Store bought dehydrated meals and DIY meals: my best of both worlds system of eating on trail

The usual disclaimer: No, I'm still not sponsored, still not a shill, no free gear or food, etc.

I avoided store bought backpacker meals in the past for several reasons. Perhaps the biggest one is that they can be expensive, but I also didn't think they tasted all that great much of the time. And they also didn't have as many vegan or vegetarian options (I eat vegan, my wife vegetarian), plus they were also bulky, then there is the issue of all the packaging waste, etc. 

 

At times over the years I would get a few of these fancy store bought meals as gifts, and of course I'd use them, and at times I was surprised by some of them for being tastier than older ones. Which got me to reconsider them as an occasional treat. Then when I would check out various options at a few different stores, in addition to noticing more vegan and vegetarian options, I also noticed that at times there would be sales. Lucky for me, at the stores I frequent, the vegan options were more often on sale, as they were not as popular as other options, I would guess. So I started to buy a few here and there and add one or two to my food bag for trips. It also made planning somewhat easier.

My 2022-2023 3 Season Gear

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a nice summer and getting out there as much as you'd like. This is just a quick post to give updates on the current state of my 3 season gear. I haven't changed much, but there is always fine tuning of small things and replacing of old/worn out things and such. And I don't expect to make any big changes in the near future either. I am generally very happy with my gear and have things dialed in just the way I like them, and it's been like that for several years now. 

For nearly a decade now, my BPW (base pack weight, all gear minus food, water, fuel, and other consumables) has hovered between 3-4kg/6.6-8.8lbs. Some trips slightly less, some trips slightly more, but these are the exception rather than the rule. Right now my BPW for roughly half of the year is about 3.6kg/7.9lbs. Before I link my gear list, the usual disclaimer: I'm still not sponsored, still no free gear, still no adverts on my blog, etc.

Cesar's Guide to Northern Dalsland: Tresticklan National Park and Torrskogsleden

 

 

Introduction

Dalsland is one of my favorite places to hike in Sweden. It has several marked hiking trails (and a number of unmarked ones as well), many lakes (some massive in size), various nature reserves, and the Tresticklans National Park. It also has a low population density along with a vast amount of thick, beautiful forests, which makes for great, if not more challenging, hiking adventures in relative isolation. There are many hills and cliffs in the area, which also make this place unique, in that some routes call for scrambling and/or climbing to one extent or another.

Dalsland also features prominently in The Troll Trail, so be sure to check out that long distance route if you haven't already. If you are thru-hiking the Troll Trail, you could explore northern Dalsland as a side trail trip to extend your hike.

So for several years now I have hiked a fair amount of kilometers in Dalsland, yet there was one area that I've wanted to explore for a while now, and finally got the chance to go deep into this more wild northern part of the province. The plan was simple in theory: to connect the Tresticklans National Park in the northwest with the Torrskogsleden marked trail in the north. But in practice, there are various complications to account for, though I am happy to say that I feel they are definitely worth it after hiking this long-ish section hike. You'll want to spend at least 3 days or up to a week here, depending on how you choose to hike, how many kilometers you can hike in a day, and what you choose to do. There are plenty of really nice spots to swim, for example.