Introduction to Food Preparation

Food will be necessary to hike.  It's the fuel needed for walking, climbing, and keeping the body's core temperature above hypothermic levels.  About 5 to 6,000 calories will be expended per day while on the trail.  Thus, food will be a critical logistic component of our everyday lives (more than it already is).  Luckily, I like food so this aspect of preparations has been particularly enjoyable.

The food-plan is multipronged:  One method is to procure rations in the towns that we'll be crossing through.  So, roughly once a week Frank and I will emerge from the wilderness and haunt small towns scavenging for something to eat - and lots of it.  I have been diligently stashing away cash so that I may buy food items at stores; buffets will also be an oasis for thru-hikers.  In addition to purchasing groceries we'll be receiving "mail-drops" in said towns.  (Thank you, Tiffany!)  Post offices, hostels, and other facilities will hold packages until I arrive to claim the goods.  "Trail Angels" are also known to manifest randomly at trail-junctions; they are kind people who go out of their way to specifically feed hungry hikers.  Despite thru-hikers' best efforts, due to pack-weight constraints and because of the constant walking, the average guy can expect to drop about 17 pounds in weight.

I have been preparing some home-made meals in advance so that I may receive them via mail-drops.  For my birthday last year Tiffany gifted me a dehydrator.  It is awesome.  I can dehydrate virtually anything type of fruit or vegetable.  The device is composed of five trays that stack on top of one another; the trays are then placed on a central fan that circulates warm air from a heating element inside the base of the dehydrator.  Thus far I've successfully dehydrated a whole array of delicious produce: apples, bananas, mango, kiwi, scallion, pineapple, tomato, garlic, celery, grapes, mushrooms, carrots, and definitely some other tasty things I cannot recall at the moment.  My objective is to create meals that utilize these excellent sources of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and fiber.  Here are two photos of my food preparation:

[Mushrooms, scallions, and tomato about to be dehydrated.] 

[Vacuum-sealed "lunch" (pistachio, cashew, almond, dehydrated banana, and probably something else.)]

.....

It's getting late so I'll leave tonight's post at this for now.  I get so excited about food; I could write an entire book about preparing food for the trail.  I'll expand some more in the near future about this topic (e.g. I have an alcohol stove so I have to conceive of delicious meals that only require hot water to be added.)

Take Care All!

-Adam