foods for road trip

[forrest]

Taking a road trip where there are not many stores along the way.  What type of non perishable foods are good and have a lot of carbs to keep me going doing about 60-70 miles per day.  I don't want to take cooking equipment, stove or such items that will weigh me down.  I only am pulling a single wheel trailer with 70lb capacity.   Any suggestions would be welcomed.  thanks

[Pat Lamb]

Without cooking?  You've set an interesting problem.  60-70 miles a day (within CONUS) usually got us through at least one small town with a grocery store (which does NOT say anything about the quality of the groceries!).  How many days do you expect to have to pack for?

With cooking, I'd say rice or noodles of some sort.  (Have you checked out the discussions of alcohol stoves on the Gear forum?)

Without cooking, I'd go with our normal lunch routine of fruit (oranges, apples, bananas in that order); cheese; dried or canned meat; and of course the old standby, PBJ.  You might want to use bagels or english muffins instead of bread, as they'll normally pack and ride better, and of course bagels have a ton of carbs.

I could never stomach more than one or two "energy bars" per day.  Luna bars are my favorite, as they almost taste like food (unlike, say, Powerbars), and they don't melt and get too gooey.  But for a day or two, I suppose it's possible to eat nothing else; just make sure you have plenty of fluids to wash them down with.

[John Nelson]

Take a half-dozen energy bars of your choice, mainly as emergency food in case you find no other food that day (e.g., everything is closed or out of business when you arrive at your destination for the day). You're really hoping never to use these energy bars.

If you expect to have access to food at the beginning and end of each day, then all you need to take is lunch and snacks. Possibilities are fruit, raisins, cookies, carrots, cheese (the harder the cheese, the longer it will last), prepackaged sandwiches (my usual), chocolate milk (if you buy it in the morning, it will keep until lunch). If water is unsure, take along plenty of fluids. Possibilities here are extra water bottles, water bladders, and bottles of sports drinks.

It's not really that hard. I took a tour recently where for several days in a row there wasn't even so much as a building in 80 miles for several days on end (but there was food at the beginning and end of each day).

[Mark Manley]

Muesli is a pretty good food any time of the day, take some powdered milk to mix in and add water.

[bogiesan]

Taking a road trip where there are not many stores along the way.  What type of non perishable foods are good and have a lot of carbs to keep me going doing about 60-70 miles per day.  I don't want to take cooking equipment, stove or such items that will weigh me down.  I only am pulling a single wheel trailer with 70lb capacity.   Any suggestions would be welcomed.  thanks

A gallon of honey although two or three pounds of sugar would also suit your needs. Drop by any bike shop, REI, Costco, or supermarket and stock up on a wide variety of energy bars. Look for uncoated but get a variety of flavors. And don't concentrate only on carbs; you need fats and proteins, too, to replenish all of your systems and to keep this boring cuisine palatable. You must have water, too. Water is heavy: 8 pounds/gallon. Compared to the calories in sugars, water is a huge waste of space and mass.

This sounds like it's your first self-supported touring experience. If you're loading up your trailer to its 70 pound capacity, and not going into Arctic weather conditions, without allowing for a tiny alcohol stove and a titanium cup you're probably way overpacked by a factor of two.

david boise ID

[staehpj1]

I don't want to take cooking equipment, stove or such items that will weigh me down.  I only am pulling a single wheel trailer with 70lb capacity.   Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Lots of stuff is fine to eat cold.  Hard salami, hard cheeses, foil packed tuna or salmon, dried hummus, tortillas, bagels, pitas, peanut butter, honey, jelly, cookies, various baked goods, nuts, trail mix, dried fruits, jerky, and lots of fresh veggies are a few of the many things that work out well.  Even things like canned foods normally eaten hot (beans, stew, etc,) are fine if heavy to carry.

On your comment about weight...    How far will you be between towns?  A 70 pound limit is normally far from being a reason to skip cooking.  Even when I badly overpacked on my first tour (Trans America) and was carrying a 10 pound tent and other extra community gear for our three person group I don't think I ever had close to 70 pounds.

Food for thought wrt packing...
I pre-packed for my month long Pacific Coast trip (I leave next week) and total gear weight including panniers but not food or water is about 22 pounds.  That is for cooking and camping.  My cooking and eating gear weighs 11 ounces not counting a bottle of Heet for fuel (a full bottle is about 12 ounces).  If you need to carry fuel for multiple weeks without restocking butane works out better weight wise.  Granted that is for a very temperate climate, but I am not trimmed down to the bare minimum.  I still have some luxury items like a larger than necessary camera, an extra lens, and a down vest to be used as a pillow.  I am even carrying an extra set of footwear.  Eliminating that stuff would easily get me below 20 pounds.

See my gear list at:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Al3ij8_Ec_tndG8xWWJZZFVWejdGVmNFQ1NXbktWcFE&hl=en_US#gid=0
and more info about the trip at:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Eating

Bottom line...  For me, there are a lot of places to skimp on weight before forgoing cooking.

[Kittery Rider]

The plastic tubes for backpacking that hold PBJ are great.  Peanut butter and nutella is really hihg in calories and carbs.  On pita etc..  a good way to stay powered up.  while bpacking in the mountains, we are trying for close to 5000 calories a day, so it's always a struggle to carry and eat enough to avoid bonking.  Power bars, cliff bars etc... I eat those every  couple of hours on the trail.