Meredith, Sami and 1 Million Calories
/One of the most frequent questions that we are asked about our row is what food we’re going to eat on the boat. This post should clear that up!
Between the two of us, we’ll need about a million Calories on board. Sami will be consuming 6,000 - 8,000kCal per day, and I’ll be consuming a girl's diet or about 4,000 - 6,000kCal per day! That is a lot of food! Our criteria for choosing the expedition food options were the following:
- Real food: As close to whole food as possible with no added preservatives or sugars.
- Long shelf life: we’ll be without refrigeration for 2+ months in Pacific temperatures
- Palatability: we’re going to be loosing weight even if we eat our entire ration; if we can’t eat our rations - we’re in trouble!
- Local: we want to support local and high quality providers of our supplies and were careful in choosing who to work with.
- Fat for fuel: we wanted to choose foods so that our primary extra fuel source is fat, not processed carbohydrates or excessive protein.
We ordered samples of all foods and chose the highest quality suppliers. We also created several blends of our own nuts, fruit and protein mixes in a cluster format that we’ll be taking with us. A huge ‘Thanks’ goes out to all of our food suppliers for their support and quality products! Here's a non-exhaustive, alphabetical list of our chosen food suppliers:
Artisana Coconut Butter
Single-serving coconut butter packets.
Why? This was an easy decision since we eat this product (out of the jar!) at home. We’re also taking some of their pecan butter as a treat. Fat is our primary fuel for energy and coconut butter is optimal for fueling in room temperatures and has low Omega-6 content.
Bare Fruit
Plain and cinnamon freeze dried apples.
Why? The unsweetened blends are just real fruit and spice. It’s hard to argue against that and they taste fantastic. This product was the closest to "a real fruit" that we could carry on the boat. Besides, we love their CEO!
The chocolate Garage
Organic, unsweetened dark chocolate.
Why? Dark chocolate (without added sugar in any form or other sweeteners) is both a perfect treat and a fantastic energy source for us. The Chocolate Garage only carries small-batch chocolate manufacturers who work directly with growers.
Mario Snack Olives
Pitted, seasoned snack olives.
Why? These are in snack portions already and don’t come in liquid, so they are great for a journey like this. They also come in several flavors, so I’m not afraid we’re going to get sick of eating them!
Nuts.com
Roasted salted macadamia nuts, sprouted almonds, cheesy salad booster, sprouted spinach pesto mix, Cilantro lime pistachio & pepita, spicy mango goji nut mix, among other things!
Why? We were able to get bulk nuts from Nuts.com, which was important given that we ordered more than 150lbs of nuts. Sami is eating mountains of macadamia nuts and sprouted almonds; I’m eating the sprouted nut mixes. I also used their salad booster seasoning in my vegetable bags. Last, we’ve packed some of their raw energy squares (without honey or added sweeteners) for a treat.
Nutzo
Crunchy (really, really crunchy) 7 seeds blend.
Why? It’s delicious and nut free (we have enough nuts!), not to mention that it comes in an individual serving size! To pack calories and fat, we needed more palatable and quick to eat options and this was a great addition.
Thrive Freeze Dried Vegetables and (Fatty)Beef
Freeze dried broccoli, spinach, tomato, zucchini, asparagus and beef and beef fat.
Why? We’re eating 10’s of servings of veggies per day, and it was crucial to have a good variety. Thrive is the ‘go to’ for freeze dried supplies. We experimented with various beef and beef fat options, but ended up choosing a freeze dried option for taste and shelf-life.
Our own mix
Clusters of nuts, egg whites and dried fruit seasoned with vanilla and stevia.
Why? We couldn’t find anything packaged that met our nutritional needs (as well as convenience, taste and shelf-life) that wasn’t ‘single ingredient’, so we created our own!
Vital Cho
Wild Caught Salmon and Tuna Packets (6oz.)
Why? This was another easy choice since we already eat their products when we don’t feel like cooking. They taste well seasoned even though they are only salted. Fatty fish is an excellent source of protein and fat with lots of Omega-3 fatty acids.
We will follow up with a more technical post about our diet, macronutrients and micronutrients after our expedition is completed. At that point we'll know exactly what we ate and what we couldn't!