What Do You Eat?

A few weeks ago, my friend Stephanie asked me what I eat when hiking. I sarcastically replied with one word--"bear". She looked at me with a blank expression for just a moment. Then, she figured me out and knowing I'm a vegetarian responded by saying, "You're an ass!" Ha! Funny story, but Paul and I actually do get asked about our eating when we're out there. So, since we're not hiking this weekend, we wanted to update the blog with something. Here is a little introduction to the foods we eat in the wilderness.
For breakfast (even though it's sometimes at 2am) we've been having a home-baked good. For the last few trips, I've been baking a quick bread on Thursday. This way, the flavor develops and tastes even better by the time we eat it on Saturday. If for some reason I didn't get around to baking, we get donuts (which I lovingly call "Doughnees") from Dunkin' Donuts. : )
For us, a lunch "meal" doesn't really work. Instead, we have snacks throughout our hike. For typical day hikes, we carry about six snack items with us. These snacks vary, but for the most part, we've found these six have been working well for us:

---Two gels: Brand of GU, Clif Shot, or E-Gel. These are what we call, "Goo". They are little packs of a honey like substance of various flavors. They hit your system quickly and are easy to eat...except when they're frozen! Some brands we like better than others--some taste great, some taste horrible! Can you guess how this one tasted?


















---One fruit bar: These we typically get at Target. They are actually good for us! Real fruit, in bar form. Tasty on the trail.











---An Odwalla Bar: A soft-baked energy type bar. Contains real fruit, vitamins, Omega 3's. Another good for us food item!






---Sharkies: Think gummy bears. They're cute little shark bites, get it? Shark bites?! Oh, bother! Anyway, they are technically "energy chews" which provide calories and electrolytes.







---A Treat: A candy bar of some sort. Favorites include Snickers, Milky Way, Three Musketeers.




In addition, Paul usually brings a bag of beef jerky with him which he eats and with which he tortures me. I love the smell of beef jerky and do miss it!
While we do pack all of this with us, we typically don't eat all six items. Much depends on how far we're hiking, how hungry we are, and how frozen the food items are! Sometimes we have to "defrost" food items in our glove or jacket!
Since we're mostly doing day trips these days, we typically have dinner out. Lately, our restaurants of choice have been The Noonmark Diner (mentioned in our posts) and believe it or not, Denny's! I've been to both good and bad Denny's restaurants and we have found a good one in Queensbury, NY. I almost always get pancakes anyway. : ) But both Paul and I have been happy with the food we've been getting there. Surprised?! It's funny because after some of these monster hikes, our stomachs are not always sure what they want. It's sometimes not easy to figure out what we "feel" like for food. We do the best we can to accommodate both of our tastes.
Camping is another story. If we're staying in the backcountry we'll bring a freeze dried meal with us. They are easy to prepare. With most of these meals, you only need to add boiling water, stir, and let it sit for a short period of time. Believe it or not, these meals are tasty, provide ample portions, and nourish our tired, hungry, and needy bodies.

There you have it! Bon Appetito!