Date: 2004-01-22
To: Miscellaneous Ramblings version 2.0 
Miles today: 0.0

Food has always been a motivating factor in my life. From my days as a youth when Mom would get me to do something for a spoonful of whip cream to present day backpacking. To me there is nothing better than at the end of a long day to reward yourself with a huge meal. Talking to Dave ¢Nuge¢ Rinker a month ago, he advised that his dinners during the later part of the trail consisted of a summer sausage and cold instant potatoes. Hike your own hike I guess.   ¢¢Breakfast will be primarily Carnation Instant Breakfast (CIB) mixed with powdered milk. That is 420 calories (two packets worth) when you factor in the calories from milk. Plus CIB has most if the vitamins and minerals needed to not die. To supplement CIB I will be having either Little Debbie snacks or Quaker Instant Oatmeal. The Little Debbie snacks are the big size and the ones I picked are: Oatmeal Cr me Pies (OCP) 370 calories, Fudge Rounds (FR) 310 calories, Star Crunch (SR) 290 calories, and Nutty Bar (NB) 330 calories. Nutty bars won¢t be used that much because they aren¢t as durable as the others. The plan is to use 2 packets CIB, 420 cal, and then 2 snackie cakes, ave. 700 calories, for a total of around 1100 calories for a simple quick breakfast. Now I also worked instant oatmeal (oats) into my menu. Only about 3 days a week max, so as not to get sick of them. Plus I figure an extra half hour in the morning for a hot breakfast. The plus side is when I do decide on a hot breakfast I will also have a hot lunch, here¢s how that works.¢¢While I am munching on a hot bowl of French Toast oatmeal, I will be boiling water for 2 packs of instant Cup of soup. Once that is hot I will mix in the soup packets and then dump in the equal amount of instant rice. All this will be done in my lexan mug, sealed tight with the lid, and then dumped deep into the bowels of my pack to stay warm. So four hours later when I am hungry again I will have a steaming hot bowl of flavored rice. Around 600 calories.¢¢That will only be on the days when I make a hot breakfast. Other than that I plan on having a bigger staple for lunch, for instance ring bologna with Ritz crackers. Then to supplement that, 2 bars. Either candy bars, granola bars, peanuts, or some snacky chip type thing. The way I like to eat lunch up until this point in my hiking career has been the installment plan, versus lump sum option. For instance, say 3 hours after breakfast I am feeling the need to quit running and take a break. Then I will tear into a Kudos bar. A couple hours later maybe I will stop for a longer break, and eat the bigger lunch staple. Then later in the afternoon the other snack item. The only thing I am worried about is being so hungry or malnourished that I start to lose my head and get into a rush to get to a shelter and cook my dinner. In the process of this tripping and hurting myself, missing out on something cool, and most importantly not having fun. Don¢t screw it up Ben.¢¢Dinners are my pride and joy. To quote the great Professor Haan, ¢Aqui es el plan¢¦¢:      oOne dinner option is Bear Creek soup mixes. These primarily serve as bases for soups and you are supposed to add your own stuff to them, but most are good enough to eat without too much tampering. For instance I will use ¢Creamy Potato Soup¢ as one. To it I have added some potato flakes to thicken it and also I will add a pouch of Sweet Sue vacuum sealed ham in a pouch. The ham alone has 735 calories and only costs $1.99. That¢s a pretty good deal. The soup itself will have about 800 calories, so 1535 calories and all I have to do is boil 2 cups of water and simmer for a few minutes, which is a non-issue with my pot cozy. Average cost per meal is $4.23.   oLipton noodle meals and Lipton rice sides will also of course be a staple. For my food drops at least, I will supplement them with either pouch chicken or turkey. About 1100 calories and average cost $3.11 for noodles and $3.48 for rice.   oSince the discovery of packaged ground beef, I am now able to open my world to all the wonders the Hamburger Helper has to offer. They are very easy to make on the trail and will be even simpler with the help of the pot cozy. Average calorie 1400-1900 and cost is about $4.09 a meal. oBesides those I also plan to use gravy as a staple. Andy tells me that when he used to work at Kentucky Fried Chicken he would drink gravy straight, like coffee. His ¢morning cup of gravy¢. It¢s a wonder the kid isn¢t 4,000 lbs. Anyways gravy will be used in conjunction with instant rice, Idahoan mashed potatoes, and Butterball One Step Stuffing. These 3 meals all have only about 800 calories or so so they will be supplemented with instant pudding. Meijers generic brand makes flavors like cookies and cr me, orange delight, French vanilla, and chocolate peanut butter. That will add another 520 calories and will fill me up, well at least enough to let me fall asleep. oAnother meal, Coosa¢s Venison Stroganoff, which came from Backpacker Magazine, is a wonder to behold. I took some liberties with the ingredients so it would probably be safe to say that my own recipe is completely different. The general composition of it being beef jerky and a base of LB Jamison¢s cr me soup starter. That is used in making your own gravies and stuff. There are a bunch of other details but it is really easy to make and when you pour it on rice, you get a meal with 1125 calories and costs about $4.41. The jerky being the most expensive part. To save a couple bucks you could use dried beef, but you would then loose the jerky flavor. oMaybe the simplest of meals will be Turkey Tetrazini. This is just plain ramen noodles (no flavor packet), Cup of Soup (cream of mushroom flavor), and a pouch of turkey. I also adapted it to work with chicken and cream of chicken soup. 860 cals and average cost of $3.28 for chicken, $2.27 for turkey.¢¢For beverages in my food drops at least I plan on using presweetened Tang, Kool aid, tea, and lemonade varieties. The plastic tub that it comes in weighs a little over a pound when full, but there is also 8 Nalgenes worth of drink mix. ¢¢I threw in a handful of hot chocolate drink mixes but I figure that if I want a hot drink I can heat up my CIB¢s. If you are interested in my spread sheet with all my meal info, let me know, I can send you a copy.eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek, 10 more days¢¦