7 Days-21 Mail Drops

Loot from one trip to the discount food store

Over the winter I've been squirreling away food.  There's something oddly comforting about having five months of hiker food stashed away--that's nearly a year's worth of food for a nonhiker.  I have more king-sized Milk Way bars in a bin in the attic than I've eaten in my life thanks to a sale at Walmart.  My goals when picking food for a hike are:  a high calorie to weight ratio, variety, and never paying full price for anything.

The itinerary we've made up has me scheduled for 21 mail drops (including what I will have in my pack leaving from Crazy Cook) and 8 places where I will be buying food in town.  When I buy food in town it will be for the shorter carries:  mostly 3 day resupplies which makes sending a box uneconomical.  On the PCT I had 18 drops (counting what I left the monument with) and only bought food once and that was in South Lake Tahoe.  Buying food that one time was such a treat.  I walked out of the store with bags overflowing with food.  I still had a lot of it left when I reached Sierra City five days later and mailed some food and other things ahead and didn't reclaim them until Seiad Valley--a mere 464 miles later.

I dehydrated my dinners again for the CDT.  I'll be eating mostly all the same meals on the CDT that I ate (and loved) on the PCT.  I did add a new sweet potato recipe that I'm looking forward too.  For those meals, I bought all the food I needed on sale.  It was mildly tedious being at the mercy of sale prices.  It seemed like the stores had limited quantities of the foods I needed.  When I had what I needed food wise I used the biggest soup pot we had and filled it up.  I found out it could hold an entire five pound bag of potatoes, two bags of green beans, and four cans of beans.  One pot of food completely filled my five drying trays--but that was the goal, of course.

To organize five months' worth of food I used the same process I used for the PCT.  After grouping the maps into section to correspond to each drop I wrote the name of the town, the number of the box, and how many days of food needed on a scrap paper that I paper-clipped to that section of maps.  I laid the maps out, taking over the bed and a corner of the room, in numerical order.  With shopping bags of food hanging off my arm, starting with breakfast, I divvied out the loot.  17 different bars, five different types of candy bars, three cans of frosting, two bags of dried fruit, a dozen bags of s'mores trail mix, eight packs of sunflower seeds, seven beef summer sausages, five boxes of cheese and crackers...and then some.

Besides buying food for dehydrating at the regular old grocery store I haven't done much shopping at a traditional grocery store.  The prices just aren't as good as you can find elsewhere if you know where to look.  And I do.  Just down the street is a little store called Deals & Steals that's chalked full of supermarket cast-offs.  It's where each one of my protein bars came from--most of them cost 50 cents each and only three different types cost me a dollar.  They had one pound bags of pretzels from Whole Foods buy one get 2 free, so that ended up costing me $1.33 a bag.  They had Mars Bars with a whopping 280 calories per 63 grams marked down to 50 cents.  They had a s'mores trail mix that was so good I returned the next day and bought the remaining 12 packages. I think for awhile they knew me there as that women that buys all the protein bars.  I go there almost every other day just in case they have something new for cheap that I must have for the hike.

My hiker pantry

When I'm not at the discount food store I like to haunt Big Lots and buy their ridiculous cheap Goldfish.  I'm almost sure that 16 bags of Goldfish are not enough. I also did one trip to Costco in search of a few favorites:  Kellogg's Fruit Gummy Snacks, 5 pound bags of chocolate chips, peanuts, and bacon bits.  I was also on the hunt for hot chocolate, but after doing a few laps around the store I finally asked.  Apparently it wasn't hot chocolate season any more.  I'm still trying to get my hands on 100 pouches of hot chocolate.

Sadly hot chocolate is one of a handful of food items I'm still missing.  I only have about half the number of summer sausages and tuna packets that I need. I only have one bag of peach rings and zero orange slices (I probably ate a couple dozed packages of those two candies on the PCT) and I still need some sesame sticks, and pumpkin seeds, and...

So far, I've spent $430.00 on food.  I've kept a rather meticulous record this time.  I didn't keep records for the AT or the PCT so I don't have a comparison available.  My guess is, thanks to the discount food store, I've spent significantly less money on food this time around.

We packed up our first two boxes today:  six days of food to Doc Campbell's and five days of food to Pie Town.  It was a tight squeeze fitting six days' worth of food for two into one USPS Game board flat-rate box.    But it did all fit, and there is still a little room for extras (like hot chocolate and gummy candy).  Both boxes weighed in a 15 pounds.  We'll be taking those to the post office soon.

15 Days- Bargaining at the Big Box Store

Awhile ago my Mom was out shopping and she spotted Hickory Farms gift boxes marked down 50%.  We think they were Christmas left-over’s that were about to go out of date.

On Saturday we went to the store with the hopes of getting an even bigger discount.  The boxes I wanted had 8 ounces of cryovac cheeses and two 7 ounce summer sausages for the marked down price of ten dollars a box.  We wanted them for five.  We ended up getting them for eight, which was still a very good deal.  An eight ounce block of cheese is usually 2.50 at the store and sausage goes for just under 4.00.

Now I have nearly half the sausage I want for the trip and enough cheese for six resupplies.  Tuna fish in water is buy one get one at the store right now.  I want to pick up about a dozen packages.  Ideally I want tuna in oil--more calories for the same weight.  Maybe they will go on sale next.

All of my prep is on hold until Thursday.   That will leave me a mere 12 days to finish everything.  The idea sends a small bolt of panic through me.

28 Days-We ought to eat all our provisions now

"I think," said Christopher Robin, "that we ought to eat all our Provisions now, so that we shan't have so much to carry."  Winnie the Poo by A.A. Milne

Some goodies, including a 4 pound bag of chocolate chips

On Sunday after spending two hours at the gym walking six miles with my pack I went up the street to Sam’s Club to do a little whole sale shopping with a member card borrowed from my Aunt (Hi Sandy!).  I didn’t have a list, just the plan to go up and down every food aisle slowly.  At this point I know what I like to eat while on the trail, but I still took my time.

I started at the candy aisle and quickly added a large can of peanuts to my massive cart followed by a 48 count box of Snickers and a 24 count of PayDays.  In ’09 I bought four boxes of Snickers and didn’t finish them off until November of ’10.  I took a Snicker vacation in ’11 and I’m ready to return to them.  I might have to go get a second box—I’m not sure yet.

190 dollars of food in one box.

I went there looking for breakfast foods and snacks.  Since I was last in a whole sale store in ’09 I think the selection of food increased.  I found everything I expected, but I found some of it in different flavors than “original.”  I’m pretty happy with the variety of food I picked out and I even found a few things to add to my homemade and dehydrated lunches and dinners—like a giant bag of bacon bits.  I think any of my dinners would benefit form a handful of bacon bits.  Sadly, they only had tuna in cans.  Hopefully a grocery store puts tuna packets on sale soon.  They had some potted meats and yard long pepperoni sticks, which I’m not interested in.

I accidently stayed a half hour after closing time—I blame the Nutterbutter cookies that I stood in front of debating if they should be in my cart or not (I went with not) for too long.  I rang up with 190 dollars of food that all fit into one big box—it looked like more in the cart.

Almost 7 days of food with 4,453 calories.

Sunday I bought the food so Monday I took it and spread it across my floor in tidy little categories.  Awhile ago I had broken my maps into section for mailing and I used them for the base of my food planning.  I started small with drink mixes and some food that I had left over from last summer ridge running.  I have nineteen drops planned—and that counts what I’ll have in my pack on day one.  I quickly laid out breakfast, second breakfast, morning snack, afternoon snack, drink mixes, and hot chocolate powder.  I might have over done it buying two boxes of hot chocolate mix.  I ended up with 140 envelopes hot chocolate and I plan on being out there for 150 days.  I had planned on bringing tea as well, but I’ll wait and see. 

For one 7 day section that I prepped I ended up with 4,453 calories of snacks and breakfasts which breaks down to 636 calories a day.  Besides missing lunches and dinners I’m missing half my breakfast for that section.  I’m planning on having half oatmeal and half breakfast bars in each drop.  Each section I prepped yesterday is also missing goldfish crackers, cookies, and gorp (that’s what the 4 pounds of chocolate chips are for).

Most of my drops.

A lot of people don’t do food drops because they worry about getting bored with the food in the drops.  That doesn’t worry me at all.  It’s never been a problem on my other hikes—my Snickers vacation wasn’t due to boredom, I simply ran out of them and without a Sam’s Club card of my own I didn’t feel like replacing them.  I try to pack a smidgen less than what I’ll want to eat:  if I’m out for seven days I bring six candy bars.  That way I have the option of bringing a different type of candy out of town or making do with an extra handful of peanuts.  A little bit of hunger makes me appreciate my food a lot more. 

The dehydrator has been humming along, but I’m no where close to done yet.  I had to toss one mistake, but since then I’ve made three batches of artichoke soup and today I’ll be making a Thai dish—or at least the veggies and the sauce for it.  And while that dries I’ll be at the gym walking.

40 Days-Artichoke with Lemon Soup

I took a small break from the dehydrating.  It is to the point now that any procrastination means something may not get done.  I have one month and ten days left and I would guess that I have half of my lunches done and a third of my dinners.  Dinners are still giving me troubles, although I did come up with a winner:  Artichoke with Lemon Soup.

This is a light soup with a strong artichoke flavor backed by lemon and is brightened up with the vivid greens and it can be made hardier in camp by adding some meat.

Artichoke with Lemon Soup

Artichoke Lemon Soup in the dehydrator.

1lb artichoke hearts (fresh or frozen)

½ cup rice (cooked in stock)

1 cup stock (for rice)

1 cube bouillon dissolved in 1 cup water

1 teaspoon tarragon (dried)

1 can of Great Northern White beans

½ cup greens (spinach or collard)

2 tablespoons lemon juice (or to taste)

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Cook rice in stock.  Once cooked transfer to a large saucepan add all the ingredients.  Cook until hot then turn off heat.  Because the artichoke hearts are much larger than the beans the soup needs to be blended some.  Using a blender or food processor pulse small batches of soup to end up with a chunky final product (or puree, it preferred).  Spread on trays to dehydrate.   My first batch filled three trays and I used two fruit leather trays and one tray covered with wax paper.

When in camp rehydrate with hot water and eat as is or add meat (tuna/ chicken pouch or summer sausage).

When making soups that I plan to dehydrate I use less liquid than typical.  Cooking the rice in the stock infuses the rice with flavor.  Dissolving the bouillon cube in a cup of water will give the soup the flavor of the bouillon without having to remove the excess water from the broth while dehydrating.

The recipe is about 8 servings so maybe four servings on the trail.  Maybe even less.  It dried to almost nothing.   I'm really looking forward to this meal on trail.

78 Days-If at First You Don't Succeed

For the past two days my dehydrator has been humming away.  It's been making the house smell rather good.  I've been tackling lunch foods.  I've selected five different recipes for my lunches.  All of them to be eaten cold with (or without) cheese, summer sausage, and something bread like.

For the re-fried beans I started with one can of pinto beans and it seemed like only minutes later I had re-fried beans.  I used up my other four cans on pinto beans.

 

Five cans worth of re-fried beans

Re-fried Black Beans

2 cups canned Pinto beans

1/2 cup chicken stock (or water)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chicken Bouillon (omit if using stock)

1 teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

Next was tapenade-olive past.  Again, very quick to make. 

Lentil Tapenade almost dry

Castle's Lentil Tapenade
 

1/4 cup (dry) red lentils
1/2 t vegetable or chicken bouillon or stock
1/4 t garlic powder

1 T  roasted red pepper, cut tiny
1 T  olives
1 T lemon juice
1 t dried parsley
black pepper to taste

Cook the lentils in the stock for more flavor.  I've adjusted the recipe for a larger batch: 3 cup dry red lentils cooked in 1 cup stock and 3 cups water.  3 cans of olives seasoned to taste.  That gives me about 4 trays to dehydrate. 

I had cooked more lentils than I had olives so I used the rest of the lentils in another lunch recipe.  I choose red lentils because they pack in 170 calories in each uncooked quarter cup serving.  And it's 13 grams of protein per serving.  Taste-wise it doesn't seem to have much of a taste of its own, but does pick up the taste of what it is cooked in and mixed with. 

Corn and Lentil Salad

Re-fried beans-dried.

1/4 cup (cooked) red lentils
1/4 cup corn
1/2 teaspoon chicken or vegetable bullion
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon onion flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 T orange juice
salt and pepper to taste

Next time I think I'll add roasted red peppers to this one.  It looks bland.

80 Days- Not Enough Chefs in the Kitchen

In 2009 I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and in 2010 and 2011 I was an A.T.  Ridgerunner in Maryland, which means I've eaten more than my fair share of instant mashed potatoes, peanut butter, Snicker bars, pasta sides, and such.  For the PCT, I want to try something different; I want to dehydrate my own food.

Before I start on that I had to move from Maryland to Vermont to Florida all in one month.  The Maryland to Vermont move was easy—I took down my tent, put everything in my car, and drove for a day.  The Vermont to Florida move was much more intensive.  

Our kitchen; plastic wrapped and minus cabinets and counters.

Once in Florida I took a couple of days searching through recipes online.  I was looking for recipes that didn’t rely too much on meat or dairy—I don’t want to risk dried meat or diary going rancid.  I wanted meals that weren’t tomato based (I’m not a fan).  I wanted recipes that shared a lot of ingredients to make shopping easier.  I eventually came up with a list of 15 dinners.  If I’m on trail for my planned 150 days I’ll eat each meal ten times. 

Shortly after I had my recipe list the kitchen went from dingy-don’t really want to touch anything-to striped down concrete blocks and studs.  The refrigerator was in the dinning room.  The silverware was on the back porch.  The counters had gone out with the trash.  The cups were in the guestroom.  My new dehydrator was still in its box in the dinning room where it landed after being taken off the moving truck.

Slowly, over two months, a couple holidays, a trip to Vermont, family visits, we have most of a new kitchen.  New-to-us cabinets went in a couple at a time.  A new wall was built and some old walls were rebuilt and painted.  A new light went up.  Plywood still serves as makeshift counters.  And my dehydrator is still packaged up.

Every week I check the local circulars for hiker snacks and ingredients for my meals, yet I’ve only gone food shopping twice.  I bought mostly snacks.  But I did start a collection of beans for humus, refried beans, and soups and some frozen vegetables.  I also scoped out a few discount food stores.
On Saturday night I picked one of my meals to try out:  Chickpea and Spinach Soup.  The cookbook described it as:  "an especially earthy delight."  The outcome was nothing of the sort, although I don't blame the beans.  The problems probably started when I realized I didn't have chick peas but figured I could substitute Great Northern Beans.  Then the food processor overflowed when I turned it on with one can of beans and three cups of stock, so I had to spoon out a cup.

Garnished and still not good

The recipe called for three tablespoons of fresh mint finely chopped.  I didn't have any mint, fresh or otherwise, that wasn't in the form of tea.  I have pure peppermint tea in my stash of hiker food and Candy Cane tea in the cabinet.  I put in a shy tablespoon of Candy Cane tea because I was too lazy to go up stairs and root around for the peppermint tea.  I didn't think it would matter, the other flavors in the tea always seemed so subtle but in the soup they were overpowering.  I tried a bite, choked it down, then added more garlic powder, salt, pepper, chili powder, and lemon juice.  I sampled it again.  It was just as bad.
I adjusted the other seasonings again, tasted it, and thought maybe with some parm and smooshed crackers it would be okay.  I dished it up, ate maybe five bites before dumping the whole batch of it in a plastic container and froze it.  So no dehydrator going and with one bad meal pasta sides are sounding better and better.