So, Philmont released the 2017 trek menus. I printed them off and settled in with a highlighter and a glass of water to go through and see what I'd have to substitute in order to survive the week.
I took a quick look and promptly switched out my water for coffee, kicked off my shoes, popped open Chronometer, and settled in for a day-long task. Turns out that, with the exception of a meat stick at Breakfast on Day 1 and a couple of packets of chicken along the way, I'll have to substitute everything. All of it. Wow.
Honestly, the biggest surprise was how much of the food they provide has Aspartame in it (a regular appearance in the sports drinks they provide "for electrolytes"). I was ready for the carbs (that's a pretty standard backpacking approach), but not for that! If you've been a reader here for any length of time, you know how I feel about Aspartame. So, I'll be packing substitutes for John, and extras for anyone who will listen. I don't mind carrying extra, if it keeps the boys from ingesting that stuff. Blech.
Research on the web for keto backpacking ideas returns mostly forum threads filled with people extolling the OP with rather unsolicited advice on why they would never do that. (Which is, of course, entirely useless, but people don't ask themselves if what they're about to say is actually helpful for the person they're responding to. They say what they want to say, regardless of the information requested. I want to lament the decline of civilization, but I think there have been people who know what they know since the dawn of time. Nothing new, here.) It's still relatively unhelpful, though. I mean, if you are living in nutritional ketosis, and you want to go hiking, you're going to need to eat. And if you're doing it intentionally, then you likely have very good reasons for doing it, and you're asking for information that will help you do it well. Perhaps even pleasantly. Imagine.
I found a great Ketogenic Backpackers group on Facebook, and have been in a wonderful Keto group for a while (not for backpacking, but for nutritional support), so I've been fortunate to amass a wealth of ideas on how to do this. Hopefully, by posting them here, as well, we can make them available to others.
Some of my breakfast substitutions (I don't generally eat breakfast, but I'd rather have it on me and pass it off to a Scout than to be dying out there and wish I'd packed some!):
Powdered eggs, pre-cooked bacon, keto coffee (coffee, powdered heavy cream, powdered MCT oil - from here on out, just called "coffee")
Hard sausages, hard cheeses, bulletproof coffee
Powdered eggs with dehydrated veggies and meats (in a semblance of an omelet), coffee
Epic bar, coffee
Since we eat eggs almost every day, I doubt I'll get tired of this rotation over the course of 12 days.
I'm also working on lunch and dinner substitutions, which I'll share, as well. Then I'll plug in the data and make sure I'm giving myself about a 20% overage from my daily intake. I'll definitely need to up my fat -- I pulled on shorts this morning, went to button them, and realized they were already zipped and buttoned! So I probably ought to splurge on some new shorts, as well.
Be encouraged!
~ Dy
2 comments:
I'd love to hear what you ate for your hiking trip! :D Cheers!
I actually ate a lot less than I'd packed to take with me. The staff at the last staff camp before we crossed back to base camp got a ton of goodies.
Breakfast:
* Pre-cooked bacon, powdered eggs. I used Sonstegard brand - it's just straight up powdered egg, no fillers, no additives - mix 2 Tbsp egg powder with 3 Tbsp water to equal one egg, and cook - poof, like magic it goes from "There's no way this is going to taste like egg" to "Holy cow, it's scrambled egg!" Really good stuff! I didn't actually eat this most mornings, as there just wasn't time for cooking and dishes, due to the group dynamic - I ate the bacon most mornings. Then, one morning, made bacon and eggs for the boys near the end of the trip. It was delicious.
* Fat Fuel Coffee with a mint protein creamer. (If you are in weight loss mode, you could just as easily use Folger's instant coffee and add the protein creamer packet and call it good. I am in maintenance and also doing keto for nutritional therapeutic purposes, so my fat intake is pretty stout.) This was my full breakfast most mornings - quick and easy, plenty of energy, easy clean up. I took a Blender Bottle for mixing and just clipped it to my pack w/ a carabiner when it was empty.
Dinner:
* I took the lowest carb backpacking meals I could find and split them up into four meals each (because the huge portions in the bags provide 2 to 2.5 servings per bag - but you just don't eat that much on the trail when you're not carb-loading).
* I bought powdered guacamole and divided that up into four servings from each bag - just enough for a lovely topping on whatever that night's dinner would be.
* Cocoa Pili Nuts!! These were my dessert! So NOMS! Seriously, if I had the cash, the Pili Nuts would be a daily staple for me. These were amazing.
Snack/lunch/whatever: Jerky. This actually turned out to be my lunch most days. I packed 3.5 oz of jerky per day. I took a sirloin knuckle and cut it into strips, brined it overnight in salt water and a little vinegar, then salted and peppered the meat and dried it in the oven for jerky.
*HEADS UP* There was a girl in base camp who had also made her own jerky. It was full-on moist and pliable. There is no way I would have eaten that, and especially not after being out on the trail for a few days. PLEASE, if you make your own jerky, get. it. dry. That's the preservative point, and if it's not dry, then it's just a petri dish in a bag and you're on your way to being a gnarly science experiment. If you want to rehydrate it to add to soups or stews, you can do that, but for travel it's gotta be dried thoroughly.
I took Propel powder and some protein bars to have on hand, just in case. I drank the Propel water with lunch most days, and then occasionally in the evenings. I'm not wedded to it as an electrolyte option, but it didn't suck. And I usually ate a protein bar (Luna or Quest) with lunch.
Post a Comment