Food Stockpiling!

It seems sort of weird that the start date of this trip is close enough that I can start stockpiling packaged food, but I saw peanut butter packets on sale on Amazon and decided that a trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's would give me a good start on figuring out my food for the trip. I've decided to mostly eat granola/food bars, packaged nuts, peanut butter, etc. for breakfast and lunch and do Freezer Bag Cooking for dinners. The bars/nuts/etc. can be very calorie dense, which means they weigh less than many other food options. Also, there aren't many grocery stores along the trail, so resupplying myself through the mail seems like the best bet.

I'll leave some room in my daily rations to add whatever junk foods I'm craving and can get at gas stations, but I prefer to not have to worry about or spend too much time on tracking down food in towns for this trip. I may get tired of some of these foods, but I know when I was on the bike trips that I usually wanted a constant stream of snacks during the day and a mix of sweet and salty things. I ate a lot of nutty bars on the cross-country bike trip, but I'm trying to get better nutrition this time around.

A lot of backpackers carry peanut butter because it's one of the most calorie dense foods you can carry that isn't straight oil or butter. Most of those people carry a jar of PB because it's cheaper, but I'm going with packets because I'm not so good at rationing PB and because I like some of these different flavors. Plus, the packets are easier to eat on the go.

This picture makes my husband sad because it's a whole bunch of granola bars that he doesn't get to eat. I did bring him two boxes of his own, but I kept 60 bars for myself. We have been taste-testing a lot of different bars. I'll take some more specialized energy bars, but these from Trader Joe's are good for breakfast or snacks.

The cat is very unhappy about all this food packing. Packing of any kind makes her nervous because it usually means we're going to leave. Normally, she would sit on a suitcase to show her displeasure, but instead, she's trying to sit on some sesame seed bars and shortbread cookies. I'm not sure what she's thinking, but I know she's thinking that this messy food stockpile isn't a good sign...

9.0 mile hike: Silver Lake

Ahh, the holidays. I hadn't been indulging too badly, but I had been sitting on my butt an awful lot. I got back on the scale and...it wasn't good. Not too bad, but going in the wrong direction. Time to get back on the wagon.

I hit up the YMCA yesterday for some time on the rower, stair master, and treadmill. I know some people can just get on one machine and go for a long time, but I am not one of them, so I rotated machines. The stair climber kicked my butt. Legs felt OK, but my cardiovascular conditioning leaves much to be desired. Not unexpected, but not good. I stayed on that thing for just 10 minutes and even then had to take a break in the middle to catch my breath. Borrowing Jeff's iPod helped drown out the other people, so maybe I can make the gym thing work for me. Weights are set up in my home gym in the basement, but I've mostly done bodyweight stuff down there so far. It gets me sore enough for now.

Today I had the whole day free and decided to load up the pack and take it for a walk. 

I did 9 miles (this 4.5 mile trail twice) with 25 pounds on a nature trail and didn't feel too bad until the last mile when I started dragging and my feet started hurting more. I got to try out my new Sawyer Mini water filter along the way, including the adaptations I made to make it gravity fed so I don't always have to squeeze it. Parts of the stream were ice-covered, but there was a convenient area just under a little bridge that had free flowing water so I could use my little dipper thingy to get the water (separate post on water system forthcoming!). I only got about a half a bottle since I mostly just wanted to try out the system, but it worked! Flow rate was slower than I expected, but I just gave it a squeeze to speed up the process.

Every time I go out, I try to learn something or try something to see if it works. Here's what I learned/tried during this trip.

Lessons learned
1. I can get my pullover wind shirt off while walking and without taking the pack off.
2. The ZPacks hip pockets I added to the pack have a reputation for being difficult to close one-handed. I found it's best to hold the bottom of the clip tight against the pocket with my ring finger so it's more or less stable and then use my other fingers to guide the clip to the right place. I think it would be easier if the bottom part of the clip was solidly attached to the pouch, so I may modify it so it is.
3. Payday bars from last summer are tough and stale.
4. My water filter/gravity filter mods work.
5. I had my torso adjustment right the first time (I did a mile with it a bit longer and it wasn't as comfortable).
6. The wind shirt goes a long way toward making chilly temps more comfortable, even with just light layers underneath.
7. I really like the shoulder strap pouches from ZPacks.
8. I'm still questioning my pack choice. It's comfortable but heavy. I'm having trouble pulling the trigger on the ZPacks Arc Blast, but I need to decide soon so I can commit to my current pack and start trimming things off it to lighten it or order a new pack so I can put some miles on it this winter.

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When I got home, I tried out a trail smoothie recipe of Carnation Instant Breakfast, dried milk, PB2 (powdered peanut butter) and a cup of water. Dry weight was a little over 3 oz, and it had 18 grams of protein, which is good for me after a hike. I'm aiming for 100 calories per ounce on my trip, and this is a bit shy of that, but it should be close to that mark when I use dried whole milk instead of non-fat. I just poured the water in and shook it up. The PB didn't mix in very easily, but I didn't mind the chunks.

Even better was this post-smoothie drink. Can't get this one on the trail, but it's nice to have at home!

Two Brothers Domaine DuPage French Style Country Ale

Camp Coffee: Trader Joe's Instant

Status: 80% In
Weight: 12 grams each packet
Mods: None
Alternatives: Vinacafe or espresso powder in Carnation Instant Breakfast  (too gritty)

I like my coffee in the morning. I never drank coffee much until we lived in Utah where coffee was "naughty" and where people who liked it really knew about it and could help a coffee newbie like me learn to appreciate it. So now I like a nice Americano when I can get it and do just fine with some locally roasted stuff in my Mr. Coffee the rest of the time. I really don't know whether I will want coffee first thing in the morning on the trail, but I think I will like the ritual of it, so I've been on the hunt for the easiest decent instant coffee I can find.

I do have a French Press for my Jetboil stove, and while it's nice when I have plenty of clean water for clean-up and a good place to dispose of the leftover grounds, I can't see myself messing with it day after day. Plus, if I'm having some good French Press coffee, instant creamer just doesn't cut it.

For my bicycle tours and other travel, I've tried making my own coffee packets out of Starbucks Via with a bit of sugar and instant creamer, but while Via was better than some of the alternatives, it still wasn't satisfying enough, and pre-mixing the creamer and sugar with the coffee left the coffee kind of stale. Plus, it was just kind of a pain in the butt.

A few weeks ago, though, I picked up the Trader Joe's Instant Coffee packets that already have the cream and sugar in them. Cheap. Light. Not bad.

Well, they aren't bad as long as you put only about 6 oz. of water with them. They also aren't bad mixed in with Vanilla Carnation Instant Breakfast, which I plan to use on trail sometimes so I can get at least a few vitamins. Good enough for me for the trail. The only other kind I'm going to try is the
Vinacafe Vietnamese Coffee, which has much better reviews than the TJ's packets in terms of how strong the coffee is, but I haven't ordered any of that kind yet to test it. I'll let you know which one wins the coffee packet wars!

Edit: New alternative! My husband got me a nice burr grinder for Christmas, so the other alternative is grinding my own coffee on the lowest espresso setting to get espresso powder, which I can drink in the Vanilla Carnation Instant Breakfast packets I plan to take. Not ideal in terms of texture, but that would get me my caffeine! Update: This one is a no-go. Taste is ok, but the texture is too gritty for me to really enjoy. I want to enjoy my morning coffee, so this option is out.

I'll also take some tea for warming up in the evenings, but tea selection is less important to me than coffee selection...