My son and I changed to a ketogenic life style about a month ago. Things are going great. Energy is off the charts and I feel better than I have in years. We are avid backpackers are we are getting ready to hit the trail for the first time since going keto. We will be going for 3 nights 4 days covering about 40 miles.
Looking for fat and protein ideas that will keep over that time period.
Looking forward to some great ideas.
Nuts and nut butters
Tuna that comes in the packages instead of cans
Olives
Parmesan crisps (crackers made of only cheese)
There are various bars that are fairly low in carbs
Oh yay more keto backpackers ! Although us Aussie’s call ourselves bushwalkers, the term backpacker when used here typically may refer to young tourists on a beer-ish bawdy holiday.
Dehydrated minced beef or chicken is a staple for me, you can do a Thai Curry inspired batch or spag bog, it is very versatile and hearty on the trail.
I also second the nut butter idea. It goes along way and can be used on keto wraps as a lunch or off the spork for a quick energy fix.
Hard cheeses. MCT powder for adding to coffees, do not try taking ghee or coconut oil…I learned that the super hard and messy way. Almond, sesame seed flour, flax porridge. Olives that come in foil pouches. An avocado or two for the first few days if you don’t mind the extra grams- I think they are worth it. I do sometimes take a Quest Protein Cookie, a commercially made fat bomb/bar or somesuch if I am really trying to go for convenience, at home I typically eat whole foods and avoid packaged stuff if I can, but they can be nice lightweight, calorie dense things to pack when out walking for more than a few days.
I have some keto bushwalking treats dehydrating right now. 2g net carbs each, but they turned out really quite big, so I am happy with that. They smell delicious. I also improvised and made a strawberry cinnamon batch, but I think the strawberry was overpowered by the lime when I tasted the mixture, will see how they taste in the morning. The cherry mix as listed in the link was YUM though. I could talk all day about food and hiking, it is just brilliant to be fat adapted, I noticed a huge difference in my endurance once fat adapted. Prior to that I fueled my adventures on stupid amounts of sugar and carbs.
Bullion cubes, pepperoni , salami, chicken or tuna in pouches, hard cheeses, cooked bacon, nuts, low carb seed crackers, pork rinds, and avocados. Eggs will stay good without refrigeration if you have an egg carrier. Oil can be in a squeeze bottle with a flip up cap. You could make some kind of keto bread, crackers or bagels that would travel well and be okay a couple of days unrefrigerated.
You could eat more perishable things the first day, boiled eggs, cold already cooked meats, etc.
Have fun with your son. 
Good stuff David! Sounds like you’re fat adapted and if so keep your energy up with plenty of keto foods… I would suggest coconut oil packets… they travel well and pure fat energy. Treat yourself the first night… Ribeye steak and butter loaded broccoli…for a treat. and a fat bomb to top it off. Sounds like a great trip… Enjoy!
Thanks for all of the great feedback It’s going to be great to get on the trail. I’ll post back how it went, the food we brought and how it all worked out.
Want to start off by saying thanks for all of the feedback from my original post.
So my son and I went on a 3 day backpacking trip this last week on the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina, USA. First day was 8.5 miles, second day 8.7 miles and the third day 17.2 miles. It wasn’t the hardest profile that I have hiked, but it wasn’t a cake walk either. (Pun intended)
Being the first trip since changing to a ketogenic lifestyle(six weeks in), I was curious how it would go. I must say I was blow away with the differences in many ways. My endurance was off the charts, cold starts in the mornings were much easier and recoveries were so much quicker.
I don’t have a breakdown of my macros but here is a list of what I brought. I could have been lighter and a little more planning next time will help in that area.
• Homemade bacon jerky, about 4.oz
• Homemade biltong, 8 oz.
• 2 Summer sausage 14 oz.
• Spanish chorizo tapas 7.9 oz.
• Dubliner cheese 1 ½ pounds
• Gruyere cheese about a pound
• Merlot Cheese one pound
• 2 16 oz. containers of ½ peanut butter ½ butter with Lilly’s chocolate chips
• 14 coconut packets 1 tablespoon each
• MCT Powder
• Packet of all beef sticks 15 oz. total
• Macadamia nuts 8 oz.
• Almonds 8 oz.
This was split between 2 people.
When looking at it I was concerned that I didn’t pack enough. Here is another thing that surprised me. I would eat until satisfied with what appeared to be not enough food, but I hiked on without running out of energy and feeling good at the end of each day. In the end we had a lot of food left over. We will get several trips in this year and get this dialed in.
I did supplement with magnesium, potassium, calcium and some Himalayan sea salt. Had some intestinal issues one morning and I think it may have been the MCT powder so I did not use any more this trip. That is something I don’t want to deal with on the trail.
Here’s what was left over.
• All of Gruyere cheese
• Half of the Dubliner
• 1 summer sausage
• ¾ of one of the peanut butter
• 9 coconut packets(should have eaten more)
• 7 oz. of the beef sticks
• 4.5 oz. of Macadamia nuts
• 4 oz. almonds
Sorry for the long rant, but this really excites me.
One last thing, whenever we were chowing on a sausage log or a hunk of cheese, other folks on the trail were a little jealous.
Great Paul, I am glad you had a good time with your son. This has inspired me to attempt a short overnight backpacking trip, something that I haven’t done in 30 years. I am a lower leg amputee and have had bad fatigue issues when I walk too hard because of my missing calf muscles all the stress of walking is carried by my thigh. But being 40 lbs lighter has lessened my fatigue issues and I am preparing for an extended trip to Indonesia and SE Asia in the summer of 2020. I need to test my ability to carry a load and walk for several miles a day. Heading to the redwood forest soon near me.
The first thing I thought when I read your foods list was “wow, that’s a ton of food for three days!”. I have backpacked in the Sierras for two weeks when I was about 19, and carried food for that long of a trip. You really can get by on less. Lunch was trail mix everyday, more like occasional snacking on the trail. Also we carried lots of dehydrated stuff, but the bulk of the weight was food. It makes the trip easier as you run down on food!
Harrisonpaul, I am so glad you had a great trip, thanks so much for taking the time to come back and update us too- I had been wondering how you went on your trip.
What a special way to spend some time with your son. I also walk with my eldest son (aged 22yo and about to be off for infantry/army training) at times and it is a really special way to get to hang out and enjoy each other’s company.
Oh no to the MCT issue! Yes, definitely not what you want to happen on trail at all. Hope this is not too gross to say, but Keto has been great for not needing to dig as many cat holes. Since being keto there seems to be far less ahem waste products.
It is Winter here in Australia now, so I was looking at your delicious list of foods with excitement, as I too, will be able to pack some lovely cheeses now without them turning rancid. What a lovely selection you packed, even if you didn’t need to eat them all.
Where did you get the pouches of coconut oil packets? I have not seen those, but they would be super convenient. Also, I think you guys in the US can get powdered cream (!) let me know if you see it and try it, I am super jealous as we can’t get it here.
Will end this long rambly post with some pic spamming of an example of one of my bush walking meals and also myself and my son from a 5 day trip we did together in January.
I couldn’t find these on Amazon.com.au, but this is what we used:
Here are com pictures from this last trip:
Tell you son thanks for serving his country. Very admirable. I was in the United States Marine Corps(a long time ago) and even spent a few weeks in Perth and Freemantle.
Thank you, I will. He has worked very hard on his fitness and studied hard for the maths component of the entry exam.
Wow, such beautiful country, the weather looked like it was really perfect for your trip. I look forward to hearing of more keto back packing adventures when you get out there again
