Sodium Content......Protein.....????

Ok so my previous years have consisted of pretty much mountain house and Idahoan potatoes for dinner and sometimes lunch. The rest of my day is basically oatmeal (homemade), trail mix, and energy bars.

I have been looking into some other companies to buy some of my just add water meals from. I know the possibilities are endless if you make it all on your own but I am just not there yet.

The two I have been focusing on are Pack It Gourmet and soup and chili mixes from harmony house.

My big question is what is an acceptable amount of sodium, i know when on the trail your body uses more because you sweat but some of these meals can have an ENTIRE days worth of sodium!!!

I am also curious about how many grams of protein I should be consuming as well.

I have tried a few pack it gourmet meals they were great if anyone has sampled any of harmony houses mixes please let me know your thoughts (taste, preparation, ect).

Unless you have a medical condition and your doctor is limiting your salt, I would not worry about salt in backpack food. For me it is the taste. I cannot stand over-salted food. I rather have bland food and add salt, to my taste.

In general I try to get 18-20% of my calories as protein. Since I often fish, I do not get too worried about a lot of protein in my dry food. The longer the trip the more important to get sufficient protein. I doubt low protein would cause problems for a 2-5 day trip. Protein helps you feel full longer, which is good for a long night's sleep. I try to get most of my protein at the evening meal.

Sodium intake is definitely a problem for people with high blood pressure or have a high risk for HBP. If you are not in a high risk group, then I wouldn't worry much about salt intake over the course of a backpack. Unless you are eating it by the spoonful.

Ok sounds logical thank you for your input.

I am still curious however if anyone has tried the Harmony House food?

I have not tried Harmony House, though a quick perusal of there website I note they seem to be selling dehydrated items instead of freeze dried. Not a huge deal since many DIYers only backpack with dehydrated foods. However, I think Mountain House uses mostly freeze dried items meaning they reconstitute easier. Harmony house recommends simmering their items, though they mention soaking will work.

"Just Tomatoes" sells freeze dried fruits and veggies on Amazon (looks like they now might be called Karen's Natural now)

I did notice they are dehydrated wich does not bother me too much since you can just let it soak. But they mentioned it should soak for an extended period of time. I think i would be a little sceptical of leaving a zip lock eat in bag with water in it inside of my pack. They do also say that you only add 2/3 of a cup and then add the rest when you are ready to cook. So maybe it would soak most of that up pretty quick. I am not sure since I'm pretty inexperienced with dehydrated foods in the backcoutry. Maybe someone else can chime in.

Others have mentioned using an empty peanut butter jar for soaking. There are the screw top plastic storage jars by Rubbermaid and others. They are fairly lightweight. The pint size makes a decent small bowl. It would be nice if they made a 24 Oz. jar. The heaviest part of these things is the lid. It's possible to use these jars for small item storage, but what do you do with the small items while you are soaking something?

I am also am a bit skeptical. Probably works better if you hike to a location and set up camp for a couple nights.

Also, there is a new product on the market that came out earlier this month... on the 1st I believe:

http://gossamergear.com/the-crotch-pot.html

Well the crotch pot looks pretty interesting. But i don't think I'm ready to carry my meal around in my pants to warm it up so i can shave the weight of my stove, but still i can see how others might find that useful.

Im putting my order in sometime this week im gonna get some packit gourmet and a few things from harmony house. Our first trip is going to be May 10-13 after we return i will do a review of the harmony house meals. I will try a simmer only and i bet i could find a way to securely hang that back from my pack so if it leaks at least it is on the outside.

I find Good To-Go meals pretty tasty, but they take a long time to reconstitute (20 minutes). You can find them at REI.

as per the American Heart Association, it recommends no more than 2,300 milligrams (mg) a day and moving toward an ideal limit of no more than 1,500 mg per day for most adults.

I bring salt, cant have too much. there have been no actual studies to prove salt is bad.
blaming salt for a heart condition is like blaming firemen for a fire, because you always see them near a burning house.

All I know is that more than a minimal amount of salt sends my blood pressure soaring and turns my calves, ankles and feet into balloons! This was true even when I was in my 20s, which was a horrendously long time ago, but of course it's worse now.

Are you a doctor? Because this is horrible advice:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4953267/

Dont worry about it.
it's not like our ancient ancestors ate salted meat everyday .. oh wait

Yep, every day - right up until they died around age 40 - 50. (1860 life expectancy for a US male was just over 40 years.)

The low life expectancy in 1860 was primarily because so many children died of childhood diseases that can be prevented now. Who today knows anyone who died of diptheria or whooping cough? I remember when the polio vaccine came out; the line to get the shots extended all across the university campus! (We had just gone through an outbreak that killed several popular students and left others paralyzed.)

People who survived childhood and major accidents (and, for women, childbirth) tended to live as long as they do now.

Of the approximately 750,000 who died in the Civil War, it is estimated that half died of disease. That was still the dark ages of medical and public health knowledge, which began to advance only later in the 19th century.

And seems to be retreating again in the twenty first century.

Hi, Mouse:

Wasn't one of the medical advances the discovery that too much sodium intake is bad for you? (Sorry, couldn't resist; you're right - medical advances were a big part of the increase. )

Yes, but more important was the discovery that it was not a good idea to dig privy trenches right next to the drinking water source, or to drink water downstream from the camp!

Have you ever seen "The Horse Soldiers" with John Wayne and William Holden? There's a great scene where John Wayne hears an argument between the regimental surgeon and another officer, and asks what's going on. Holden replies "I'm just trying to remind him that the coffee tastes better if we water the horses downstream from the camp."