Does anyone have experience doing longer trips on a vegan or vegetarian diet?
What calorie dense foods would you bring?

Thanks

Take what you eat at home, just prepped for the trail. You will do fine!

Samwise's site (for the AT not JMT) but you might get some ideas.A vegan backpacking forum . more . another .Laurie Ann March's website and book.

Edited by annapurna on 03/06/2013 17:59:42 MST.

Since different people mean different things by "vegeatarian," can you define terms if wanting any non-vegan answers?

Cheers,

Bill

I would prefer going 100% vegan but could possibly imagining
compromising on honey and even cheese. No eggs or other dairy though.

Thanks

If you allow for cheese, it's a piece of cake, and virtually the same as my menu for extended backpacking trips (with the only exception that I sometimes take in some of my dairy without turning it into cheese first).

Granola, dried fruit, crackers, instant potatoes, tortilla chips (I prefer blue corn) are my main carbs (with the granola,chips and some crackers adding fat, too). Beans (dehydrated refried black) and powdered hummus provide protein and carbs. Nuts and lots of 'em provide protein and fat. Cheese - string cheese for snacking and grated parmesan/romano for mixing in with potatoes ensures that the protein needs are fully met. This is all fine cookless, though the beans make a nicer soup/stew if heated at least a bit, and when cooking a little, I add some dried veggies. If willing to cook, you can of course add many other things - various carbs that need cooking, more veggies, TVP if you like it. That'll pretty much take care of your nutritional needs. You can of course add anything else that tickles your tastebuds.

Even for those who might wish to eat more than the minimum amount of complete protein, a balanced diet rich in nuts (esp tree nuts, in terms of completeness) and high nutritional value beans is going to set you up well for getting plenty without the cheese. If I were committed to going completely without dairy, I might look into how I'd cook some other complete sources like quinoa and buckwheat in the wilds, but I wouldn't consider it a necessity.

What I actually find more difficult is to find good ways to get the nutrition and flavor of fresh fruits and vegetables in the wild. Dehydrated veggies aren't really all that great, in my experience, and while dried fruit's OK, it's not the same.

Cheers,

Bill S.

P.S. Seeing that you've mentioned "calorie-dense," an addition - full-fat dairy products are usually one of the things that gets me to calorie density goals. Without that, I might add in some extra fat with coconut milk as a base for certain dishes and with some olive oil to add in to the hummus (my normal brand is low in fat).

Edited by sbill9000 on 03/06/2013 20:02:54 MST.

Thank you Anna, for fantastic links. Great resources!

Thank you also Bill for great advice. One concern has been getting enough calories
from vegan food squeezed into a bear box. Compromising on cheese would probably
make things a bit easier, but I would love to go strictly vegan. I will look more into
the nutritional value of nuts as a source of both protein and calories.

Thanks

If powders are acceptable to fill in, try Vega nutritional and protein powders. They actually taste pretty good. I mix one packet of the nutritional shake with one packet of the protein powder for breakfast (the vanilla protein powder goes well with the chai nutritional powder).

Do you like nuts? If you do (we eat a lot of them) you can make bars at home to take - I have posted a number of recipes here in teh food section for them :-)

Hey, I make a great superfood muesili which is a combo of 3 minute rolled oats with: Seeds- chia, flax, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, Nuts- chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, brazil, hazel or any you have around, Dried fruits- goji, mulberry, goldenberry, raisins, figs, Flavor- Palm sugar, maca, mesquite, and maybe some cinnamon. This is great for dinner or breakfast, just boil water pour the mix in and put the pot in a cozy ( I made mine ) and let sit for 20 min.

I also make hummus and dehydrate. It re hydrates really well and goes great on crackers or bread type stuff. I also cook a lot of split red lentils which cook in about 15 minutes ( your stove has to simmer ) but I add them to quinoa, white rice and add curry powders or Rapunzel vegan bullion cube. I also use soba noodles and freeze dried tofu ( gold mine natural food co. ) and make a miso type soup using seaweed, dehydrated vegies, and the rapunzel bullion cube.
I eat pro bars and dr. schultz's superfood bars
If you have a dehydrator you can make all kinds of dips like the hummus and use them as spreads. I hope this is interesting to someone.

I'm looking at adding nutritional yeast to a couple of my backpacking dinners. I don't eat strictly vegan, but I am dairy intolerant, which is a pain, both for flavor and for calories, as it rules out cheese. The nutritional yeast adds folate, maybe some protein, and adds a tangy cheesy/umami flavor to dishes. If sourced from bulk bins, I'd imagine it doesn't have to be refrigerated, and can last a while when mixed into dehydrated foods? Add to spaghetti, Mexican and Italian inspired dishes, soups?

I like nutritional yeast, use it somewhat often, and it's fairly nutritionally dense, but for whatever reason my body can only handle small amounts of it at a time. I talked to a friend of mine, who eats vegetarian, about it and he mentioned that, oddly, when he use to eat a lot of it consistently, it flared up a jock itch like issue for him and so he stopped eating it. I'm not sure how that works since it's supposed to biologically inactive. This was years ago, and maybe they use to sell a different form?

I don't know if it's true or not, but i've read that nutritional yeast is one of the foods that commonly cause/promote an inflammation effect in the body.

I suspect there is some truth to it, because when i eat too much of it and too often so, it flares up my psoriasis, which is very sensitive to diet and particular foods (especially inflammation causing foods). I have cut out so many favorite foods, it's not funny. Chocolate, coffee, pizza, gluten, certain cheeses, cow milk (yogurt doesn't bother me though), the list is very long. Thankfully i can eat small amounts of N.Y. occasionally without noticeable effects.

Edited by ArcturusBear on 05/14/2013 19:30:00 MDT.

I've been a vegetarian for over 30 years an done quite a bit of long distance backpacking. I use peanut or almond butter quite a bit. Tortillas work well and fit great in a bear canister. Check out some of the vegan cream cheeses, too. Don't forget vegan "jerky" - I like Primal strips a they are more moist than others.

Diane,

It lasts about forever. While I like the pleasant flavor it gives (chicken-y and cheesy) my body hates it. I get a similar reaction to what a Niacin rush does. My skin gets all hot, my face blazes and I feel all tight after eating it. It goes away within an hour and it isn't huge but...why suffer. So now...I mostly don't use it. It could be from the high amount of Vitamin B's though that triggers it. So it isn't dangerous, just unpleasant.
Which darn it, it makes the BEST vegan broth powder!! http://gazingin.com/2012/11/20/i-get-inspired-by-you-all/ It is so good, I suck it up and take the hot skin...lol!

Is it possible to take Miso paste and dehyrate that? So much better tasting if that would work.
B vitamins, especially niacin, will cause flushing.