Food for backpacking?

(Wayne Godfrey) #1

After years of sitting on my butt getting fat and doing no exercise, I’m now down 40 lbs (on Keto since 10/15/2016) and my wife and I have been hiking every weekend. We’re planning our first overnight backpacking trip in early April. It will be a one night trip to test both our gear and ourselves. Over time, we would like to extend those to 2 or 3 night weekend trips and eventually a week long trip.

Do any of you have any experience in eating LCHF on longer backpacking trips?

One night is easy. I can fast or munch on macadamias, etc. A week is a different story. Most dehydrated backpacking foods are VERY high in carbs so I would like to find some alternatives.

Keto while Camping
Keto while Camping
#2

I’ve done 4 days/3 nights but not a full week. I used cured meat, sardines, and nuts. First day I had cheese as well.

(Crow T. Robot) #3

Try looking into pemmican (the real stuff used by native american tribes). Alternative though similar might be Epic bars.

(Stickin' with mammoth) #4

purse bacon = backpack bacon?

What about using a dehydrator after frying? Will it work?

#5

I did a week in the backcountry of the Sierras last year and lived on pemmican http://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to-2/how-to-make-pemmican-a-survival-superfood-that-can-last-50-years/

(Crow T. Robot) #6

Thanks for the link! Did you use the recipe exactly? How did it taste?

#7

I did follow exactly. It tasted like tallow with ground up beef jerky in it. It takes some getting used to…but it’s not bad. Kind of like a greasy epic bar, if you’ve ever tried those.

(Jo Lo) #8

Not long ago there was a hiking thread and I gave details about how we ate keto for 5 days on the PCT last year. Pretty simple.

#9

Pickled eggs. Take them out of their vinegar jar, throw them in zip lock bag without liquid, and they’ll be OK for the week.

(Bryan Ausinheiler) #10

I came across this post while looking for ketogenic backpacking foods. After coming up with only a short list of foods (some inspired by this post), I decided to write a recipe book for backpacking in ketosis. I hiked 707 miles of the Appalachian trail in ketosis as well as a section of the White Mountains. I’ve shared some recipes as well as my story on www.ketogenicbackpacking.com

My favorite recipe is Thai Cashew Cream: Mix 1 cup cashew butter with two cups of Nutiva coconut and palm oil blend and add 1 tbsp of Thai chili lime spice and 1/2tsp stevia powder. Wilder ratio is 4!

(James storie) #11

Cool! I just downloaded this for future reading. This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately! I intend to through hike the AT in a couple years and have been planning my food options. Pemmican is definitely on the menu, as well as other stable keto foods!

(Bryan Ausinheiler) #12

For more on how the ketogenic diet works, read “The Art and Science of Low Carb Performance” By Steve Phinney and Jeff Volek.

I’m still perfecting my recipes but my book should be done later this year!

(James storie) #13

Great! I’ve been keto for almost 3 years. I’m loving it! I’m looking forward to your book

(WanderinJack) #14

We’ve had great success with keto backpacking and I’ve been meaning to write a long piece on this topic. We do nearly 30 days a year in the High Sierra with as much of that off trail as possible We are working hard and out for usually about 5-10 days at a time. So we need our fuel to be very efficient. I should be clear that we are there to get a deep wilderness experience, not for fine dining. Food is fuel and needs to be as calorie dense as possible. We take our keto food plan with us and run at about 60% fat. I will tell you this that the key was to get rid of those gawd awful high carb cliff, powerbar…candy bars and switch to real pemican, which you will need to make yourself. Here is our recipe…this stuff is jet fuel.

4 oz cooked and dried stew beef (works way better than dried burger)
4 oz rendered suet (better than tallow because it has a higher melting point)
1 oz dried greens (we mostly use Swiss chard from our garden)
1 oz dried fruit (we use persimmon)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp marsala blend spice
2 tsp cardamon

Makes about 10 oz and 1400 cal (63.4% fat, 22.5% protein the rest carb)
We’ve left these in a bear box in the sun for +10 days and they didn’t melt or go rancid.

(Bryan Ausinheiler) #15

Thanks for the recipe Jack! Do you dry your meat yourself? Do you use the oven, a dehydrator or some other method?

Sincerely,

Bryan Ausinheiler PT, DPT, CSCS, OCS

“Move well, be well”

AUSINHEILER

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(WanderinJack) #16

Yes and yes, we pressure cook it and dry in a 9 tray Excalibur dehydrator https://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/shop/dehydrators/dehydrators.html

(Bryan Ausinheiler) #17

Sounds like a lot of work but worth the effort.

move well, move often

Bryan Ausinheiler, PT, DPT, CSCS, OCS

         AUSINHEILER

physical therapy and personal training over skype

510-842-7135

LinkedIn | Twitter @ausinheiler

Skype BryanAusinheiler
Yelp Google+

www.posturemovementpain.com

SCHEDULE ONLINE

Pay now with credit/debit, google wallet, Paypal or Square Cash

*bryan@ausinheiler.com is a HIPAA compliant address

(Bryan Ausinheiler) #18

Its now available on amazon kindle! Ketogenic Backpacking: How to Pack Lighter and Go Farther by Fueling with Fat
by Bryan Ausinheiler
Link: http://a.co/b9ICHkj

(James storie) #19

Cool! I’ll look it up!

(Richard Hanson) #20

Hi Bryan,

You could also provide some info in your post along with advertising your book.

Hi Wayne,

I have done quite a bit of backpacking over the years and quite a bit of freezer bag cooking. One thing to think about is that fat is about 9 kcal/g compared to only 4 kcal/g for carbs and protein. A lot of my backpacking fair was already high fat, but fats do not dehydrate well so I would take oil, mostly olive oil at that time, and just add it to my home made dehydrated meals.

There are a great many options for protein and low carb that can be done in a dehydrator. I loved making hamburger (gravel), mixed with vegetables like broccoli, jalapenos, rice of Bulgar, spices and then just add a bit of oil and boiling water to let dehydrate for dinner. Now, I would just not add the carb and I would be more selective on which vegetables I use.

The higher percentage of fat that you are eating, the lower will be the weight of your pack for the same energy content in your food.

Pepperoni, hard cheeses, nuts, nut butters, oils, all will lest for many days without any problem unless the temperature is … not fun temperatures. If anything, ketogenic backpackers have a big advantage over people eating SAD. We don’t need to snack to keep our energy up so we spend less time cooking and our food takes up less space and weight for the same energy content. How much can you cram in the bear canister or food bag? Also, you should not need as much fuel. You need to heat a lot of water to re-hydrate all those carbs you will no longer be taking.

In the past, I would take along a plastic bottle of olive oil and just take shots during the day. Now … I will have a wider range of oils, my preference would be coconut but think about MCT oil or even exogenous keton products.

Optimistically, keto backpacking is lighter, faster, more enjoyable, then is sugar backpacking. It is just a matter of being a bit creative, practicing, and sorting it out.

People pack their fears, the heaviest think in your backpack is fear and the way to leave fear at home is to educate yourself.

I loved my Logan bread but I will not be making Logan bread anymore, but I will be taking a lot of coconut oil.

9 kcal/g Wooot! Life is so gooood!

Keto for Life!

Best Regards,
Richard