PackWise: Delicious Eats for Your Trekking Adventure

There are a number of things that make a trek special. Good company, great laughs, love, smiling weather, but nothing quite as good as good food to have your happy hormones up and pumping!

Food is not just food, it’s a string to memory, a sentiment, and a spur for energy. When you come on organized treks with us, we will make sure of your main meals for every day in the mountains and little refreshments for the road too. Nevertheless, reserve a little backpack space for an energizing eclectic mix of extra nutrients.

Our suggestions-

• Hard Cheese and Crackers

This gourmet delight duo tops the list! Crumbly, dry, and absolutely feel-good tasty, these cakes of hard cheese are hassle-free to carry. You can keep a few flakes in your jacket pocket for the road, wrapped in paper, or a solid salty piece tucked away somewhere at the bottom of your backpack to secretly quench midnight cravings on camp nights.

Aficionados will know how hard cheese is the crème of crèmes of cheese varieties, and the regular processed version the average Indian has with bread for snacks is nothing in comparison. But all the same, the cost could be pinching, so anybody not in the mood to spree can go for the regular Amul cheese slices.

Club this with whole-wheat thin crackers. Pack them delicately, preferably placing on top of the lot inside your backpack. A bite of cheese and a scrunch of crackers is the surefire formula to recharge on weary trails.

• Chocolate and Candy Bars

The guilty pleasures of childhood, chocolate, and candies get even more sinful on the mountain road. When fatigue of the journey kind of bogs down the spirit and you are in dire need of a sugar rush, these can come in super handy. Inexpensive and available anywhere, even at some shack out of nowhere dangling in remote highlands, grubs like these are something you can count upon.

Downside- chocolate treats melt easily and make a mess, and candies get sticky. So, if you are trekking on hot days, be careful not to stock chocolates way before the waterscapes of the trek start, instead buy from the last village stop. You can go easy on the quantity as chocolates and candies are also part of the refreshment package that trekkers get from the house. Since goodness like this can never be enough, stock up with just a little surplus and before you know it, it’s all gone, much of it distributed to fellow, friends and village children tugging at your sleeves.

• Dry Fruit Mix

Packed with a caloric bang, dry fruit mix is unfailing for an immediate energy fix, not to mention the superlative taste. Almonds, walnuts, dates, pistachios, raisins—it’s an absolute mix for the kings! The special thing about these water-detracted mouthfuls on treks is the potency for heat generation. If you are anxious about surviving biting cold nights, dry fruit is a sure prescription. You can keep warm, flaring up from inside with just a little gnaw of nuts here and there while trekking slowly into the cold heart of the Himalayas.

• Granola and Spiced Flat Rice Flakes

A mishmash of oat shavings, nutty granules, honey, brown sugar, dry raisin, and more, granola is nothing but your healthy cereals, minus the milk base. You can find granola at the nearest departmental store, coming in varieties of snack bars and potpourri. Rich in dietary fiber, sugar, and important minerals like potassium, and sodium, these can make great treats to sustain you through the exhaustion of the hike. Incredible how there is always some magic in the mountains that can make even the blandest of breakfast cereals come to great taste!

A peppery fiber-based alternative to granola could be flat rice flakes or the modest feed of chida, served with a mix of select spices.

• Baked Khakra 

Spiced flatbread baked to the crunching point, Khakras on treks bring a whiff of home. Masala khakras are available in a bunch of flavors—methi, onion, and more. When it’s nearly midday but your trek leader still hasn’t cued for lunch break, it’s time to bring out these flavorsome carbohydrate refills. An instant silencer for a grumbling stomach, baked khakhras are oil-free but filling. These last long, don’t drip or melt, and keep hunger at bay.

Now all you have to do is, pack in a flavor-filled mix, keep munching, and keep trekking. Long miles lie ahead!