Lunch Planning
If you are planning just a day-hike, your lunch can be as fancy or as simple as you wish, just as when you were younger. You can take whatever you are willing to prepare, and carry. A single lunch on a hike doesn't even have to be balanced. You can make up for any imbalances at other meals when you are home. The main things to remember are that you have to carry it, that the lunch items will probably get warm in your pack, and that the items may be squeezed or crushed together. Our favorite lunch is salami and/or cheese, crackers, a raw vegetable like celery or carrot, dried fruit, and mixed nuts or trail mix. We pack all the items in separate plastic bags, so the cheese doesn't end up melting into the nuts, etc. We quite often bring the crackers in the box they are sold in, so they don't become broken. You can visualize the mess if you just put it all together. To drink, we bring along plain water, or bottled juice, or mineral water or beer, or sometimes a mini bottle of wine. In hot weather, warm wine is not really very appetizing, and it does not quench your thirst, but rather is actually dehydrating. If you bring wine, you should also bring water in some form, (your pack is getting heavier!). Remember too that despite the euphoric feeling you get, alcoholic beverages don't help you move along the trail. It is probably best to leave them home if the afternoon part of the hike is strenuous.
When you are planning for several days, think more about balancing the diet and having a variety of items. I remember one week-long backpacking trip, in which the leader handed us, at our first meeting, a plastic bag containing all the makings for our lunches for the entire week. The lunch food consisted of a giant chunk of smoked cheddar, a large bag of chocolate candies, and a large box of crackers. By the end of the week, I was gagging on the cheddar, and I still do not particularly like it to this day.
I urge you to add lots of variety. Stimulate your taste buds; they don't work as well as they used to, so some extra stimulation is good for them. Alternate cheeses and preserved meats, like salami, beef stick, and pepperoni sausage. Use a different cheese every time you serve it. Use a variety of cracker types, and don't forget about bagels or bread rolls. For sweets, there are lots of possibilities, like hard candy, chocolate, granola bars, dried fruits, etc. Use several different kinds of nuts and trail mix. Make each lunch a pleasant experience.
I realize that some of you may be thinking: "All that cheese, and salami! It's all got lots of fat in it!". To cut down on the fat content, we use dry cheeses, and turkey salami, or smoked turkey ham, and low fat cream cheese. Almost all the items can be substituted with one using vegetable rather than animal fat. Also, if you don't find a good substitute, remember that you are not going to be on this diet for very long, and you are getting lots of exercise along with the food. Check with your doctor if you are concerned about it.
Topic covered next: Planning food quantities