Food
| Our
goal was to bring enough food for 3 weeks, to eat 5,000 calories a day, and not carry more
than 60 pounds of food total. Furthermore we wanted a good mix of proteins and
carbohydrates, with less than 15% calories from fat. Bill had special requirements being a
vegan vegetarian. Because of the wide disparity in our diets, we decided that it was best
if we each prepared separate menus, rather than trying to do "group meals". To avoid the need for washing pots, we added one more requirement: that any food brought must not require cooking or simmering inside the pot. It must be something that can fully hydrate by adding boiling water and letting it sit for less than 10 minutes. We each carried one quart size Tupperware bowl, and a plastic spoon. The food was put in the bowl, boiling water was added, and let sit to hydrate. We had plenty of opportunity to test out different foods on our many overnight training outings. My menu was boring in that I ate just about the same thing every day. On the other hand it was easy to prepare. Once I locked in on a meal that met all the requirements above, and something that I enjoyed, I prepared 20 packets of the same meal. Chuck had the most variety in his meals, having something different most every night. Bill's food was well... different. He was eating a lot of things like textured vegetable protein, blue green algae, and soy jerky. |