As something of a trencherman myself, the rather unappetizing pile of processed rubbish currently sitting on my dining table ready to be packed, has made me a little glum about my food prospects on this trip. However, my wife slipped neatly into gear last night and made a whole load of lentil soup, then dehydrated it overnight. I was somewhat dubious when I saw this crispy concoction this morning, yet took some on a hike in Myakka River State Park this afternoon.
I was actually going to try out my tent in conditions other than my living room, so I took some food along to try to get a taste of the whole experience. I also carried a pack of over 30lbs. Let me tell you, the first few steps were something of an eye popper, yet I soon got used to it.
Diane has been fairly scathing about the packets of ramen noodles, the Mac n’ Cheese and particularly the Cheddar Potato Soup Mix, which even looks fairly vile from the picture on the packet. She has drawn my attention to the high salt, fat and sugar content of most of this stuff and today proved to be not only the guardian of my health, but also my personal chef on the trail. The soup was delicious and I’m only posting now so that you can see my reaction on film when I tasted it. As they say down here, “You can’t fake fresh.”
My Appalachian Trial 
My advice: Leave the prepackaged rubbish at home and check out the following two websites:
http://www.wildbackpacker.com/backpacking-food/recipes/
http://www.onepanwonders.com/
I did 14 days on The Great North Walk here in Australia in July 2013 and relied solely on these two websites and a couple of self-made inventions (like chocolate custard – 1tbs cocoa, 2tbs cornflour, 3tbs sugar to 600ml milk made with powdered milk & water).
For snacks I carried 1 x baby food fruit squeeze / day, 1 x museli bar / day and 1 x organic food bar / day. I also carried Powerade powder, cocoa, tea bags and condensed milk (for the tea).
My total food bill for the 14 days was about AU$150 and each day’s food weighed just 700g (1.5lbs). But that was for snacks, drinks, breakfast, lunch, soup, meal and desert. After eating, all I had were a few wrappers and zip lock bags. You could get it lighter by carrying it in fewer bags (I separated each meal but you could combine all porridge in one bag to save weight).
I enjoyed every meal and felt like I was eating good quality food including vegetables and fruits and proteins.
I’ve since discovered powdered eggs too which means in future I would “bake” cakes in my cooking pot over instead of carrying so many heavy snacks because flour, powdered eggs, powdered milk, sugar and flavourings weigh almost nothing.
Thanks for the advice, Andrew. I’ll be going over this with my wife and, who knows, my teeth might not actually fall out and I won’t get scurvy, or beri beri!! This is what is so great about these blogs; folks are on hand to help you through everything. Thanks again. Steve
Steve, I can’t wait for the day when the first picture appears of your first catch from the river and you cooking it over that wood fire!! I am sure calories will not be counted!!! I hadn’t realised that Bill Bryson had done this trail I am a great admirer of him and his books, I haven’t read that one though. On the 16th Joan & I will be at the Davies’ birthday lunch, whether some other old faces will be there remains to be seen. I will let you know. By the way the Green Beret boys back packs go at 85 lbs I am sure you will improve. All good wishes Norman
Norman, there will be no fish cooked over a campfire. I’m sticking with boiling water and pouring it over stuff. Glad to see that you are following my latest exploits; you were the first person other than my Dad to tell me off!! all the best, Steve