I do a fair bit of hiking in which I spend five or six days in the wilderness. I also struggle to find zone-friendly foods that can be carried for that length of time without refrigeration and still be edible. I have used those Outdoor Balance bars, they are good, but i need some other stuff too. Does anyone know of some different kinds of foods that would be suitable, or know of a zone-frendly trail mix?

to chartnell on hiking I have thought about this subject - inconclusively. When I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail (pre-Zone), I ate a home-made granola with nuts, seeds, and powdered skim milk. That sustained me pretty well after breakfast. Then I usually snacked all day on any kind of fuel I could find. For dinner I had dehydrated brown rice and beans, sometimes with TVP mixed in. Honestly, I think I was lucky to get 15% protein overall. Last fall, I hiked 600 miles from Maine to Cap Gaspe, Quebec, mostly roadwalking. I was learning to Zone at that time, and carried fish oil supplements. I carried soy protein powder which I mixed in fruit juice. I bought jerky along the way and tried to balance the protein against things like peanut butter cups, reading the carb content on the labels. There was a problem getting low glycemic carbs. During this past winter I have made snacks from powdered skim milk, protein powder (whey, soy), fructose, and nuts and/or olive oil. Search for Gary Ditta's Power Balls on the previous edition of the forum for other ideas. You will note on the Carnation instant milk label that it is almost "complete" Zone food by itself. Add some nuts or a swig of olive oil. Whey tastes good; soy protein powder can be tasteless. I have toyed with the idea of making protein bars to go along with apples or bananas. Or you could check out Atkins bars (but I haven't done that yet). Somebody once told me that peanuts are a perfect trail food. I never liked peanuts very much, but their composition shows some protein with double fat blocks. So therefore natural peanut butter has some merit. I have a jar of natural peanut butter with a serving showing P 8g, C 7g, F 16g. (However, the fiber is 3g, so the useable carbs may be only 4 g) So you could add a smidgeon of carbs to your peanut butter while eating it direct from the jar. By the same token soy nuts seem to be perfectly balanced. However I have found them to be dry and unappetising. I have a jar of unsweetened SoyNut butter with a serving showing P 10g, C 6g , F 12 g. (However, it has 5g fiber, so perhaps the net carbs is actually 1g) In that case SoyNut butter and crackers or bread - without hydrogenated oil - might be an option. Another thing you could do is hardboil some eggs, carry them with you, and eat only the whites. That might permit you to have some crackers and honey. These are just some general ideas. Not that they are incredibly appetising. If you tried to make a meal out them, it might be rough going. But if you snack every couple hours and don't permit your appetite to become ravenous, they can be tolerable. Drink plenty of water with this stuff! When I was distance hiking, I generally felt comfortable with one hot meal a day - at night. One other place you might check is The Complete Walker IV by Colin Fletcher. He has a few pages on Zoning - in fact that was my first contact with the Zone. Please let me know how it goes. I've never had a chance to confer much with hiking Zoners. Charlie

That is some excellent information, thanks! I'm not likely going hiking again until next summer so I have got some time to seek out some good zone options.

I am mainly a vegetarian, but when on a hike, I will eat the tuna packages. It's light to carry out, and a great source of protein. I find that Zoning while hiking actually keeps my energy up, although I do add in some fat blocks.

If you are hiking for a few days or longer, anything that is food will be good for you. Don't worry about not being in the zone, you are chewing up sooo many calories that you just have to fill the tank to keep from bonking. I have hiked through Nepal to the Everest Base camp, and I ate constantly but still lost weight. I ate stuff that I didn't even know, or wanted to know what it was. Somehow I doubt you will find out in any book how many Yak's balls make up a block of protein. When you are out in the wilderness, you have to enjoy it and eat whatever you want, you have earned it! When you get back to the real world, follow the zone as usually. Through hiking the Appalachian trail was easier to find food, you could descend on a town and eat a whole tray of lasagna for fun! happy hiking shiraz :0)

Whenever we hike or whenever I travel and can't risk spoilage of food (or ruin due to heat), I focus on the following: 1. The Apple/Cinnamon Zone Perfect bar. Since there is no chocolate or glaze on them to melt, this is the only snack bar I've found that works as a universal snack for me. Heat doesn't bother them. Also, since they are soy, oats, apple, and cinnamon in flavor, they can act as a snack or, for me, a light breakfast. 2. Most trail mixes don't work because of dried fruit sugar. However....almonds. The perfect snack. I like the smokehouse ones. If you need to elevate your protein a little bit to get right in the Zone, consider jerky. Almonds and beef jerky make a decent snack. Also, individually wrapped string cheese.

Iive found that if I don't stay Zoned when I'm hiking, I bonk out very very quickly & just don't make the distance. The best method I've found is preparation, preparation, preparation, in conjunction with a good home dehydrator unit. My hiking pal & I pre-cook every single meal (Zoned of course) in the weeks/months leading up to a hike, then dehyd it & pack it in snap-lock plastic bags in meal-sized portions. We've done all sorts of exotic things like chicken fricasse, thai curry, persian lamb, etc etc. We use only top-quality ingredients like lean meat & the freshest vegetables. It's often necessary to mince the meat in order to dehydrate it properly, but we've found we can dehyd almost anything. Even cheese. Not yoghurt! When we're on the hike we carry some leak-proof plastic containers, put our next meal into them an hour or so before they're needed, then reheat them at the next meal stop. Don't try to rehydrate cheese though - better eaten as cheese chips! Breakfast is done by mixing quick oats & home-dried fruit, nuts & protein powder, then adding warm or hot water. Sounds a bit gruesome when you're at home, but believe me - on the trail it's really quite yummy! Don't get too precious about things like using steel-cut oats though; they're a real pain to rehydrate! Quick-cooking are much more practical in the circumstances. For trail mix I use soy nuts combined with dried fruit (also home dehydrated) & nuts. The fruit & nuts cover up the bland taste of the soy nuts. It travels well although it does tend to make you thirsty. I like to add some salted nuts for extra flavour & to replace what I sweat out. Another good track snack is corn cheese chips: a dehydrated Zone-proportioned mixture of tasy cheese, mushed corn, chopped red or bell pepper & some seasoning. I use tasty cheese rather than the lower-fat varieties because I'm burning so much energy that I need the extra fat anyhow, plus it adds flavour. The longest self-supporting hike we've done like this is 2 weeks in the wilderness & this system worked like a dream. Good luck, HappyBiker P.S. I also use Zone bars for a quick-fix when I get the hungries, but only about half per day because they're too heavy to carry many around with me.

I haven' zoned and hiked yet..
but we did bring Fantastic brand hummus with us to hike Mt Rainier. It comes in a box and you mix it with water.. It was yummy.. light and lasted two days.. not sure of the content of it.. but you guys might want to check it out.

Just a reminder. Dehydrated foods, such as the Fantastic brand hummus Wendy mentioned, are unfav carb. Same goes for dried fruit.

Thank you for the clarification..

may I ask why dehydrating makes it unfav?