Ski trips and especially long winter trips with overcoming complex and labor-intensive obstacles in conditions of low temperatures, strong winds and snowfalls require participants to expend a large amount of energy, which in simple and medium difficulty the hike is 3500-4000 kcal, and on a long and difficult hike it increases to 5000-6000 kcal.

In addition to the high caloric content of the diet of ski tourists great importance has the correct ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, a varied diet, good taste qualities, vitamin richness, the ability to consume some foods without cooking.

Caloric content and weight of the diet. For a simple ski trip, you can choose a diet from ordinary products that almost completely compensates for all daily energy costs. True, it will weigh 1100-1200 g per person per day.

Products Weight g. Calor., kcal.
Bread products (200 g)
Rye crackers 100 306.0
White 50 157.4
Biscuits 50 167.0
Meat and fish (255 g)
Stewed meat 100 186.0
Liver pate 20 66.4
Raw smoked sausage 30 155.3
Lard 50,384.7
Korean 20 109.5
Pink salmon in tomato 20 28.7
Sprat 15 22.5
Dairy (140 g)
Butter 40 295.0
vegetable 10 88.2
Powdered milk 25 120.0
Cheese 50 167.1
egg powder 15 78.5
Cereals, soups, spices (200 g)
Buckwheat, millet, semolina, rice, oatmeal (on average) 70,226.0
Vermicelli, pasta 20 67.4
Soup concentrates 50 150.0
Potato flakes 20 64.4
Tomato paste, sauces 20 17.8
Onions, garlic, spices 15 10.0
Salt 5
Sweets, drinks, vitamins (365 g)
Sugar 150 608.3
Candy 10 36.2
Halva 50 254.5
Dried fruits (average) 50,133.0
Tea 15
Coffee 5 20.5
Glucose with vitamins 20 81.0
Citric acid 2
TOTAL: 1160 3984

For a trip designed for 25-30 days, with cooking on primus stoves, such a set of products will be “unaffordable”. The task, therefore, is to reduce the weight of the diet, but keep its calorie content within 4000 kcal. This can be done through the use of freeze-dried meat, dry cream, soup concentrates, mashed potatoes, chocolate, halva, as well as increasing the amount of high-calorie foods and reducing foods with a lot of fiber.

Below is the daily diet of a group of tourists hiking in Severnaya Zemlya.

Products Weight g. Calor., kcal. Proteins fats carbohydrates
Bread products (140 g)
Rye crackers 60 183.6 4.62 0.8 38.6
Biscuits 65 217.1 8.26 - 44.72
Cookies 15 61.3 1.47 1.47 10.14
Meat (165 g)
Freeze-dried meat 50 275.0 25.0 8.0 -
Hard smoked sausage 40 172.0 8.2 14.9 -
Lard 75 577.5 1.5 61.5 -
Dairy (100 g)
Ghee 60,682.0 - 56.4 -
Dry cream with sugar 20 116.4 2.9 8.3 6.8
egg powder 20 104.6 10.0 6.8 -
Cereals, soups (90 g)
Buckwheat 15 47.6 1.31 0.45 9.5
Freeze-dried soups 50 150.0 3.0 6.0 15.0
Potato flakes 25 80.5 1.4 0.1 18.1
Sweet (285 g)
Sugar 150 608.3 - - 147.5
Chocolate 25 127.3 3.7 7.35 10.85
Tahini halva 60 341.0 7.02 18.36 27.2
Dried fruits (raisins) 15 39 0.38 9.15 -
Coffee, tea, citric acid 15 - - - -
Glucose with vitamins 20 81 - - 20.0
TOTAL: 780 3864 78.8 189.7 328.4

In an effort to minimize the weight of food for a 30-day hike, the group deliberately did not set a calorie content that would fully compensate for all daily energy costs. The calculation was based on the fact that the lack of nutrition would be covered by processing the body’s internal resources, but within limits that would not affect a person’s performance. Each participant lost an average of up to 4 kg in weight over the 26 days of the hike. At the same time, the performance and moral-psychological attitude of everyone until the end of the trip were excellent, which indicates the admissibility of this option of organizing meals on a long winter journey.

Creating a diet of 4500 kcal with a correctly selected ratio of assortment and chemical composition, which could be consumed for a long time without fear of causing unwanted deviations in the body, is possible with a weight of at least 900 g of products.

The chemical composition of the diet for a ski trip should also ensure normal human life for a long time in low temperature conditions. The usual ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (1:1:4) does not meet this requirement: there is clearly not enough fat. Therefore, when developing nutrition for long-distance and ultra-long-distance (800-1000 km or more) ski trips, they deliberately increase the amount of fat, achieving a ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates of 1:2 (3):5. A certain increase in carbohydrates is caused by the fact that they serve as the main source of energy quickly supplied to the body, and this is of paramount importance in winter conditions, when it is necessary to increase a person’s strength in a short time.

A special concern when consuming a reduced weight range of foods is to find special measures that would help dull the constant desire to eat, even if the body almost completely receives the required amount of calories. Let us name among them the following: periodic introduction of “overload” days, when more food is prepared than usual; lack of strict regulations in the use of water, which, along with fulfilling the regulatory functions of the water-salt regime, interrupts the feeling of hunger; using the tallow skin as chewing material during movement. There are suggestions that people use chewing gum for this purpose. An important role should be given to pre-campus accustoming the stomach to small amounts of food, as well as psychological preparation.

Diet on ski trips can be different. It depends, first of all, on the time of travel, the tactical plan for the day's march and the habits of the group.

Until recently, two hot meals a day were considered the most rational, and in the intervals there was a long (up to 30 minutes) rest and a dry meal, at best with tea from thermoses. This regime was motivated by the desire to make maximum use of daylight hours for movement. Its disadvantage (except for dry food) is a 10-12-hour gap between meals of hot food and water, which disrupts the biological rhythm of the body and weakens its performance.

Currently, three meals a day with a 5-6 hour gap between hot meals is becoming increasingly recognized, which corresponds to the usual diet. With good organization, a lunch break with the preparation of the first, second courses and tea takes no more than 1.5 hours, and the first and tea - up to 1 hour. As practice shows, after such a lunch and rest, the group easily overcomes the second half of the day's march and stops at a bivouac in a condition that allows, if necessary, to walk a few more kilometers or perform some labor-intensive work without much fatigue.

With three hot meals a day, it is most advisable to distribute food as follows: breakfast - 35%, lunch - 30%, dinner - 25%, the remaining 10% will be “pocket food” (sugar, glucose, fruit). Fiber-rich foods should be consumed at breakfast and lunch, which will help you feel fuller longer between meals.

When traveling in polar night conditions or at the beginning of winter, as well as in the autumn off-season, when the day is limited to several hours of daylight or twilight, two hot meals a day are most acceptable.

There are various methods for calculating the required quantity of products. The simplest, but quite acceptable of them is the following:

create a menu taking into account the wishes of the group and repeatability, for example, every 4-5 days;
Calculate the calorie content and weight of each daily diet per person. If the calorie content is insufficient or the planned weight is exceeded, replace it;
count the total number of products of each type for the entire trip;
determine which products to take with you and which ones can be purchased on the route;
distribute the purchase of products among participants.

In addition, it is necessary to determine the composition and quantity of products for each participant as an emergency reserve. It includes high-calorie foods, weighing no more than the daily ration, ready to eat without cooking or heating.

Packaging of products. Currently, the most rational method of transporting products is considered to be the “container” method, in which the daily amount of each type is packaged first in separate bags and then in a common bag. This method has a number of advantages. The caretaker does not need to tell each time from whom, how much and what products to take; accounting for consumption is simplified. Some inconveniences arise when increased nutrition is required on especially busy days. In this case, you have to “ruin” the diet of another day or have a small reserve.

Many groups, however, still pre-package only those foods that are difficult to cut into portions when frozen, and for the convenience of dispensing bulk foods, the supply manager has a table of their weight (in a mug or tablespoon).

Instead of freeze-dried meat, you can use lean beef that you have dried yourself; it cooks quickly and retains its taste. If necessary, it can be eaten without cooking.

Installation for drying meat.

A meat drying installation works like this:

air is pumped by a fan (1) into the chamber (2) with a heating device (3), heated to 50°, enters the drying chamber (4) and, passing through minced meat (5), scattered in a sieve (6) in a layer of 10-12 mm, dries it out. At higher temperatures, the protein coagulates and the meat becomes tough. Drying time depends on the power of the fan and heating element. It can be determined experimentally: meat is considered dried if its weight has decreased by 3-4 times. In this form, meat can be stored in winter in regular packaging for up to 60 days.

Ski trips and especially long winter trips with overcoming complex and labor-intensive obstacles in conditions of low temperatures, strong winds and snowfalls require participants to expend a large amount of energy, which in a simple and moderately difficult trip amounts to 3500-4000 kcal, and in a long and complex trip it increases to 5000-6000 kcal.

In addition to the high caloric content of the diet of ski tourists, the correct ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, dietary diversity, good taste, vitamin content, and the ability to consume some foods without cooking are of great importance.

Caloric content and weight of the diet. For a simple ski trip, you can choose a diet from ordinary products that almost completely compensates for all daily energy costs. True, it will weigh 1100-1200 g per person per day.

Products Weight g. Calor., kcal.
Bread products (200 g)
Rye crackers 100 306.0
White 50 157.4
Biscuits 50 167.0
Meat and fish (255 g)
Stewed meat 100 186.0
Liver pate 20 66.4
Raw smoked sausage 30 155.3
Lard 50,384.7
Korean 20 109.5
Pink salmon in tomato 20 28.7
Sprat 15 22.5
Dairy (140 g)
Butter 40 295.0
vegetable 10 88.2
Powdered milk 25 120.0
Cheese 50 167.1
egg powder 15 78.5
Cereals, soups, spices (200 g)
Buckwheat, millet, semolina, rice, oatmeal (on average) 70,226.0
Vermicelli, pasta 20 67.4
Soup concentrates 50 150.0
Potato flakes 20 64.4
Tomato paste, sauces 20 17.8
Onions, garlic, spices 15 10.0
Salt 5
Sweets, drinks, vitamins (365 g)
Sugar 150 608.3
Candy 10 36.2
Halva 50 254.5
Dried fruits (average) 50,133.0
Tea 15
Coffee 5 20.5
Glucose with vitamins 20 81.0
Citric acid 2
TOTAL: 1160 3984

For a trip designed for 25-30 days, with cooking on primus stoves, such a set of products will be “unaffordable”. The task, therefore, is to reduce the weight of the diet, but keep its calorie content within 4000 kcal. This can be done through the use of freeze-dried meat, dry cream, soup concentrates, mashed potatoes, chocolate, halva, as well as increasing the amount of high-calorie foods and reducing foods with a lot of fiber.

Below is the daily diet of a group of tourists hiking in Severnaya Zemlya.

Products Weight g. Calor., kcal. Proteins fats carbohydrates
Bread products (140 g)
Rye crackers 60 183.6 4.62 0.8 38.6
Biscuits 65 217.1 8.26 - 44.72
Cookies 15 61.3 1.47 1.47 10.14
Meat (165 g)
Freeze-dried meat 50 275.0 25.0 8.0 -
Hard smoked sausage 40 172.0 8.2 14.9 -
Lard 75 577.5 1.5 61.5 -
Dairy (100 g)
Ghee 60,682.0 - 56.4 -
Dry cream with sugar 20 116.4 2.9 8.3 6.8
egg powder 20 104.6 10.0 6.8 -
Cereals, soups (90 g)
Buckwheat 15 47.6 1.31 0.45 9.5
Freeze-dried soups 50 150.0 3.0 6.0 15.0
Potato flakes 25 80.5 1.4 0.1 18.1
Sweet (285 g)
Sugar 150 608.3 - - 147.5
Chocolate 25 127.3 3.7 7.35 10.85
Tahini halva 60 341.0 7.02 18.36 27.2
Dried fruits (raisins) 15 39 0.38 9.15 -
Coffee, tea, citric acid 15 - - - -
Glucose with vitamins 20 81 - - 20.0
TOTAL: 780 3864 78.8 189.7 328.4

In an effort to minimize the weight of food for a 30-day hike, the group deliberately did not set a calorie content that would fully compensate for all daily energy costs. The calculation was based on the fact that the lack of nutrition would be covered by processing the body’s internal resources, but within limits that would not affect a person’s performance. Each participant lost an average of up to 4 kg in weight over the 26 days of the hike. At the same time, the performance and moral-psychological attitude of everyone until the end of the trip were excellent, which indicates the admissibility of this option of organizing meals on a long winter journey.

Creating a diet of 4500 kcal with a correctly selected ratio of assortment and chemical composition, which could be consumed for a long time without fear of causing unwanted deviations in the body, is possible with a weight of at least 900 g of products.

The chemical composition of the diet for a ski trip should also ensure normal human life for a long time in low temperature conditions. The usual ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (1:1:4) does not meet this requirement: there is clearly not enough fat. Therefore, when developing nutrition for long-distance and ultra-long-distance (800-1000 km or more) ski trips, they deliberately increase the amount of fat, achieving a ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates of 1:2 (3):5. A certain increase in carbohydrates is caused by the fact that they serve as the main source of energy quickly supplied to the body, and this is of paramount importance in winter conditions, when it is necessary to increase a person’s strength in a short time.

A special concern when consuming a reduced weight range of foods is to find special measures that would help dull the constant desire to eat, even if the body almost completely receives the required amount of calories. Let us name among them the following: periodic introduction of “overload” days, when more food is prepared than usual; lack of strict regulations in the use of water, which, along with fulfilling the regulatory functions of the water-salt regime, interrupts the feeling of hunger; using the tallow skin as chewing material during movement. There are suggestions that people use chewing gum for this purpose. An important role should be given to pre-campus accustoming the stomach to small amounts of food, as well as psychological preparation.

Diet on ski trips can be different. It depends, first of all, on the time of travel, the tactical plan for the day's march and the habits of the group.

Until recently, two hot meals a day were considered the most rational, and in the intervals there was a long (up to 30 minutes) rest and a dry meal, at best with tea from thermoses. This regime was motivated by the desire to make maximum use of daylight hours for movement. Its disadvantage (except for dry food) is a 10-12-hour gap between meals of hot food and water, which disrupts the biological rhythm of the body and weakens its performance.

Currently, three meals a day with a 5-6 hour gap between hot meals is becoming increasingly recognized, which corresponds to the usual diet. With good organization, a lunch break with the preparation of the first, second courses and tea takes no more than 1.5 hours, and the first and tea - up to 1 hour. As practice shows, after such a lunch and rest, the group easily overcomes the second half of the day's march and stops at a bivouac in a condition that allows, if necessary, to walk a few more kilometers or perform some labor-intensive work without much fatigue.

With three hot meals a day, it is most advisable to distribute food as follows: breakfast - 35%, lunch - 30%, dinner - 25%, the remaining 10% will be “pocket food” (sugar, glucose, fruit). Fiber-rich foods should be consumed at breakfast and lunch, which will help you feel fuller longer between meals.

When traveling in polar night conditions or at the beginning of winter, as well as in the autumn off-season, when the day is limited to several hours of daylight or twilight, two hot meals a day are most acceptable.

There are various methods for calculating the required quantity of products. The simplest, but quite acceptable of them is the following:

create a menu taking into account the wishes of the group and repeatability, for example, every 4-5 days;
Calculate the calorie content and weight of each daily diet per person. If the calorie content is insufficient or the planned weight is exceeded, replace it;
count the total number of products of each type for the entire trip;
determine which products to take with you and which ones can be purchased on the route;
distribute the purchase of products among participants.

In addition, it is necessary to determine the composition and quantity of products for each participant as an emergency reserve. It includes high-calorie foods, weighing no more than the daily ration, ready to eat without cooking or heating.

Packaging of products. Currently, the most rational method of transporting products is considered to be the “container” method, in which the daily amount of each type is packaged first in separate bags and then in a common bag. This method has a number of advantages. The caretaker does not need to tell each time from whom, how much and what products to take; accounting for consumption is simplified. Some inconveniences arise when increased nutrition is required on especially busy days. In this case, you have to “ruin” the diet of another day or have a small reserve.

Many groups, however, still pre-package only those foods that are difficult to cut into portions when frozen, and for the convenience of dispensing bulk foods, the supply manager has a table of their weight (in a mug or tablespoon).

Instead of freeze-dried meat, you can use lean beef that you have dried yourself; it cooks quickly and retains its taste. If necessary, it can be eaten without cooking.

Installation for drying meat.

A meat drying installation works like this:

air is pumped by a fan (1) into the chamber (2) with a heating device (3), heated to 50°, enters the drying chamber (4) and, passing through minced meat (5), scattered in a sieve (6) in a layer of 10-12 mm, dries it out. At higher temperatures, the protein coagulates and the meat becomes tough. Drying time depends on the power of the fan and heating element. It can be determined experimentally: meat is considered dried if its weight has decreased by 3-4 times. In this form, meat can be stored in winter in regular packaging for up to 60 days.

In the book "Winter Sports Hiking" Lukoyanov P.I.

Material from the Library of TK MSTU. N. E. Bauman

Meals on a ski trip

Ideology of the lecture

• do not waste time rewriting numbers (how many grams of which product, etc.), print and distribute tables, provide a link to the page on the Internet
• generalize and/or at least present all approaches to catering (expensive and serious - sublimates; cheap and cheerful - porridge, crackers, soybeans; extreme layouts 400-500g, soup layouts, etc., individual and group meals)
• there is a layout for a serious hike compromise between:
  • a set of products that would fully compensate for everything needs body (energy, essential amino acids, vitamins...//here we need to go deeper into the topic)
  • and a set of products, weight which would allow the group to make a hike at an acceptable speed (:, and also prepare as quickly as possible, not spoil, etc.
• features of the winter diet

Introduction

• nutrition and body function while hiking is a complex chemical process

quote: " For the normal functioning of the body, a person needs to receive a certain amount of specific substances from food. chemical substances(about 600 specific items in total) in certain quantities each. The total amount of these substances and the proportions between them depend on individual characteristics every person, from physical activity, from living conditions, etc. But it is also possible to derive some average norms." //from Geller's article http://www.skitalets.ru/food/articles/geller/balance.htm

To simplify, we can highlight the following necessary for the body"groups" of substances:

• Water - According to different theories, we need from 1.5 to 3 liters of water per day.
• Protein (amino acids) - we are all made of protein. Protein is the main building material for our body.
• Carbohydrates are the main fuel, a source of energy. Of course, you and I are omnivores and convert both fats and, if necessary, proteins into fuel. But the most suitable fuel for us is carbohydrates. The body does not store carbohydrates.
• Fats - Fats are a very important element in our diet. First of all, they, just like proteins, serve as building materials in the body. Most hormones are formed using fats. And the second, no less important, function of fats is the accumulation of energy. In ski trips, the role of fats increases, because... It takes a lot of energy to maintain body temperature.
• Fiber is not directly absorbed by the body and is metabolic processes does not participate. But it performs vital functions in the body. It is advisable to consume 30–40 grams of fiber per day
• Vitamins. Microelements are vital elements for the body.

Obtaining the necessary substances in the required proportions can be ensured by the following:

The most varied diet

The correct ratio of the main 3 groups of substances: proteins, fats, carbohydrates (BJU). For ski trips approximately 1:1:1.7 (?)

Additionally - taking multivitamin complexes

- (Another important point is the digestibility of products)

But, in addition to a balanced diet, the body needs energy. (Usually measured in Kcal) Energy is obtained from the breakdown of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.

Amino acids - replaceable and irreplaceable - some can be synthesized, others must be in food. An analogy can be made with construction wooden house: in order to build a house, you have to use materials of different shape and content, in some cases you can get others from some (for example, you can cut boards from logs), in some cases you can’t. You can also partially use the material to generate energy - simply burn it. Etc

Numbers. Energy during splitting 100g. (minus the energy that will go into splitting):

• protein - 300Kcal
• carbohydrates - 400Kcal
• fats - 900Kcal

Terminology

• Layout - a food schedule along the route, usually scheduled by day.
• The caretaker is a member responsible for food in the team. Creates a layout, distributes food among participants, and monitors food consumption along the route.
• Delivery is part of the products that the team does not carry with them throughout the trip, but leaves them in the camp in advance. route point.
• The attendants are one or two (less often three) participants who together prepare food for the whole team. They usually change within a day.

Camping cooking basics

dinner, breakfast - stationary, so it’s easier. Hot lunch - needs to be prepared quickly, in an unprepared place.

• dinner - usually porridge or pasta with something meat (stew, soy, meat)
• breakfast - usually milk porridge
• Primus/fire/gas burner/stove
• melt snow, less garbage, pine needles. Water and ice are better
• save time and fuel - cereal in cold water, cover with glass, a lid, canals closer to each other.
• There is no need to drain the water completely
• transitional food (or dry rations) - because During the day you want to kill the worm, you can give it little by little
• It is desirable that any food enters the body hot, so that no energy is wasted on heating

but in general this is necessary in practice

Creating a layout (floating)

• The main indicator of the layout is average weight food items consumed by one participant in one day
  • Normal for first-time expeditions. a layout is considered in which the total amount per participant is 700..800 grams per day.
  • In more complex hikes, lighter layouts are used - up to 400 gr.person.day and sometimes even less, but the arrangement must be thought out to the smallest detail, balanced, and the participants must have experience and know their “food preferences.”
• There is a concept of a “food cycle” - this is when there is a variety of foods for several days, and then everything repeats
• The body's needs, or simply put, the appetite changes somewhat depending on the load and the day of the hike. Ski trips are characterized by more or less uniform loads, but it is still advisable to take this into account when creating a layout.
• Usually the layout is drawn up in the form of a table (draw or show a table)
• The preparation of the layout ends with the distribution of products among the participants; it is customary to enter weighting coefficients.

Example of a classic dinner, lunch, breakfast

• porridge (rice, millet, buckwheat) 70
• milk powder 20 or condensed milk 30, butter 20, sugar 20
• cracker
• cheese (or sausage) 30
• sweet 30-50
• Tea coffee)

• soup 30-40
• sausage (lard, meat) 50
• sweet 50

• porridge (rice, buckwheat), pasta, carp 90
• meat (stew 50, soy or sublimated meat 20)
• seasonings, garlic, onion
• cracker
• sweet 50

Other types of layouts

• kayaking room - ALL the necessary products for preparing ONE meal (for example, dinner on the second day of the trip) are carried by the attendants who prepare it THEMSELVES. This is sometimes convenient when quickly drawing up a layout - the supply manager simply tells each person on duty what day they should feed the team lunch, breakfast or dinner. Not used on ski trips due to uneven unloading of participants' backpacks. It is convenient to use where uniform unloading is not important, for example, food on a train.
• cold/hot lunches/thermos for the whole team (pros and cons)
• individual and group meals

Product packaging

All products must be packaged:

• hermetically sealed (did not get wet, did not spill out)
• in separate doses, so that it is easy to take some product for one meal preparation
• with appropriate inscriptions - for example, name, weight, how many times, when.

packaging options:

• Factory packaging - for sublimates, milk powder, soy, canned meat
• Plastic bottle - Tea, salt, sugar, cereals, pasta, milk powder, etc. Dry the bottle in advance! Mark with divisions and sign (preferably with an alcohol marker) what, how many times, when.
• Milk (juice) carton - cookies, crackers, lump sugar, halva, etc.
• Polyethyl. package (packaging film) - cereals, dried apricots, sweets, soy, etc. Pour the dose per team into a bag or packaging film and wrap it tightly with tape (preferably transparent) until a “briquette” is formed, write what, how much, when. Before use, simply open with a knife.
• Bag, stocking - crackers, lemons, onions, garlic, cheese, etc. - It is advisable to pack a dose per team at a time separately, but, for example, lemons, you can carry it all together in one bag.

Product weight problem

In 99% of cases, a tourist does not have to carry water for cooking and drinking; it is taken from environment(on a ski trip - snow, ice, non-freezing rivers). Those. it is known in advance that there will be plenty of water at the place where food will be prepared. Therefore, in order to reduce the weight of products while maintaining their value, it is necessary to get rid of products containing excess water. These are products such as: juices, fruits, bread, berries, dairy products (cottage cheese, milk, kefir)

• drying - processing the product with temperature, while excess water"evaporates"
• sublimation - removing moisture from a product by evaporating ice, i.e. without high temperature treatment. Sublimation technology includes two main stages: freezing and drying. The technology is more expensive than conventional drying, but it allows you to preserve much more useful substances that are destroyed when the temperature rises.

Much of what I say here is common knowledge. For example, “it’s cold in winter.” Or "the water freezes." This is not very important in the city, but it is important when you spend many days in a row in the cold. The cold forces you to eat differently and use different products (compared to summer).

Practical observations.

I myself have been on winter hikes many times, and from time to time I forget about the nasty property of water turning into ice and do something stupid. For example, I include ketchup on the menu. And it thickens so much that it cannot be squeezed out of the pack. The lemon freezes through, turning into a cheerful yellow cobblestone. Canned fish turns out to contain a lot of water and very little fat. Otherwise, why would they freeze? The pate also becomes ice. Stew behaves a little better - the liquid there turns into jelly, and not into ice. Honey has to be cut with a knife. Cheese - chop with an axe. Cut the sausage with a hacksaw :)

I was joking about the ax and hacksaw. But the food is really very difficult to cut. And even harder to chew.
The worst part is that frozen food is no fun. Even chocolate only makes “meaning” after it thaws in your mouth. And in general, I want something hot.

Suitable products.

So, when developing a menu for a winter hike, you need to avoid moisture-containing products. However, this also applies to summer - there is no need to carry excess weight(water). Everything should be dried: dried meat instead of stew, crackers or crispbread instead of bread, dry milk instead of condensed milk, dry seasonings instead of sauces, mayonnaise and ketchup. Dry vegetables and equally dry dried fruits are inevitable. Lard behaves well in the cold. Although it hardens, it does not lose its taste and attractiveness.

Picnic in a snowdrift.

Lunches on a winter hike are not much like leisurely summer meals with a mandatory afternoon rest for better digestion of food. In winter, daylight hours are very short, every minute counts. You begin to appreciate the moments even more when you feel the frost creeping under your clothes. In short, winter is not conducive to long breaks with luxurious dinners.

It all looks like this: they hid from the wind, sat on their backpacks, concentrated on chewing crackers with lard and cheese, drank some tea with chocolate, and went “into the bushes.” That's it, lunch is over. Everything takes 20 minutes (in summer, lunch takes at least an hour). All products were prepared (cut and distributed) in the morning, in a warm tent. Tea, naturally, from a thermos. We usually have to eat with gloves on, so we eat the candies along with the wrappers :)

Lunch turns out to be very modest. But more attention is paid to pocket food. These are sweets, cookies and dried fruits carried in your pockets and eaten right on the go.

Tourist breakfast.

With the same goal of saving time, they usually prepare something quick for breakfast: oatmeal or other cereal with dry milk, sugar and raisins. In the morning there is no time to tinker with the fire; they cook on burners. This means that “fast” flakes, in addition to time, will also save fuel (which, in addition to price, for some reason also has weight).

But for dinner it’s terribly pleasant to load yourself with something liquid, hot and nutritious. For example, a thick soup made from dried vegetables (cabbage, carrots, beets, potatoes), dried meat and some cereal (for greater satiety). In the evening time is not so pressing, you can make a fire. In this case, it is logical to use a free source of energy not only for drying socks, but also for storing water for the morning (if you are melting snow). At the same time, you can fill thermoses with tea. Just in case, let me remind you that the water will remain liquid only if you hide it in the tent, between the sleeping bags.

Ski trips and especially long winter trips with overcoming complex and labor-intensive obstacles in conditions of low temperatures, strong winds and snowfalls require participants to expend a large amount of energy, which in a simple and moderately difficult trip amounts to 3500-4000 kcal, and in a long and complex trip it increases to 5000-6000 kcal.

In addition to the high caloric content of the diet of ski tourists, the correct ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates, dietary diversity, good taste, vitamin content, and the ability to consume some foods without cooking are of great importance.

Caloric content and weight of the diet. For a simple ski trip, you can choose a diet from ordinary products that almost completely compensates for all daily energy costs. True, it will weigh 1100-1200 g per person per day (Table 2).

For a trip designed for 25-30 days, with cooking on primus stoves, such a set of products will be “unaffordable”. The task, therefore, is to reduce the weight of the diet, but keep its calorie content within 4000 kcal. This can be done through the use of freeze-dried meat, dry cream, soup concentrates, mashed potatoes, chocolate, halva, as well as increasing the amount of high-calorie foods and reducing foods with a lot of fiber.

Below is the daily diet of a group of tourists hiking in Severnaya Zemlya (Table 3).

In an effort to minimize the weight of food for a 30-day hike, the group deliberately did not set a calorie content that would fully compensate for all daily energy costs. The calculation was based on the fact that the lack of nutrition would be covered by processing the body’s internal resources, but within limits that would not affect a person’s performance. Each participant lost an average of up to 4 kg in weight over the 26 days of the hike. At the same time, the performance and moral-psychological attitude of everyone until the end of the trip were excellent, which indicates the admissibility of this option of organizing meals on a long winter journey.

Creating a diet of 4500 kcal with a correctly selected ratio of assortment and chemical composition, which could be consumed for a long time without fear of causing unwanted abnormalities in the body, possibly with a weight of at least 900 g of products.

The chemical composition of the diet for a ski trip should also ensure normal human life for a long time in low temperature conditions. The usual ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (1:1:4) does not meet this requirement: there is clearly not enough fat. Therefore, when developing nutrition for long-distance and ultra-long-distance (800-1000 km or more) ski trips, they deliberately increase the amount of fat, achieving a ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates of 1:2 (3):5. A slight increase in carbohydrates is caused by the fact that they serve as the main source of energy quickly supplied to the body, and this is of paramount importance in winter conditions, when it is necessary to increase a person’s strength in a short time.

A special concern when consuming reduced weight foods is to find special measures that would help dull the constant desire to eat, even if the body almost completely receives the required amount of calories. Let us name among them the following: periodic introduction of “overload” days, when more food is prepared than usual; lack of strict regulations in the use of water, which, along with fulfilling the regulatory functions of the water-salt regime, interrupts the feeling of hunger; using the tallow skin as chewing material during movement. There are suggestions that people use chewing gum for this purpose. An important role should be given to pre-campus accustoming the stomach to small amounts of food, as well as psychological preparation.

Diet on ski trips can be different. It depends, first of all, on the time of travel, the tactical plan for the day's march and the habits of the group.

Until recently, two hot meals a day were considered the most rational, and in the intervals there was a long (up to 30 minutes) rest and a dry meal, at best with tea from thermoses. This regime was motivated by the desire to make maximum use of daylight hours for movement. Its disadvantage (except for dry food) is a 10-12-hour gap between meals of hot food and water, which disrupts the biological rhythm of the body and weakens its performance.

Currently, three meals a day with a 5-6 hour gap between hot meals is becoming increasingly accepted, which corresponds to the usual diet. With good organization, a lunch break with the preparation of the first, second courses and tea takes no more than 1.5 hours, and the first and tea - up to 1 hour. As practice shows, after such a lunch and rest, the group easily overcomes the second half of the day's march and stops at a bivouac in a condition that allows, if necessary, to walk a few more kilometers or perform some labor-intensive work without much fatigue.

With three hot meals a day, it is most advisable to distribute food as follows: breakfast - 35%, lunch - 30%, dinner - 25%, the remaining 10% will be “pocket food” (sugar, glucose, fruit). Fiber-rich foods should be consumed at breakfast and lunch, which will help you feel fuller longer between meals.

When traveling in polar night conditions or at the beginning of winter, as well as in the autumn off-season, when the day is limited to several hours of daylight or twilight, two hot meals a day are most acceptable.

There are various methods for calculating the required quantity of products. The simplest, but quite acceptable of them is the following:

1) create a menu taking into account the wishes of the group and repeatability, for example, every 4-5 days;
2) calculate the calorie content and weight of each daily diet per person. If the calorie content is insufficient or the planned weight is exceeded, replace it;
3) count the total number of products of each type for the entire trip;
4) determine which products to take with you and which ones can be purchased on the route;
5) distribute the purchase of products among the participants.

In addition, it is necessary to determine the composition and quantity of products for each participant as an emergency reserve. It includes high-calorie foods, weighing no more than the daily ration, ready to eat without cooking or heating.

Packaging of products. Currently, the “container” method of transporting products is considered the most rational, in which the daily allowance of each type is packaged first in separate and then in a common bag. This method has a number of advantages: the caretaker does not need to tell each time who to take how much and what products, and it simplifies the accounting of their consumption. Some inconveniences arise when increased nutrition is required on especially busy days. In this case, you have to “ruin” the diet of another day or have a small reserve.

Many groups, however, still pre-package only those foods that are difficult to cut into portions when frozen, and for the convenience of dispensing bulk foods, the supply manager has a table of their weight (in a mug or tablespoon).

Instead of freeze-dried meat, you can use dried lean beef; it cooks quickly and retains its taste. If necessary, it can be eaten without cooking.