Lunch Ideas for hikes greater than 5 days.

[couscousman]

I have lunch covered for the first four days by means of vegies and wraps but what do you take when fresh food is no longer an option? Say the remaning 5 days after that?

Also, i am aware tuna and salmon are a popular choice but would like other ideas that cater for people who are not fans for those fish.

??

[Son of a Beach]

Mountain Bread lasts for ages, so is great for wraps for long term. I also take dry biscuits for a bit of variety (usually vita wheat and/or ryvita) packed in hard containers to avoid breakage.

To go on them, I take:

• butter (has the potential to go melt/go off in hot weather, but I've only had it melt on me once - I guess most of my walks are in colder weather)
• cream cheese (especially the nice little separated individual serves of varieties of flavours)
• homus
• salami
• cheddar cheese
• vegemite in a squeeze tube
• peanut butter
• thinking about taking jam, but haven't done so yet

Most of these items will last for a very long time.

[dee_legg]

Agree with all of SOAB's suggestions.
I'll add that snow peas last ages if kept in a reasonably cool spot in a muslin bag or just wrapped in some paper towel then into a zip lock bag.
If you like getting the stove out for lunch then i like to have a cup of miso soup. Spiral brand has a freeze dried sachet which is really good. I eat them with some rice cakes or any sort of biscuits.
Pesto is another spread which keeps well as does peanut butter, both are good on mountain bread.
Vac sealed smoked chicken is very gourmet and tasty but heavy.
Can't think of much else.. but i'm looking forward to hearing others responses because a good lunch on a long walk can be hard to find.

[Robbo]

what do you take when fresh food is no longer an option? Say the remaning 5 days after that?

I have found that capsicum and cucumber will last for more than 4 days - although anything fresh is heavy of course. Zip lock bags have kept it eatable for 6 days at least. I recall that someone mentioned taking seeds that could be eaten as sprouts on the list somewhere...

Like Nik, I also used dry biscuits with vegemite, jam, honey, nutella and peanut butter.

TR

[corvus]

Mini individually wrapped salami,cheese triangles and crackers of some sort (like Nik) carried in a hard container ,fruit and nut bars and sports energy bars + Glucodin tablets
That will give you a good mix of carbohydrates protein and fat.
c

[tasadam]

Mountain bread, cheese, salami, red onion, a paste - either Mango Chutney or Tahini or something like that (in a food-tube).
Used to use Ryvita but they get too broken on the extended walks, so can't beat the mountain bread.
Smoked chicken is another good one, but not after 5 days...
Only other option I can think of would require cooking.

[jose]

It seems we all use variations of the same things.
I find that commercial grain buns last well for up to 2 weeks with no sign of mould. Tasty Cheddar lasts equally well if wrapped in a piece of muslin or a chux towel in a foil bag and tastes great on a bun with tomato relish. For variety I also take Ryvita type biscuits with Hommus topped with relish or in summer I like home-made pesto, stored in a plastic jar and sealed in a zip-lock bag so the oil doesn't leak into food bag, this tastes great with sliced tomato - home grown ones with real flavour!

[Tony]

I sort of do not eat lunch as I have always found deciding on what to eat for lunch to be a problem and I often do not feel like much in the middle of the day while walking anyway.

I first read about this method some years ago and decided to try it out and found it works for me.

I have a large breakfast as late as possible, a muesli bar or two and some nuts or choc coated sultanas during the day and an early dinner.

Tony

[Son of a Beach]

I think I would kark it if I didn't get my lunch in the middle of the day. I don't have any spare energy stores, I guess. I've suffered badly from energy loss on bushwalks before - it's a terribly debilitating sick feeling (and the worst of it is that it's really hard to actually eat!) - I had no idea what the problem was until the next day. I'm now more careful about making sure I have regular snacks between meals. Have to be cautious about too much glucose or sugary stuff between meals too, as too much of that is not good for the body (according to my doctor). Long lasting energy is what is best (although I still do use lollies as well if I feel the energy levels dropping).

Another tip for my lunches is that sometimes if I don't want to have a long lunch stop (eg, have a long day of walking, or if the weather is bad), I'll make the lunch up in the tent after breakfast (or while breakfast is cooking if it's porridge). Then put it in a zip-lock bag, and stuff it into the front pocket of the pack. That way, there is no need to unpack anything during the day, even when stopping for lunch. It's good to be able to pack the pack in the morning and not have to unpack it at all until at the next camp site in the evening.

[Nuts]

Yer, usually wraps (packed flat, last longer), or ryvita. All the usual suspects for fillings. Carrot, Beetroot grated Hard cheeses, Firm avocado.... Bacon (pre-cooked) Salami

Would quite often use the tony method though... Just savory snack (nuts etc) am/ sweet (fruits,choc etc) pm..

[Speculator]

How about these?:

http://www.fpl.net.au/minimeal.htm

Compact, and as many kilojoules as a bowl of pasta (more than most of the back-country meals too).

I sort of do not eat lunch ...

... I have a large breakfast as late as possible, a muesli bar or two and some nuts or choc coated sultanas during the day ...

So you really actually do have lunch, that's enough energy to be considered a small meal.

L8r.

[Tony]

Hi Speculator,

So you really actually do have lunch, that's enough energy to be considered a small meal.

L8r.

It depends on what you call lunch, to some it maybe lunch but to others it is not, sometimes I do not eat in the middle of the day but snack for morning break and afternoon break and other days I nibble a bit through out the day. I used to take lunch but I found that I often do not feel like food when I have been doing hard walking and used to take most of it out.

In the end I have to take enough calories to sustain me so it is not so much a weight saving idea.

Tony

[north-north-west]

It depends on what you call lunch, to some it maybe lunch but to others it is not, sometimes I do not eat in the middle of the day but snack for morning break and afternoon break and other days I nibble a bit through out the day. I used to take lunch but I found that I often do not feel like food when I have been doing hard walking and used to take most of it out.

Much the same with me. Constant snacking while walking, then an evening meal if can be bothered cooking.

[Jaxter]

I stumbled across this idea by accident on a SCT trip - we had leftovers from dinner a few nights (I'd dehydrated all our food and miss-estimated how much we'd need) so had them cold for lunch the next day (we just packed them into the ziplock bag that the dinner came in). It was a nice change as I'd only packed a few variations on the usual cheese, salami & crackers for lunch. Next trip I might actually plan to have leftovers a few times!

[Son of a Beach]

One item I forgot to mention for adding to mountain bread sandwiches or crackers for lunches is the semi-dehydrated, herbed tomatoes.

I slice the tomatoes and put them on the dehydrator, and sprinkle them with basil and oregano. Then dry them until they're chewy, but not wet, and not crispy. This is the hard bit... if they're too dry, they're not very nice on sandwiches. If they're not dry enough, they'll go mouldy during your walk.

But if you get them right, they're fantastic on crackers with cheese. VERY tasty!

I suppose in order to get the right water content, you could do it like they do prunes: Dry them to absolutely dry, then add the right amount of water back in. Maybe I'll try this one day.

[tasadam]

One item I forgot to mention for adding to mountain bread sandwiches or crackers for lunches is the semi-dehydrated, herbed tomatoes.

I made mention of sundried tomatoes in this post.
It wasn't such a big hit because they were sloppy. But as you said, getting the consistency right by doing them yourself would be a good start.

[Son of a Beach]

One item I forgot to mention for adding to mountain bread sandwiches or crackers for lunches is the semi-dehydrated, herbed tomatoes.

I made mention of sundried tomatoes in this post.
It wasn't such a big hit because they were sloppy. But as you said, getting the consistency right by doing them yourself would be a good start.

yeah, I don't use bought sundried tomatoes, as they're very oily and sloppy. I guess the oil would prevent the moulding problem if you don't get them dry enough, but it basically makes them heavier all over again too.

[Dave Bremers]

The age old question eh?

For this hike viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2977 we eventually decided on wholemeal lavash with peanut butter, nutella, tahini, vegemite, laughing cow (or other cream cheese). The wholemeal lavash kept in my room for 4.5 weeks, 3 weeks past its use-by-date before getting mouldy. The trick is to keep it in its original, unopened, packaging until needed to stop it from drying out.

I'll post back when we're done to let you guys know how it went.

Dave