greetings youtubers welcome to another episode of outdoor enthusiasts who play with their food first off i know i still owe you the third installment in the backcountry water treatment series and i am working on that much of the research is done it's just that well we moved this year and i've been so busy getting the house set up i haven't had time for my workshop area and all of my camping stuff is still packed up eventually though the new gear loft will hopefully rise to its potential in the meantime i thought i'd do a video addressing one of the more frequent questions i get what is a full menu plan for what i would pack for a multi-day stretch specifically one that is both high density and strives to adhere to the precepts of performance nutrition for backpackers after listening to me drone on for hours about calorie density carb protein ratios and electrolytes a lot of people have asked how do you put it all together so if you like to optimize things just for the fun of it here's how i go about using the hiker food chart to make the most of my menu now start by thinking about what you like to eat for breakfast and then browse the chart for lightweight options with the nutrition you're looking for remember though that the purpose of the chart is not to pressure you into eating something you don't like because the numbers are better the whole point is to show options within the categories you choose to help maximize the performance of a menu that you wouldn't mind actually eating now personally i'm a no cook breakfast person i just don't want to spend the time in the morning i like to eat pack up and get on my way i could just wolf down a couple of bars there are ultralight options with optimal performance but i'll be eating those all day on trail so the bottom line is i like my cereal in the morning so what are the options within that specific category that's what's the charts for going step by step start on the hiker foods tab from the data menu click on sort then set the sorted column to class with the order on a to z next click add level and sort that column by calories per ounce from largest to smallest click ok and if you're at the top your chart should look like this with bars as the first category alphabetically and you can see that within their category the bars are ordered from highest caloric density to lowest meaning your lightest weight items are at the top now i was looking for serial options and at this point all i have to do is scroll down to that category and see what looks good for most people on multi-day trips your food bag will end up being the heaviest single item in your pack so looking to shave weight where there are the most savings to be had i always check out the lightest options first and from experience i know that granolas are the density champs of the cereal world and among them these green free paleo granolas are the lightest of the light well i like granola just fine so far so good but as over 177 minutes of video can attest there's more than just calories per ounce to choosing efficient effective backpacking food just to note at this point if my color-coded greeting schemes for the nutritional content columns are unfamiliar i strongly recommend watching at least the first two videos in the performance nutrition for backpackers series the ones on optimal trail fuel and optimal hike recovery also there's a video on the hiker food chart 2.0 that goes over the tabs and tools being referenced here and all these videos are linked below in the video description box and for a reminder here's what those ratings mean again and this can be found on the color keys tab within the chart and getting back to cereal amongst the high density options i next check on the carb protein ratio as discussed in the optimal trail fuel video breakfast is important to the day's performance but it's fair to point out that it is the start of the day and you haven't depleted any of your glycogen reserves yet that means i'm okay with the first meal that doesn't have to be in the optimum range for carb protein during breakfast good is probably good enough which leaves me eyeing that julie's real paleo granola at the top of the category i see a nice percentage sugar to launch me down the trail a good ratio to prepare replenishment for the glycogen i'm about to start burning and enough fat to make it hyper light to carry and a long lasting energy efficient meal right so into the bag it goes or i should say at this stage into the planner it goes if you cut and paste your items into the menu planner tool as you select them you'll get a nice running total of the nutritional content in your developing food bag that lets you know when you've met your calorie goals and helps you keep track of some important metrics like daily protein and electrolyte intake now note that the chart lists all items per the serving size given on the nutrition label well in this case that was only 190 calories and a bag at julie's reel has seven such servings that's not enough breakfast for me so what i did here was make an entry for three and a half servings and even half bag 665 calories is about what i need so when planning a menu you get to apply your own value judgments to all of these criteria if you're less concerned with weight and more interested in an optimum rated carb protein ratio then you might consider things like the bob's red mill paleo muesli or some paleo nola and of course any other option for breakfast besides just cereal some like it hot as the saying goes you can always sort the dried meals tab by class and density and then see what breakfasts look good too from there for me it's pocket snacks all the way until dinner i don't sit down to assemble or cook anything for a proper lunch as before i start by thinking about the kinds of snacks i prefer and amidst all the sweet carb-centric things i mostly eat on the trail i do like the occasional piece of meat obviously some of what we want may not fit the optimal trail fuel profile i see three options at this point first i suppose you could just deny yourself the treat in question but that's no fun don't let a spreadsheet tell you what you can't eat second you could just say screw it eat what you want an exception here and there isn't going to ruin your hike personally i like a third way try to improve the ratios a bit by using the combo calculator grabbing these alberto classic recipe smoked sausages off the top of the list i paste them into a combo calculator module as you can see all protein and no carbs the ratio is zero well given that the optimum carbon protein ratio is four how do you fix something like these sausages here well the ratio says that for every gram of protein you want four grams of carbs so multiply the eight by four and you'd need 32 grams of carbs to make a combined snack with a perfect four to one now i have another favorite trail snack that is also in balance but it happens to be in the other direction all carbs and no protein these honey stinger waffles taste good they're easy to eat in any temperature and they fit flat in your pocket so i popped one into the combo calculator to see how it combines with the albertas the overall density is still pretty high at a respectable 152 calories per ounce and now these horrible ratios have blended together inside my stomach resulting in a decent 2.3 to 1. so i'll have this combo as my first snack after cereal again still early in the day haven't burned that much glycogen so i'm not overly concerned about the somewhat lower ratio it's enough to keep the meat sticks from slowing my roll if i just sugar them up a bit plus i mean come on it's sausages and waffles every good adventurer knows the value of second breakfast now that being said if you're starting from scratch here's how to use the chart to find a carb companion for that protein pal knowing that you're looking for something with a significant amount of carbs and little to no additional protein the candy section is an obvious place to start so i still start my search with a sort by class cookies and pastries might be other good categories to check now sticking with candy for this example my second level of sort becomes the carbs column we were looking for 32 grams of carbs and zero protein well what do you know there just happens to be exactly what we're looking for starburst fruit juice will pair with the meat sticks to make a perfect 4.0 this brings up what i call the lesson of compromise if you are single-mindedly pursuing carb protein ratios maybe the starburst is your choice but at 113 calories per ounce they're pretty close to heavy it might be worth it to take the time and consider additional options fudge brownie m ms are 22 calories per ounce lighter and their combined ratio is still in the optimum range but the overall density goes up into the next color or maybe this heath bar looks good you get to keep the bragging rights for having a combined density that's ultralight and the ratio is still in the good range my problem with all these candy options end up being the sugar percentage with my waffles almost half the carbs are complex and that puts the sugar percent for the combined snack in the optimum for trail fuel so it's waffles and sausages added to the menu for me i'm already at almost a thousand calories as mentioned pocket snacks are my preferred method of on-the-go eats for much of the day not surprisingly bars are something of a go-to not only are they easy to pack and easy to eat they can be easy to plan as well just look for what i call the all-in-one options they're the items with both the density and the nutritional ratios without having to prepare any combos and again though filter these options by what you like to eat haven't tried the heather's pack runes yet but i'll probably order some to make an enticing hyperlight option a couple of my favorite ultralight choices are the nature valley wafers and these viewer recommended yes bars so into the planner they go and that'll fuel my feet for another couple of hours about this time i generally don't mind having a sit down break so i take advantage of the pause to have another combo snack that benefits from just a bit of preparation the new top spot in cookies belongs to another viewer recommendation walker shortbread they make several kinds but the lightest weight is the pure butter vanilla shortbread and they are buttery they make a great treat in the middle of the day they're carb heavy though so i prefer to ratio them with some protein and nut butters often work well in this regard so i perused some of the hyper light options looking for a suitable match well to be honest i was mostly thinking about flavor profiles at this point but sometimes you get lucky right squirting some justin's vanilla almond butter between two butter vanilla shortbreads just sounds delicious turns out it's also a near perfect combination it's an ultralight snack with very good fat percentage optimum sugar content and the carb protein ratio is almost a perfect 4.0 and by almost i mean it's only off by a single gram of carbs but for that one gram it would be a mathematically precise 24 to 6 in other words four to one and bring it up because staring too closely at spreadsheet values can lead to numerical myopia obsessing over the difference between a ratio of 4.2 and 4.0 can end up being counterproductive to one's ability to plan an effective efficient menu perfect is the enemy of good especially if the hang-up is over a one gram crumb of cookie i'll get off my soapbox but just mind the pitfalls of trying to be too digital in an analog world in any event vanilla almond butter shortbread cookie sandwiches go on the list now checking on the totals were over 1700 calories so far and that brings up a good question how do you know when you've packed enough well calorie needs on trail is a big enough topic to merit its own video but just for the purposes of the menu planning being discussed here i set a daily calorie goal of 3 500. i know i burn more than that but i also know that i can handle the deficit for several days without feeling bad so back to planning i usually know how my day's eating will end after i'm done hiking i take my recovery drink and about an hour later i have dinner and right before bed something for dessert so that food will total between 1300 and 1500 calories so working backwards from 3 500 i know the rest of the day needs to account for a little over 2000 calories on average so that means i need a couple more snacks to make this menu work what else does stuff in the old food sack then plenty of people resort to repetition and there's nothing wrong with that if you found something that works just keep pushing that button until dinner time but i also see and hear a lot of discussion about food fatigue so in the interest of variety how about a piece of candy well a lot of grocery store candy is relatively heavy because it's basically all sugar dark chocolate can not only be hyper light but can also have some surprisingly good fuel numbers and i will never ever get tired of it and case in point it is a personal favorite green and black's 85 it's also extremely compact so i can always find room to stuff in a few bars the serving size on the label is an odd portion in the field i'm going to end up eating half the bar at once so i adjusted the numbers here to reflect that okay one more snack ought to do it i like nut butters they're compact extremely light and tasty but i already have one so for variety sake and for the people who can't eat nuts try a seed butter i got this sampler pack from 88 acres so i can have a different flavor every day and when you're sick of peanut butter try some roasted pumpkin or watermelon seed butter better still the sweetened flavors of sunflower butter have higher ratios so let's put one on the list as the last snack of the day before recovery that gets my calorie count over 2000 where i know i'll make my daily goal after accounting for a recovery drink dinner and some kind of dessert in fact let's put that serving of recovery mix on the list and see where that leaves our totals these totals represent the average of all the food i consume during the hiking part of the day and out of an entire menu it is with these active eats that is most important to embody the attributes of optimal trail fuel overall density so far is a respectable 158 calories per ounce enough to earn the ultra light rating and that gives me just about 2500 calories for under a pound now look at those nutritional ratings i've got good sugar and fat percentages and despite the fact that not every item is ideal by itself my overall carb protein ratio still makes it into the optimum range i see that as a key advantage to using the planner the totals let you zoom out for the bigger picture not everything you bring needs to be individually perfect in order for you to have a high density highly effective menu so i'm pretty happy with this so far i like to eat everything here plus the nutritional columns all look good except for one based on the grams per calorie rate i'm not even making the recommended daily allowance for sodium and that's a standard set for people who sit at a desk all day on the trail you'll likely need significantly more than that especially if it's going to be hot and you'll be sweating so not on the menu but always in my pocket are some of these electrolyte capsules now as far as logistics go i'll have the recovery drink immediately upon reaching my destination for the night the glycogen burn is over and the recovery window is still open but also you want to wait an hour before having dinner i use that time as the opportunity to set up camp pitch your tent or your hammock inflate your mattress and assemble that origami camp chair then slip on some camp shoes and soak up a little outdoor ambiance because it's almost time to heat some water since i'm done hiking there's no more worry about the fuel ratios with dinner at this point it's all about calories to refill the battery banks and protein to repair muscles fats digest and store with the least amount of waste and they account for density so they are some of the lightest most energy efficient calories you can carry and proteins digest slowly while producing thermogenesis making them an ideal choice to help you keep satiated and warm for as long as possible while you're fasting during sleep since dinner is my one hot meal of the day i'll sort the dried meals tab by class and then density and then look for entrees that are ultra light and high in protein my current favorites are for the peak refuel flavors a side note here sometimes a little gear skepticism is in order when looking at some of these food labels you'll see the top density spots here occupied by some new entries to the entrees section several seemingly hyper light options but a closer look reveals some discrepancies in their numbers as reported nomad nutrition makes this irish shepherd's pie which they claim is 790 calories from 21 grams of fat 58 grams of carbs and 21 grams of protein well since fats are nine calories per gram and both carbs and protein are four calories per gram we can do the math to see about how many calories there should be as it turns out the numbers here don't add up 21 grams of fat should be 189 calories 58 carbs work out to 232 calories and the 21 grams of protein make for another 84 calories well that only comes out to 505 calories nowhere near the reported 790. so instead of the astonishingly light 224 calories per ounce that the label implies the computed density is actually 143 and that puts it on the chart right about here i found the same problem with off grids meals their bison penne pomodoro alleges 780 calories with the following macros most calculate out to just 439 actual calories which would be about 111 calories per ounce and that drops them off this page entirely in fact it's just one calorie pounds away from being rated heavy so i'm not saying there's anything wrong with the food it sounds delicious it's just that the nutrition labels can't be accurate as given so i checked the peak refuel also just to see there are 24 grams of fat 27 grams of carbs and 26 of protein equate to 428 calories per serving and within rounding errors that's what their label says so presently on the chart that leaves peak refuel with the highest verifiable densities of any dried entrees that i've discovered so far i enter everybody by the numbers they say but be aware of the potential for mistakes so getting back to my own menu dinner is going to be some chicken alfredo pasta i eat the whole pouch which is two servings as listed on the chart i put it here as a single line item after that all i need is one more high density bar for dessert and that pushes me over my daily goal of 3 500 calories so looking at my totals i'm getting all of that for just 22 ounces making the overall density ultra light 162 calories per ounce not bad considering the data available allowed me to do it with very little compromise on preference or taste so that's one whole day in the bag now for multi-day trips i keep the same basic format for each and every day all i do is vary the flavor on some of the items so looking at a complete menu for day two i've still got julie's real granola for cereal i just swapped in a new flavor cinnamon vanilla bean second breakfast is the same though honeystinger has several flavors of waffles so you could easily change it up there too the next couple of bars are the same brand different flavor my shortbread cookie sandwiches are the same but again justin's has several flavors of nut butter so one could extemporize further if desired the last thing i'll change is dinner in this case it's still a peak refuel but a different entree as the total is the test despite these changes my overall density remains ultralight and i'm still meeting my 3500 calorie goat for day three it's just the formula for the most part some of the flavors flip flop reverting back to those from day one julie's reel for instance only has two flavors to choose from at least for now now something you may have noticed this day's menu is short one item because of the substantial variation between entrees i was able to meet my 3 500 calorie goal in this particular arrangement without one of the yes bars you could of course carry it anyway bring extra food just in case but if you're really looking to shave every last ounce or you're up against a hard volume limit like those imposed by bear canisters this is just one more advantage of mapping everything in the planner this way it lets you identify all manner of opportunities for fine tuning and day four looks a lot like day two with a different dinner and i'm a creature of habit so i can go on like this for weeks an eight day trip for example is just going to be two iterations of this four day menu plan okay so that is the step by step for the three related questions i see most frequently how to use the chart how to put all the videos together when planning and an actual multi-day backpacking menu to see as an example the next most popular question that follows is how many of these highly curated calories can you cram into a canister well there's enough to say about volumetric density and the art of packing to make another whole video so please stay tuned for that i hope that helped and as always i very much appreciate your time and thanks for watching