Recipes To Keep Hikers Fueled

Yes, it's true. You can, on occasion, manage to get a pizza delivered while backpacking the backcountry. All you need is a credit card, a robust phone signal and a willingness to hike to the hard road for your rendezvous with the delivery angel.

But more often than not, your phone will be as silent as a tomb, and your credit card will be more useful as an instrument for removing the barbed stingers of bees. In circumstances such as these, a large deluxe pizza - pineapple, no anchovies - is most likely to be enjoyed in your dreams.

But not necessarily; as the popularity of backcountry travel has grown, so has the number of delicious recipes that will satisfy not only the body's requirement for fuel but also the taste buds of the most discriminating deep-woods gourmand. And believe it or not, one of these is for pizza.

A Caloric Inferno

Hiking, even over the mild topography of Florida, expends a respectable number of calories. According to several different Web-based calculators, a 180-pound trekker burns in the neighborhood of 3,900 calories during the course of an eight-hour walk.

Add a moderately-weighted daypack to the hiking scenario and the calories burned almost double to exceed 6,000.

Once you're up to speed on the fuel economy of the human body, it becomes clear why hikers embarking on multi-day trips must give serious consideration to the amount of calories they will require to stay healthy and energized for the duration of their trek. The backcountry is no place to run out of gas.

To fuel their adventurous outings, the food choices of hikers range from the Spartan to the elaborate. Some hikers - even those of the long-distance variety - are content with a steady diet of GORP - and acronym that, depending on whom you ask, stands for Granola, Oats, Raisins and Peanuts or Good Old Raisins and Peanuts.

More elaborate are the store-bought, freeze-dried meals that offer menu choices on the order of beef stroganoff, chicken and dumplings, blueberry cheesecake and crème brulee. Virtually all of these dishes are tasty, light and convenient; but somewhat pricey at around $5 per meal.

Some of this pre-packaged fare claims to contain two servings. As a 220-pound man with a backpacking caloric expense in the numerical range of the Earth's circumference, I find this claim to be amusing. Nevertheless, dehydrated trail meals have a large following, and as such are widely available for purchase from local hiking outfitters and some sporting goods stores.

Military MREs (meals ready to eat) are also an option. Although derided by members of the armed forces, they have a devoted following among overnight hikers who want real food without the hassle of cooking it. MREs are expensive, heavy and create a lot of trash that must be carried until a trash bin is encountered.

Then there are those trail aficionados who prefer to create their own backpacking fare.

Trail Fuel

GORP is classic nutritional mainstay of the trail set. Although a steady diet of it becomes tiresome after a few days, it's nutritious, requires no cooking to prepare, carries easily and can be eaten while under way. GORP, properly formulated, provides adequate amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats to power the human engine over long distances, even for those with heart and diabetic concerns.

The following GORP formula - from eatingwell.com - is one such heart- and diabetic-friendly recipe. It is low in saturated fat and cholesterol, high in antioxidants and delivers a tasty nutritional punch.

GORP

1/2 -ounce whole shelled (unpeeled) almonds

1/4 -ounce unsalted dry-roasted peanuts

1/4 -ounce dried cranberries

1 tablespoon chopped pitted dates

1 1/2 teaspoon chocolate chips

The measurements are given for ratio of ingredients purposes only. This small quantity of GORP provides only 100 total calories and doesn't begin to challenge the capacity of a snack-sized sandwich bag.

Thru-Hikers Delight

Thru-hikers are those who hike for long distances and must depend on the offerings of the local economy to replenish their supply of healthy, nutritious meals. Also, these meals must carry light and prepare as easily as boiling a cup of water.

These unique demands haven given rise to a number of delicious meals prepared from ingredients that can be found in a small grocery or even in a convenience store. The proliferation of "instant" foods has significantly widened the menu options, two of which follow:

CHICKEN AND RICE

In a Ziploc-type sandwich-sized freezer bag, combine one cup of instant rice and two packets of chicken noodle soup mix. Seal the bag and stash it in your food duffle with a foil pouch of chicken meat.

Prepare by adding one cup of boiling water to the freezer bag and letting it stand until rice has fully cooked. Stir to evenly distribute soup mix and add the chicken.

BACKPACK POT ROAST

In a sandwich-sized freezer bag, combine 1 cup instant mashed potatoes, one packet of French onion soup and one packet of vegetable soup. Add to this beef jerky, flavored as you like it, cut in to one inch squares. Seal the bag and stash it in your food duffle.

Prepare by adding somewhat more than 1 cup of boiling water to the freezer bag, stirring the mixture until the spuds are the way you like them. Add a bit more boiling water, letting it stand until the jerky and vegetables have rehydrated. Stir to evenly distribute the meat and veggies.

TRAIL PIZZA

This recipe is from South East Camper (secamper.com) and lends itself well to overnight or weekend backpacking outings. Again, you'll just boil water to prepare a pretty good pizza. The dehydrator gourmets will likely prefer to prepare their sauce at home, along with all manner of delicious toppings not mentioned here.

1 tablespoon tomato powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon basil

1/4 teaspoon oregano

red pepper flakes, pinch (optional)

salt and pepper (to taste)

Parmesan cheese

pepperoni, Slim Jim or summer sausage

pita bread (8 1-ounce minis in a package)

2-3 cups water

Put first seven ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Pack everything else separately. Heat 2 cups of water and add 1/2 cup to tomato sauce bag and mix well, add more water if required. While sauce is rehydrating, slice pepperoni or sausage. Squeeze sauce on pita bread, top with meat and cheese.