I don’t often write about what I eat on my trips. This year I’ve got some meals dialed in that I take on most every trip. Meals for me need to be tasty, filling, and full of fat and protein. This weekend myself and another recurring character on .douchepacker. will be doing the Timberline Trail around Mt Hood. Its 38-39 miles, so I need to bring high calorie food to give my body the fuel it needs to crush this trail. We’ll do it over three days, returning on Labor Day.
For breakfast, I always make coffee first. This usually means two Via packets that I put in my GSI insulated mug. That mug is one of the best pieces of kit I have. I have a titanium mug that I received as a gift, but I really prefer this mug by a long shot. This summer I bought some Trader Joe’s coffee packets, which include creamer and sugar. So now I mix one of each coffee packet together. I prefer my coffee black, but this adds some flavor and gives a little sugar boost to boot.
For breakfast I usually just like to eat a clif bar and go. I got sick of oatmeal because it is disgusting once it starts to cool. I have found some ways to make it not only palatable, but delicious. I use a 1/2 cup of quick oatmeal, and add two scoops of dehydrated goat milk. The goat milk is fatty and decadent. I then add some cinnamon and brown sugar and put it in a bag like in the photo below. Boil your water, dump it in and stir till all the ingredients are nice and blended. I like to call this “goatmeal”.
I’ll be taking two different lunches this time. My latest go to are the flavored tuna packets on triscuits, sometimes with cheese. My favorite flavors are the Spicy Thai and Jalapeno. They are a 1.25 a piece usually. I eat two for lunch. Its a bit light, but a good source of tasty protein. I chose triscuits because they happened to be a good deal at Costco.
My second lunch will be some fancy goat cheese soaked in wine and fancy pants Italian salami. Again, a nice source of protein and this one packs some fat as well. There’s no reason to eat garbage for every meal right? This is a softer cheese, but that’ll be ok because it wont get much warmer than a refrigerator this whole weekend. On warmer trips I bring the hardest cheese I can find.
I ate backpacker meals for years. However, the last time I ate a backpacker pantry meal I had no appetite and nearly puked from eating it. Ever since I’ve been looking for cheaper and tastier meals.
For dinner, I’m bringing my favorite backpacking meal by far. It’s rice, beans, fritos and cheese. You can add other ingredients and spices to your heart’s desire. I eat every bit of this meal, every time. I learned about this recipe from Andrew Skurka’s excellent website. The cool kids now call this Skurka Pie. He recommends making it soupier, which I prefer. It helps rehydrate you and is psychologically comforting after a long day kicking ass. Some of my friends prefer it a little thicker though.
I use the brown Minute rice, but it takes longer to simmer and cook. This weekend we’ll be using the white kind which only takes a minute. I’ve used both Sante Fe dehydrated re-fried beans and dehydrated re-jalapeno re-fried beans from my local Winco. I can recommend both, and the Winco kind is in the bulk section and much cheaper. I also add in red pepper flakes and freeze dried garlic. Sometimes I pre-soak it to save fuel if I’m worried about that. I like to mix in the cheese towards the end of the simmer. Once you are ready to eat it, top it with the fritos and get ready to freak the fuck out at how good Skurka Pie is.
As far as snacks go I’ll have a mix of nut-free clif bars, one nut-free probar (trying for the first time), string cheese and fancy chocolate. For trail mix, I can’t have nuts unfortunately so I bought a big mix of pumpkin seeds, cranberries and sunflower seeds that was meant to be a salad topper. I don’t use it for salads, but I use it like you would for trail mix.
I’m looking forward to eating every bit of this food on the Timberline Trail. Check back next week for a full on, balls to the wall trip report.
.douchepacker. 
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