Good Eats.....AT style!

Howdy all,

Only 50 more days left to the big hike! Still have a final gear check with a friend who has hiked the whole Appalachian Trail back in 2002 (Bill Tilt...aka Yossarian). He definelty has helped me immensely with advice on what to buy and take for the trail, and for encouragment along the way. Thanks Bill!

Well back to the main point of the blog...cooking! You may wonder what do hikers do for food along the trail, since you obviously can't carry 4-6 months of food with you! Well you basically take 5-6 days of food with you and then resupply on the trail at different trail towns. You can either buy food at grocery stores (which i will do) or have family at home mail you "mail drops", which the post office will hold for you till you pick them up. They are basically just big boxes of food and extra gear that you may need. Then if you don't need all the items in the box, you simply mail them further ahead on the trail to another trail town (now it is called a "bounce box").

Some of the most popular foods eaten on the trail are (in no particular order):

1. Poptarts
2. Instant Oatmeal
3. Trail Mix
4. Beef Jerky and Summer Sausages
5. Peanut Butter
6. Cheese and Crackers
7. Snicker bars or other candy bars
8. Dried or fresh fruit
9. Power bars
10. Mac and Cheese
11. Instant potatoes
12. Instant Rice or Ramen Noodles.
13. Ben and Jerry Ice Cream (probably the most sought after item in towns!)
14. AYCE restraunts (All You Can Eat Buffets... when you are in a trail town)

Yummy eh! Plus i have found a website (freezerbagcooking.com), which gives recipes to make certain dishes with dehydrated and instant food products stored in freezer bags. Just add 1-2 cups of boiling water to the package, let sit for 5-15 mins. and then dig in! This is what i will do for the most part for dinner.

Finally, here is a video of my cooking system that i will be using on the trail. It weighs only 3.5 oz (not counting the fuel). Hope you enjoy! Good Eats!