One of the best parts of a big expedition is all the food that you have to eat along the way. When you’re trekking for eight hours or more every day, you need to make sure you have the energy to keep going. But what are the best foods to eat when you’re trekking? What should you bring from home? What snacks should you be eating? Here’s our guide to what to eat when you’re trekking.
What to eat when you’re trekking
First things first
Preparation starts before you even leave home. When trekking, you need to get your body used to eating frequently, as you need an almost constant source of nutrition. This may not be how you usually eat, so when you’re heading off on training hikes, bring snacks along to eat every hour or so.
Carb loading
Here’s the good news – we recommend starting the carb loading at home, specifically a week before you begin the expedition. That means bread, potatoes and pasta, possibly the best three food groups on earth! It’s best to combine these with protein as well – think scrambled eggs on toast, spaghetti bolognese or a jacket potato with tuna. Delicious.
Keep hydrated
Hydration is one of the most important things to remember while trekking. We recommend you drink between 3 and 5 litres a day, which is actually quite tough to do! Again, get your body used to this before you set off – buy a big water bottle and make sure you’re filling it at least three times a day. When you’re trekking, a platypus is great for hands free hydration.
Clever snacks
On our big expeditions, all the meals are taken care of. The breakfast, lunch and dinner served on our treks are all designed to get optimum nutrition into all of us, so we have the right balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat to get us up the mountain. But outside of these meals, you need to keep eating to maintain your energy levels. What are the best snacks? Things like dried fruit and nuts, protein bars and cereal bars are all great. You need to be eating 400 calories an hour, so the more nutrient-dense, the better!
Recovery
You’ll need to eat fairly quickly when the day is done, but we’ll take care of that. It’s also important to keep hydrating – even though the hike is over, you’ll need to keep drinking water (and alcohol is a no-no, until your celebratory drink on the final night!) If you have any protein supplements you like to drink, bring them along too.
If carb loading sounds like your idea of heaven, check out our upcoming expeditions to Machu Picchu, Kilimanjaro and Everest Base Camp.
