All About Food | Wilderness Dancer

Food- and the particular piece of gear that makes great trail food possible.

I am a NOLS alum. Anyone who has been a NOLS student will understand my love of MSR Whisperlite stoves, a frybake, and trail pizza.

On a NOLS course, they joke that you’ll spend a semester outdoors and will learn to cook.

I came back from NOLS New Zealand and I knew how to cook. (and do a few other outdoor leadership things).

I have become locally famous with coworkers for my trail pizza, and trail cooking in general.

And yet, I apologized to my trusty whisperlite stove as I put it in storage, and unpacked my brand new alcohol stove.

For my thru hike, I am trading gourmet trail cooking for a ‘boil water only’ stove.

I hope it treats me just as well as my whisperlite.

It certainly is ten times lighter.

The cooking will be in the pre-mixing of dried foods in a quart freezer bag- which I will add the boiled water to- and hope my tastebuds are satisfied.

I will continue to be obsessed with pizza. (But I hear this is a normal thru-hiker condition.)

Backpackers spend a lot of time thinking and daydreaming about food.

I sure do.

There have been times I have spent an entire day with a coworker, while we are sawing away at trees, talking about what is in our ration that we could use to cook an amazing dinner that evening and if there are any edible plants around that we could add to it.

I’ve also spent hours while hiking dreaming of the perfect feast when I got off the trail.

Plotting with friends or coworkers the first meal we would eat back in town can be a delightful pursuit, although it can sometimes be depressing if all you have left in your ration is: oatmeal, bagels and peanut butter.

To avoid being stuck with just oatmeal. Here are some resources I use to help me pick out my week’s food supply.

Long Trail Food – My dad has posted several recipes on his website that he has come up with that are calorie loaded. The recipes piece out how much carbohydrates, fat and protein you get from each meal, price per meal and weight per meal. We will use several of these recipes during our hike- as is, to generate more recipe ideas, or as guidelines for meals that will be based on what we find in different stores.

Freezer Bag Cooking Tips on long trail cooking- freezer bag and one pot meals.

Pack Light Eat Right Great articles on what your body needs on a long hike.