2lbs of Paleo meals for a weekend

The awesomeness that I consumed on the trail

I had meant to write up an entry before I went on this hike but my trip was delayed due to my hiking buddy succumbing to a most serious injury...from tether ball with his daughter!  Yeah, seriously.  So we delayed our trip for a month and I soon forgot I even had a blog pertaining to Backpacking or Paleo or whatever it is that I write about.  Nonsense mostly!

So, anyway I just wanted to share what I had on the trail.  We headed out to the lower Nantahala National Forest in NC and tried out the Standing Indian Loop trail  I had heard great things about this trial so it was on my to-do list.  Since we're late in the season I wanted to make sure I had at least one warm meal for Saturday since I knew it would be a long day.  The early weather forecasts had called for highs in the 40's and lows in the 20's, which then switched to highs in the mid 60's and lows in the upper 40's.  That sounded much better but what we got was something completely different.  We ended up with a persistant fog, wind, and moisture that must have added about 10 lbs of weight to my back.  The fog destroyed any chance for any type of scenic view but I was content getting on the trail.

Alright, so, yeah I was talking about my meals.  Since I actually planned this for October and not November I had my meals sitting in a freezer until it was time to go. I ended up weighing the pouch before leaving and realized it was still a little hefty at 2lbs but I'll work on cutting weight in the future.  I was happy with what I had so I can complain and it sure beat the typical freeze dried crap or tasteless oatmeal that I used to eat long ago and crashed halfway through the morning.

Friday night I just had some cashews and some clean chocolate chips.  We were starting after dark so I made sure I had dinner in me beforehand.  I also gulped down a coconut water before I got to the trailhead to ensure hydration and boost the potassium.

Saturday morning I had 3 pickled eggs and some pre-cooked bacon and my infamous coconutter squares.  I also enjoyed a nice hot black tea.  The vinegar in the eggs is a real boost in the mornings!

Saturday lunch I had dehydrated some sweet potatoes (see previous post) which turned pretty much into chips (or could be reconstituted into mash potatoes if you wanted), some Applegate Farms Salami slices, some homemade jerky, and another chunk of coconutter.  I munched on my cashew/chip mix throughout the day to keep some fats rolling and replenish the salt that steadily dripped off of me.

Saturday dinner was a new recipe straight from my dehydrator.  I used a recipe called Paleo Joe from Dana Carpender's 500 Paleo Recipes.  It consisted of ground beef, spinach, eggs, garlic, onion, sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper.  I might be missing a couple of other items but if anyone wants to know the full process for this, just let me know and I'll add an entry on it.  So I made a huge batch for this back in October, scooped out a portion for a king after a long day hike, and added it to the dehydrator for a few hours until it was nice and crispy.  I then vac sealed it and tossed it in the freezer to make sure it kept well until my trip.  When it came time to eat I just added about a cup of boiling water and let it sit for a few minutes.  I was too impatient and started eating and a few morsels were crunchy but it tasted great.

I also wanted to have a little desert.  So, I grabbed one of those organic baby food pouches.  Yeah it may be a little hefty for the Ultralight crowd but it tasted great.  Sometimes I will allow the extra weight for a little comfort.  That's why I have a pack pillow.  I survived for years on ziploc bags crammed with clothes but I am a big boy now and I carry a pillow.  Shut up.  Yeah I eat baby food too!  Giggle all you want they're really tasty and I use them all the time on my day hikes.

Of course Sunday morning I stuck by my old standby with pickled eggs and bacon and whatever else I hadn't consumed already.  There's nothing like an empty pack on the way out of the trail especially when your ankles and calves are banged up from the previous days, any load off the back is worthwhile.

I don't really keep tabs on who or what reads this blog.  If anyone finds it useful let me know.  Or, if you want to know my process for things or recipes....I'd be more than happy to oblige.

Testing the Osprey Manta and Dehydrating Trail Foods

As long as the weather holds this weekend I am going to take a day hike out to Stone Mountain Park.  There's a nice loop trail of about 4 miles so it's a pretty easy trek compared to what I am normally doing on my backpacking trips.  Over the holidays I got an Osprey Manta 20 pack for doing some day trips.  I did a bit of research before the purchase.  I looked at Black Diamond and CamelBak.  I really did like the CamelBak packs but the price point compared to Osprey wasn't worth it to me.  The Black Diamond packs were better priced but none of them seem to give me exactly what I wanted.  I am familiar with Osprey with my Atmos 50 (review on my website) and I couldn't be happier and I really like the styling and fit of Osprey packs for me so it was an obvious choice.  Granted Osprey has a number of different day packs to choose from so it came down to styling and the Manta 20 included the Hydraform.  Most of the CamelBaks included a hydration pack as well but for another 50 bucks that I was unwilling to spend.  It didn't hurt that Amazon was running a sale on all Osprey packs at the time of my purchase as well.

Along with my Manta, after a refund from one of my holiday gifts, I picked up a Nesco food dehydrator.  I've been wanting to get a dehydrator for a long time now and finally have one to use.  So I am excited to start putting together recipes to try out and post on my website for others to try.  I think I may do a simple fruit dehydration for this weekend's hike and see how it goes.  Prior to this purchase I was using the Lex Rooker box method for making jerky.  It worked and it was cheap however it wasn't always precise and it depended a lot on the conditions of the air (humidity and coolness) where I was using the box in my basement.  Now I feel like I can control the environment a bit better or at least regulate it enough to better dial in when things should be completely dry.  The other advantage will be the ability of creating a paleo meal and then dehydrating that meal completely to be used on the trail.  No longer will I need to worry about no-cook meals (unless I want to).  Now I just need to convince someone to get me a JetBoil to try out and I will be complete  Ok maybe I should just purchase it myself!

Back to blogging!

I just recently finished building my latest website www.alterauslander.com which focuses on the Paleo Diet, Backpacking, Cookbook Reviews, Physical Fitness, and some stories about my hiking trips.  I was finding it difficult to just write general news about things or focus solely on backpacking and Paleo as one.  I ended up breaking down each subject, which is great for articles specific to a topic but this blog will be more about just Backpacking on a Paleo diet and or random relevant blurbs that don't necessarily fit into my website.

I wanted to create a web presence that identified mostly with those people that have similar interests as me.  When I first went Paleo I was finding it difficult to find information on what to eat while I was hiking so I had to improvise a lot.  Some things have worked and others did not.  So hopefully that is what I will focus on here with this blog and anything that needs closer examination, a solid review, seems worthy of a full article I will move into onto my website.

I am also working on a local directory for those in the Triad of NC wanting to source foods for their diet as well as work on a website geared towards those with flat feet (that's me!).  Hiking with clown shoes and eating like a caveman, that's what my world has turned into when I am not typing away or troubleshooting IT issues.  Oh IT, that could be another blog one of these days if it weren't already so crowded with such things on the interwebs.

So, if any of those things interest you or you would like to interact with me and help me develop certain aspects, even research on items, I would surely welcome the discourse.