Trail Food Worries

My food for my Colorado trip.

About a week ago I started having a panic or nervous moment regarding my planned hike of the Ice Age Trail. I haven't discussed this plan with anyone recently. I didn't tell anyone I was getting nervous. The thing is though, I realized I was not nervous about the hiking, the distance, the sleeping by myself in the middle of the woods (although that last one does give me a little bit of trepidation), I was nervous about food.

A tuna salad pita sandwich.

Food? Yes, food.

Ramen: easy, lightweight, and quick.

You see I haven't found many lightweight, easy to prepare meals that I actually like. Which means I would end up eating tuna salad in pita every lunchtime and Ramen soup every evening. Boring and I think after two months I would be dreading my meals. After a week I would probably start dreading my meals. I have been taste testing those prepackaged rice sides to find the ones I like, out of about 6 I've tried, I like 2 varieties so far. The other ones were so gross to me that I had to stop eating, add some stronger flavor that I did like or force the last few bites down. Not exactly how I want to have dinner on the trail.

Chili, banana chips and fruit leather before dehydrating.

After dehydrating. I found I am not a fan of banana chips, and the chili
did not rehydrate well and have no flavor left when I tried it.

I will have tomato cheese tortellini, I really enjoyed that when my friend in Colorado tried it. (Read about that adventure here.) And since I love cheese tortellini, I probably could eat that for a week and still be ok with it at the end of the week. This week though, my mom surprised me by buying the recipe book I was considering for myself, Lipsmackin' Vegetarian Backpackin': Lightweight Trail-tested Vegetarian Recipes for Backcountry Trips. It's a collection of recipes you make at home, dehydrate and then can cook up on the trail. I don't mind getting all prepackaged food, but I would like to avoid some of the preservatives and other additives that are in those types of food.

Many recipes in here I definitely want to try!

Having just paged through the cookbook a little I've noticed there are some recipes I won't use because they require extra things to make them on the trail, like olive oil for one. I won't be carrying olive oil. Many, maybe most of the recipes require nothing more than boiling water. That is what I want, although my last attempt at rehydrating, did not go well. I have to make some of these meals, dehydrate them, then rehydrate and see how they taste. I may end up taking some spices and things with me to help the flavor of my rehydrated meals.

Carrots, corn and peas for veggie soup.

Fruit leather and beans for my veggie soup.

I do have this desire to have fresh fruit and vegetables on the trail. I know that if you are trying to go lightweight, you would never bring fresh anything. It is always dried or dehydrated, lightweight, no water weight. But I craved things when I was in Colorado, and lucky for me I did bring some little clementines. Easy to peel and so yummy in the morning. But I'm thinking some carrots and clementines, and I want to grow my own sprouts for something green to add to my meals. Plus whenever I go through a town I'll probably end up buying individual bananas or apples and eating them as soon as I'm out of the store.

My attempt at precooking my veggie soup to try and get the veggies to soften up.
Was not good, more than half of this got tossed.

Out of all the things I could be worried about and I focus on food. I guess it is the only thing I really have left to do for my hike. I have all my gear, I have the map (still need to download and get the updates for the map, but I'll do that in the spring), and I have a general start and finish date. I am still going to email the chapter coordinators and there are a couple more items that might make my hike more pleasant, but aren't really necessary items. So now I'm simply trying to convince myself that I will finish the hike, and I'm hoping it is a life changing and enlightening experience for me.

Apple chips, I love apple chips, but after a few days as my fruit choice I crave
something else, and something fresh.