What products to take to Nepal?

Answers to food questions about trekking in Nepal: Do I need to bring my own food and groceries to Nepal? What can you buy locally? What's missing here? How to save on food?

If you are planning to go on one of the popular trekking routes in Nepal (for example, trek to Everest or Annapurna), then you can completely forget about food and not bring anything with you. Food is well organized on these routes; there are a huge number of canteens and tea houses. Their food is quite neutral (not too spicy, like in many Asian countries). In addition, from time to time there are shops where you can buy some products.

But if everything is so perfect, then why discuss anything at all? It turns out there are a couple of reasons for this:

Variety of food

If you carefully study the menu of Nepalese lodges, you will notice the following:

• despite the apparent abundance, the food is relatively monotonous
• there is some imbalance in the ratio of nutrients. The menu is high in carbohydrates and low in protein and fiber.

Save on food

Another reason to bring food from home to Nepal may be the desire to save on food. Here it is important to know when to stop and carefully weigh the pros and cons.

Firstly, do not forget that if you ignore the dining room of the lodge in which you are staying and do not order anything at all, the owner will have the right to radically increase the cost of your stay. And a room in a shelter will cost you not 3-4 dollars, but, for example, 20. This is not a fiction - this point is clearly stated in the rules of most establishments and is often listed on the last page of the menu. It sounds strange, but this is the local tradition and nothing can be done about it. Lodges mainly make money not from renting out rooms, but from food. Therefore, in order to avoid fines, I advise you to at least have dinner in the dining room, and make breakfast and lunch from your own products.

Secondly, the food will be carried along the route (on its own or with the help of porters). Carrying 1 kilogram of cargo costs approximately $1 per day. Then do the math for yourself.

Thirdly, you will simply be too lazy to cook. At altitude, any activity comes with great difficulty. And it is quite possible that the prospect of going out into the cold (it is forbidden to use a burner indoors) to boil water and prepare instant soup (and then you still have to wash the dishes!!!) will not seem too tempting to you. So untempting that you will buy this very soup in the lodge dining room for $3-5 and not be at all upset.

What products should I take?

Considering all the above considerations, I would recommend the following shortlist of products to import into Nepal:)

• Raw smoked sausage, basturma or jerky. Since there is not much meat on trekking, meat eaters can take a couple of sticks of dry sausage. Not for the sake of survival, but so to speak for the soul. Please note that there are no refrigerators along the route.
• sports protein mixtures or protein bars
• condensed milk and raisins for morning oatmeal
• dried fruits and nuts for afternoon snacks
• favorite tea and instant coffee to brew in a cup or thermos
• simple candies to distribute to Nepalese children
• "instant" oatmeal in bags, if you want to save on breakfast
• favorite chocolate or energy bars
• hematogen

I would like to note once again that this list is not a guide to action at all, but rather a set of ideas for consideration. You don’t have to carry any food with you at all and get by just fine with Nepalese ones.

Also don't forget about the possibility of buying some products locally, for example in Kathmandu.

What products to buy in Kathmandu?

There are no supermarkets in Kathmandu in our understanding of the word. There are a couple of stores more or less close to supermarkets, but in general the assortment there is not the widest. What can you buy in them before the trek?

• some cookies. It is also sold at the track, but the selection will be poorer.
• a couple of canned fish
• snickers and other chocolates
• Nepalese tea (on the route they sell complete garbage in bags)
• alcohol-based hand wash. This is not food but is sold right there.
• nuts (but it seemed to me that they are even more expensive here than here)