You can see my 22 day food plan here.

I was pretty happy with my plan. I was clueless when I started planning, so the fact I survived is enough credit. There aren’t many changes I would make. I carried roughly 600g/2100cal of food a day. I got excited for every meal, without being ravenous and I felt satisfied at the end of each day often with a few nuts or coco left over, which I’d mix into my breakfast to use up the weight.I lost weight over the trail but in a health way, not an undernourished way.

Main notes:

100g of oats was far too much at the start. I struggled to get through it for about the first week – 60g would have been better. After that first period though, 100g was about what I needed to get my day going. It’s really important to have a breakfast to like. Don’t take oats if you don’t like them.

Vitamin tables were a waste of time. They were disgusting and I didn’t take many of them. I don’t take vitamin tables in my normal life. I was concerned about a lack of iron and vit C etc. in my diet. I now would recommend taking nutritious snack bars over vitamins tables unless that’s what you’re used to.

Lentil soup was just lentils, stock and spices. It was delicious, I ate it all and I enjoyed it. I did not need that many lentils. Possibly 125g would have been a better measure or at least enough.  I always had to take a break before finishing.

I ate pasta smash for a lot of my meals and every meal I didn’t eat it I was at least a little sad. See here, for my recipe and variations to keep it interesting.

Peanut butter sucks. Look, this is very much a personal thing, but I’m apparently not a fan of peanut butter. I don’t hate it and when I’m hungry it’s fine. But I carried far too much and because I didn’t enjoy eating it I ate even less. It’s also hard to portion daily, if you’re carrying it in one tub.  What I’m saying is even if it’s a great hiking food, if you don’t like it, don’t pack it.

Lots of nights I skipped my coco. I just couldn’t be bothered to boil up water. This worked well because I either mixed it though my oats or had double – sometimes triple – coco the next day. The amount I packed was small, which made a weak drink which personally suited me fine.

Pack a beetroot. I fan girl over beetroot in this post, so I wont repeat myself. But over a long hike fresh is the missing ingredient. A tour guide gave me half a left over beetroot around section 9 and I’ve never looked back.

Finally something you can’t and shouldn’t rely on – other hikers always over pack. Along the way a lot of people tried to give me their extra food because they don’t want to eat it or carry it. It’s happened on every long hike I’ve done and I’ve done it to others. I believe it happens even more when you’re solo. Another reason to pack in sharing snacks to your resupply boxes so you have something to say thank you with, but without carrying extra weight.