Making Salmon and Tofu Jerky: for the PCT 2020

Over the past months I have been preparing for the 150 days of food needed for the PCT hike. Initially I concentrated on the stuffs that I can’t purchase such as Tofu and Salmon jerky. As you can see Pink salmon filets were used, after thawing, they were deskinned, marinated in a variety of flavours, processed into mush, smushed in strips onto the dehydrator trays, dried overnight and vacuumed sealed in 85-100 gm packs (enough for a midday snack for 2 thru hikers). For the tofu the blocks were cut into strips and marinated, dried and vacuumed sealed. Ah yes! our house did smell during this process to the cats delight (they loved the fish smells).

After the jerky I moved into mixing up our dinners which consisted of purchasing freeze-dried and dehydrated veggies, TVP (texturized vegetable protein), freeze-dried chicken, dehydrated beans, pasta, couscous, or quinoa (which we had to dehydrate ourselves as there is no retail source at this point) topped off with a variety of soup bases. Breakfast recipes have expanded beyond our oat based gruel into savoury bean flake mixtures and egg with freeze dried cheese arrangements. Protein and Greens shake mixes were bagged up as well as a Vitamin/ collagen drink mix. Needless to say I have put a lot of time into researching and compiling our food needs ahead of time as it matters to us to eat as well as we can with lightweight ingredients. I have increased the amount of fats, electrolytes and overall variety from last year’s hike. I still hope to do a nutritional analysis and calorie count of our menu in the next few days before we drive south to start the hike!! Now I can leave all the trail cooking to my partner Jobie! Yippee!!