Killer foods to bring in the alpine

New Alpinism has a section on calories vs weight vs benefit if you have it

MacP wrote:This was what I came up with for a 3 night stay to maximize calorie/weight

If your goal is to maximize the calories-to-weight ratio then bring olive oil, butter, dark chocolate, macadamias, cashews and triple-cream brie. Maybe all mixed together. But I don't think that's what the OP meant by "killer foods".

I remember reading about a mountaineer who would bring hollowed out onions filled with mayonnaise. I get the high calories of the mayo, but why the onion?!

J mac wrote:I remember reading about a mountaineer who would bring hollowed out onions filled with mayonnaise. I get the high calories of the mayo, but why the onion?!

gotta pack the mayo in something! But seriously, this sounds so unappealing to me.

J mac wrote:I remember reading about a mountaineer who would bring hollowed out onions filled with mayonnaise. I get the high calories of the mayo, but why the onion?!

Thanks, now I will not be able to stomach any food for the whole weekend. Saved me a few pounds!

Flour & yeast. Make fresh bread ie pizza, cinnamon buns, tuna melts over a whisper light.

Flour is worth it's weight in gold once you get used to baking over a stove

sheet cook bacon (slowly) in the oven, halfway through crack the door to dry it out a touch...
bonus, cover it in a bit of cayenne pepper and brown sugar prior to cooking.

+ a million for justins peanut butter packets (chocolate hazelnut is like crack and make you a better climber)

whiskey - buy a pint of jim beam, drink it, then use the plastic container to fill with buffalo trace - its hard to beat for the price and weight.

Martin le Roux wrote: If your goal is to maximize the calories-to-weight ratio then bring olive oil, butter, dark chocolate, macadamias, cashews and triple-cream brie. Maybe all mixed together. But I don't think that's what the OP meant by "killer foods".

For sure. I suppose I should have said "optimize a balance between caloric density and having tasty food." The recipes in there were quite good and contained stuff like concentrated tomato paste that were heavy but definitely worth it.

J mac wrote:I remember reading about a mountaineer who would bring hollowed out onions filled with mayonnaise. I get the high calories of the mayo, but why the onion?!

Slap that into some crusty bread and sign me up.

Dirtbaggiest = can o beans and stale bread or ramen
Classy Dirtbag = shells with cheese (I like Annie's brand) and a can or pouch of tuna. Warm filling and tasty. You don't need the milk or butter, just throw the powder in and it's great
Classiest = pre-cooked jasmine or brown rice in the pouch with trader joe's peppered smoked salmon and an avocado -- though the avo's are hard to transport

PB & Honey Sammie after it's been smooshed in your pack still good!
The trader joes dried fruit (just mango, coconut strips, omega raw trail mix packs) are my constants.

Someone mentioned snickers. In winter The dark Milky Way and snickers have a different type of nougut that doesn't freeze as solid as the standard bars. I prefer the dark Milky Way so I don't chip a tooth on a frozen peanut

my favorite breakfast ive made with little to no mess and fairly light is best in winter. I buy a quality smoked salmon fillet, bagels and honey and nut cream cheese. throw the bagel over the flame to get it somewhat toasted, slather it in cream cheese, put on as much smoked salmon as you like. so good.

another good one is to get shredded cheese, bagels and pre cooked bacon. i bring a small skillet (just big enough for one bagel half to fit in it) that is well worth its weight. first i cook the bacon. then i toast both bagel halves. then i make a pile of cheese which is about the diameter of the bagel and will be about a half in thick when melted. as it starts bubbling and looking liquidy, i take half a bagel and set it on top of the cheese (still in the skillet). spin the bagel around on top of the cheese until the cheese is stuck to the bagel, then quickly remove it. throw your bacon on and the other half of the bagel and it makes a great breakfast sandwich.

both of these require very little weight (when compared with other standards like pb, raisins and tortillas) but some prep.

Dog Turds :)
Seriously - that's what they were called in the old trappers magazine I found the recipe in :). The original is basically pemmican (dried meat, nuts, berries, and suet) like the old mountain men made - but you can use pretty much anything. I use a food grinder and grind up dried meat - dried fruits - nuts - peanut butter - pretty much whatever you like that's dried so it doesn't spoil quickly - the dried pineapple and other dried fruits taste great. Mix in enough peanut butter - Nutella or whatever to stick it all together - roll it out and cover it with powdered sugar (it then looks like a dog turd :) ). It will keep a really long time in the freezer and several days in a zip lock baggie in your pack. Calorie count is off the charts depending what all you throw in it. Taste can be awesome to not so much as well.

Seth Jones wrote: Sounds promising. Where can I find the nutritional facts?

Good question! On the packaging of the product. Heh. Thanks for pointing it out. I also hand code websites in html5 using text editor the Oldskool way. Some updates are in order, so I will add the nutritional labels to the site asap. Keep checking:

www.backpackerpucks.com

Or trust my fine sense of taste and order some! (Or schedule some climbs and I will bring them with to share.)

+2 for macadamia nuts. Lightweight and freaking loaded with monosaturated fats. One of the most calorie dense foods on the planet.

Salami/summer sausage and cheese.

I recently became a fan of Big Sur bars. Very tasty, easy to pack and tons of calories.

Andrew Shoemaker wrote:+2 for macadamia nuts. Lightweight and freaking loaded with monosaturated fats. One of the most calorie dense foods on the planet.

I had a Macnut farm when I was living in Hawaii. God damn did I gain weight so fast... wow!They are so good though!!!! Esp freshly roasted still warm...

Really like the super berry ProBars, dried meats, oatmeal, rasins, chocolate, macadamians, packages of tuna and chicken, cous cous, quinoa, etc

Scotch.

Growing up, I remember a story my dad used to tell about one of the times he climbed Rainer. One of his partners, an elite alpinist with several Himalaya ticks, is really struggling on summit day (unusual). When they get to the top, he throws down his pack and pulls out a full watermelon, which he had cut in half and stashed 4 Rainer beers inside. Now that's good eats!