Appalachian Trail 2012 - Prep - First Drop Box

I have had several people ask recently "what will you be eating while you are out in the woods?".  The above video is what I placed into my first drop box.  This will obviously adapt and change as I progress, but it should give a little understanding into what I will survive on.


The portions in the video are a quite a bit smaller than what I will be packing in the next drop boxes.  I usually lose my hunger for the first several days while hiking and then slowly start to build up steam.  I'm not sure if this is a normal feeling that other hikers get or if it's just me, but either way it is what I have adapted my food planning to.

As you can see by the menu I tend to cook a lot more than your typical hiker.  Diet has been my largest hurdle to overcome in the planning of this endeavor.  I usually eat a healthy and balanced diet (with the occasional emotional binge) while at home.  Trying to mimic that on the trail has been rather difficult.  I have come up with a compromise that will hopefully keep me going without becoming too unhealthy.

I have taken a variety of instant meals/sides and combined them with dehydrated additions to assist their nutritional value and protein/carbohydrate content.  Proteins such as ground beef and ground turkey (dehydrated) will be added to all of my Ramen Meals, Knorr Side dishes, Idahoan Potatoes, etc. I have also purchased a variety of freeze dried vegetables (#10 cans from a vendor - THRIVE) as well as dehydrated various other vegetables myself which will be added to each meal.

I have a number of homemade dehydrated meals that I will intertwine into the menu as well.  While designing recipes I tried to incorporate a combination of meats, vegetables and either rices or pastas to give me a balanced meal.  I really enjoyed the process of creating personal meals that I know I will enjoy as well as cost quite a bit less, are a lot healthier and gave me a sense of pride of creating my own meals.

In addition to all of the above variations I have purchased a number of manufactured freeze dried meals.  The price of these are quite high, but they provided another variation to keep my taste buds happy.

The whole foundation of my meal planning has been to adapt a trail diet into one that can come close to what I would eat at home, provide a wide variety of flavors, provide a comforting affect after a long day of hiking, keep costs down and be somewhat healthy.

Thanks for following!!!

Rovious