Trips, which I'll have to get Ian to write a review for as I'm a tree-hugging vegetarian.

The book begins with an introduction to using the book, and a primer on dehydrator use. The next chapters are divided into recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, breads, snacks & desserts, and drinks. With more than 150 recipes, it helps to spend some time reading through them all and place some post-it notes on recipes that catch your eye.

When I first started using this book, my choices were fairly limited as I didn't have a dehydrator. I was still able to make quite a few meals, but probably less than 1/3 of the book. While some of the dehydrator recipes are quite fantastic, I would suggest trying some of the non-dehydrator recipes before you make a purchase. I eventually did buy one, and eventually plan to write a dehydrating guide.

OK, let's eat!

The most important advice I can offer with this book is to TRY the recipes first, either at home or on a weekend hike. Not heeding this advice, Ian and I had to dip into our extra rations after burying a batch of Green Dragon Pad Thai. Needless to say, if a recipe calls for lime Kool-Aid: skip it and try the next one.

Speaking of the next one, my absolute favorite recipe in this book has to be Ez-Ed's Burritos, page 92. As with most of the recipes, I had to adapt them to my taste, and to what products were available in my area. At the bottom of this review is Ez Matt's version of Ez Ed's Burritos. (Props to Ed Molash for the original recipe.) Some of my other favorites include Black Mountain Potatoes (page 97), Cheese Coins (which are so good they will become trail currency - page 56), and Fuji Feast (page 88).

Overall, I have now added about 10 recipes to my regular list of backpacking food. A lot of the recipes are for drinks and desserts, which are luxuries I normally don't find necessary for a truely lightweight backpacking experience. There are also a fair number of trailmix recipes, which I found inspired me to try some different combinations in my usual GORP - especially dehydring my own strawberries!

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cooking, and is adventurous with their flavour combinations. If you are kitchen-impaired, or happy with ramen noodles, it might not be such a good purchase. The binding on the book leaves something to be desired, as it doesn't lay flat. Recipe book publishers who don't twin-loop or spiral bind their books need to spend more time in the kitchen and less in the print shop. That aside, it is still the book I reach for when beginning to prepare a meal plan for an upcoming hike.

Ez Matt's Tent-Warming Burritos

1 cup Uncle Ben's instant rice
2 packages (cup of soup style) Nile Spice Black Bean Soup
2 packages (cup of soup style) Nile Spice Sweet Corn Chowder
1/4 cup dried chopped onions
3 tablespoons textured vegetable protein
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried seaweed flakes/crumbled nori
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon tomato cheese sauce mix
1 teaspoon dried chili peppers

Mix all ingredients together and divide evenly into 4 ziplock freezer bags. On the trail, add 1.5 cups of boiling water to the bag (caution: read the book's primer on using Ziploc bags with hot water!), wrap the bag in a towel and knead for a minute. Leave wrapped, and allow to sit for at least 10 minutes with an occasional kneading. Try a small amount to make sure the rice is soft, then squeeze onto 2 tortillas and roll. Add fast-food hot sauce packets if you have them, or dehydrate some salsa.