First off, my normal way of eating is pretty omnivore.  I love vegetables, legumes, a nice mix of dairy and meat/plant based protein.  When I cook, I enjoy mixing up my flavors from classic American to Mexican to Thai and beyond. 

I wanted to experiment on myself in the kitchen and on the trail to see how it felt to eat keto for 3 months.  And to meal plan for some hikes while on the diet.  A note:  I am not a nutritionist or a dietitian.  I’m a curious chef that loves exploring different styles, flavors and ingredients while cooking.  If you have specific needs for your diet, please be mindful of those and consult with a trained professional.  If you would like more specific recommendations from a registered dietician, check out this article from Backcountry Foodie.

Keto: A Definition

For those of you out there that aren’t clear on what Keto is, here is a straight up definition:

The keto diet (also known as the ketogenic or ketovore diet) consists of high-fat, low-carbohydrate meals, snacks, and beverages. This diet encourages your body to make ketones from fat. Ketones are then used as fuel. To be keto-fueled, you generally shouldn’t eat more than 50 grams of carbohydrates daily. 75-90% of total daily calories come from fat.

How this differs from low carb eating is a majority of your calories need to come from fat, rather than just protein or other food sources.  This is vastly different from much of the dietary coaching we get from the USDA or other health resources.  It also goes against most cultural pantries as many have some sort of carbohydrate at their base (breads, potatoes, rice, noodles, corn, etc) and sweets whether coming directly from fruits, crafted desserts or other refined sugars. 

The thinking is that once your body has digested and purged through the current carbohydrates in your body, it moves on to fats and protein.  For some folks, it’s an option for weight loss that can be very effective based on your overall health or weight targets. 

Also, our brains normally run on mostly carbohydrates, sugars and glucose and it seeks these calories first.  When they aren’t present, they move on seeking fat or ketones for energy.  Stored or newly eaten. Additionally, from a nutritional perspective the body thinks of a carb and a sugar is pretty much the same thing.  It doesn’t matter if it comes from bread, a fruit, or a sugar. 

Is Keto Just About Protein?

I think one misconception about the Keto diet is that it’s all about protein.  While protein is definitely important, focusing on calories from fat is the goal.  It’s also very important to be mindful of your overall carbohydrate intake as many plans limit you to only a few grams per day.  And many prepared or processed foods include some sneaky carbohydrates. Ketchup can have up to 5 g of carbs per 1 TB and some teriyaki sauce can have up to 10 g of carbs per 1 TB. 

When I started the keto diet, I went all in.  No cookies, no ketchup, no honey, no tortillas.  And let me tell you it’s a very different way to eat.  It really took me a few weeks to really feel ok with adding tablespoons of butter to my meals or eating 8 strips of bacon as a snack.  But there were some early explorations that provided some really satisfying meals.  Specifically Asian flavored soups with added fats.  As well as some meat salad recipes (yes, meat can be a salad) dressed with a oil or mayonnaise based vinaigrette. 

The Keto Camping Recipes Starch Benefits

Something to be mindful of as you are planning your keto camping recipes, is that so many packaged meals have starches at their base.  And for good reason.  They are cheap, filling, versatile and tasty. When you start to meal plan for your keto hikes, it’s important to not just plan for “piles of meal” eating just jerky and summer sausage for days on end.  This will not provide sustained energy, leading to constant snacking and could affect your digestion in a negative way. 

Fun fact:  Fat grams are the most dense of the macronutrients coming in at 9 calories per gram.  This is great for the overall weight and efficiency of your pack. Including oil and fats into your meal plan will provide you with excellent sustained energy through the day. This makes Keto camping recipes ideal for keeping healthy.

Video: Mt Rainier has the meats

For some hikers, keto trail eating just isn’t going to work.  Carbs do provide a great, cheap and easy filling base for a lot of backpacking/camping meals and going high fat and protein is just too challenging. 

When Not to Eat Keto

Another thing to share is that I wouldn’t recommend changing to keto right before a hike.  With all of the activity on the trail and less carbs in your system, you could have very low energy and have higher intake needs.  I did this one time on a volcano climb up Mt. Adams, I shifted to a low carb diet 2 days before the hike and I made it to the top, but let’s just say…I dragged.

Some sauces and flavoring to stay away from on Keto are ketchup, hoisin, jam, honey, flavored yogurt (many have a lot of sugar added) some salad dressings (again, some have sugar added)

Here are some sauces and flavoring to consider:

Which veggies to target:

• Variety of fresh green vegetables.
• Anything green.   

Snap peas, broccoli, greens and kale, bell peppers, brussel sprouts and more are all extremely sturdy and can last longer than you think away from refrigeration, with many lasting for 3-5 days with minimal issue.  These are great for building Keto camp recipes. Avocados are a great option to pack along for shorter trips. Also, look to cauliflower rice as a substitute for starchy rice.

Ingredients to pack:

• Coconut Oil
• Ghee (clarified butter)
• Olive Oil
• Coconut milk powder
• Mayonnaise packets
• Mustard packets
• Precooked bacon
• Packaged chicken
• ry salami
• Summer sausage
• Country ham
• Smoked salmon/trout
• Sardines
• Cheeses
• Cheese powder
• Parmesan cheese
• Parmesan Crisps
• Plain yogurt powder
• Sour cream powder
• Spice mixes (see above)
• Soy sauce
• Vinegars 
• Green veggies (see above)
• Nuts, specifically macadamia 

Check out other great low-carb options in the recipe bank. 

Thanks for coming along for my dietary journey.  I enjoyed the experiment to see how my body reacted as well as exploring some different recipes with a different and limited panty. Keto can be a great option for you but it does take some very focused and dedicated meal planning inside or outside and a large amount of willpower as there are A LOT of tasty options knocking on your door that don’t help you stay on plan.

Recipe Cards

However you’re eating…get out there! Here are some of the recipe cards from the recipes I have referred to above. Download and print them off!

The post Keto Recipes for Camping appeared first on Hazeadventure.

For this trip, we dug into the Golden Gate recreational area just on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge.  We found there are multiple campsites available within only a couple miles as the crow flies from the city.  My friend and I had been really busy with work schedules and all we could find time for was a 1 night/2 day adventure.  

And wow, we really were able to pack in some fun in such a short time.

My San Francisco Hiking Meal Plan

I planned a great meal plan for this trip.  I was able to provision at the Ferry Building in downtown SF before our trip.  Some of the shops that we stopped by were Blue Bottle Coffee, Dandelion Chocolate, Acme Bread Company and Fatted Calf. The local artisan ingredients came together for a tasty and beautiful charcuterie lunch while sail boats passed by.

As we hiked we saw multiple varieties of California wildflowers that were in full force after heavy spring rains.  We continued hiking to a windy cove on the Pacific Ocean and eventually found our camp spot in a eucalyptus grove staring back at the city.  I had visited San Francisco and the bay area many times, but I had never seen this beautiful perspective. 

The next morning, we even found some time to jump in the Pacific for a cool dip after a biscuits and gravy breakfast.  

We were both glad we found the time for an adventure that we won’t soon forgot. Sometimes you just have to get off the couch and start walking to find some new places and create some new memories.

Outdoor Eats Recipes – Elevate Your Meals!

On this trip I did a variety of trail-tested recipes, using no more than 10 fresh ingredients, you an enjoy anywhere. Try these out, or visit my site at www.outdooreats.com for even more awesome meals!

Jambalaya

Biscuits and Gravy

Burst Tomato Goat Cheese Dip

Kale Caesar Salad

Recipe Cards (print them off, try them out!)

The post San Francisco Hiking, Camping and Cooking appeared first on Hazeadventure.

Recently, I rolled into the Montana wilderness for some van camping/hiking and vowed to do all of my own cooking. Based on my thorough and tasty research, I'm now going to walk you through how to make delicious and nourishing meals, with lively ingredients that can be found at any old grocery store. Bon Appetit! 

How do you pack food for backpacking?

If you want to eat lively, home-cooked-style grub while hiking, then the key is to prep and pack appropriately. Chop/dice up those bulky vegetables, remove noodles and grains from their chunky boxes, ditch any glass jars, and just generally compress everything down as much as possible. I like to use a combination of fancy/durable pouches and sealable zip-lock bags. Not only does this save space in your pack, but it also helps to create strategic portions for each meal. Once you get out there, eat the heavier stuff first so that you're carrying less and less each day. 

What kind of meat can you take backpacking?

Jerky is the classic go-to for meat-loving backpackers, but in this article, I'm skipping over the dehydrated stuff. My personal favorite meat item is Aidells Sausages – specifically, the pre-cooked spicy mango with jalapeño ones. It does say to keep them refrigerated, but I have found that you can stretch it for a few days, as long as the air temperature isn't scorching. 1-2 days is reasonable, and I have even creeped into the 3rd and 4th day, on occasion. So if you have been hesitant to bring meat along for your hiking trips, fear not, it can be done, and it's a great way to add in some much-needed protein.

What is good food to eat while camping?

For our two-nighter hiking trip, Kristi and I made two special dinners that I want to tell you about. The first was a butter curry with rice noodles and lots of those pre-diced veggies. The full recipe included: Annie's rice noodles, the aforementioned Aidells mango jalapeño sausages, onion, bell pepper, broccoli, sweet potato, shiitake mushrooms, garlic, coconut oil, and “Kitchens of India” butter chicken curry paste. 

The next night, we cooked up some fancy mac n' cheese. This once again involved using Annie's as the base, and the left-over Aidells sausages, plus broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, onion, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, and the SECRET INGREDIENT…cream cheese. I often bring along a bit of powdered milk to punch up this meal (which, by the way, is my absolute favorite), but I failed to resupply and so had to get creative.

The coconut oil, oil from the sun-dried tomatoes, and the cream cheese all helped to amp up that buttery goodness. If you're fast-packing or short on any of the fancier stuff late in your trip, it also works to just use the flavor pack that comes with the mac n' cheese, and then leave a bit of extra water in the pot to keep everything from getting dry and gunky. 

What type of stove is best for backpacking?

For proper cooking, I rotate between the JetBoil MiniMo and the MSR PocketRocket. If you’ve been following along with BackpackingTV and/or Hazeadventure.com then you may recall my blurb on ditching Jetboil in favor of the MSR Pocket Rocket. At the time, my main takeaway was that being able to simmer was a powerful tool for cooking actual meals, rather than just boiling water to use for dehydrated foods.

What I failed to take into account was that JetBoil has different stoves and attachments to accommodate nuanced cooking. Yes, the Flash is designed to give you boiled water in an instant, but with the MiniMo, you can adjust the flame and use a skillet. This was the set-up we used for both our curry and fancy mac n' cheese dinners. We started by cooking the veggies and sausages in the skillet (but not quite to completion), then set the pan aside while we boiled the noodles (which the MiniMo can still do lickety-split), and then went back into simmer mode to re-heat the skillet grub. 

What is the best food to bring while camping?

Though I'm championing the art of real cooking in the backcountry, I have to admit that bringing along all those fresh ingredients, and the pots/skillets to cook them in, does add a lot of weight. This is why dehydrated meals have become so popular. Perhaps the ultimate sweet spot is to do a mix of both.

I recommend making a special meal for at least your first night out. It sets a nice tone for the trip, and again, will significantly lighten your load if you're hiking to another campsite the next day. After that, tagging in some store-bought camping meals can bridge the gap until you get back to home base. 

Talking about all this food has made me hungry again (a regular occurrence for all avid backpackers), so I'm going to leave it there and head back to the mobile kitchen. If you've been in a bit of a cooking rut lately then I hope that these methods/recipes inspired you to switch it up for your next adventure. If you want some more backcountry cooking content, check out my buddy Chef Corso. And for more hiking/camping content of all kinds, head on over to BackpackingTV. Aprovecho! 

My favorite backpacking gear list

NOTE: These are affiliate links where I’ll earn a small commission if you make a purchase at no additional cost to you, but it’s a great way to show your support. Thanks!

Lifestraw Peak Series Squeeze: https://bit.ly/3A8T7nk
Jetboil Minimo: https://bit.ly/3pvrWxL
Jetboil Skillet: https://bit.ly/3Au14ow
Cotopaxi Cielo Rain Jacket: https://bit.ly/3dynCv5
Salewa Alpenrose 2 Women’s Boots: https://bit.ly/3dPxL6K
Women’s Mystery Ranch Bridger 55: https://bit.ly/3Ae1qy9
Komperdell Trekking Poles: https://bit.ly/3e67yBd
Hyperlite Mountain Gear pack: https://bit.ly/3prGVcm

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