SteveBoal wrote:
But on the downside the package seems wasteful and, while reading the nutritional labeling on the back I was startle to discovered that a "two serving" backpacker dinner had a total of 600 Calories. That's ABSURD
That is absurdly low! As Gerald said, its very easy to carry a liquid fat source like olive oil or the oil of your choice. Animal fat will keep if its rendered (like lard, or beef tallow). In my bannock mix, lard is already cut into the mix at home.
I carry olive oil in narrow mouth Nalgenes (the only leak-proof containers I have found that I can trust), and add a generous amount to my dehydrated one pot meals for dinner, and fry up Ovaeasy eggs and pancakes in olive oil in the morning. I pour by eye, but keep an eye on the graduated measures on the side of the Nalgene. If there will be lots of fish meals to fry up in the pan, I allocate 50 ml per day on a trip. If no fish or only occasional, about 30-40ml per day.
I tried the Mountain House and other meals, but find the salt content repellant. Ya I
can eat them but I like my home and grocery store dehydrated mixes better, and adding olive oil to my one pot meals makes them come alive with flavour and texture.
Lots of fat is very good, at home or in the bush. Fat won't make you fat, it's the carbs, but that’s another topic!
I read a lot of history of the Canadian bush, and what is a constant theme about food and diet, is how everyone talks about how much meat and fat they eat, and how good and strong it makes them. In the literature, new folks to the bush initially balk at the diet and don't consume much meat and fat, until they start to get ground down by the toughness of life and travel, and they remark at the incredible stamina and good health of the northern bush people. Then they always shift their diet to heavy on the meat and fats, and the new-comers remark about how it changed their life, and how much better they feel, and how they can start to keep up with the hard core travelers.
I still bring lots of carbs (rice, pasta, baked beans in my dinners, and granola and pancakes and jam for breakfast), but I always top up the fat generously with olive oil.
Most folks are not doing expedition level tripping for a month or more. Read their accounts, and its just about standard operating procedure that the diet is high fat: vegetable oils, lard and butter. Expeditioners tend to fade and drag their butts and be miserable without a high fat diet.
I cannot imagine being a vegetarian. But if a veggie, I recommend a high fat diet, and olive oil is my best recommendation for the fat – its incredibly good for you.