Menu Planning

This may be the most important aspect of trip planning for the 3SBA (3 sisters backpacking adventure) as we all get grouchy fast when we think we should have food. I should likely hand over responsibility to one of the other sisters, but since I'll be responsible for carrying the bear can and therefore the full weight of the food, I want to be fully involved in the planning!

Here is what we need: 

Breakfast (3 x 3 days)
Lunch (3 x 3 days)
Dinner (3 x 3 days)
Snacks (2/sister x 4 days)

I think that works out to 9 breakfasts, lunches and dinners and 24 snacks. How in the world am I going to carry that? The other trouble fact is that our large bear can (The Expedition) is missing, so I need to fit all of this food into my smaller bear can (The Weekender). Don't worry sisters...it's going to be fine...

Since our daily mileage plans are quite reasonable (after all, why make the first backpacking trip hard, right?!), we don't have a need for substantial increases in caloric intake. But, we do need enough calories to keep people happy. It's not uncommon for people to feel less hungry their first couple days at altitude, but I'm not going to plan on that for our group!

Sisters, here are a couple of my favorite mountain meals:

     

There are many vegetarian options from Backpacker's Pantry that I was VERY excited to try on my last trip, but a couple were so salty I couldn't finish them. Here is one that was pretty good:



So -- spend some time looking around and let me know what you would like. I recommend a 2 person size so you get 800-1,000 calories for dinner. I've probably tried most foods, so can give you a review if you're curious about something specific. That said, I just noticed that Mary Jane's Outpost has bars too -- might have to give those a try as I don't enjoy most energy bars...

Also -- send me your snack preferences. What types of nuts to do you like in a trail mix? Any bars you enjoy?