Best Jerky for Appalachian trail

Posted by: StylinLP

Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/11/12 06:02 PM

Here in Sedona Az they have this amazing store that sells all sorts of steak jerky. Buffalo, Turkey, Elk, beef, snake. All organic with alot of differant flavors from spicy to teriyaki.

Anyone have any online recomendations on where to buy the best quality and health jerky for backpacking for weeks at a time. Also, how much jerky should one eat a day.
Posted by: aimless

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/11/12 10:58 PM

As long as you have some assurance that the jerky would not deteriorate too quickly, I'd guess that whatever flavors and varieties you personally like best would work best for you.

I would mention that it's usually a mistake to make or buy really massive quantities of the same thing, because over the course of a long hike your body changes so radically that your tatses and appetite also change in unexpected ways. What seems fantastic to you in small amounts today may seem like the worst thing in the world by the fourth month of eating it every day or two.
Posted by: BrianLe

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/11/12 11:10 PM

Quote:
"I would mention that it's usually a mistake to make or buy really massive quantities of the same thing, because over the course of a long hike your body changes so radically that your tatses and appetite also change in unexpected ways."


Ditto. On the AT in particular, it's pretty easy to resupply most of the time, and it's nice to not have more planned resupply drops than you need. On the PCT I had over 30 such boxes mailed out. When I did the AT two years later I had learned my lesson and had just 5 boxes mailed out --- that was about right, I'd go with that same approach if doing the trail again.

So for me, the best jerky for the AT is whatever jerky you can buy at random locations along the way.
Posted by: JPete

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/12/12 08:43 AM

Ditto, I love trail mix, all kinds of it, in absolutely unhealthy quantities, and on short hikes, I practically live on the stuff. On the AT, by the time I got to Damascus, I couldn't stand the sight of it. best, jcp
Posted by: StylinLP

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/12/12 10:58 AM

Thanks for the replies and advice! ok, one more question. Which brand is the heathliest and best quality. I want to try some out.

Buddies of mine are having a backpacking food party this weekend lol. I already bought one meal from 5 differant dried food pouch companies to check out.
Mary Jane, Natural High, Mountain House, AlpineAire.
Posted by: jbylake

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/12/12 07:00 PM

May be too late, might want to try Hawks Vittles. Meals are hearty...

J.
Posted by: jbylake

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/12/12 07:12 PM

Originally Posted By aimless

I would mention that it's usually a mistake to make or buy really massive quantities of the same thing, because over the course of a long hike your body changes so radically that your tatses and appetite also change in unexpected ways. What seems fantastic to you in small amounts today may seem like the worst thing in the world by the fourth month of eating it every day or two.


First time I've ever seen this in print in years, but take heed here. I think aimless understated this. Just prior, or about the same time the MRE's were first being experimented on with military personnel, many of us ate virtually the same thing for months on end, especially during long training missions. I've witnessed, and have suffered myself, a kind of sickness that's hard to describe. Just the thought of certain foods, much less ingesting them over and over, could make you perpeturally ill, nauseated, and a kind of sick that many have likened to severe sea sickness. I can personally attest to not being able to eat certain things for years, without a gag reflex, and a psychological based case of nausea. Listen to Aimless, 100% correct. Maybe a Doctor can explain it, but I can attest to the fact that it's very real, and have seen several people go through it. No Fun!

J.
Posted by: Gershon

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/12/12 11:22 PM

When I was in survival school, we made our own jerky. We hung raw beef over 550 and left it in the sun all day. Between the flies and the sun, it was jerky by the end of the day. Nobody complained when they ate it.

Another method we used was to dig a Dakota fire pit. This is a U shaped hole with the fire in one side and the jerky in the other. Enough smoke would come out the jerky side to smoke it in a couple hours. This was probably a little healthier.

I don't eat jerky anymore. smile
Posted by: StylinLP

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/13/12 12:24 PM

Well, Im not into making my own Jerky. I do see the attraction. Also see the point of buying what you find in each town. But there is mail drop box's I will send along the way. One of you said your original 30 mail drops was over kill. 6 is enough. Where is that information to know which 6 best spots for a maildrop?

ABout getting sick of food...I see that being stuck in some remote place for months. But in my normal every day life I pretty much eat the same stuff daily lol. Same oatmeal in the morning. Same snack bars. Same salads. Green Smoothie daily for lunch. But the point is along the AT trail, dont you stop into towns every 4 to 5 days to resupply and spend a night? Go out for dinner then breakfast...
Posted by: monkeykoder

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/13/12 12:29 PM

Originally Posted By jbylake
Originally Posted By aimless

I would mention that it's usually a mistake to make or buy really massive quantities of the same thing, because over the course of a long hike your body changes so radically that your tatses and appetite also change in unexpected ways. What seems fantastic to you in small amounts today may seem like the worst thing in the world by the fourth month of eating it every day or two.


First time I've ever seen this in print in years, but take heed here. I think aimless understated this. Just prior, or about the same time the MRE's were first being experimented on with military personnel, many of us ate virtually the same thing for months on end, especially during long training missions. I've witnessed, and have suffered myself, a kind of sickness that's hard to describe. Just the thought of certain foods, much less ingesting them over and over, could make you perpeturally ill, nauseated, and a kind of sick that many have likened to severe sea sickness. I can personally attest to not being able to eat certain things for years, without a gag reflex, and a psychological based case of nausea. Listen to Aimless, 100% correct. Maybe a Doctor can explain it, but I can attest to the fact that it's very real, and have seen several people go through it. No Fun!

J.


Wiki article on vitamin toxicity. Just about everything in the world is toxic in high enough quantities.
Posted by: StylinLP

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/13/12 12:32 PM

Thats a change of subject and a start of a severe argument! lol. Your now talking about vitamin supplements. Not healthy whole foods. Yuo should see the 50 Banana's a day Australian work out girl on YouTube. Awesome stuff.
Posted by: BrianLe

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/13/12 02:27 PM

"Which brand is the heathliest and best quality. I want to try some out."
...
"I already bought one meal from 5 differant dried food pouch companies to check out.
Mary Jane, Natural High, Mountain House, AlpineAire."


In terms of prepackaged "just add hot water" main meals, I agree that it's not optimal to eat these all the time. I don't know about health issues (some/most do tend to have a lot of sodium) but they're expensive suckers. Thru-hikers tend to think of these as luxuries, pounce on them if left in hiker boxes, but don't tend to buy them for themselves. You just learn what to get in a grocery store to throw together meals for yourself --- which can be complicated or dead simple, but are just based on what you can find in stores along the way.

Of the brands you mention I like Mary Jane Farms and Mountain House the best, and particular Mountain House --- I think I've had every meal they make and literally like them all. If you want an occasional treat on a thru-hike, I suggest that you look into buying Mountain House in #10 cans, then repackage the contents in proportion with thru-hiker hunger. Think in terms of the listed weight for what they say is a 2-person meal, and eat that much or a bit more anytime after the first few weeks on your trip.

But for the most part, just learn to buy stuff out of grocery stores. My sort of standard "poor mans" equivalent to a mountain house meal is to get a Knorr side dish (either rice or pasta based to taste) and add TVP (textured vegetable protein). Put it all in a quart ziplock bag, add hot water to hydrate and eat.

Or if you want to be venturesome a bit, leave a stove at home and just eat cold.
Posted by: StylinLP

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/13/12 03:01 PM

Completely understand what your saying. This prepackaged dried food isn't something to live on. Im just playing around with it and will use it ocassionaly. Certain items buying in bulk like the scramble eggs sounds like a great idea. Have eggs every other day on the trail to break up having oatmeal all the time. I woudlnt choose to go stoveless until Ive done the stove thing for some tmie first til I become pro smile

Found this in the Mens Fitness magazine about Beef Jerky. Remember, Im 6'2 at 250lbs, hike 3x week and gym 3x week and drink a green smoothie at work for lunch.

Quote:
Beef jerky is high in protein and doesn't raise your level of insulin—a hormone that signals your body to store fat. That makes it an ideal between-meals snack, especially when you're trying to lose weight. And while some beef-jerky brands are packed with high-sodium ingredients, such as MSG and sodium nitrate, chemical-free products are available. If you have high blood pressure, check the label for brands that are made from all-natural ingredients, which reduce the total sodium content.

Read more: http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/healthy_snacks/Beef_Jerky.php#ixzz2ExogDmm5
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/13/12 07:43 PM

Check out: TrailCooking.com
The owner, Sarbar, often posts on this site. There are a ton of recipes on that website. Many of them use standard supermarket ingredients, and require only boiling water to prepare on the trail. You can prepare them in the pot--add to pot when water boils, remove from heat, let sit in a cozy. Another method, which I use, is to package the dry ingredients in freezer bags, add boiling water, set in a cozy (or wrap in a coat or hat) for 10-15 minutes, then enjoy. The one caveat is that the cooking time for whatever you buy should have a cooking time of 10 minutes or less. With the freezer bag method, no dishes to wash except the spoon. Can you tell that I hate washing dishes? laugh

Packit Gourmet is a good source of bulk freeze-dried ingredients. I use their meats and a few of their vegetables, although most of my meals are home-dehydrated. (Peas, in particular, do not do well in dehydrating--they remain the consistency of buckshot after cooking.) They also do meals as well as bulk ingredients.

If you want to lose weight, no worries once you get started on your thru-hike! The only problem comes after the hike is over, you still have the thru-hiker appetite but are no longer burning that enormous amount of calories every day!
Posted by: Samoset

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/13/12 08:07 PM

I like Pemican brand PEPPERD jerky , mixd with salted macadamia nuts, and dark chocolate cover raisins, I CALL IT SUPER FOOD !
I've done dozens of overnight in the summer where its the only food carried .

And its my standard gorp!
Posted by: StylinLP

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/14/12 10:48 AM

One Ounce: Sodium 610mg ouch...I wont be eating that. The only salt I would want is naturally accuring in the food or table salt with iodine. Did you know the government added iodine in salt because thousands of people were dying in the 20's?
, iodine deficiency affects two billion people and is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation

Quote:
The main reason that you need iodine is because of a gland in your neck called the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland produces two hormones (thyroxine and triiodothyronine) that your body uses during metabolism (see this article for details). Without these hormones you start to feel tired, depressed, cold, weak, etc. Iodine is an important element in these two hormones, so without iodine your thyroid gland cannot produce them. When starved for iodine, the thyroid gland also swells, and when it does it is called goiter (see this page for a picture).

Your body doesn't need or contain very much iodine. You might have 20 to 25 milligrams of iodine in your entire body right now. However, in some parts of the world the soil contains no iodine, so the plants contain no iodine and therefore iodine deficiency is a problem. In the U.S., one part of the country that lacks iodine is the Great Lakes region. So companies started adding iodine to salt in the 1920's to eliminate goiter and thyroid problems.

If you lived through the cold war, you may have heard about the practice of taking iodine pills during the threat of a nuclear attack. When a nuclear bomb explodes, one substance it forms is radioactive iodine. If you eat, drink or inhale this isotope, your thyroid gland will concentrate it and this can lead to thyroid damage or cancer. By taking an iodine pill, you saturate the thyroid gland with iodine and prevent it from absorbing the radioactive iodine.
Posted by: OregonMouse

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/14/12 12:21 PM

Sorry, I can't let your quote go by unchallenged! It not only contains some inaccurate statements, but you failed to state the source, a violation of copyright law.

The government's insistence on iodine-fortified products is really hard on people like me who are allergic to iodine. I developed this allergy from using iodine to disinfect my water in the 1980's when the "beaver fever" (aka giardia) scare first developed. After about six weeks of weekend dayhikes and a couple of weekend backpacks, I developed a horrible rash, consisting of deep lesions (lichen planus) which itched horribly and left permanent scars. Since then I've had to avoid anything that contains higher levels of iodine, such as any food made with iodized salt or sea salt, all seafood, seaweed, vitamin/mineral supplements. I have to spend a lot of time reading labels because a surprising number of items, including some cereals and most "energy bars" have iodine added. I have to keep reading the labels every time--Luna Bars, which I used to like, recently started adding iodine.

Fortunately, should I ever need an angiogram, they have recently developed non-iodine dyes. I have to be ever alert, though, because so many medical personnel don't bother to ask! I have been told that iodine allergy is not all that rare. Per my dermatologist, iodine can also aggravate a number of skin disorders, including acne and rosacea.

In the 1920's, people did not die of goiter, although some may have died of complications from the surgery for it.

Now that our food supply routinely comes from all over the country rather than from one local area, the risk of iodine deficiency even without supplementation is almost non-existent. However, there is still this attitude left over from the "bad old days," even in the medical establishment who should know better, that insists on iodine fortification of salt and a number of other foods. It's so totally unnecessary and has caused me a lot of grief. I basically have to turn down all social invitations because people have been brainwashed into thinking they absolutely have to use iodized salt. I've found it far easier just to say "no thank you" when invited for dinner than to insist on a special unsalted meal or ask them to use non-iodized salt. In restaurants, I have to stick to salad with oil and vinegar and unsalted steak, and I often have to be really assertive about it.
Posted by: StylinLP

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/14/12 12:34 PM

Man, im never going to invite you over for dinner!

heh kidding. Well, I guess that solves that problem. Food from all over gives you plenty of iodine. I wont be adding a splash to iodine salt to my meals anymore. thanks!

Edit- I quoted WIKi article on iodinized salt.
Posted by: ultralightbp

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/16/12 12:35 PM

Originally Posted By StylinLP
Here in Sedona Az they have this amazing store that sells all sorts of steak jerky. Buffalo, Turkey, Elk, beef, snake. All organic with alot of differant flavors from spicy to teriyaki.

Anyone have any online recomendations on where to buy the best quality and health jerky for backpacking for weeks at a time. Also, how much jerky should one eat a day.


How does snake jerky taste?! I'd like to try that!
Posted by: StylinLP

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/20/12 11:24 AM

I picked up the Kirkland brand of Beef Jerky "steak thick" at Price Club..I mean Costco and it was great. Only 320m Sodium. But there is Sulfate listed towards the end of the ingrediants list...taste really good and hearty.
Posted by: BrianLe

Re: Best Jerky for Appalachian trail - 12/20/12 02:48 PM

I bought Costco jerky and have put that in some resupply boxes, just because I've got the membership. I've bought trail bars in relative 'bulk' that way as well as their gorp and dried fruit for the same reason. So a couple more thoughts in terms of thru-hiking food items from Costco ...

Trail bars work great that way because it's easy to resize the big box 'o bars down to the individual bar for different resupply boxes. On a long enough trip and/or with enough resupply boxes, you can buy several different types to add some variety. I do recall buying some sort of "protein" bars which had an attractive chocolate coating over a sort of white gooey protein-rich (I think soy) core. I liked them briefly and then came to loathe these, but other bar choices worked out great.

The Jerky comes in, if I recall correctly, 9 oz size containers. If you have a vacuum sealer at home, consider repackaging into the size you want if it's much different from 9 oz, and have your at-home resupply person put the repackaged units in the freezer until time to mail. If not, 9 oz can sometimes be perfect but is often an awkward amount. I don't find Kirkland brand jerky to be terribly tasty. It's not bad (!) and I'll still buy it on occasion, but I'll find myself sometimes not eating the whole amount sent before the next trail town, whereas some other brands (bought randomly in stores along the way) are such that I have to discipline myself to stop eating the stuff.

Their gorp is pretty good, in 4 pound bags as I recall. As with all things you do have to take care to look at expiration date on purchase, and for near-end-of-trip resupply boxes I might vacuum seal some gorp ahead of time too. The biggest issue with their gorp is that on a trip with a number of resupply boxes I can get a bit bored of always the very same type of gorp.

Dried fruit varies, but in general I no longer buy it from Costco, but purchase smaller quantities in a local grocery store. If you do get dried fruit from costco, my suggestion is to avoid the stuff that's a mix of fruit with some nuts and just get fruit. And definitely repackage and vacuum seal; like the gorp, it comes in pretty big bags.

Of course tastes on these things can vary a lot, the above is just my personal biases!