Hi there, tomorrow I will be heading off on my first multi-day tramp (hike) since before I had my kids, some 10 years ago!!!!!😮
The tramp I’m doing is the Lake Waikaremoana “Great Walk” and I’m doing it with three of my friends. We will do the walk over four days/three nights staying in basic huts along the way. The girls are all fairly new to tramping and staying in back country huts but we are all super excited about it…. except the forecast rain tomorrow!
In preparation for this walk I’ve hassled my outdoorsy mates, racked my brains, re-read my wilderness magazines and joined the ‘Tramping in New Zealand’ Facebook group (awesome by the way) in an attempt to try to remember what the heck to pack and what food to take. Nowadays I eat a largely sugar-free diet, and by that I mean “fructose free” sooo not only don’t I eat refined sugars, I also don’t eat “natural sugars” such as honey, maple syrup, dates, dried fruit etc… I DO eat low fructose fruit- like berries & kiwifruit, and occasionally if I’m pushing the boat out I’ll eat 1/2 a banana! 😂 I can also handle a small amount of dark chocolate, anything over ~85% cocoa. The crazy thing is, that I’ve discovered I’m that sensitive – I get a headache pretty much straight away, not too mention it sends my body heads into flight or fight mode (anxiety) – where I had been constantly living for many, many years and just not understanding the correlation.
So therein lies the challenge, finding fructose-free food to take hiking.
And let me tell you it’s harder than you might imagine! It is that its fairly easy to find “sugar-free” products like bliss balls (made with dates or honey) which are high in fructose which I’m sorry to say guys is = sugar! Same same.
So due to a lack of options I’ve been cooking up a storm in the kitchen, trying out all sorts of fructose free recipes. It’s been really fun! I’ve had lots of failures, too crumbly, too bitter, too soft etc… but I’m so happy to say I found a winner! It is Liv Kaplan’s Chocolate nutty granola bars!😋 They are firm (without being hard) crunchy, tasty, nutritious, will travel well, don’t feel like they are missing anything AND the whole family enjoyed them! Total winner! ///Recipe below///
I have been making my own porridge mixture all year and have pimped it even more so now it includes not only oats, chia seeds, ground linseed or LSA, desiccated coconut and cinnamon but freeze dried blueberries, coconut milk powder and (pea) protein powder for extra protein. I am reusing old dehy meal bags so I will just need to add a cup of boiled water to that in the morning for breakfast, reseal the bag and wait ~ 5 minutes for the oats etc to soften.
For lunch I’m bringing crackers, cheese, tomato’s, salami & tuna (in sachets). For snacks & drinks I’m bringing scroggin (mixed nuts), granola slice (pictured above), cup of soup (sachets) & tea bags. This time around I have bought some standard “Backcountry” dehydrated meals for dinner, purely due to there weight, because I want to minimize how much weight I’m carrying on my back. In the future I’m thinking about borrowing a friends dehydrator and attempting to do that! So stay tuned!
I’d love to hear from anyone attempting to eat well out there in the back country and tips and tricks in this area and waste reduction too.
Thanks, I will report back post trip! Wish me luck! x
Recipe: https://www.livkaplan.com/recipes/granolabars
Forest Family NZ 