TRAIL COOKING By Karen Willman aka little sister www.moosenosebrothers.com

There is a wide variety of choices to be made when preparing for trail cooking. The type of food, methods of preparation and required equipment play an important role. But there are individual circumstances to consider. Will you be traveling alone or will there be others that can share the weight? Is this going to be a 7-day hike into the wilderness or a weekend trip? Will there be opportunities to forage for food? Are you on foot, in a vehicle or on a horse? What's the altitude or the time of year?

One common link to all of the above is this: keep it simple and efficient.

WHAT TO EAT???

Men or women even on a beautiful day will burn a minimum of 3,500 calories per day when on the trail. Add more strenuous activities and that calorie count can rise to 4,500. Planned meals should take into consideration taste, convenience but most important - caloric value. Allow 50% of calories for carbohydrates, 25% for fats and 25% for proteins. Carbs will provide for quick energy and are easy to digest (helpful at altitudes above 5,000 feet), fats provide a slower energy that will last longer and proteins help produce body heat and maintain muscle tone.

The first thing to do is plan a rough outline of the actual number of meals required. A short 3-day weekend will require seven prepared meals plus snacks. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks carry a heavy emphasis on carbohydrates to help provide quick energy boosts. Plan your meals to use perishable foods first; heavy items second and dry, lightweight mixes last. Give yourself some flexibility. More carbs needed? Try spreading some jam on a flour tortilla. A bit more fat desired? A spoonful of powdered milk does the trick.

TIME OF YEAR

A person driving the boat to a lake in the summertime could get by on 3,500 calories per day while another hiking in the snow would need as many as 5,000 calories per day. The lower the temperature - the higher the consumed calories should become. It is important to remember to keep the carb/fat/protein percentages in balance. In cold weather don't be tempted to increase protein consumption for heat production since you will be short-changing the carbohydrates short energy bursts and the fats sustained endurance levels. Instead, increase your calorie intake by eating more food from each food group at each meal. Consume larger quantities of high-energy snack food while on the move.

Lack of salt dehydrates the body and draws the blood away from the extremities (arms and legs) toward the body's core. In cold weather, additional salt intake keeps blood volume up and flowing to all parts of the body. Equally important is that a cold drink will warm you up. Cold drinks require digestion (which is energy or heat). Warm drinks will help you feel cooler. Try it!

I had asked a question above about the opportunity to forage for food. Foraged food should only be viewed as a bonus to planned meals. Fresh caught fish is a preferable alternative to the freeze-dried packet of beef stew. But what if the fish are not biting? It's better to save the beef stew for another outing than to wish you had brought it and not counted on catching fish. Harvesting edible wild plants should be approached with caution. Some plants taste good and are easy to digest, while others are marginally so. Just because the birds are eating it does not mean that the plant is not poisonous to humans. Several plants have poisonous look-alikes and plants that are inedible and even poisonous grow among the edible ones. Unfortunately, there are no general rules for recognition of poisonous plants but the more field experience you gain identifying plants, the easier you'll sort the edibles from the inedible.

You plan on leaving early Tuesday morning and return home by Thursday evening so the following is a rough outline for a three-day adventure.

Tuesday: trail snacks, lunch, trail snacks and dinner.

Wednesday: breakfast, trail snacks, lunch, trail snacks and dinner.

Thursday: breakfast, trail snacks, lunch, trail snacks

Next it is necessary to fill in the menu more completely by assigning specific food items to the scheduled meals. It is easier to plan specifics when alone but individual tastes come into play when planning for groups of two or more making this portion of the planning very interesting indeed.

SAMPLE RECIPE

BASIC RAISIN COCONUT OATMEAL MIX

3 cups rolled oats ½ cup raisins or copped dates ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut ½ teaspoon cinnamon Mix all together and store in quart jar. MAKES: 1 quart

RAISIN COCONUT OATMEAL CEREAL Serves 4

Boil 4 cups water. Gradually stir in 1 ¾ cups Basic Raisin Coconut Oatmeal Mix. Simmer lightly 5 minutes.

Happy camping on the trail and next time we will explore "water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink"???
About the Author

Wife, mother of 2, grandmother of 3. Retired school administrator, survivalist, former NRA instructor, weapons enthusiast, specialist in trail cooking, world-wide Geo-Cacher, explorer of historical detection.