Meal Planning for Newbie Hikers

We Filipino Hikers or Not are used to eat 3 times a day mostly with rice and viands. And if we missed a meal, somehow we feel incomplete and unsatisfied. Out there in the mountain campsite and on trail our choices became more limited with how much weight we want to carry, and how fast and convenient to prepare the food we want for dinner and how long the meats will spoil. Obviously there are factors to consider on what and how to prepare our meals in the mountain.

You can pre-packaged your food like this.

We want our meals to be delicious, mouth watering, and nutritious. We wants something that consumed less water and more importantly the ingredients are not that heavy to carry and have a long shelf life.

For a regular overnight climb either minor or major climb you will eat based on this sequence, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

On the first day of the climb  your breakfast can either be taken in a bus stop or packed. Its also not advisable to cooked on the trail for your lunch on the first day, so your lunch should be prepared ahead. Meaning you will only cooked on your first night - based on this scenario you can plan your food, fuel and supply.

The second day of the climb most climbers prepare to have a heavy breakfast and packed their lunch. With this thoughts in mind so can easily anticipate how much food you need to carry on the regular minor and major climb. Morever, you also need to eat and consumed foods during interval, thats where your choice of trail foods come in. Im not a fan of jelly-ace as I dont see what it contributes to my body. I would just replace it with raisins, dry fruits or fresh banana or just simple candy for sugar and carbs boost.

The dinner on the second day usually happened just before the climbers hit the bus going home. If

With these thoughts in mind, the only food you need to cooked when hiking was Dinner, Breakfast and Lunch. Your fuel and ingredients should be prepared how many times you cooked so you will avoid carrying a lot of dead weight. More often than not we are so accustomed to have a dinner with a soup, so how much water you need to carry for all your meals and until the next water source the next day will also play a part.

Your life will be easier if you will join a group that will have a meal provision. That way, you can avoid the burden of thinking what food you will prepare and how much weight you will carry. The downside only with this set-up is that you might not have your ideal dinner.

On a lighter note based on my readings from various resources available on line. We should prepare our food based on the 3 main elements. Carbohydrates, Fats and protein.

Carbohydrates provide fuel to the body. Fat serves as the main storage form of energy. Protein is for repairing muscles that were burn out on our hiking activity.

It is wise to prepare our meal based on the three main elements for the body to function properly on the trail. Imagined the torture and abused your body have experienced every time you hike.

The following are the ideas for the meals on the campsite

Carbs :

Rice, Pasta, Cereal , Fruits and Vegetables.

* Rice with Vegetables viand. Stir fry is easily to prepare and to cooked
* Spaghetti with meat sauce
* Pansit Bihon

Spaghetti with meat sauce.A High Carb meal.

Fat Sources

Butter, Cooking oil, Mayonnaise , Sardines and Processed meat

* Tocino
* longganisa
* Bacon
* Omelette

High Fat Foods

 Protein Sources

Meats, Eggs, Fish

* Chicken and Pork Adobo
* Sinigang
* Tinola
* Nilaga
* Sopas

Protein sources

Trail Food

Before the main meal, we also need some simple trail food to keep us from getting hungry and to help sustain the energy from the body. You should consumed your trail food at least every hour to keep fueling your body for your hiked.

The following are my personal favorite trail food.

Raisins mixed with Nips prepackaged in a ziplock bag.
Dried fruits ( guyabano, mango and banana )
Simple sugar - candy, cloud 9
Crackers   - Fita with peanut butter

Pre-packed trail food

On our last night in Mt Apo our dinner was my prepacked power oatmeal. This is very easy to prepare and can provide the body the energy it needs at the moment.

Heres how I did it.

5 tablespoon full of instant oatmeal
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoon of powdered milk
2 tablespoon of raisins
2 tablespoon of banana chips

Prepacked all of the ingredients in a ziplock bag. When your hungry, Just pour it on your Mug, add hot water and enjoy. You can also make it as your emergency food, fast breakfast and if your tired and cold to prepare your dinner.

Power oatmeal

The idea was to continuosly provide fuel to your body the best nutrition it needs when your hiking for it to function properly and to give you energy to finish the climb successfully. Dont forget to bring your toilet paper alright..

And always remember, bring all your trash down.


* All pictures used came from the internet