Hiking food.

[botty]

What food do people take hiking? I and a friend plan to do some 'historic hiking' in the future and I want to be as 'authentic' as possible.

I have thought about fresh and dried fruit, nuts, dried meats and fruit leathers. Any other favourite walking foods out there?

 

[Yeps]

Oatmeal is pretty standard. Are we talking day hiking or trekking?

 

[Cicero]

Historic hiking;

Flower for making bread, pancake and so on.
Also rice is a good idea.


EDIT; flower= flour.

 

[Shangas]

Historic hiking;

Flower for making bread, pancake and so on.
Also rice is a good idea.

You can make bread from flowers?

A popular long-lasting food you might consider taking is hard tack, or its Australian counterpart, the ANZAC biscuit. Rock hard and lasts for ages. And certainly golden era. Hard tack has been around since the 1700s and ANZAC biscuits were invented during the First World War. They were specifically designed to last a long time and put up with long journeys. So long as they're kept dry and sealed, they can (and will) last for years. And because they're hard as rocks, they won't crumble to dust in your backpacks when they're thrown around.

Best eaten with a hot beverage to soften them up.

 

[Cicero]

Sorry , ment flour.

 

[MPicciotto]

Hard cheeses and sausage. Those are what I prefer at least.

Matt

 

[1961MJS]

What food do people take hiking? I and a friend plan to do some 'historic hiking' in the future and I want to be as 'authentic' as possible.

I have thought about fresh and dried fruit, nuts, dried meats and fruit leathers. Any other favourite walking foods out there?

Hi

Well, there's authentic Civil War, authentic Roman Empire, authentic ... Hard tack is pretty decent if you don't be so authentic that you let weevils get in them. Look up the various recipes online. The beef jerky, and nuts are a good idea. Oatmeal is a good thing to carry, as is brown sugar to put on it.

One thought I had about the old days when everyone really carried their food with them is that they all hunted a lot. You don't mention that aspect of it.

The armies always had someone bringing up supplies from the storehouses, so the old soldiers didn't really carry a week's worth of food with them. The Civil War soldiers were issued a couple of days worth of meat, which they immediately cooked and ate rather than carry it. They always carried Hard tack, usually carried something to flavor the water (won't call it coffee exactly). Dried beans are a good thing, you soak them for a few hours while you set up your tent etc.

I strongly suggest that you NOT try and make or eat Salt Beef. Put six pounds of salt around each pound of beef until the water is completely sucked out of the meet, put it in a box and then you get to soak the water back into the meat before you can eat it. Sounds absolutely horrible to me.

Sorry to ramble, but being really "authentic" with respect to carrying all of your food and shelter on your back, before WW2 is pretty tough. Pretty much Daniel Boone and friends, everybody else had several horses.

Later

 

[Shangas]

I believe you can still buy hard tack commercially. But if not, I suspect it's pretty easy to bake your own. Done properly, it comes out rock hard and, provided it's kept clean and dry, will last for months, if not years. That's why soldiers and sailors used to eat it so much. Because it would never go stale (under ideal circumstances, but as Mike has mentioned, 19th century hard-tack often came with um...'added protein').

 

[Icthruu74]

I have heard stories of "hikers" in the early 20th century that would simply forgo taking any food with them. Especially during the depression the idea is that they were used to not eating regularly, and foodstuffs of the time were too heavy to carry unless the trip was to be for more than a few days.

 

[Yeps]

Not potatoes. Not canned anything.

 

[Shangas]

Not potatoes. Not canned anything.

I suppose that rules out SPAM as a travel-food, right?

 

[Yeps]

It is good for sedentary camping, but foods like that have so much water weight in them, not to mention the weight of the cans themselves.

 

[4spurs]

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the "discovery" of the south pole consider hiking like Amundson et al.; eat your dog.

 

[MPicciotto]

Well the OP hasn't returned to the thread yet to clarify. There certainly is a difference between an afternoon hike up a nearby peak and a multi-week trek into the unknown. We need to know what he is planning before we offer suggestions such as taking a live goat along and having kebabs vs. just packing a bag of nuts and your canteen.

Matt

 

[botty]

Mainly 1930-40's period day hikes but some long distance walks are being planned as well. UK and Europe so hunting is out and the dog/goat food on the hoof wont work either!

I like the idea of hard tack. I have a recipe for that somewhere.

Edit to add: Oh, yes. It needs to be things I can make myself. Fruit leather is a pain but I have done it before, jerkey is the next project.

 

[bellaclaire]

u can make hard tack with just flour and water, and a little salt, soldiers used to cook it their camp fires... oatmeal biscuits are quite useful, soaked in a little water can make oatmeal for breakfast!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardtack

your in the Uk i noticed ...one of the best foods they used for hiking is Kendal mint cake, its still used in some Army ration packs...its made with sugar ,( brown or white) and covered in chocolate...........the origonal hi energy bar!!! lol
http://historicalfoods.com/kendal-mint-cake-recipe

 

[conrad5157]

If your mean a typical day hike I'll take any assortment of nuts/fruit etc. but I ALWAYS include a handful of Fig Newtons.

 

[GreatWhiteHunter]

Extracted from "The Big Two-Hearted River" by Ernest Hemingway:

For dinner:

“Nick was hungry. He did not believe he had ever been hungrier. He opened and emptied a can at pork and beans and a can of spaghetti into the frying pan."

"Nick got out a bottle of tomato ketchup and cut four slices of bread"

"He ate the whole plateful before he remembered the bread. Nick finished the second plateful with the bread, mopping the plate shiny"

"He emptied the can of apricots out into a tin cup"

"Nick drank the coffee"

For Breakfast:

"Rapidly he mixed some buckwheat flour with water and stirred it smooth, one cup of flour, one cup of water."

"Nick ate a big flapjack and a smaller one, covered with apple butter"

For lunch:

"Then he cut one half into slices and made onion sandwiches”

bon appetit . . . . .

 

[davidraphael]

The ultimate hiking food!

"Kendal Mint Cake is popular among climbers and mountaineers, especially those from the United Kingdom, as a source of energy....Romneys are famous for their Kendal Mintcake which was carried to the top of Mount Everest in May 1953, on the first successful expedition to the summit."

 

[J.W.]

Kerouac crossed America with a couple of salami sandwiches...