FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD...EVEN WHEN BIKEPACKING!
In these extreme and extraordinary circumstances that we are all experiencing, it is important to remain positive and pray for those who are personally affected and those who work on the front lines to keep us all safe. It is also important that we all do our best to help our families and communities. Together, we can achieve anything. Alone, we are doomed.
When the guys from Bikepacking.it contacted me at the end of February, we did not know that after a couple of weeks Italy and now most of the EU countries would have faced a health emergency of this magnitude.
Writing an article / blog for an outdoor activity website seems frugal and useless in times like these, but that's exactly what we need to do. We have to keep our minds busy, we have to keep creating, we have to keep our spirits up and we have to keep dreaming and planning our future summer adventures by bicycle ... and that's exactly what I'm going to do today.
Since this is my second episode for Bikepacking.it, I would like to talk to you about how to prepare food for a bicycle trip.
Whether you are a beginner or an expert bikepacker, I hope my tips and tricks will provide you with the knowledge and inspire you to enjoy your bikepacking trip.
In the first article / blog I told you about food as a very important component of bikepacking, not only as a source of energy but above all as a pleasure that pampers us during a period of intense physical effort. We are habitual animals, so sitting at the table for lunch and dinner is part of our habits, on the other hand, we Italians like to eat, right ?!
So how can you transfer your daily eating habits during your bikepacking trips? The secret lies in planning what and how to take with you and establish (even in broad lines) where you can buy new supplies and also where you can stop for lunch / dinner to treat yourself to a little whim (every now and then it takes eh..to keep the moral) technology is helping us today.
Think of the pantry of your home: there are products you always have available, for example: pasta, rice, canned food of all kinds, sugar, oil, vinegar, salt, flour, tea, coffee, crackers, biscuits etc. ..etc..The concept to follow is essentially the same, that is, to create a personalized "bikepacking pantry", in other words, the products that are suitable for you because you like them and you feel comfortable there.
So, in this article, I will explain to you which essential supplies to bring with you and how to pack them correctly.
Bikepacking means self-sufficiency, self-management and a lot of organization but like all things, you need a little practice, try and try again until you find the most suitable solution for you.
So I created three categories to help you better understand how to organize yourself.
Equipment
... to pack your food:
- Small and medium ziplock bags
- 100ml plastic bottles and vials
- 40 / 50ml plastic jars
... for cooking:
- Stove
- Gas canister
- Small saucepan and spoon - fork (Spork)
Light and minimalist field kitchen set-up:
Vango micro burner
100gr Primus gas
Stanley Adventure Series saucepan with steel Spork included
Traditional field kitchen set-up:
Sea To Summit saucepan
Burner
Optimus gas can
Breakfast
Basic products:
- Coffee (ground or single-dose bags of Nescafe)
- Muesli
- Dried fruit (nuts; seeds; fruit)
- Oat flakes (to prepare porridge)
- Almond butter (in single-dose bags)
- Milk powder
Products you can add according to your preferences:
- Individual portions of honey / jam
- Disposable portions of Nutella, peanut butter, almond butter or similar
- ... or whatever you like.
Snacks
Basic products:
- Mix trail (a sweet / savory mix of dried fruit)
- Bananas / apples (or other semi-hard fruit)
- 70% chocolate
- Cereal bars (granola bars are top)
- Sneakers or other sweets
- Drinking sugar / electrolytes supplements (I use and recommend Skratch Labs)
- Natural supplements such as arnica drops or hemp oil drops
Products you can add according to your preferences:
- All types of energy bars
- Confectionery and snacks
- Fresh fruit of the season
- White or red pizzas, pizza-like bread (or crushed, which can be rolled up for example)
- Humus or Philadelphia cheese
- ... or more.
Main meal - Lunch or Dinner, or both
Basic products:
- Rice
- Pasta (possibly small shapes)
- Quinoa
- Polenta
- Spaghetti
- Cous cous
- Buckwheat
- Japanese Udon Noodles
- Dehydrated soups
- Pesto / Tomato-basil sauce
- Canned tuna / salmon
You have certainly noticed that the "formats" of the carbohydrate sources are particularly small and compact. The aim is to choose types of pasta that have small, compact, dense and reduced shapes, to avoid carrying "empty space" with them. Let me explain: a 500gr pack of pens is much more voluminous than a 500gr package of angel hair. So, when preparing the list of foods to take with you, take this aspect into consideration.
Products you can add according to your preferences:
- Spaghetti or other types of pasta
- Lentils or other dried legumes
- Canned meat or fish
- Cured meats of your choice
Vegetables and Fruits to take with you or to buy "on the road"
The idea is to load the bags with vegetables and fruit (seasonal, of course) that resist well to shocks, transport and off-road pedalling. There is 'nothing more' boring than buying beautiful ripe ox-heart tomatoes, putting them in the frame bag and then arriving to realize that they have been "tossed" and have become tomato sauce, seasoning everything that was in the bag!
Here are some examples:
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Sweet potatoes
- Green beans
- Apples
- Oranges and tangerines
If, on the other hand, you have handlebar bags, for example, the "Bud" bag from the Italian company Miss Grape, you can load it with delicate and fragile fruit, for example ..
- Grapes
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Fresh figs
- Avocado
- Raspberries and blueberries
Buy softer and ripe vegetables and fruits when you want to eat and cook them. You will certainly find shops along the way, this obviously depends on what country / area you are in. I really like to stop along the way, in small country towns and buy local products..as for example, from tomatoes, fresh basil..or seasonal fruit such as watermelon or melon, both sliced :-)
... some other advice and inspiration ...
Outdoor / Camp kitchen ..
Whether you cook with a gas stove, alcohol or on a high flame, cooking outdoors has something primordial. That sense of freedom and intimate feeling with nature that only an experience like this can give us. Sitting on the ground in front of a crackling fire, the smoke and scent of burning wood, preparing a hot dish after a day in the saddle ... a return to the origins.
We work so hard and we are so busy seeking wellness that we have forgotten that true wellness is being in nature and experiencing all it has to offer.
Contrary to what you can think or know about how to eat and cook during a Bikepacking trip, planning to cook most of your meals from scratch can be "damaging". The preparations, time and cooking process of all your food can hinder your physical and emotional success. But having the right and correct knowledge, following our practical advice - cooking a little, having some dinner and "foraging" a little - will become a pleasant activity and an integral part of your bikepacking trip.
Foraging..free food, everywhere!
One of the things I like to do while doing Bikepacking is foraging. There is nothing more satisfying than picking seasonal fruit that grows spontaneously .. blueberries, wild strawberries, raspberries in the mountains and strawberry trees in Liguria (during the first edition of the Liguria Trail, the track made us go on a path with bushes on the sides full of strawberry trees. That moment for me was the best moment of the day, which I still remember with enormous pleasure and taste :-)), beautiful ripe figs ... and much more.
Think about it ... you cycled all morning / day and suddenly you approach a quiet village and near the main square, there are some fig trees with fresh and ripe figs the size of tennis balls hanging from its branches ... what do you do? Take a few, of course ... but don't abuse the generosity of nature and leave some for others too.
Plants and herbs such as wild fennel that grows in Tuscany or dandelion, wild rocket, aromatic herbs such as thyme and rosemary .. they are only a few ingredients that you can very well collect (I suggest you collect and forage when you find all this good of God ..because you never know when the opportunity will come to find more during the trip) put in a bag and then use them to prepare a dinner worthy of a chef ;-)
When the guys from Bikepacking.it contacted me at the end of February, we did not know that after a couple of weeks Italy and now most of the EU countries would have faced a health emergency of this magnitude.
Writing an article / blog for an outdoor activity website seems frugal and useless in times like these, but that's exactly what we need to do. We have to keep our minds busy, we have to keep creating, we have to keep our spirits up and we have to keep dreaming and planning our future summer adventures by bicycle ... and that's exactly what I'm going to do today.
Since this is my second episode for Bikepacking.it, I would like to talk to you about how to prepare food for a bicycle trip.
Whether you are a beginner or an expert bikepacker, I hope my tips and tricks will provide you with the knowledge and inspire you to enjoy your bikepacking trip.
In the first article / blog I told you about food as a very important component of bikepacking, not only as a source of energy but above all as a pleasure that pampers us during a period of intense physical effort. We are habitual animals, so sitting at the table for lunch and dinner is part of our habits, on the other hand, we Italians like to eat, right ?!
So how can you transfer your daily eating habits during your bikepacking trips? The secret lies in planning what and how to take with you and establish (even in broad lines) where you can buy new supplies and also where you can stop for lunch / dinner to treat yourself to a little whim (every now and then it takes eh..to keep the moral) technology is helping us today.
Think of the pantry of your home: there are products you always have available, for example: pasta, rice, canned food of all kinds, sugar, oil, vinegar, salt, flour, tea, coffee, crackers, biscuits etc. ..etc..The concept to follow is essentially the same, that is, to create a personalized "bikepacking pantry", in other words, the products that are suitable for you because you like them and you feel comfortable there.
So, in this article, I will explain to you which essential supplies to bring with you and how to pack them correctly.
Bikepacking means self-sufficiency, self-management and a lot of organization but like all things, you need a little practice, try and try again until you find the most suitable solution for you.
So I created three categories to help you better understand how to organize yourself.
Equipment
... to pack your food:
- Small and medium ziplock bags
- 100ml plastic bottles and vials
- 40 / 50ml plastic jars
... for cooking:
- Stove
- Gas canister
- Small saucepan and spoon - fork (Spork)
Light and minimalist field kitchen set-up:
Vango micro burner
100gr Primus gasStanley Adventure Series saucepan with steel Spork included
Traditional field kitchen set-up:
Sea To Summit saucepan
Burner
Optimus gas can
Breakfast
Basic products:
- Coffee (ground or single-dose bags of Nescafe)
- Muesli
- Dried fruit (nuts; seeds; fruit)
- Oat flakes (to prepare porridge)
- Almond butter (in single-dose bags)
- Milk powder
Products you can add according to your preferences:
- Individual portions of honey / jam
- Disposable portions of Nutella, peanut butter, almond butter or similar
- ... or whatever you like.
Snacks
Basic products:
- Mix trail (a sweet / savory mix of dried fruit)
- Bananas / apples (or other semi-hard fruit)
- 70% chocolate
- Cereal bars (granola bars are top)
- Sneakers or other sweets
- Drinking sugar / electrolytes supplements (I use and recommend Skratch Labs)
- Natural supplements such as arnica drops or hemp oil drops
Products you can add according to your preferences:
- All types of energy bars
- Confectionery and snacks
- Fresh fruit of the season
- White or red pizzas, pizza-like bread (or crushed, which can be rolled up for example)
- Humus or Philadelphia cheese
- ... or more.
Main meal - Lunch or Dinner, or both
Basic products:
- Rice
- Pasta (possibly small shapes)
- Quinoa
- Polenta
- Spaghetti
- Cous cous
- Buckwheat
- Japanese Udon Noodles
- Dehydrated soups
- Pesto / Tomato-basil sauce
- Canned tuna / salmon
You have certainly noticed that the "formats" of the carbohydrate sources are particularly small and compact. The aim is to choose types of pasta that have small, compact, dense and reduced shapes, to avoid carrying "empty space" with them. Let me explain: a 500gr pack of pens is much more voluminous than a 500gr package of angel hair. So, when preparing the list of foods to take with you, take this aspect into consideration.
Products you can add according to your preferences:
- Spaghetti or other types of pasta
- Lentils or other dried legumes
- Canned meat or fish
- Cured meats of your choice
Vegetables and Fruits to take with you or to buy "on the road"
The idea is to load the bags with vegetables and fruit (seasonal, of course) that resist well to shocks, transport and off-road pedalling. There is 'nothing more' boring than buying beautiful ripe ox-heart tomatoes, putting them in the frame bag and then arriving to realize that they have been "tossed" and have become tomato sauce, seasoning everything that was in the bag!
Here are some examples:
- Carrots
- Zucchini
- Sweet potatoes
- Green beans
- Apples
- Oranges and tangerines
If, on the other hand, you have handlebar bags, for example, the "Bud" bag from the Italian company Miss Grape, you can load it with delicate and fragile fruit, for example ..
- Grapes
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Fresh figs
- Avocado
- Raspberries and blueberries
Buy softer and ripe vegetables and fruits when you want to eat and cook them. You will certainly find shops along the way, this obviously depends on what country / area you are in. I really like to stop along the way, in small country towns and buy local products..as for example, from tomatoes, fresh basil..or seasonal fruit such as watermelon or melon, both sliced :-)
... some other advice and inspiration ...
Outdoor / Camp kitchen ..
Whether you cook with a gas stove, alcohol or on a high flame, cooking outdoors has something primordial. That sense of freedom and intimate feeling with nature that only an experience like this can give us. Sitting on the ground in front of a crackling fire, the smoke and scent of burning wood, preparing a hot dish after a day in the saddle ... a return to the origins.
We work so hard and we are so busy seeking wellness that we have forgotten that true wellness is being in nature and experiencing all it has to offer.
Contrary to what you can think or know about how to eat and cook during a Bikepacking trip, planning to cook most of your meals from scratch can be "damaging". The preparations, time and cooking process of all your food can hinder your physical and emotional success. But having the right and correct knowledge, following our practical advice - cooking a little, having some dinner and "foraging" a little - will become a pleasant activity and an integral part of your bikepacking trip.
Foraging..free food, everywhere!
One of the things I like to do while doing Bikepacking is foraging. There is nothing more satisfying than picking seasonal fruit that grows spontaneously .. blueberries, wild strawberries, raspberries in the mountains and strawberry trees in Liguria (during the first edition of the Liguria Trail, the track made us go on a path with bushes on the sides full of strawberry trees. That moment for me was the best moment of the day, which I still remember with enormous pleasure and taste :-)), beautiful ripe figs ... and much more.
Think about it ... you cycled all morning / day and suddenly you approach a quiet village and near the main square, there are some fig trees with fresh and ripe figs the size of tennis balls hanging from its branches ... what do you do? Take a few, of course ... but don't abuse the generosity of nature and leave some for others too.
Plants and herbs such as wild fennel that grows in Tuscany or dandelion, wild rocket, aromatic herbs such as thyme and rosemary .. they are only a few ingredients that you can very well collect (I suggest you collect and forage when you find all this good of God ..because you never know when the opportunity will come to find more during the trip) put in a bag and then use them to prepare a dinner worthy of a chef ;-)
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