Marlin - you are welcome on my trip anytime.  I would love to see the culinary vision in action!

We take most of what's been suggested.  However, I'd add the following for variety:

Fresh fruit - An apple or orange should last at least a couple days.
Nutella instead of peanut butter - when you've scaped out most of the jar, pour a cup of joe in there for a sweet treat.
Naan (Indian flat bread), goes well with the Nutella.
Trail mix - we make ours with M&Ms, cashews, peanuts and dried fruit It usually makes up 1/2 of most lunches.
Crackers - we've been digging the individual packages of crackers like you get out of vending machines. There's a decent variety besides just orange crackers with peanut butter.
Shelf-stable fruit cups.
Cheese - a medium or sharp cheddar in the wrapper won't go bad in 4-5 days, unless you leave it out in the sun.

We also take granola bars, NutriGrain Bars, or Powerbars for snacks between the 3 regular meals.  I usually hand them out after breakfast and each person is responsible for his/her bar.  It's really good for keeping us going and often allows us to push a little harder.  On most days we may delay lunch an hour or 2 and get to our night's camp for lunch.  

jjcanoeguide wrote on May 3^rd, 2010 at 9:47pm:


I bag 1/3 or 1/2 cup portions of trail mix, per person per day.  Each day everyone gets their bag and can eat it whenever they feel the urge.  I started doing this when my kids were young so they wouldn't gorge on trail mix for the first 2 days, then complain about not having any for the rest of the trip.

I continue to pack it this way, long after the kids have grown, for 3 reasons: 1) like before, it ensures we have it throughout the trip, 2) it's my routine, and 3) it's more hygienic, avoiding multiple hands dipping into one bag.   

prouboy

Puckster wrote on May 4^th, 2010 at 1:05am:


separate bags, I like that idea, I think I'll start doing that...except I still gorge on trail mix, 1/2 a cup?more like 1 - 2 cups per day for us. I think that it contributes 1/2 the weight to the food pack. We make our own trail mix so we get pretty creative. Nuts of course, raisons, craisons, huge varied of dried fruits, cereal, anything I can find that looks appealing...might even throw in a chunk or two of dry dog food just for a sick joke.

When I first saw the price, 2 Gal canister for $24.00, I said no way am I paying $3 per quart for Powerade.  Then after clicking the link I see it's eight 2 Gallon canisters, not one.  That's more like it.

FWIW, though, there was the following little caveat:

The purchase and use of POWERADE Powder and all other POWERADE materials from this site for residential or home use is prohibited.

I don't know how aggressively they enforce this...possibly not at all...but I figured I'd share it FWIW.

I like to do a lunch of honey on bagels.
Also, if you're looing at tuna there's a couple other similar bagged fish. They're all good on crackers.
Can also get a supper small thing of mayo and a bag of chicken and have that on a bagel. Get the onion bagels and it adds a little extra flavor.
The majority of my travel lunches have something to do with a bagel because they can actually fill you and the cram good in the small pack I keep all the day use stuff in.