One of the decisions we all must during any number of activities in the outdoors is what we are going to take with us for snacks to munch on.
If you spend a lot of time hiking or simply moving around the backcountry, you probably know that you need some water and light energy food to keep you going between regular meals.
Some people prefer to take granola bars to keep their energy levels up during the day. When it comes to energy bars, I prefer the ones made by the Isagenix Company. The trouble I have had with energy bars is that I either don't like the taste or they tend to melt in hot weather.
I still really like traditional trail mix that I prepare myself. The reason I like to prepare it myself is that I can choose the ingredients I like best, I don't have to have candy that melts in hot weather and it costs me less than buying the same amount of commercial trail mix for my backcountry activities.
Most of what I put in my trail mix are nuts, organic food, dried fruit and crunch. Two other categories that many people like to include are seeds and sweets. Here is a breakdown of each category:
Nuts: Peanuts, mixed nuts, whole raw almonds, sliced almonds, raw pecans, raw walnuts, unsalted cashews, and raw Brazil nuts.
Organic food: Raisins and organic coconut chips.
Dried fruit: Banana chips, cranberries, pineapple, apricots, mandarin oranges, apple chunks, mangoes and blueberries.
Crunch: Honey almond granola, Rice Chex, Wheat Chex, 7-grain granola and cacao nibs.
Seeds: Corn nuts, dried green peas, raw sunflower seeds, wasabi peas and raw pumpkin seeds.
Sweets: M&M peanuts, regular M&Ms, peanut butter M&Ms, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, yogurt raisins and dark chocolate chips.
I don't include all the items listed here in my own trail mix, but many people like things that I don't prefer. For example, I don't include items from the seeds and sweets categories. I don't even include many items from the nuts, organic and dried fruit categories.
The list above is not all inclusive, but represents items I am familiar with.
One pound of my particular trail mix costs me around $7.50 and is enough for two people for most hunting trips. Two pounds that I can share with several others cost around $15.
Whether you choose energy bars, commercial or self-prepared trail mix, it is a good idea to have a snack to tide you over between meals during backcountry activities.
Smokey Merkley was raised in Idaho and has been hunting since he was 10 years old. He was a member of the faculty of Texas A&M University for 25 years. There he taught orienteering, marksmanship, self-defense, fencing, scuba diving and boxing. He was among the first DPS-certified Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors. He can be contacted at mokeydo41245@hotmail.com.
