Self supported tour food

[Melalvai]

On this great tour of the 40 Missouri state parks with camping I am planning for 2014, I've been wondering about food. The only other tour I did, was 10 days, and I was amazed at how uniformly awful the food at small town diners is! 40 state parks is going to take maybe 50 days, and I can't see me spending that much money in awful small town diners, so I'm thinking about how to cook for myself.

Recipes, thoughts, experiences? Here's what I've been thinking so far:

Fruits & veggies: I'll be able to stock up on perishables at grocery stores. Dried fruit is great too.

Protein: It's hard to buy a single chicken breast, or just a couple eggs. A small jar of peanut butter, and nuts will be good, but I'll probably need more protein than that. Jerky & cheese are ok but not in copious amounts. I'm not sure yet how I'll handle protein. A can of beans from time to time--could provide extra propulsion the next day as well...

Carbs: A box of instant rice or pasta will last multiple days but in general I want to avoid carrying the weight of next week's food with me. I don't want to bring my entire spice cabinet, so do I eat bland tasteless food? Will I care, if I'm hungry enough? Maybe put some instant rice + seasonings into small ziplock bags. Same with the oatmeal.

The bike shop here has some instant meals for backpackers, just add hot water. I might pick up a few of those, but I wouldn't want to count on being able to find more, and I certainly won't bring 50 days' of them. I doubt they'd be as delicious after the first week!

[KnottedYet]

In the larger stores around here they have small single-serving cans of chicken and tuna (mainly for lunches). Maybe a few of those picked up on your shopping trips and added to whatever you make? They are quite cute little cans, with pull tops so you don't need an opener.

[Thorn]

My on-the-road survival food is to buy a can of cooked beans...chickpeas, navy, lentils. Then, stop at a farmers stand, grocery store, etc. and pick up whatever veggies look good...a pepper, carrots, some odd veggie that looks edible raw. Toss it all together with some oil and vingegar and voila', a heathy, high protien salad. Tasty, too.

It is a good way to make do with the local farmer's market. We do this regularly when we travel--one day is always to try to find some local veggies and make a salad. Some are just edible, others have been quite tasty.

[Becky]

DH and I used the small boxes (1 cup?) of Parmalat milk the last time we bike toured. It's ultra pasturized, so it doesn't require refrigeration as long as it's closed. It worked great for cereal and mac and cheese. I'm not sure if smaller grocery stores carry it, but all of the bigger ones around here do.

What about meat or cheese from the deli counter? I imagine they'd sell you just a few slices for a meal. As long as it's heavy enough to read on the scale....

Pill or toiletry containers work well for small amounts of seasonings. Look for those little jars that screw together into one big cylinder. We put cooking oil in a sqeezy bottle with a pull-top (like you'd use for shampoo while traveling) and then into a zip-loc bag just in case!

[Cataboo]

You can just stick some spices in ziplock bags... I tend to use ones that add a lot of flavor - cumin or coriander seeds. maybe chipolte peppers. l For oils - either small spray bottles (think like hairspray) or ones with little flip tops that squirt out. A little bit of sesame oil can add a lot of flavor.

couscous is something that cooks really easily & fast.

protein - you can buy mushrooms or foil packages of tuna, salmon or chicken. the tuna ones can be spiced - they have a sweety and spicy marinated tuna and a lemon pepper zest one. I can't remember what other flavors.

I tend to have prepackaged flavored rice things - knorr brand, fiesta sides or cajun sides - they do like cajun rice, spanish rice, etc. add in tuna in a flavor that I think'll help, and then add some coriander, cumin, black pepper seeds, chunk of a chipolte pepper and boil it all together. those tend to be reasonably lightweight and take about 10 mins to cook.

I could go look at a package of them and see what they weigh, but it's usually something like $1 a bag. you can get the liquid better than eggs stuff if you use it quickly.

[DebW]

You might consider mailing yourself certain foods in appropriate quantities, for those things that can't easily be bought in small towns. You can send it to a postoffice, c/o general delivery, and they will hold it for about a week. You can even go hog-wild and dehydrate your own food ahead of time.

3 oz servings of chicken or tuna or salmon can be bought in foil pouches - less weight than cans.

[Melalvai]

Great suggestions, thanks! This thread is making me hungry. Or maybe that's the effect of the 15 mile ride I just finished. I like the idea of using little squirt bottles and spray bottles for oil & liquids, maybe soy sauce in one.

Oh yeah, I forgot tuna comes in pouches these days. And sardines are single serving.

My husband pointed out that many groceries have a butcher section, maybe they'd be able to sell me smaller quantities.

[Eden]

In the deli section of a lot of stores you can find good things too - small containers of hummus, little individual cheeses, single hard boiled eggs.

I really like the pre-cooked bagged rices too. If you get the plain ones you aren't getting much extra fat or sodium either. They have a much nicer texture and taste than instant rice. A bag of rice, a can of seasoned pintos, a little salsa and you have the fixings for a nice burrito. I also like adding cooked rice to soup - a package of rice with beans + a container of Imagine's butternut squash soup makes a really fast, really tasty meal.

When my husband and I went to Spain, though we weren't camping and had dinner out each night, we had a lunch of almonds, serrano ham, bread and chocolate just about every day - sometimes raisins too. Pretty much all local, all portable, non-perishable in the short term and extremely tasty.

[OakLeaf]

I don't know how far along you are in your mapping, or what the geography of Missouri is really like, but in Ohio at least, state parks are usually at least 15 miles from the nearest grocery store and often farther. There is usually a convenient store closer in, with typical convenient store junk food, but nowhere you could find produce or fresh meats.

Having fresh food on a self-supported tour (other than what you may be able to forage from your campsite) adds a great deal to what you must plan in terms of luggage space, routing, and daily mileage. It can be done, but you either have to have room in your luggage for food and plans to stop in town on your way (which usually means negotiating state routes and busy four-lanes), or room in your schedule to go back into town for groceries (and add maybe 30 miles to your day). Either way, if you want fresh meat, be sure you have a means to keep it cool until you cook it (one of those foil bags should do, and you can beg the butcher for a bit of ice, but be aware that those things do leak).

Dehydrated foods aren't the best tasting stuff, but there's a reason campers have been using them for decades: they're light and packable. You should be able to replenish supplies at natural food stores (who often have dehydrated food in bulk) and outdoor outfitters once a week or so along your way. Some whole wheat couscous, some dehydrated vegetables, sounds like dinner to me.

If you really want to learn about your state and its natural resources, learn to forage your vegetables.

JME...

[shootingstar]

Realistically I can only pack food for next 1-2 days, IMO..unless I was in the desert or up in tundra country in the Arctic where it's just dangerous and too isolated not to have extra food on hand.

But hey, that's just me. I hate the psychological burden of extra pannier weight on self-supported tours (most are, but more often we do motels/hotels or b 'n bs now).

+1 Couscous is helpful. There are little packets of sealed miso paste to make a quick hot soup. Instant noodle bowls, but occasional. Better to have a deli sandwich in terms of balanced ingredients.

Totally agree that one will not be guaranteed healthy food choices often. In some parts of Canada (and U.S.), healthy food is a serious challenge. That's when I do compromise..just cycle lots and chow down that fried burger, fries, etc. from somewhere. There were some situations where I had to eat a regular breakfast of egg, toast, bacon and fries/hash browns, because I needed a ton of energy for a long, rural ride day ahead. No choice. Then 5 hrs. later I was grateful to have eaten that greasy breakfast or I would have fallen over because there wasn't a place in sight for a late lunch. This type of breakfast happened several consecutive days.

settling down just to bread, cheese and tomato/cucumber/sprouts is fine too from store. With fresh fruit. Agree with Eden that many small stores in North America have deli section for selections, including ingredients to make a sandwich or a premade sandwich.

I know someone who cycle toured with now her hubby the whole length of South America to Vancouver (they made a film on it). They had real challenges at times finding meat-free meals. Meat dominated alot of meal menus in certain South American areas.

[Tuckervill]

If Missouri is anything like neighboring Arkansas, there will be gas stations with sandwich counters, and they'll have deli meats, in almost every small town. The more remote the town, the more likely they can make you a ham and cheese on white bread with Miracle Whip. You could pick up a piece of fried chicken for later as you're passing through a bigger town on your route.

I've had really good food at small town diners, but then I have really low standards for cheeseburgers and fries.

Karen

[sfa]

I ate a lot of bread and cheese and nuts when touring, plus whatever fresh fruit I could get, and then would supplement with single servings of meat, pasta, etc. about once a week and occasional restaurant meals. I got the meat from butcher counters. I did instant oatmeal for breakfast, and also kept a jar of PB as my emergency backup in case I ran out of food. I tended to buy enough food for 2 or 3 days (this was in the days before the internet, and I didn't always know where the next grocery store would be!), and I kept film canisters (remember them? Now you can buy them WITHOUT film just to use the container!) with spices and salt for cooking.

Oh, I almost forgot--I loved the Rye crisp kind of bread/cracker because it lasts forever and is really lightweight. I'd make open faced sandwiches with it, with some cheese and cucumbers and tomato. Yum. My trunk bag was my pantry so things didn't get really squished and I'd have easy access to stop for a quick lunch or snack.

Sarah

[sundial]

If Missouri is anything like neighboring Arkansas, there will be gas stations with sandwich counters, and they'll have deli meats, in almost every small town.

I found this to be true also. I can plan my route where every 10 miles or so there is a convenience store or diner available. And when there isn't a store I know where the soft drink machines are located to get me by until I reach the next town.