So, was trying to brainstorm up some winter food options. I sometimes write this stuff out. Helps me work through it. The key thing is here I'm looking for things I can replenish along the way at gas stations and the occasional small town grocery store.
Traveling in winter has many advantages food wise and few disadvantages, and this is great because just surviving outside in the winter burns a tremendous amount of calories. Add in biking and the calories you burn can skyrocket well over 5000 calories, possibly even 10k calories depending on the temperature / wind chill, duration of biking and your body weight.
Personally I'm a big guy (6'5" / 250+ lbs) and like to bike long hours, often well past winter sunsets and into the evening. Needless to say while I'm not a nutritionist getting the right amount of calories in a healthy manner is a major issue for me.
That said pretty much anything will keep for extended periods which opens the door to all sorts of crazy ideas like eggs, fresh fish and meats, frozen orange juice concentrate (a favorite), and above all the entire fresh foods area of your grocery store.
The menu possibilities are nearly endless, all one need do is walk through the grocery store and ask a few key questions of their typical shopping choices.
# will this freeze? ...if so can it be thawed easily?
# will it pack well?
# what it its caloric density and/or other food value?
== will it pack well? ==
Packability is pretty straight forward. You can get creative by crushing things like chips (i.e. fritos) or noodles (i.e. ramen) or simply by removing or changing the packaging of some items. There's almost nothing that can't come out of its packaging and be put in a ziplock bag. Not much new it would seem about packability in winter, but there are some other excellent advantages in the winter.
In the winter even unconventional touring and backpacking items like a dozen eggs can repatriated to other containers where they will pack well and keep long.
You need only think a little outside the box... i.e. boil, shell, possibly crush into nearly a powder, and put in a ziplock... or if it's really cold simply flash freeze them by putting them in a few ziplocks and hanging them on the front of your pannier or bedroll. Five minutes down the road in 10 degree weather and they'll be frozen solid or atleast safley congealed.
Again... there's almost nothing that can't somehow be stored in a ziplock. A good method to getting the creative juices flowing is "how can I get this into a ziplock"? You'll think of something.
== caloric density? ==
While caloric density is often important in the winter given the amount of calories burned it's obviously not the only measure of food or we could just eat chocolate covered cashews for weeks on end. Yummee!
That said I'm no nutritionist, so I'm going to skirt the "other food value" issue and leave it up to professionals and the FDA with their daily food pyramid.
Protiens, carbs, and vitamins oh my. I just hope you know a little more about them by now then what the government has officially recommended.
That said the sliver of nutrition I want to talk about that is caloric density can be pretty deceptive. For example things I like for breakfast including grits, cream-of-wheat or corn meal don't by themselves have a lot of calories, but if you throw in some stick butter or margarine and a bit of ham or sausage and maybe some egg, the caloric balance swings wildly. In fact I've heard of winter snow bikers in alaska consuming several sticks of butter in a day... legend has it some have even eaten it by the stick. (If you can disprove it let me know.
Again... fat calories, carbs, protiens, etc, etc. That's beyond the scope of my time and expertise to comment on.
All I'm saying is there are always ways to add calories to any meal you like, so concentrate on foods you like and fit your nutritional plan that will pack well and won't behave adversely when frozen... and then if you need to fortify them with calories by other creative means like oils, butter, dressings, sauses, or a side of bacon.
== Will it freeze? ==
For example the following key foods favored by summer tourers can freeze solid in the winter and thawing them is not easy.
# peanut butter or nutella
# honey
# bananas and fresh fruit... Mmmm... banana-cicle
# some breads
# oils (congeals in the cold)
# syrup (congeals, can even freeze)
All these freeze solid or congeal if left out in the cold to long and are either very hard to eat or at the very least not to enticing if they suprise you when your sitting down to eat dinner after a long day of riding. Some breads becomes wood, oils and honey become hard to extract from their containers, bananas and other fruit become bland lolipops and fruit-cicles impossible to thaw. Peanut butter and Nutella must be cut into slivers with a sharp knife if you can even get it out of the container.
While none of this is a fatal...i.e. you won't starve to death it can take a significant amount of time, fuel, and/or energy to thaw them out.
Fruit is particularly interesting. It's no fun eating a frozen banana as you sit around the campfire... you can slice and thaw it over the fire or on a camp stove, a bit messy. Or you can stick it in your jacket and maybe in a few hours it'l start to get edible... if you don't end up with a pulpy mess in your jacket as the outside thaws and leaks from the banana peal while the center is still frozen.
The best advice is to identify foods that will freeze in the first place and carrying it in on your back. If a large pack then preferably in the center of your back as close to your spine as possible or if in a small pack underneath your wind breaker or even thermal layer.
Personally I don't like a lot on my back when biking, but in the winter I make an exception for a few key items. These include some water, supplemental foods that can be affected by the cold, my smartphone (gps, camera, all around gadget) and spare batteries for my headlamp and smartphone. I keep these either in inner pockets or in an ultralight pack on my back underneath my wind breaker and if possible my thermal layers.
That said idenitfying foods that will freeze is not always obvious. Such as breads. The only advice I can give for that is ask "How much moisture does this have in it?" Again, not always obvious with bread. But really, it can become as enticing as wood. I often prefer flour tortillas... since they have no bulk they're easily warmed in a pot, pan, or over the fire.
Needless to say if you make a mistake at least you'll get some experience in how to thaw out said food item. Thawing stuff out... it's why campfires and long evenings were invented. Why else would you winter tour?
== staple breakfast foods for winter ==
corn meal, grits or creame of wheat... love them, buy in bulk, just add hot water
ham (precooked or smoked)... keeps well, requires no cooking
coffee, coffee, coffee... turkish ground, served texas style!
sticks of margarine... fat calories essential for daily bicycling
unconventional breakfast alternatives:
OJ concentrate (I'm a huge OJ fan) keeps great in winter, just mix up a mug for breakfast
eggs... crack, freeze in ziplocks or boil on spot, and possibly deshell and crush/chop to pack
sausage, bacon... keeps well, but need messy cooking
== staple snack / lunch foods ==
block cheese of any variety... I buy in large quantities
chocolate... good emergency staple, especially with nuts
cashews and nuts (can be put in cooked food too!)
fritos chips... very cholorically dense for a chip
little debbie snacks, i.e. oatmeal creame pies ... for the rare sugar fix
dried fruit
trail mixes... store particularly well in winter
== staple dinner foods for winter ==
tea, tea, tea... travel and pack well
*pine needle tea... **learn your pines** nearly everywhere, great source of Vitamin C
torlilla, pita, baguettes, dense or crushable breads (edible pot scrubbers!)
ham, jerky, sausage, venison, pepperoni, or other well packing, pre-cooked/smoked/dried meats
sticks of margarine... fat calories essential for winter travel
block cheese of any variety... I buy in large quantities
instant potatoes... if one can find a good brand
lipton noodle soup... great base for just about anything, can be picked up almost anywhere in family pack size
instant rice... good as a supplement, but still takes to long to cook compared to grits or some noodles
dinner alternatives and supplements:
hot chocolate... will be purchased as I get an urge for it
ramen... can be crushed for packing
mac n' cheese... sometimes I throw out the noodles and just take the cheese for use with ramen noodles
tuna or whitefish in a pouch... travles well very fatty and rich in protein
spam... on rare occasions
whiskey, doesn't freeze, can be served warm / with tea, fits nicely in a platypus bladder
unconventional alternatives:
fish... keeps well, full of protein and fats, cooked easily
hot dogs, red meats... anything easily cooked on an improvised grill or spit
hamburger... keep well, messy if cooked on stove,
canned fruit, beans, stew, soop, etc... if consumed same day or for breakfast the next morning
fresh vegtables... you could even take frozen veggies in winter, but why not just take fresh!
