Thinking about meals on hikes/hunting. My wife and I are gong to backpack the AT in TN soon and I'm looking at our food list. I really don't like Mountainhouse and have tried several other similar competitors. Havent found anything I'm crazy about. I've been looking at the Greenbelly bars and an considering giving them a whirl. Reviews on the GB site are all "great" but thought I'd ask the folks here. I trust you guys more than random internet comments.

I'd also be interested in what you guys eat for your dinner/supper meal. I have my breakfast, lunch, snack dialed in for me and the wife.

Thanks.

Mountain House tastes like gourmet cooking when your hungry enough.

Apparently I've never been that hungry.

Buddy brought some up for an alpine hunt this week. Haven’t tried any yet but is fairly lightweight for what it is.

BW, guess I’m not sure what you’re after meal-wise...

I’m with you, I can’t eat the Mountain House, and gave it up years ago. As far as I’m concerned, toxic chit.

The green belly bars look like a supplement to ordinary meals... is that what you gather?

What’s your AT trip entail? How many days?

I really like many of Outdoor Herbivore and Good To Go Meals...

I’ve used greenbelly bars as meal replacement and they’re great. My appetite goes down when I’m on the trail and these, in addition to other bars, do nicely for me.

I’ve gone to bars & custom trail mix for breakfast & lunch then a more substantial meal for dinner just to keep my calories up.

Brad - they advertise the bars as a meal replacement - "stoveless backpack meals".

As to the trip, my wife, and by extension me, is trying to hike all 900+ miles of trails in the Smokys. We have remote pieces of the AT left and a few longer hikes on the Carolina side. We are getting close. The only ones that remain are longer than I want to day hike - and we've done several 20+ mile days in the last 2 years. At 55, my feet don't want to function after 20 miles. So, I hatched the idea of backpacking to get the rest. Bought her an Osprey pack (Aerial I think) and working through things to make it as comfortable as possible for her. I foresee a few long days and A. don't want to cook much, B. want something that is good. Plus, I'm thinking this works for my elk trips.

We haven't settled on an AT route yet but am leaning toward 2 trips. Start in the middle (Newfound Gap) and hike to Fontana Dam (~ 35 miles) on trip 1. Trip 2 starts at Newfound Gap and hike towards Davenport gap, also ~ 35 miles. Thinking those are 3 day trips each. Starting at Fontana means a 3000+ foot elevation gain over about 6 miles but the first 2 miles or so is the bulk of the climb. The Smokys aren't high but they do get steep. We have a hike or two on the Carolina side that likely involve a backpack and a boat ride across Fontana.

Don't tell my wife but I may use her hiking goals as elk season prep. We are headed to Colorado in 2 weeks on a hiking vacation. There might be a bit of elk scouting, or I mean hiking, that week. <G>

Thanks for the food ideas - I'll check them out.

I'm headed in that same direction if I can find something that tastes better than Mountainhouse and gives me a better fuel source. My normal elk day starts 2 hours before sunrise and ends 2 hours after. I really don't feel like even cooking water. About day 2 or 3, I've been known to eat a couple PBJ samiches, a bar of some sort, and water from inside my sleeping bag........... I normally take every 3-4 morning off if I haven't killed an elk. On those days, its a bunch of calories, water, and sleep. Then repeat <G>

Nice!

I walked from Springer Mountain, GA to WV in the summer of 1977 with a friend. I turned 16 years old at Bly Gap. I think I went through Newfoundland Gap on the 2nd of July 1977, because I was definitely at Davenport Gap on the 4th of July where we two long haired Yankees were invited to a wonderful down-home family reunion, repleat with moonshine (my first taste). “Southern Hospitality” is no myth!

Anyway, the Appalachians are fantastic training for elk hunting... Westerners really don’t appreciate how hard the hiking there can be.

I appreciate the info on the greenbelly bars... I’ve been looking for something like these for lunches. I eat a plant based diet 99% of the time which eliminates a lot of the backpack foods available.

backpackers' corollary:

The quality of the food is directly proportional to the distance from the road.

Ive used greenbelly bars on my last two elk hunts. Ive been satisfied with them with one exception, the chocolate banana flavor was horrible.

Thanks for the info! Banana flavored anything sucks......

Green belly bars are what I pack for lunch. I won’t say they are amazing, but not terrible either. Seem to keep me going just fine. The chocolate/banana is my favorite!

My food for the day:
Power Bar once I get going (Clif bar this year)
Nuts/dried fruit/Ghirardelli dark choc square (snack)
Green Belly bar for lunch
Nuts/dried fruit/beef stick (snack)
Freeze dried meal for dinner (Peak refuel this year)
Small snickers
Coffee
Electrolyte replacement powder

Comes out to 1.5lb/day of food.

I tried the Green Belly powdered drink. Oooh, not good. I was hoping to use them, but I won’t be taking any.

Agreed. They warm you right up. After 3 or 4 days though the gut tells you to lay off them.

Scrap the Mountain House and Go Peak Refuel.

Cornbread wrapped in Saran wrap. Easy to make and the packaging weighs nothing and easy to carry out.

I am not a fan of all that powerbbars, cliff bar stuff, and the likes. However I swear by GU Energy Chews I like the Watermelon and the Blueberry. Stinger Makes some good ones as well I like the Grapefruit flavor in their chews.

Those energy chews do weird things to me. Makes me floaty and jittery. I wish they didn't...

Doesn't surprise me. It is like rocket fuel for humans! Are you eating all in the package in one sitting?

No. Just small pieces. One trip. Had to eat them as it was part of the ration on the mountain!

It was weird. Balance was impacted. My pard guzzled them and is fine.

All good. Just a side note....

You're just lucky, your recreational drugs are cheap.

Laffin'...

Wouldn't know but it's a good buzz in a different weird way....

Was looking at the Peak Refuel a couple days ago. The goHunt guys reviewed Mtn House last week and were supposed to do Peak Refuel this week I thought. I was on board with the flavors and associated rating from last week.

The Peak Refuel meals are delicious! Give them a try for sure.

What flavors of Peak Refuel you guys like?

I only need one - I'll be eating tenderloins on Day 2 <G>

Chicken Alfredo, beef stroganoff and beef pasta marinara. The breakfast skillet is good but I normally add some hot sauce or crushed red pepper to it. I also just bought a few of the newer meals and will test those soon also. Every meal I’ve tried was pretty good so far though. Better than MH IMO.

I like them all accept the breakfast, but in fairness I don't like any of the companies out there breakfast meals. My favorite is the Chicken pesto pasta, Sweet pork and rice, and chicken and rice.

I think every Peak meal I tried was better than MH. The breakfast skillet needs some s&p, and it takes a 20 minute soak if I recall?

Definitely agree on the breakfast skillet but I always spice up my breakfast meals anyway. It takes 15 minutes. I usually share a breakfast skillet with my hunting buddies and we make breakfast burritos while glassing.

I started carrying these Greenbelly bars on hikes and while hunting/fishing last year. Taste is good and they definitely fill you up with about 600 calories per pack. If you want more protein or just a different flavor, top em with a squeeze pack of Justin's Peanut Butter. Good stuff