That Last Lunch

[miles2go]

Howdy all,

I've had a rough week - had to put my only immediate family member, my 16 year-old cat down last Monday and had planned for a vacation for this week and part of next week's beforehand. I haven't been eating well and all that, but plan to do so in the near future. I'm going to hike on a remote island off Maine's coast and plan not to take the stove this time. It's only for one night, two days, there are no car ferries, it's only the backpack and I'm trying to figure out what the best thing would be for that lunch on the second day.

Anyone got any ideas? It's all about the not-gorp at this point, because I'm doing that, the thermos filled with soup, the sandwich and the salad and the breakfast bars for all the rest of it.

TIA!

Margaret

[tarnalberry]

Howdy all,

I've had a rough week - had to put my only immediate family member, my 16 year-old cat down last Monday and had planned for a vacation for this week and part of next week's beforehand. I haven't been eating well and all that, but plan to do so in the near future. I'm going to hike on a remote island off Maine's coast and plan not to take the stove this time. It's only for one night, two days, there are no car ferries, it's only the backpack and I'm trying to figure out what the best thing would be for that lunch on the second day.

Anyone got any ideas? It's all about the not-gorp at this point, because I'm doing that, the thermos filled with soup, the sandwich and the salad and the breakfast bars for all the rest of it.

TIA!

Margaret

I don't have a stove yet, so all the backpacking and day hiking I do (see my post on the August Hike-a-thon) has uncooked food. What I take:

• "non-perishable" fruits and veggies (bananas, apples, baby carrots, sugar snap peas)
  
• beef jerky (oberto, tillamook nuggets, and whole foods make gluten-free versions if you don't have time to make your own)
  
• energy bars (I like Clif Nectar bars while I'm on the trail)
  
• dried fruit (large bits - espectially mango!)
  
• crackers (flax crackers in particular)
  
• a little bit of chocolate for a snack
  
• tuna in a pouch
  

[DingoGirl]

I haven't backpacked in years....am living vicariously through others who do it! Just wanted to say I'm so sorry about your cat....my two "immediate" family members are dogs.....

Have a great trip!

[miles2go]

I haven't backpacked in years....am living vicariously through others who do it! Just wanted to say I'm so sorry about your cat....my two "immediate" family members are dogs.....

Have a great trip!

Thanks much, Tiffany and Susan! I am all over the suggestions that Tiffany posted, (thanks) and am going to adopt a puppy when the time is right.

[schuyler]

Tiffany had some great ideas. I haven't backpacked since going gluten-free, so I can't think of anything to add.

I am really sorry about your cat; I know how hard it is to lose a pet. Since I'm only 21, and not married, my baby is my puppy. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him (I've only had him 2 weeks, and I don't know what I did before he came into my life).

Have fun backpacking and let us know how it goes.

Danielle

[hez]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is hard to lose a beloved friend and pet.

I hope you have a great time backpacking. Unfortunately, I have nothing to add to Tiffany's great list.

Hez

[miles2go]

Thanks for all the kind thoughts. I didn't end up going on my hike because I wasn't mentally prepared, but also because I got adopted by a cat who needed a home. Life is funny sometimes and Isle au Haut will be there for me to hike in my lifetime. Maybe this fall.

I've been following a strict diet of no grains, lectins, nightshades, dairy, personal or common allergens and that has made a huge difference, along with the food diary. There really is a lot to eat and like any good diet, I'm cheating with things except for gluten on the seventh day (but not really that much).

Many thanks to Ursula and others for this approach. Most of the meals are monomeals, where I eat a lot of one food and then figure out how well it works for me. I know my nutritionist would be appalled. I've never been conclusively dx'd with celiac, but am very atopic, don't want to mess with the gluten issue and really have found that gluten-free is tastier, if a little harder, than the gluteny world. Benadryl is always by my side. Has anyone else tried this approach with success? I've heard that allergies come and go in roughly seven-year cycles, is that true?

I remain cautiously experimental and probably on this diet for a good 3-6-12 months.

TIA!

Margaret

[eleep]

Speaking of stoves -- not to hijack this thread -- however, there are some excellent websites on making your own cheap backpacking stove out of things like tuna/catfood cans. My hiking partner and I needed to fly with an unused camp stove because of the restrictions on bringing fuel (even the residue in a fuel bottle would have set off the sensors at the airport), so we made one of these and it worked extremely well. I don't have the links anymore, but I think there was a Backpacker Magazine contest or something like that -- so you might do a search on that.

Missed the August-hike-a-thon thread -- I'll have to check it out, Tiffany, because I'm living vicariously this month -- it's too hot for hiking down here right now and my knee was too injured to do the Adirondacks trip earlier in the month.

eleep

[miles2go]

Speaking of stoves -- not to hijack this thread -- however, there are some excellent websites on making your own cheap backpacking stove out of things like tuna/catfood cans. My hiking partner and I needed to fly with an unused camp stove because of the restrictions on bringing fuel (even the residue in a fuel bottle would have set off the sensors at the airport), so we made one of these and it worked extremely well. I don't have the links anymore, but I think there was a Backpacker Magazine contest or something like that -- so you might do a search on that.

Missed the August-hike-a-thon thread -- I'll have to check it out, Tiffany, because I'm living vicariously this month -- it's too hot for hiking down here right now and my knee was too injured to do the Adirondacks trip earlier in the month.

eleep

Feed cat. Clean cat food tin. Insert flammables. (Do they have a problem with Sterno?) Set food-a-cookin'.

Yes, you herd it here, first, maybe second. :}

[eleep]

Now, if only the cat could be trusted to come along on a hike, things would be just dandy! Speaking as someone who's been fighting the urge to get a rebound dog lately!

eleep

[tarnalberry]

The homemade cat-food cans actually require a little bit of care (you need to make the air holes the right distribution and size for the fuel you're using. (Someone once sent me the instructions... I can try to find them if you're interested.) But you can use a number of types of liquid fuel. The thing is, the flame is totally non-adjustable once the thing's been built, and burn times are fairly short. Long enough to easily boil water though, given appropraite fuel (heck, you technically can use 151, but it apparently leaves a residue), but not a lot else.