Best lunch ideas

[hummingbird]

So, what do y'all do for lunches on the trail?
Stop & cook, or just eat on the run. Or would the plan be to hit camp before lunch.
Thoughts?

[Keweenaw]

My lunches tend to be snacky - cheese, gorp, jerky, bagel, etc. I don't bother to fire up the stove.

Bob

[Backpacker534]

My buddy and I don't drag out the stove either. We usually just have one of the following or some combination of them: trail mix, granola bars, pop tarts, tortilla shells with slices of cheddar cheese and salami sticks and Dijon mustard, bagels and peanut butter.

[Tampico]

What pitiful meals!

How about a foil pouch of tuna, a packet or two of mayo, a packet or two of relish (dill in my case) and a pita pocket (or tortilla)?

Honestly, I can't understand why anyone would willingly eat a granola bar, or gorp of any kind.

ETA: would you consider this "food" a meal under any other circumstances?

[Vandy]

Tampico's lunch sounds more up my alley. But, replace dill relish with sweet.

[Mandolynn]

How fortunate we are to have Tampico to tell us what to eat for lunch.
And here I thought I could eat whatever sounded good to me. Which would not be tuna. Under any circumstances.

[Tampico]

How fortunate we are to have Tampico to tell us what to eat for lunch.

My apologies, but I wasn't telling you anything.

My point was merely that you don't have to starve just because you're packing your food.

In the future Mandolynn, please feel free to ignore me.

[Vandy]

No worries, Tampico.

I didn't feel like you were telling me what I HAD to eat.
You were sharing your love of tuna on the trail.
I enjoy GORP sometimes, but didn't take offense when you suggested it wasn't for you.
Guess you hit a nerve with mandolyn.

See you on the trail.

[DonNewcomb]

ETA: would you consider this "food" a meal under any other circumstances?

It depends on the circumstances. Cheese, salami or ham, flatbread, mustard, gorp or fruit with water or tea would normally make up my trail lunch. Generally zero prep & zero clean-up items. In-camp lunch would be more involved and include a hot soup and maybe more along Tampico's line. If the trail happens to pass a lodge, pub or restaurant, then lunch could outclass Tampico's by an order of magnitude.

[johnhens]

My alltime favorite is PB&J on hearty sourdough with some sort of side (goldfish ect.) and a flavored drink (Gatorade ect)
Cheese and crackers would be next.
On a crappy weather day, we have resorted to spoonfuls of peanut butter when we didn't want to have the full blown lunch stop.
Usually handfuls of gorp thrown in too.

[Tampico]

Peanut butter and jelly is another great option, especially since you can get both in single-serving containers.

ETA:

Cheese, salami or ham, flatbread, mustard, gorp or fruit with water or tea would normally make up my trail lunch.

How do you (safely) store/carry cheese, salami and ham on the trail for any length of time?

[Tampico]

Bump for edit.

[Keweenaw]

How do you (safely) store/carry cheese, salami and ham on the trail for any length of time?

The harder the cheese and the cooler the temps, the longer it's good and when it goes bad, it usually just gets moldy, not toxic.

Salami, summer sausage, etc - I get the small ones that are labeled for non-refrigerated use.

Theoretically a salt cured, smoked ham would be OK for a very long time, but I wouldn't trust it.

Bob

[DonNewcomb]

How do you (safely) store/carry cheese, salami and ham on the trail for any length of time?

Cheese, sausage and ham are actually methods of long-term preservation of food from the pre-refrigeration era. Some cheeses, ham and sausage require no refrigeration. Velveeta will store on the shelf for ages but I prefer a Jarlsberg or just about anything harder. Same for salami, summer-sausage and ham. The reason they call it "summer sausage" is that it was made in to not spoil in the summer heat. In the store, you'll find some of it is stacked on the shelf like cord-wood. A dry-cured Virginia ham will last about forever as will a dry salami. The trick is that you have to get it sliced very thin because it's dry and hard to chew.

[zims]

I have to put ,my 2 cents in here. We have taken tuna and pitas, with cheese and mayo packets courtesy or any mcdonalds we pass on the way to the boat. We have come to the conclusion to keep everyone happy, we leave the tuna at home. when you are hiking for 5 or more days, things like tuna become a nuisance to carry, they are heavy food!! I have found that a good oatmeal for breakfast and a hot cup of coffee will hold me till later in the day when I enjoy gorp or granola bars or berries from the trail. You really don't get as hungry as you think you would.