Food is one area I don't worry as much about ultralight. I tried it, and it made the trip less fun.


Breakfast: coffee extract or tea bags, honey packets
granola mixed in the bag with dried milk, brown sugar, raisins, etc. An apple or orange the first morning.

Lunch: tortillas, salami, cheese, wheat thins, peanut butter, soup in cold weather (Knorr brand), green peppers and carrots (keep whole for as long as possible), ranch dressing in packets. SNICKERS bars and Fig Newtons! (can't have too many)

Dinner: freeze-drieds (I stick to a few favorites that are edible). Barilla dried tortellini(!!), Liptons or Zatarain's rice mixes as a base, with retort pouch chicken, tuna or shrimp, or (on the first night) smoked sausage. I also use tomato paste in a tube, olive oil and spices to adjust.

In warm weather I don't always cook, or dinner may be soup with more lunch stuff. In cold weather there will be hot drinks for after dinner, and there is always a small Nalgene of good bourbon. Dinner the first night is often a huge sub from Jimmy John's and Doritos. Possibly a tallboy beer or two, depending upon length of trip and elevation multiplied by distance from car.

For packets of everything, this place is cool: www.minimus.biz