Our Menu

The Food Allocation requires a menu, or in our case, two menus, to be created first. Our menu for The Heysen is documented here: The Menu

Once a menu is created, it can be allocated onto the Food Sheet, and this will aggregate the energy and macros, so that we can hit our targets:

• Energy Requirements

  • Perry: 14,500 kJ — 21,000 kJ
  • Sandi: 14,500 kJ — 16,700 kJ

• Fuel Mixture: Carbs / Fat / Protein

  • Sandi: 45-55% / 35-40% / 10-15%
  • Perry: 10% / 70% / 20%

Our Menu Development / Allocation Process

The Food / Menu development process is quite similar to the tweaking that occurs with the Itinerary.

1. Create a basic menu: single breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner (except in our case, it's two: one keto one non-keto).
2. Once there is one of each, the Food Itinerary can be completed, which is done by adding the menu items at appropriate rows (Itinerary locations / times)
3. Once the whole walk is done, the Menu will aggregate the kilojoules and macros, which gives a coarse first cut at the menu.
4. Wash and repeat until we've hit the targets…

Number 1 has been done and documented in Our Menu.

Numbers 2 and 3 are the tasks of this post, and through the wonderful complexity of the spreadsheet, it filters the keto meals to my Menu and the non-keto meals to Sandi's Menu, where each gets aggregated accordingly. The aggregation is an indication of how close we are to our targets.

There's been a bit of initial tweaking, to try and get Sandi's kilojoules closer to the mark. On the AAWT we had 'nibbles' each night, and I've re-introduced that for Sandi's menu as she's basically on the same AAWT diet.

Currently, the overall averages are looking pretty good:

Averages per Day

	Perry	%	Sandi	%
Kilojoules	17,393		14,701
Protein	227	21.8	109	12.4
Fat	296	64.1	159	40.8
Carbohydrate	117	11.2	359	40.8

Our Menu: Next Steps

Energy Requirements / Fuel Mixture

The macros are looking pretty good, though Sandi's fat could be reduced and carbohydrates increased a little (I think that's a result of the salami for lunch).

My FatBomb requirements are actually a calculation in the spreadsheet, that increases during the walk. That was something that was noted on Pack Light, Eat Right, that after a certain period on a long hike the hikers physiology changes the way fats and carbohydrates are utilised. Sandi and I have discussed it, and we're not totally sure, but it certainly happened on the AAWT, where there came a point when we were just constantly hungry and eating everything each Food Drop; the increasing kilojoules is intended to fix that).

Perry over time

	First 3 weeks	Second 3 weeks	Third 3 weeks
Kilojoules	16,583	17,207	18,302
Protein	230	219	231
Fat	275	294	318
Carbohydrate	112	121	117

Menu Cost

One thing that keto is not, is cheap; and neither is purchasing 2 months of pre-prepared meals (but preparing our own dehydrated meals always been that one step too far – and the freeze dried products from Back Country Cuisine and Campers Pantry is just so much better). So reducing the cost is an upcoming focus for the Menu tweaking.

We're experimenting with is making our own Keto Bars (see Keto Bars: Longevity Test) and Nut Butters. These, for a good quality one, can cost around $5.00 a pop, we're hoping to get something comparable for less than half the cost, and maybe as low as $1.00.

Sourcing bulk products is also another option to lower the Food cost (which is getting up to the $6k mark), the following suppliers have offered a discount:

• KetoSupplies – KetoSupplies

• ForestSuperFoods – Forest Super Foods

• BackCountry – Back Country Cuisine

Develop Menu Variety

Once we've hit, or nearly hit, our targets, extra meals can be added to add variety. I'm thinking maybe only one extra meal will be necessary: so two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners to mix and match. After having 6 different options on the AAWT, I'm not sure that we needed that level of variety. It will be interesting to see if we feel the same after the hike.

Food Drop Food

The food that we include in our Food Drops where were we've got a rest day can be special as well (as they don't need to be as light as possible). On our recent Lawson to Goulburn hike we determined that we didn't need a bucket full of different food for just an overnight stop. And actually, for a long day into a Food Drop, it's preferable to have a quicker meal, than one that needs extended preparation.

Our Resources

The Friends of The Heysen Trail have a huge amount of resources available, which we have obviously availed ourselves of quite liberally. I'll be updating this as required…
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