Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Favorite Meals?

"Young" and "hardcore" are relative terms. I started doing short hikes with my son when he was 2. I always figured he could "hike his age", starting with the trail down to lake level at Crater Lake (Oregon) and back up when he was 2-1/2.

By the time he was almost 6, he carried a 10# junior pack load from Agnew Meadows up to Ediza Lake on one of our Mt. Ritter trips. He was one tired kid after 8 miles and going from 8,400' down to 8,000' and back up to about 9,500' but he had a blast impressing people that saw him along the trail.

You can watch him grow through the highpointing trip reports on my web site. He's now off to college, 6'2" and quite capable of handling himself on any trail I'd care to try.

If your boys are ambulatory, it's not too soon to start...break 'em in young and fairly gently and they'll want to keep going and going and going...

did you mean these ?

Clif Bar Sweet and Salty Mountain Mix and M&M based trail mix for a snack. Apple.

Ham & Cheese w/mustard for lucch

Mountain House Chicken A'la King...just like eating at home! Add hot water, wait a couple of minutes, and eat. And all you have to wash is the spoon.

Fish said= I use Nestle Nido - instant whole milk - sold at most super markets, or amazon.com

I also make the breakfast cereal with milk in baggies - But I use "Milkman" brand - tasts great and it disolves instantly - I found it at Albertson's

---Ok now you got me started---
1- Cheese squeezers like Philmont - yes they are grt.
2- also grt from Philmont - Peanut butter squeezers and crackers
The little Jiff travel cups are easier to find locally
3- Big sur Bars - 8 ounces but I can start on one in the
morning and snack on it for hours
4- Mountain House red beans & rice - take a few tortillas and
some salsa in a freezer bag -Buritos (Take a couple of paper
towels for this meal)
5- Also from Mountain House - Cold Pasta Salad with vegies -
this is killer if you add a foil packet of albacore tuna - we
fed three with the tuna added - dehydrates cold (NO Fuel No
Stove) but takes a while -
6- First night out = Hobo Meal -
Chicken Breast (BBQ and then freeze in a bag ahead of time)
cut pieces of potato, carrots, yams, onions (roll these up
in foil, with a little olive oil and season salt)
- I put the foil roll in one baggie and the frozen chik in
another baggie and keep them together - at camp the chik
goes in with the vegies and it all goes near the coals on
the fire - it all only needs to get hot -

The Hobo meal is a favoite but does require a bit of prep and it works best when we leave early, drive to TH then hike to first campsite (fires permitted?) - on a week long trip, one more night with fresh vegies rules

Milkman closed its doors last year - no more. Probably "old stock" what you have.

Oh, yeah! Those are exactly what Philmont supplies...same brand and everything.

A few crackers, chips or tortillas and you're set...

My favorite freeze-dried meal is the Mountain House turkey tetrazzini.

My favorite trail snack is Hoody's cinnamon toasted almonds.

My favorite bars are Balance cookie dough and a lot of the flavors of Lara bar.

For easy inexpensive meals, I just love mac & cheese with foil pack tuna. I usually use Easy Mac. At home at sea level I don't really care for it, but for some reason it just hits the spot at elevation (the opposite of what I experience with almost all other foods). Other possibilities would be various flavors of Lipton Noodles & Sauce or Rice & Sauce with foil pack salmon.

And never underestimate the power of a few spoonsful of Nutella after dinner.

Snickers satisfies

hahah, Snickers!

Funny how we like things differently up in the mountains. i can't stand the gross powder cheese mac n cheese, but i can see how it would be YUMMY in the mountains! same way with snickers, i don't like them, except when i am in the back country.

thanks for the ideas!!! i had never seen that jalepeno cheese spread!!! that would be AWESOME on some beef burritos!

Looks like i need to check out some of these food places/stores!

Thanks again!

Anyone else make citadel spread? peanut butter, honey, powder milk...?

Snickers with Almonds rock! Always pick up a couple at Joseph's in town.
I learned recently from this board about the wonders of Nutella, now it's almost an addiction. In the campgrounds (1st day) I start off with Nutella on a plain bagel and some Naked Juice, I love the Red Machine. Bagel sandwiches pack a lot better for day hikes, in fact I just had one last weekend on Guadalupe Peak in Texas. Trail munchies are dry roasted almonds mixed with dried cranberries or cherries plus a few M&M's. And of course Jolly Ranchers.

What a bummer about Milkman - what I have left is from last year - bags still sealed should be ok this summer - then I guess I look for the Nestle Nido

I used to get some of my meals from Adventure foods - Their Greek Pasta Salad was GRT - But they retired and closed up a couple of years ago -

We have to get used to new stuff all the time - Food - Computer tech. - even wag bags

"The Times, They are a Changin"
Thanks
Dave

The (surprising) length of this food thread leads me to offer this quote as a counterpoint:

"Most expeditions have some story about their food and attitudes to it vary from the haute cuisine of some French expeditions to the blunt assertion of Tilman, the famous eccentric and explorer, that he did not mind as long as there was some." Joe Tasker, Everest the Cruel Way

I too love to see photos of our hiking kids!!!! How do you post a photo?

> How do you post a photo?

Within the Message Posting Tips link above on the left, there is a topic, Adding picture images

I'm not a backcountry chef - I'm all over ease of preparation, hence I'm never without Mtn House spaghetti, and chili-mac, maybe some powdered mashed potatoes and cheese.

These jalapeno cheese spread things intrigue me - I love jalapeno! But I usually avoid it while backpacking just because it's not all that conducive to...uh, um, elimination, for lack of a better term. Burning butt is not all that fun in the wilderness. I guess moderation is probably the key.

dave, my hubby had the same comment. something like, yeah so i can poo my way down... yummy!

I need suggestions for a good variety of cheese I can pack along to eat the first 24-48 hours into a backpack trip.

Thanks for any and all help.

SteveC, the harder the cheese the longer it keeps. Parmesan is very good. Cheddar is great, but gets a little oily when warm. Jarlsberg is also a good performer, along with smoked gruyere.

My favorite backpacking meal is the spaghetti with tomato and basil sauce at Season's.

So that gets you off to a good start. My first consideration in backpacking meals is NO FREEZE DRIED! How do you people manage to choke down that garbage? You might as well boil cardboard in salt water.

Couscous with a packet of fish and olive oil is tops with me. Instant mashed potatoes with a can of chicken is very good. Stove top stuffing with chunks of summer sausage is also tasty.

Lunch is cheese and sausage on some kind of bread.

Breakfast is oatmeal and poptarts.

Everything washed down with lots of tea.