Friday, June 19, 2015

Smoky Mountains 2015 Backpacking Menu & Food Prep List

One of the most important parts of a backpacking trip take place before the actual trip. We're talking food prep and menu planning. To prepare for our 4-day, 3-night trip in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I packed enough food for a week, or so it felt. My prediction, we'll eat all the snacks and breakfast food, but a number of the dry meals will be left untouched. It's just not convenient to fire up the camp stove in the middle of a hike. Especially if it's too hot, too rainy, or there's just not a good spot alongside the trail to throw down and do some cooking.



My husband said he would carry the food bag if I kept its weight around 6 pounds (2.7 kg). Hurray! That said, our menu and food prep list for our 2015 Smoky Mountains backpacking trip included a few things to please each palate. He likes the convenience of prepackaged freeze-dried meals and factory sweetened oatmeal. He also likes Roasted Peanut Crunch bars, beef jerky, and Gatorade. 

I like to have a warm mint tea when it's rainy. I also like plain oatmeal with fruits and nuts added, home dehydrated meals, and don't eat foods with sweeteners of any kind. I cherry pick the nuts and raisins out of trail mix and my family cherry picks the candies. Together we make a pretty good team.  Given our palates, we planned our Smoky Mountains backpacking menu and began preparing as follows:


GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS BACKPACKING MENU


Meal Plan by Day
Snacks
Drinks

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Breakfast
On the Road
Oatmeal , Freeze-dried Fruit, & Nuts
Oatmeal , Freeze-dried Fruit, & Nuts
Oatmeal , Freeze-dried Fruit, & Nuts
Beef Jerky, Cashews, Trail Mix, Granola Bars
Water, Gatorade, Mint Tea, Electrolyte Drink Tabs
Lunch
Mountain House Meals
Mountain House Meals
Backpacker's Pantry Meal
Left-over Snacks on the Way Out
Spare
Dinner
Beef Tacos with Black Beans on Flour Tortillas
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Freeze-dried Peas, Crushed Red Peppers
Beef Stroganoff with Freeze-dried Peas and Egg Noodles
On the Road
None (Extra Snacks)



Food Preparation List in Support of Our GREAT Smoky Mountains  Menu



Cook & Dehydrate
Purchase & Repackage 
Pack as Purchased
Beef stroganoff
Oatmeal packets (12) (add own freeze dried fruit and nuts)
Crushed red peppers
Backpacker's Pantry Thai style coconut curry with beef serves 2
Egg noodles
Freeze dried peas (1)
Trail mix
Mountain House beef stew serves 1 (2)
Meat sauce
Beef jerky
Roasted peanut crunch granola bars (3)
Mountain House chicken and rice serves 1 (1)
Spaghetti
 LÄRABAR (4)
Cashews
Mountain House sweet and sour port serves 1 (1)
Taco meat with black beans
Flour tortillas (6)
Gatorade single serve packets (3)
Electrolyte drink tabs 
 

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