Dont know where to post this, food adivce though

[Ehudd]

Hey guys.
I am planning to walk end to end of the bibbulmun track and I am wondering what would be a good daily meal plan. I dont mind a heavy pack, infact I would like it more on the heavier side as I want to improve my fitness and overall strength. Im a big fella, been going to the gym for 5 years and I realise I will loose alot of weight which doesnt concern me. I just want to eat enough so I can survive on this walk.
Could anyone suggest a good daily meal for the 57 days I will be walking.

Any other advise accepted to.

[Ehudd]

Very helpful

[Mark F]

You ask a very wide question. You have to consider cooking time, variety and simplicity so most base their meals on pasta, couscous or rice and add a range of flavourings to that - cheese, tinned tuna etc. Have a read through the threads here to get some ideas or try http://www.aforkinthetrail.com/ for ideas.

[matagi]

What I would suggest is work out how long it will take you to walk the various sections between towns, and what is available in the towns the track passes through and plan your meals and provisioning accordingly.

Maybe even talk to a dietician to get some ideas about daily energy requirements.

Meanwhile, as Mark F has mentioned there are a lot of threads about food on here where you may find some useful tips.

You'll need to plan your water supply carefully if you want to rely on dehydrated food.

[MartyGwynne]

Hi have a look through this post viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8667 which is on dehydrating food recipes.
There are a lot of suggestions there and I have posted some of my recipes.
I do dehydrate a lot of different veggies and meats and can put together a different meal several ways using a big bag of food which is dehydrated. I am not sure how big you are so your food use varies with how much you normally eat. Also use the towns along the way to top up your food (even carry fresh for a day or two) You can organise food drops etc and also check out the bibbulmun track web site as I found it to be very helpful when I planned to do the trip a few years back (I busted my back once I got to Perth though so had to pull out).
You can use a lot of the packet type foods such as the Ainsley Harriot packets of cous cous lentils and risotto as a base to add other dehydrated foods.
Enjoy the walk.
PS I use a plastic 5 litre pail to store all my dry food in which also can double as a small seat and a washing machine for your 'smalls' (rinsed out well of course though) and it does not get eaten by rodents (so far).

[Moondog55]

57 days plus any allowance for delays is too long to eat dried/dehydrated/tinned/canned food so make sure that somewhere along the way you stop for fresh fruit and vegies.

http://www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au/trip-planner/food/

Also even at 500 grams a day I would not like to carry that much at the start so reprovisioning along the way is needed

[anotherwalker]

Another Suggestion would be to look at google for "through hiking" or "thru hiking". and related food.

Overseas in the US many people attempt long distance hikes such as the Appalachian Trail 3,515 km so I'm sure they would know which foods would work and which ones wouldn't for long distances.

I'm sure there would be plenty of food pages related to it.

Also look up books either in hard copy or ebooks by the author "Chris Townsend".

Townsend was the first person to climb all of the Munros and Tops in a continuous walk involving 1700 miles (2700 km) and 575,000 feet (170,000 m) of ascent over all 517 of the 3000 ft (914 m) Scottish summits listed in Munro's Tables.[1] He was also the first person to walk the length of the Canadian Rockies, a distance of 1600 miles (2500 km). Chris Townsend has also hiked the 2600 mile (4200 km) Pacific Crest Trail, the 3100 mile (5000 km) Continental Divide Trail, Land's End to John o' Groats in the UK (1250 miles, 2000 km), south-north through the Scandinavian mountains (1300 miles, 2100 km), 1000 miles (1600 km) south-north through the Yukon Territory and the 800 mile (1300 km) Arizona Trail.

And he has books to help both the normal backpacker as well as long distance hikers.

Thanks
AnotherWalker

[rogo]

From my recent reading (e-books) of the AT, you don't need to carry too much food as the track goes near enough to towns often to resupply and sleep in a comfy bed and eat at restaurants. Well that is the way the books I have read portray the AT.

Ehudd was planning on leaving yesterday for his walk, so I guess he won't see this.

[Mutley]

When considering foods to take, I look at the kj per 100g on the nutritional table. Usually anything under 1000 kj per 100g is a waste of weight. Assume you may need 15000 kj a day to maintain a sensible weight, that's 1.5 kgs per day, which is way too heavy. I usually work on 700-900 grams per day including all snacks. Foods like peanut butter, pesto, chocolate or ovaltine are all excellent regarding kj to weight

You will definitely want to invest in a dehydrator. In this way, you can eat basically what you eat at home, less the salads of course. Stews, rice dishes, curries, pastas can all be dehydrated, saving a lot of weight.

My typical menu would be porridge with powdered milk for breakfast, muesli bar morning snack, a roll up with either peanut butter or salami and cheese for lunch, 100 g of scroggin for during the day, a hot ovaltine with powdered milk upon reaching camp, a big serve of chilli or spaghetti Bol with deb rice or pasta for dinner and a snack size chocolate bar with brewed coffee to finish...All at about 800 g per day.

Avoid foods that take more than a few minutes to cook, to save fuel. Dehy foods are very easy to prep. Add boiling water, sit for an hour then reheat. If you dehydrate par cooked rice, it will cook in half the time. Deb and cous cous are great as they cook with boiling water.

If you are a big unit, weight loss may be inevitable. This can be counteracted by a few hamburgers at any town you visit.

Regarding the weight you want to carry, try to keep it under 20 kgs. You're not doing your body any favours carrying too much weight for 2 months.

Have a great trip and pm me if I can help out with any menu planning.

[Tortoise]

Avoid foods that take more than a few minutes to cook, to save fuel.

+1

Dehy foods are very easy to prep. Add boiling water, sit for an hour then reheat. If you dehydrate par cooked rice, it will cook in half the time. Deb and cous cous are great as they cook with boiling water.

I've ended up only used mince (or minced chicken etc) for quickest dehydrating & rehydrating. After many years of doing the above, I now just add water, bring it to the boil, turn off & let it sit for a few minutes. Quicker than rehydrating freeze dried stuff, I discovered. (Mind you, I've probably ended up avoiding the vegies that took longest to dry / rehydrate)

I dry completely cook rice. Then add an equal quantity of boiling water, sit for a few minutes, and done! This also works for brown rice, which is a nice change & more nutritious. (No need to drain, and easy washing up with this method.)

The white rice (haven't tried the brown) will eventually rehydrate in cold water if necessary - can still use it if you have a stove problem, fuel problem, total fireban etc.

When I haven't got time to dry stuff (I keep some dried main meals in the freezer), I use rice vermicelli from the supermarket. Just bung that in with the meat etc, bring to boil & sit as above.

I use much less fuel than I used to

[wayno]

carbohydrate and sugar are 4 calories per gram
fat is 9 calories per gram....
but it takes ten times as much water to digest fat as it does carbohydrate, so high fat diet not adviseable if water is going to be a problem....
coconut oil is an easy to digest oil that doesnt go rancid..
animal fat is harder to digest than vegetable fat
most vegetable oils eventually go rancid... unless you are eating raw nuts or seeds, preferably soaked in water a few hours for easier digestion.
i go for pink lentils, good protein carbohydrate, mineral and vitamin content and quick to cook. not enough fat in it though to be totally healthy.

[Picaro]

Ayam Coconut milk powder is a staple in my diet and its ideal on the trail. It is 2930 kj per 100gr, much of which is medium chain triglycerides ( which is a good thing)

By the way, hullo folks, I'll do a proper intro soon.

[nq111]

Usually anything under 1000 kj per 100g is a waste of weight. Assume you may need 15000 kj a day to maintain a sensible weight, that's 1.5 kgs per day, which is way too heavy. I usually work on 700-900 grams per day including all snacks. Foods like peanut butter, pesto, chocolate or ovaltine are all excellent regarding kj to weight

Too right - I target the same 15,000 kj a day but aim for an average density of 2,200 kg per 100g. But I have a fat tooth, so that is not too hard to acheive

[wayno]

Ayam Coconut milk powder is a staple in my diet and its ideal on the trail. It is 2930 kj per 100gr, much of which is medium chain triglycerides ( which is a good thing)

By the way, hullo folks, I'll do a proper intro soon.

dunno about that stuff.. by default coconut fat is liquid from the mid twenties up...
the fat has been doctored to make it solid. could be a hydrolised or transfat in the powder to make it a solid above the mid twenties, which isnt good. I prefer to stick to coconut fat itself.

[neilmny]

How about walnuts. 2738 kj per 100 grams and pretty much all the fats are good fats.
http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/walnuts.html
http://www.fatsecret.com.au/calories-nu ... ic/walnuts
A lot of artery clogging saturated fat in cocnut.

[wayno]

only if they havent had the shells removed
note a freshly shelled walnut has white flesh,
after a while it turns yellow. thats the fat in the nut going rancid, the omega 3 is very prone to going rancid.......

[Picaro]

Ayam Coconut milk powder is a staple in my diet and its ideal on the trail. It is 2930 kj per 100gr, much of which is medium chain triglycerides ( which is a good thing)

By the way, hullo folks, I'll do a proper intro soon.

dunno about that stuff.. by default coconut fat is liquid from the mid twenties up...
the fat has been doctored to make it solid. could be a hydrolised or transfat in the powder to make it a solid above the mid twenties, which isnt good. I prefer to stick to coconut fat itself.

Yes, I use coconut oil a lot , but this is the item I'm referring to....http://www.asiangrocerystore.com.au/aya ... er-en.html
It comes in handy, added to drinks or curries etc. and most supermarkets have it.
Another handy snack on the go is this one...http://www.iherb.com/Artisana-100-Organ ... Each/32172
That keeps the energy up bettween stops.

I'm with you on the Omega 3 oils, like all polyunsaturates its very unstable, and best to only get it with fish.

[wayno]

yeah and thats the item i'm saying they have altered the fat in....
in coconut milk and cream thats canned an emulsifier has to be added to stop the fat seperating out. they'd have to do something to stop the fat turning to oil in the pwder when its warm and seperating out from the solids
when coconut fat is in food its usually hydrolised to harden it which make it toxic....

[nq111]

Be interesting to see some evidence on this. I would be surprised if dried coconut milk / cream has been hydrogenated. Emulsifier is not going to create trans fat in itself.

Also, whilst it is super fatty and not good for weight watchers their is some evidence the particular type of saturated fat is not a heart disease risk like similar fats from animal sources and may indeed be pretty good for you.

I agree it is a super-food for the mountains!

[wayno]

a lot of the emulsifiers used are toxic
he saturated fat in coconut fat is different from animal saturated fat. less likely to put on weight, i eat a lot of it and i dont always exercise that much, no probs with weight. and i know animal fat is a problem for my weight..
no cholesterol in coconut fat, doesnt clog the arteries since it's liquid at body temperature and doesnt oxidise easily