[pct-l] Extra oil that you carry

Wed Jan 8 00:33:37 CST 2014

Everybody's got good advice on this one.  My real hiker hunger comes on
about 4 to 5 weeks in but there were some folks who never really got it and
had to force feed themselves to maintain energy.   Along with lots of nuts
and high nutrient real foods I've dried myself, I add 1 oz of olive oil to
each meal, lunch and dinner.  On the CDT I went no cook and just soaked
everything and added the oil at the last.  Home made dried meals are so
much better and more filling than anything you can buy as "backpacking
food" and the oil just makes them extra rich in flavor and calories.

I sprouted mung beans, soy beans, radish seeds, lentils, alfalfa seeds,
dried green peas and anything else I thought would sprout.  I packed them
in a small 3x5" ziplock.  After an overnight soak and drain in the morning,
their own enzymes have begun the process of sprouting, turning the starch
into sugar.  They are a very nice, crunchy snack after just 12 hours from
the start, so you're getting the high calories of a bean or seed without
having to use any fuel to make them palatable.  Water them morning and
night, draining each time and they will continue swelling, sending out
their shoot and getting bigger.  I'd  keep eating enough of them so that
they wouldn't burst the bag.  They never got beyond 2 days or so before
they were all eaten because they were so good.  I never had them go long
enough to become the long bean sprouts we buy in a supermarket, because I
ate them while they were still more bean than sprout.  Free cooking for the
cost of soaking and letting the seed do its own natural tenderizing.

Shroomer

On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 8:41 PM, Marian Harmon <marianharmon at gmail.com>wrote:

> "...we had a completely snow-free passage through the  Sierras this year.
>  If you're hiking through snow every day you'll  obviously burn more
> calories than we did."
>
> By the looks of things, as of now, it might be completely snow free this
> year as well. :(
>
> Something I've seen done that worked out... Carry nuts and seeds as snacks.
> If you're really wanting some oil for flavor in a meal, roast/toast some of
> those nuts or seeds  for 15-30 mins depending on your set up, then use a
> couple of rocks to crush them into a powder. Think mortar and pestle.
> before cooking your meal add the powder to a little water and boil or to
> make a paste/coating. You can separate the oil out if you wish, or simply
> use the whole thing in your meal for whatever you might be making. The guy
> who I saw do it (my uncle) did it with almonds and he used the crushed
> almonds, mixed with a little cold water and and then let sit for 24 hours.
> The following day he used the almond water/paste as a drizzle/topping for
> some rehydrated chicken and vegetables . He told me that almond oils is
> great for using in areas where you can't have fire, because the almond oil
> changes taste if heated too much and a little goes a very long way.
>
> Finally... lentil sprouts. YUM! Good source of protein, a nice snack and as
> marmot noted and nice crisp addition to wraps and such.
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 12:20 PM, Jennifer Zimmerman
> <jenniferlzim at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > I agree with Marmot and prefer to carry nuts or other fat sources over
> > oil.  Like you, I planned to carry oil from some point on in our thru
> this
> > year but never ended up doing it.  Our lean homemade meals seemed much
> > heartier than the standard potato/ramen/noodle sides and I never felt the
> > need for the additional calories. I never got the classic insatiable
> hiker
> > hunger, but I'm a small person and exertion tends to dull my appetite. My
> > husband was a bottomless pit from about Tahoe on so maybe he could have
> > used the extra fat. Neither of us lost a drastic amount of weight along
> the
> > way which I guess means that we were eating enough.  We didn't take a
> > multivitamin but when we got into town we stuffed ourselves with as much
> > fresh fruit/veg as we could. If I were to thru again (oh, what I wouldn't
> > give to have that chance!) I would probably take calcium/vit. D chews,
> fish
> > oil for the omega acids and maybe glucosamine/chondroitin but still not a
> > multivitamin.
> >
> > I never got tired of nuts as a snack - good fat, protein, and fiber and
> > always appetizing to eat. On the trail I always craved salt and a range
> of
> > textures.  After eating soft energy bars and boiled whatever every day
> the
> > crunch and satisfying chew-down of nuts was a real treat. Pringles, too,
> > but that's a different (less-healthy) story.
> >
> > One other thing that might be of interest - when planning our meals I
> > increased our portion size by 50% starting at Kennedy Meadows, thinking
> > that we'd be craving the extra food by that point. From KM to
> Independence
> > our appetites were actually smaller than normal because of altitude
> > acclimation.  In fact, it took us until central Oregon to be able to
> finish
> > the larger meals easily in one sitting.  If I were to do it again I would
> > probably still increase our portions but to a lesser degree and not until
> > further north. However - we had a completely snow-free passage through
> the
> > Sierras this year.  If you're hiking through snow every day you'll
> > obviously burn more calories than we did.
> >
> > Good luck with the planning!  I wish I were in your shoes right now, with
> > the whole journey stretching out ahead of me, instead of being stuck in a
> > cubicle in the frigid midwest!
> >
> > JZ
> > On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 12:53 PM, Ann Marie <dbanmrkr at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > To PCT-L:
> > >
> > > If it's two people, how much oz (extra calories) of liquid oil should
> we
> > > carry per day/or per 7-day week?
> > >
> > > Yes, we are thru-hiking starting at Campo. So when should I add extra
> oil
> > > to our resupplies? Or should we just begin adding it when we buy (and
> > ship
> > > forward) once we reach South Lake Tahoe?  Do you think we need the
> extra
> > > calories beforehand if we are focusing on buying high-calorie dinner
> and
> > > snacks up to that point?
> > >
> > > Deb
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