Trail Tuesdays: What I'm Planning To Eat On The Trail

Two weeks until the trail. For those of you who binge-watched Fuller House this weekend, HOLY CHALUPAS.

Since my last pre-trail update, I've ordered a backpack and a waterproof phone case, put in notice at work, arranged my transportation from the airport to the trail, starting weighing my gear, and stocked up on a whole lot of food stuff.

Things I have yet to do? Test out my tent. Figure out how to hang my food bag. Decide which pair of shoes to take. Put together boxes for mail drops. The list goes on...

As for today's post, it's going to be about food because food is the best.

So food... Everyone seems to have opinion on this universal subject. Here are some of the guidelines I followed in deciding what to bring:

1. Bring on the fatty foods
Weight for weight, fats have more than twice the number of calories that carbs and proteins do. This makes fatty foods (nuts, oils, chocolate(!)) the best option to reduce pack weight and keep you full.

2. Have easy/no prep options
From past experiences in hiking, there are times when you just don't feel like cooking. I guess that's kind of life in general, except in hiking there's no bag of chips in the cabinet (so guilty of this one).

3. When in doubt, bring on the vitamins
To avoid stress fractures, anemia, etc.

4. Go for variety where you can
Partly for nutrition, partly for keeping spirits up.

5. What I'll be eating on the trail
Breakfast (aka: easy carbs in the morning)
- Pop Tarts
- Granola
- Lara / Clif / Kind Bars
- Oatmeal with brown sugar

Lunch (aka: quick no-cook meals)
- Cheese and crackers (to be eaten for the first few days after any stockup)
- Tortilla and peanut butter
- (I could probably use more help on super easy lunches here if anyone has ideas!)

Dinner (aka: a little hot sustenance) 
- Couscous with lots of olive oil
- Lentils (also with lots of olive oil)
- Mac & Cheese (maybe with some olive oil)

Snacks (aka: things I can eat while walking)
- Lara / Clif / Kind Bars
- Chocolate Bars (I read somewhere to bring twice the amount of chocolate you think you'll need and from past hiking experiences, that's the thing that always goes first)
- Nuts

Vitamins (aka: things to help prevent bad things like anemia and stress fractures)
- Iron
- B12
- Calcium