Primal backpacking foods? page

[Panthera]

I'm leaving later this week on a 4 day backpacking trip. I'd like to eat as primally as possible on this trip, but most of the foods I'm used to taking backpacking are definitely not in that category - pasta, peanut butter & crackers, super high carb dehydrated meals, etc. I'm currently making some biltong (mmm...) and will bring a dried fruit and nut trail mix for snacking. I'll probably also have some tuna and chicken pouches. Any other ideas for primal foods/meals that are lightweight and don't need refrigeration, but calorie dense enough to support hiking 7-10 miles a day with packs?

[SCruz Carter]

I am a kayaker and love to do multi day trips so understand this problem, but it is a difficult one. Weight is a bigger factor backpacking than kayaking but both need shelf stable foods. Chicken and tuna packages are great. Also, Check out kelp noodles- you can use them like spagetti and they are shelf stable. Good smoked sausage should keep for a day or 2 and although not primal, white rice is often an option b/c you will be working so hard (I know Mark even admits to eating some with sushi every now and then). Almond Butter and Carrots are great. Luna Bars are pretty primal too! I look forward to other's tips too for my next trip!

[MissJecka]

When we went camping for three days, I brought...

- home-made trail mix (almonds, coconut chips, pistachios)
- sausages (in a cooler)
- veggies (in a cooler)
- bacon (in a cooler)
- apples
- home-made "lara bars" (dates, cocoa powder, almond butter, sesame seeds all blended together and formed into bars)

All of that, plus plenty of water, held me over just fine! I was never hungry.

[campanella]

jerkey, and pemmican if you can find or make it, "Larabars" are available online if not in a local store and pretty primal - like energy bars made out of figs. Coconut milk, macadamias and almonds. It won't help you much in caloric density but you could take along some dried fruit and kale chips or dried seaweed for nutrients.

[DinoHunter]

What about Cured/dried sausage such as salami and chorizo, Parma ham...some of the older/ hard cheeses That dont need refrigeration might be good. Dried fruit/berries, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate. Avacado. Almond butter, hazelnut butter, banana...

[itchy166]

Bring a bow

[Sambo712]

I hear making permican is easy, so I plan on whipping up a batch before I hit the trail again. Creamed coconut has almost all the moisture pulled out of it, so it will keep for a good long while, and it's super high in saturated fat and can add some flavor to soups and such. Jerky is a classic of course, you could live off of that and a good source of fat. Hard cheeses are always a good choice, and a little sausage won't kill you, just spring for the good stuff without HFCS.
Have a great trip and let us know how it goes!

[sbhikes]

Oh crap, you just reminded me. I had a bunch of meat in my dehydrator and I needed to move the trays around. Oh well. It'll still come out good.

Here's what I do now. This is also what some "professional" long distance hiker friends of mine do, too (they eat basically a primal diet). This makes the best food for backpacking.

Get a cheap dehydrator. Look in thrift stores and garage sales.

Dehydrated vegetables/carbs
raw veggies: greens, carrots, zucchini, corn, pretty much anything that is good raw
cooked veggies: starchy things like celery root, rutabaga, sweet potatoes and yams. Cook, mash, smear on parchment, dehydrate (takes a long time for sweet potatoes) then run through the blender to take the sharp edges off

Purchase these because it's cheaper and onions stink up the house
dehydrated onions and tomatoes

Fats
Beef tallow melted and mixed with shredded coconut and congealed in muffin tins
Pemmican (beef tallow and dried beef)
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Pemmican bars (beef tallow and dried beef with added stuff for flavor like dried cherries)

Meats
Dehydrate cooked boneless, skinless breasts chopped up, or canned chicken
Dehydrate ground beef, lean as you can find, cooked and rinsed with water to remove all fat

For your meals, mix some of the veggies, the starchy veggies, and cooked meat in a plastic container (ziploc, old peanut butter jar) and add water. Do this one meal in advance (i.e. for lunch, fix this up at breakfast. For dinner, fix it up at lunch.) Then, at meal time, either eat it cold with olive oil and/or parmesan cheese or heat it up and melt some pemmican or tallow into it. Add salt or other spices, dried onions or tomatoes or whatever you like. I guarantee you will love this.

In addition to this, if you don't mind oats, there's a pretty good bar out there called Journey bars that come in interesting savory flavors. Then there are the usual tuna or other meats in the foil, hunks of cheese, nut butters, salami etc. that most people think of.

[Paleobird]

All the above plus make some Free the Animal Fat Bread. It is super dense nutrition and doesn't dry out or go bad (all the coconut and mac nut oil in it I suspect).