We have always known that food was going to predominantly fill our packs but now, for the first time we can actually see just how much space there is left in our bags for the rest of our equipment. Until the later part of the last century, the idea of carrying 30 days worth of food in a backpack was a totally preposterous suggestion. In fact, even now a lot of people believe what we are attempting is impossible due to the food. We have spent countless days and sleepless nights calculating various scenarios on the ice cap, weighing up the calorie in tack versus calorie outgoing and finding ways to fill
the deficit. You can take a look at a very scaled down version of the calculations over on the nutrition page. To cut a long story short there are more calories going out than there are going in and so we have had to find various ways to shrink the void to a level whereby we can bridge the gap with excess body fat.
When we started planning for our nutritional requirements we immediately assumed that the expedition food on the market was the best that we could get and didn’t give it a second thought. There are quite a few different brands out there and so we set about finding the ones with the highest calories. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that in order to get enough calories from these expedition meals alone the weight of our packs was going to be totally astronomical. To add to the problem some of the major manufacturers of these foods were being a little on the generous side with their calorie estimations and they don’t include the weight of the packet in their figures. So suddenly we have gone from having 800kcal in a 162g packet (as quoted by the manufacturers) to actually being ≈ 735kcal in a 206g packet (what we tested)!!!
Realising that unless we could solve this issue the expedition was going to be a non starter, we started to look at individual ingredients within the meals. You have probably noticed that I have been talking obsessively about calories however you will now probably be pointing out that it’s not just about how many calories but rather what form these calories are delivered in. After all if it didn’t matter how we got those calories we would just take bars of lard and be done with it.
We have been working tirelessly and it’s been a long slog but not only have we finally managed to fit ≈ 896kcal in a 181g packet, but we have managed to do it with an excellent blend of protein, carbohydrates and fat. As if all this wasn’t enough there is also a very real chance that our food will need to be rehydrated using cold water due to the very limited fuel rations we have.
We have used all sorts of ingredients including ground almonds and a variety of nuts and seeds, cream powder, AMF, Cheese powder etc. and it really have been a steep learning curve. Knowing what I know now I am positive that it is possible to go even further and increase the calorie density significantly. However one thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is the psychological aspect of eating. As brilliant as it sounds on the face of it, if you increase the density of calories so far that all it takes is a mouthful for your whole days rations you will loss that all important moment in the evening after you have been facing the elements all day, your exhausted and cold and you get into your tent and have that hot meal and feel yourself come back to life.
[pro-player width="640" height="400"]http://vimeo.com/5873234[/pro-player]
If you are seriously considering an expedition that requires absolute nutritional control then I would seriously recommend visiting a nutritionist, getting a breakdown of exactly what you need and then go out and put it together from scratch.
