FOOD on the Colorado Trail!

What do you eat while you’re hiking? It’s usually the first question someone asks after they realize that I’m hiking out away from roads, towns and my car for more than a few days at a time. It’s also one of the most fun to answer.

I love hearing about what other hikers eat, and I’m always excited to share what I like to eat while hiking. The answer is really simple- I try to eat the same type of meals I eat at home, just made more convenient while avoiding things that need refrigerated. Like most hikers, I take regular food and break it down by day or meal to make it easy to eat on trail. I also eat granola bars, candy, peanut butter and anything else I don’t get tired of in repetition day after day. All of this plus some vitamins and powdered coffee need to fit in a odor proof bag. Here’s what around 5-6 days looks like:

I am not taking my camp stove on the Colorado Trail. I’m going stoveless for the convenience of not having to take time to cook. I will also save some weight in my pack by not carrying it the whole 500+ miles. Instead I will be cold soaking my food. Which means I have meals made of starches that will absorb water and soften over a few hours without heat. I experimented with a few grains around the house to see what worked. My meals for the first stretch are based on: couscous, instant rice, instant potatoes, and oatmeal.

I had some fun creating different meals based on these starches. The goal was to spice things up enough to keep it interesting by adding ingredients like nuts, dried veggies, dried fruit and seasonings. When I eat one meal, I’ll add the water to the next meal. It will have plenty of time to soak everything up while I walk. Here’s what I mixed up for the trail:

Breakfast Bowl

1/3 cup oatmeal

1 Tablespoon Couscous

1/4 cup walnuts

Dash Cinnamon

Freeze dried fruit

Taco Bowl

1/3 cup instant rice

1 Tablespoon couscous

1/4 cup peanuts

Sun dried tomatoes

Taco Seasoning

Trader Joes Elote Seasoning

Taco Bell Sauce Pack

Pad Thai

1/3 cup instant rice

1/4 cup Couscous

1/4 cup peanuts

Pinch- of 5 spice

Dried broccoli

Soy Sauce Pack

Coconut Oil

Italian Couscous

2 Tablespoon Couscous

1 Tablespoon Bread Crumbs

1 Tablespoon Oatmeal

1/4 cup walnuts

Sun dried Tomatoes

Dried broccoli

Vegan Chicken Season Salt Trader Joes

Italian Mrs. Dash

Garlic

Louisiana Rice

1/3 cup instant rice

1 Tablespoon Couscous

1/4 Cup Peanuts

Sun dried Tomatoes

Vegan Chicken Season Salt- Trader Joe’s

Coconut Oil

I added spice that I had around the house. It is a great way to mimic your cooking at home. I only created 2 of each meal (excluding breakfast), so I don’t get tired of any one thing. It will also give me something to look forward to!

You’ll notice there’s no meat. I eat mostly vegetarian with occasional fish and shrimp (pescatarian). I added nuts to each meal to replace some of the fullness from meat. This is a trade I do at home quite often too. I also added coconut oil packs to half the meals. The goal is to have more energy from good food and offset some of the unhealthy snacks I’ll have along the way.

Let me know if you give any of these recipes a try! I’ll keep you posted on trail and let you know which ones end up being my favorite!