Nutrition and Backpacking

I mentioned a lot that nutrition while backpacking is a huge problem. You have to carry your own food and pack it out. That severely limits the protein you can bring, as well as fresh vegetables and fruits. I've come up with a good solution, at least in my opinion. Living where I do, rice is HUGE. I had to buy a rice steamer because the friends I had over all the time complained about the quality of my rice. So, packing rice seems like a wonderful idea. Its small, it fluffs up, and its nutritious. Yay :D But you need more than that, unless you find golden rice :P I also love canned chicken. But it comes in huge containers! Well, pet stores sell covers for cans (made for cat food but it works). But better than that, the canned chicken can be divvied up between my boyfriend and I for dinner, in/with the rice. If we get tired of chicken, there's the old Cuban favorite of black beans and rice. I think its an excellent idea, arguably better than chicken. We still need vegetables and fruit, though. Vegetables, I'm still working on. Ideas are welcome. Fruits, dried fruit is excellent. Wouldn't want to get scurvy :P But that's just dinner (which, btw, you can note that the chicken can double as a cold meal, if you don't have the energy or time for a hot meal).

For lunch, I'm planning on bringing ramen. Maybe putting some of the canned chicken in the ramen. Ramen is a good source of sodium, which makes you retain water (and thirsty) so its very satisfying. Oh, don't eat unboiled ramen noodles. It will make you sick, more than likely. At least, that was my experience. I've read its better to skip lunch and just graze throughout the day, though. I think I might lean towards that.

For breakfast, I'm thinking something like granola bars. Not a hot breakfast, but definitely filling.

For grazing, huge amounts of beef jerky and homemade trail mix. My boyfriend and I have agreed that store bought trail mix is way too salty and isn't as good for you as you'd need on the trail. We're going to talk to his brother (who's into nutrition) about the specific nuts, but we'll be mixing our own. Mine will have M&Ms. I can't not. Oh, but definitely dried fruit in the trail mix! That's where the dried fruit comes in. Beyond raisins, there are tons of deliciously dried fruits (or maybe that's just here lol). My boyfriend is saying a pound of jerky a day but we'll see. And I think I want more to snack but I haven't figured it out yet.I'm going to have to browse the dry goods section of the grocery store.