If you opt for dry food, then the choice for the evening meal is made fairly quickly. But what do you do with breakfast and lunch?
Also for breakfast and lunch, tastes differ and, in particular, needs differ. One person needs a lot of food to be able to continue the two-week trek, the other would like to get some inspiration for a two-day hike.
I give some ideas and tips for the breakfast and lunch we have experience with. These are products and ideas you can get easy in the Netherlands. On another page I will discuss the snacks. Pick out what you can use!
Breakfast and lunch
There are various options for breakfast and lunch: The dry food bags are the easiest option. You do not have to think about it further and in the morning you only need (hot / cold) water.
The mentioned Expedition Breakfast contains oatmeal flakes, dried fruit, sugar and milk powder. The disadvantage of these types of breakfasts is that they are too much and / or too sweet for some people. In addition, they are quite expensive and heavy.
Hartkeks, tortillas, crackers and the like
Hartkeks (from Trek ‘n Eat) are hard nutritious biscuits. You can eat them as a biscuit, but also as a substitute for bread. Two biscuits equals a sandwich. If you normally eat two sandwiches in the morning, you could now eat four heart keks. In one package are twelve heart keks and they weigh 125 grams. An easy, nutritious and light choice. They are available at Bever for 95 cents per package, so they are also affordable.
Another Hartkek is that of Globetrotter. These are round, packed per six pieces and cost 59 cents.
Alternatives to Hartkeks
and alternative to Hartkeks are tortillas, other crackers or, for example, the Scandinavian Tunnbröd. You can get tortillas in the supermarket. Tortillas are tasty but heavy. They combine well with savory spreads but also with sweet.
Tunnbröd is a tasteful flatbread, you can buy it in the supermarket in Sweden. The Samen bake it themselves and you can get it in the huts on the Padjelantaleden. It is also for sale at Ikea, 225 grams for € 1.99.
Crackers, such as Knackebröd, are just light but are easily broken and are quite large in terms of packaging and not handy to stuff in your backpack (I know from experience ).
Another option is to make touring bread yourself. I have not yet ventured into that, but have eaten touring bread in Sweden. It is a heavy and nutritious bread that has a long shelf life. If you are interested in this, take a look at the hikingadvisor.be website.
Sweet and savory spreads
Some people find the hartkeks too hard and too dry. You can solve this with sweet / savory spreads.
In the supermarket you will find a wide selection of small packages with chocolate spread, peanut butter, jam and honey. With one package you can spread multiple hartkeks. Of course it depends on how thick you apply it. I eat about six hartkeks per breakfast and use one mini package for this. You can also transfer jam (or other fillings) into a plastic (easily lockable) jar, so that you have it with you for several days and you do not produce any waste.
Savory
Regarding savory toppings, the choice, just as with sweet toppings, depends on your taste.
There are mini packs of liver pâté and pate (from Unox) that have a long shelf life and are easy to spread. There are handy lids for these cans (you get one lid for every three packages) and in this way you can use one can for several days. The cans are 56 grams.
If you are more of a cheese lover, choose the tubes of cheese from Danish Chef. These are in the refrigerator, but our experience is that you can take them with you on a trek without a cooler on your back;). They are available in the flavors natural and alpine herbs. They are 85 grams and you can easily invest your breakfast or lunch with your heart.
Oatmeal, Brinta, Cruesli and Muesli
Many people like to start the day with oatmeal, muesli or something similar. Everyone can follow their own composition and taste and thus manufacture the perfect breakfast.
Whole milk
First of all I would go for whole milk powder. You can use the extra calories well and whole milk is simply tastier than skimmed milk (powdered). A good brand is Two Cows, available from De Jumbo and Albert Heyn, among others. The can contains 400 grams and is 4.35.
Making granola yourself
Then you will experiment with the rest. We make our own granola. Cruesli, a brand name, is oven-roasted muesli. Actually, this is granola. For the recipe I would like to refer you to Jamie Oliver.
The basis are oatmeal flakes and to this you add dried fruits, raisins, coconut chips, banana chips. By the way, when you make granola yourself you can also go in any direction, you add what you like, other things you leave out.
You can make it very expensive (with linseed, chia seed and expensive nuts) but also a simple version with mainly oatmeal flakes, banana chips and raisins will do the trick. It is tasty and very easy to make. In any case, no sugar has been added to this granola. The more nuts you add, the more nutritious the granola becomes.
The mix
Then it is important to find your ideal mix. An option is below, but it is important that you experiment yourself until you have found the right mix. And do you want hot water or cold?
- 45 grams of granola
- 30 grams of whole milk powder
- 250 ml of hot / cold water
You can add Brinta if you like. Brinta is light and nutritious, but has a specific taste you love it or you don’t. Brinta is the tastiest with warm water.
- 30 grams of Brinta
- 30 grams of whole milk powder
- 250 ml warm water
These options are 75-85 grams. You can also go for oatmeal. It is useful that you are active after your test breakfast so that you can watch when you start to feel hungry again, in short, do you keep it up with this mix?
Amount per day
For breakfast for two people I count on 150 grams, for lunch on 125 grams (one pack of hartkeks), plus the toppings (about 30 grams). For dinner I count 300 grams. We charge 260 grams for snacks. Per day: 865 grams..