kalin

kalin

Alchemist
Ville La Grand, France 96 posts
Smile, or you’re doing it wrong. —Andy Glaze

Experiments in fueling

I love learning and experimenting with food. Current experiments revolve around ultra-light, heat-stable endurance foods: I need 5 days of provisions and camping gear to fit in a <10kg 30L pack.

Every morning I do a quick sketch of what I'll eat for the day. 99% homemade, healthy and I'm fairly decent at cooking on a budget.
I feel like if I'm doing the planning anyway, maybe someone here might find it useful? Let me know!



Today:
  • Coconut chia pudding with honey, topped with toasted oats + chopped nectarine
  • Roasted carrots with cumin seeds, auvergne-style lentils + basmati rice
  • Lettuce wraps with white bean dip, red onions and ricotta meatballs.

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White bean dip is one of my favourite things ever. It adds extra flavour, healthy fats and protein and goes with almost everything.
I make big batches and freeze it in silicone ice cube trays for easy peasy 1-oz cubes.
Basically a hummus recipe with white beans replacing the chickpeas.
 
  • Over-easy egg sandwich with lettuce and red onions
  • Pea and potato curry topped with sautéed zucchini
  • Corn tortillas stuffed with refried beans*, bell peppers and avocado

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Fighting inflammation today with a super strong ginger + turmeric tea.
Frozen blueberries for dessert — thawed just enough to feel like I'm eating sorbet. Except 100% fruit and 0% effort.

*Refried beans are another make-ahead menu item. I freeze them in 1-oz and 1-cup portions. Fast, easy and cheap.
 
  • Oatmeal with blueberries
  • Fresh veggies + white bean dip
  • Thin crust pizza with mushrooms, red onions, fresh mozzarella and arugula
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I didn't get enough sleep last night so I need a solid snack plan to avoid eating mindlessly. Fresh fruit, trail mix, and ready made "running water" on my desk at all times.

My go-to running water:
1L water
2 tbsp roughly ground chia seeds
1 tbsp simple syrup (I infuse mine with thyme or rosemary or mint and keep it in the freezer so it keeps forever)
1-2 tsp electrolytes, depending on heat and effort
 
  • Egg scramble with mushrooms + arugula, red onion and sprouted watercress seeds / toast with olive oil
  • Blueberry + watercress smoothie (two natural anti-histamines)
  • Chicken fajita bowls with Mexican lentils and rice, sautéed bell peppers and greens + Chipotle white bean dip
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I get big packs of chicken breasts and batch prep them. They take less time to marinate, cook, freeze and thaw if filleted in half beforehand. Plus half is often enough, depending on what it's paired with.
 
A bit more than a week before I head out and I still don't know how much food I'll need.

This calorie counter is the most detailed of all I've tried. It doesn't account for variations in terrain, so I'm thinking the safest bet is to average out common variations.

This brings me to 8500 calories per day.

Still exploring how energy requirements compound over time.
 
Trekking food prep


Fast fuelling:
  • Energy balls
  • Corn flour + chia seeds + honey in water
  • Hydrate with electrolytes + chia + honey
  • Protein bars
  • Dates

Meals:
  • Coconut chia pudding with toasted oats, honey + blueberries
  • Wraps with almond butter and honey
  • Wraps with spiced sprouted beans and greens, hemp hearts, olive oil
  • Spiced toasted corn flour + chia pudding with hemp hearts, olive oil

Snacks:
  • Trail mix
  • Muffins
  • Dates + almond butter
  • Blueberries
  • Coconut chips


Packing list:
  • Energy balls
  • Savory whole grain carrot + zucchini muffins
  • Tortillas
  • Almond butter
  • Chia seeds, roughly ground
  • Toasted corn flour
  • Toasted oats
  • Honey
  • Coconut milk
  • Coconut chips
  • Trail mix
    - almonds
    - macademia
    - raisins
    - cranberries
    - candied ginger
    - dark chocolate
  • Dates
  • Olive oil
  • Hemp hearts
  • Turmeric
  • Spices (pre-mix cumin, paprika, garlic )
  • Salt
  • Electrolytes
  • Tea (for cold brew)
  • Prepackaged protein/energy bars
  • Freeze dried blueberries
  • Carrots for the first 2 days
  • Seeds for sprouting as I go: watercress, lentils, beans, mustard greens
 
This is really interesting, thank you for sharing. I'll definitely take some inspiratron from this thread for my next hike.

Good luck on the trail! I hope your planning pays off.
 
Packing up and heading out tomorrow!

Here's the heat stable energy ball recipe I finally landed on.

Low histamine, gluten free, and will *hopefully* hold their shape in a hot backpack for 5 days. I'll send an update when I get back.

INGREDIENTS
• 1 1/2 cup GF rolled oats
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup hemp hearts
• 1/2 cup pitted dates
• 3 tbsp almond butter
• 1/3 cup cacao butter, melted
• 2 tbsp ground chia seeds
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

For coating:
• 1/4 cup extra shredded coconut

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Pulse up the dry ingredients in a food processor, just to mix. Add everything but the shredded coconut for coating. Blend until it makes a thick dough that holds together when pressed. Dry-ish is better than sticky wet. Add more oats if needed.

Form 1-inch balls, pressing hard to compact each one. Roll in shredded coconut.

Place them in a single layer on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Freeze for at least 2 hours (I did 24) to really fix that fat.

If I were keeping these as a pre or post workout snack, I'd leave them in the freezer so they last forever.

For the trek, I've packed them directly with the shredded coconut. This way if one gets squished it'll coat itself and avoid a big mushy mess. Worst case scenario is I end up with a pretty delicious crumble.

Dark chocolate chunks would probably be delicious if heat wasn't an issue.
 
Spongebob Squarepants Good Luck GIF

Good luck tomorrow!
 
Oooh yes, I also enjoy hiking and this looks very yummy and good! Looking forward to the update for how it all went for you!!
 
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