Food on a winter hike.

Much of what I say here is common knowledge. For example, “it’s cold in winter.” Or "the water freezes." This is not very important in the city, but it is important when you spend many days in a row in the cold. The cold forces you to eat differently and use different products (compared to summer).

Practical observations.

I myself have been on winter hikes many times, and from time to time I forget about the nasty property of water turning into ice and do something stupid. For example, I include ketchup on the menu. And it thickens so much that it cannot be squeezed out of the pack. The lemon freezes through, turning into a cheerful yellow cobblestone. Canned fish turns out to contain a lot of water and very little fat. Otherwise, why would they freeze? The pate also becomes ice. Stew behaves a little better - the liquid there turns into jelly, and not into ice. Honey has to be cut with a knife. Cheese - chop with an axe. Cut the sausage with a hacksaw:)

I was joking about the ax and hacksaw. But the food is really very difficult to cut. And even harder to chew.
The worst part is that frozen food is no fun. Even chocolate only makes “meaning” after it thaws in your mouth. And in general, I want something hot.

Suitable products.

So, when developing a menu for a winter hike, you need to avoid moisture-containing products. However, this also applies to summer - there is no need to carry extra weight (water). Everything should be dried: dried meat instead of stew, crackers or crispbread instead of bread, dry milk instead of condensed milk, dry seasonings instead of sauces, mayonnaise and ketchup. Dry vegetables and equally dry dried fruits are inevitable. Lard behaves well in the cold. Although it hardens, it does not lose its taste and attractiveness.

Picnic in a snowdrift.

Lunches on a winter hike are not much like leisurely summer meals with a mandatory afternoon rest for better digestion of food. In winter, daylight hours are very short, every minute counts. You begin to appreciate the moments even more when you feel the frost creeping under your clothes. In short, winter is not conducive to long breaks with luxurious dinners.

It all looks like this: they hid from the wind, sat on their backpacks, concentrated on chewing crackers with lard and cheese, drank some tea with chocolate, and went “into the bushes.” That's it, lunch is over. Everything takes 20 minutes (in summer, lunch takes at least an hour). All products were prepared (cut and distributed) in the morning, in a warm tent. Tea, naturally, from a thermos. We usually have to eat with gloves on, so we eat the candy along with the wrappers:)

Lunch turns out to be very modest. But more attention is paid to pocket food. These are sweets, cookies and dried fruits carried in your pockets and eaten right on the go.

Tourist breakfast.

With the same goal of saving time, they usually prepare something quick for breakfast: oatmeal or other cereal with dry milk, sugar and raisins. In the morning there is no time to tinker with the fire; they cook on burners. This means that “fast” flakes, in addition to time, will also save fuel (which, in addition to price, for some reason also has weight).

But for dinner it’s terribly pleasant to load yourself with something liquid, hot and nutritious. For example, a thick soup made from dried vegetables (cabbage, carrots, beets, potatoes), dried meat and some cereal (for greater satiety). In the evening time is not so pressing, you can make a fire. In this case, it is logical to use a free source of energy not only for drying socks, but also for storing water for the morning (if you are melting snow). At the same time, you can fill thermoses with tea. Just in case, let me remind you that the water will remain liquid only if you hide it in the tent, between the sleeping bags.