Clean Eating in the Backcountry

Clean eating sounded intimidating enough when I decided to try it out. Honestly, it was kind of overwhelming with all of the restrictions that would be put in place once I got going on it. They aren’t really a big deal from a bird’s eye view, but once you realize how many of those creature comfort foods you can’t eat anymore, it can become daunting. So, eating clean is one thing, but what about on hunts and not just any hunts. What about eating clean on a backpack hunt to be more specific? After doing this diet for one month during our spring bear season, I can assure you that it is entirely possible. It probably isn’t going to be what you’re used to back there, but if I can do it, you can do it too! Who knows, you might even find a few new staples in your backcountry menu!

What is Clean Eating?

So, before I dive into what exactly I was bringing with me in the field, I think it is important that we look at what you are getting yourself into here. Many folks have asked me what clean eating actually is. Well, it is taking away all added sugars and processed junk out of your diet. You can still get natural sugars from things like fruit, organic honey, or organic maple syrup, but you can’t have anything where sugar has been added and you can’t do things like add sugar to your morning coffee. As far as the processed junk goes, if you can’t read or understand what’s on the back of a label, don’t eat it. It was mind blowing going through this process and finding out how many things had sugar in them. Things that you would have never thought. You’ll be reading a lot of labels to get started, but it is worth it in the end, even if you just purely educate yourself on what you’re eating and don’t try this out at all.

Now, that we know what clean eating is, let’s dive into Breakfast, Snacks, Lunches, and Dinner options for the clean eating backcountry hunter! A day of food for me consists of breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. That has just been what has worked for me over the years.

Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, if you ask me! I just love waking up and looking forward to a nice hot meal paired with a steaming cup of coffee before I start glassing the surrounding hillsides. For breakfast I really just stuck to one route. I’d make a homemade oatmeal mix. This turned out great and I was really happy with how everything tasted. It stuck to my belly and I wasn’t left feeling hungry an hour afterwards. Here’s the mix:

Add this into a ziploc freezer bag

• 1 cup of organic rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of freeze dried bananas
• 1/8 cup of organic raisins

When you’re ready to eat, just boil up around 8 oz of water and pour that right into the ziploc and stir. Close the bag and let it sit for around 2-3 minutes.

*On top of this, I’d carry a pack of almond butter and add it in the bag right before I poured in my boiling water. This topped off the meal well!

As for coffee, I’d brew up one of Dark Timber Coffee’s Gravity packs. If you haven’t tried these out………YOU SHOULD PROBABLY GET ON IT. Never had a better cup of coffee in the mountains.

Snacks for Clean Eating

As far as snacks go, my normal routine was things like bars and trail mix throughout the day. I didn’t do much different in this case. The only thing that was different was WHICH bars I was bringing with. There are quite a few bars out there that are clean. Rx Bars are great as well as Epic, and Larabar. Another great snack that is clean is Heather’s Choice Packaroons. They are a little shredded coconut cookie and are absolutely delicious. For snacks I like to think that one snack is two items. Does that make sense? For example I’d bring a bag of trail mix and an Epic bar as 1 snack. Then maybe a package of Packaroons and a Larabar for another. That right there would be the snacks in my bag for one day of hunting.

Lunch

In the past, I have always been a fan of the bagel and peanut butter with honey sandwiches. They are just a nice change of pace from the bars and are filling. With clean eating though, no bagels allowed. At least I didn’t find any bagels that were clean. So, what I did was made up an Ezekiel tortilla with almond butter, shredded coconut, and strawberry banana chips! The tortilla is literally just sprouted grains. That’s it. They pack down super well and this is just plain simple to throw together out in the field. This might actually be a new addition in my rotation of meals for backpack hunting.

Dinner

Ah, dinner. This is a close second to breakfast if you ask me. After a long day of hunting, a nice hot meal just tops the day off perfectly. I look forward to dinner every day out there. In the past, I have done what most folks have done and resorted to stuff like Mountain House or Backpacker’s Pantry. Basically stuff that you can find in the store. Well, with clean eating, you are going to have to do a bit of homework and thinking ahead. In my case, this meant ordering meals ahead of time, so I knew I’d be set for my hunts. I really just stuck with Heather’s Choice on this. Dark Chocolate Chili and African Peanut Stew were in constant rotation for me. Both of those were very satisfying and I’d have them in my pack regardless if I was eating clean. Another option is to dehydrate your own meals at home beforehand. I have done this in the past, but just didn’t have time to do it this go around. There is nothing like a nice homemade meal at the end of the day and that is what you will get if you prepare ahead.

Closing

I’m about 2 weeks into my original diet after eating clean for a month, and I’ve gotta say, there are definitely some aspects of it that I miss. Mainly in how I feel. I don’t miss not being able to take my wife out to dinner. That was lame. You really do feel better eating like this though and I can’t think of a better place to feel great and perform your best than in the backcountry. Life in the backcountry is demanding and having the proper fuel to push you through is a huge bonus. If you have any questions about clean eating on a backpack hunt, feel free to comment down below. Like I said, I am no expert, but I’ll try to answer whatever questions you have. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for Keto in the month of June!