i'm plannig on just going around some adventure cycling trails in the usa. i don't want to deal with borders, anyway.

i've never heard of vegetable protein, sounds cool, but it may be hard to find.

dumpster diving is illegal, won't do that.

all those fats are really good calorie to weight ratios, but i will have to eat them at the right time of the day. i guess that would be morning. i ate them at the wrong time of a tour once.

trafficcasauras, If you're going to take a stove, I recommend one of these: http://www.sterno.com/retail/pages/stove.html . They are good for heating small servings and light first time, every time and can be quickly extinguished. I don't know if they've ever been popular for biking/hiking, but I've used them for years on the boat.

Brad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textured_vegetable_protein

regarding portable stoves there are many threads in the archives here about DIY stoves and pop can stoves specifically but the one that seemed to have most in-depth instructions was the penny stove: http://www.jureystudio.com/pennystov...einstruct.html I haven't made one myself but it seems well thought out. Pretty cheap to make if you root through the recycling at a bar or something.

Throwing away perfectly edible food should be a crime.

+1.

Dumpster diving is like stealth camping, anyway. Either make sure you don't get caught, or be fairly confident no one will care. In many cities there are communities of freegan types who comb the dumpsters and generally don't run into many problems with it. In some states, even taking roadkill is illegal. Sorry, but if I see a loaf of bread sticking out of a dumpster, or a car hit a rabbit in front of me, I'm eating.

10 minutes after reading this thread, by the way, I was up in the kitchen with my camp cook set frying bannock in ghee. It turned out like a KFC biscuit. Mmmm...

Some other foods I eat on tour:
- Damper. Similar to bannock, but without the butter.
- Boil in bag rice. Cheap as dirt for the nutrition you're getting. Most brands will cook in less than 10 minutes, and I've found that the water doesn't need to be boiling the whole time. I bring it to a boil, put the bag in, then turn the heat off and let it sit. With boil in bag rice, it won't gum up the pan and is great for a mess-free lunch. Especially good with some ghee or butter mixed in.
- Poor mans trail mix: cheerios, walnuts, and chocolate chips. The chocolate chips make the cereal seem less dry and a bit more palatable.
- You can make some pretty good energy bars with brown rice syrup + stuff many cyclists keep on hand anyway - a few packets of instant oatmeal, nuts, peanut butter, dried fruit or berries, raisins. The only cooking that is required is heating the corn syrup. Google homemade energy bars and adapt the recipe to suit your needs. I make mine like clif bars(As in, they look like raccoon crap rather than bars).
- I wholeheartedly agree with learning to identify edible plants and mushrooms. Some easy ones to start with are wild leeks/ramps, and giant puffball mushrooms. Both are seasonal, with ramps in the spring and puffballs in the fall, but they are very easy to spot and identify. Ramps grow in thick mats while the rest of the ground is brown, and smell intensely of onion. Giant puffballs come up in late summer/fall, and the only thing that'll look remotely similar to one would be a soccer ball lost in the woods. Stinging nettle, once heated to remove the sting, is extremely common and nutritious, but the thin texture of the leaves puts some people off.

+1

Once I found a duck sitting in the middle of a 4-lane highway, obviously in distress, cars whizzing by him on either side at 70+ mph. When there was a break in traffic I ran out and picked him up. My plan was to take him to a rescue vet, but he died right after I picked him up.

Had duck breast for dinner that night. Yum, yum.

In rural parts of the UK it is quite common for cars to run over and kill pheasant. Usually they are hit at slower speeds so are in one piece.
The legal ownership of roadkill is a grey area, in law they are owned by the government roads agency but it is the responsibility of the runner-over to clear up the mess. Pheasants are owned by landowners ie private property, so the killer may owe someone some money. The commonly accepted pub-law was that the killer-driver could not pick up the pheasant but a following driver could.
In practice, if you see a pheasant, you accelerate and if you are lucky, bag it for the pot.

On a club ride we found a recent roadkill and a couple on a tandem took charge. The rear rider managed to pluck the pheasant before the ride finished.

You also find birds after organised shoots; ones that have not been found by the retriever dogs.

Cooking a pheasant on a stove is tricky, they respond best to slow casseroll. Slow roasting may work. It is quicker and cleaner to skin the bird rather than pluck.

Swans (those not belonging to the Vintners' and Dyers' Livery Companies) remain crown property and you are not allowed to eat them. I think we still hang people for this, or transport them to Australia or somewhere sunny. Quite a good law too, since swans are tough and stringy.

I dunno about your experience with firesteel, but I have 3 different flint and steels and have used them for years... Bring a pack of bic lighters instead. Firesteels are like a toy for playing survivorman. When you're tired and hungry and just want a fire, you reeeeeally want to have a bic.

The problem I've always had with foraged (from the wild) foods is that while they may have lots of vitamins and minerals, they often don't have much in the way of calories. When I'm touring (or even at home actually), I need food for the calories, it isn't vitamin deficiency I'm worried about.

There's nothing wrong with a nice back country salad to start a meal, but it doesn't have much in the way of calories.

That covers two of the four food groups!

good point. it should be fun anyway.

bread with dulce de leche!!!!!!!!
nothing beats dulce.. nothing.. impossible!

I always keep around some nuts as a sort of emergency supply in case any other food I may be carrying goes bad or whatever. They pack quite a punch and you don't even have to cook them. I don't drink coffee, but I do drink Cocoa (Hershey brand when I can find it). The rest of the food is whatever I can find, have recipes for and the tools to cook with. Oats are good for breakfast and easy to make if you thermos cook it the night before.

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/ar...orie-foods.php

Another recommendation towards learning about edible plant life. I favor acorns and cattail.

http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/...-your-life.htm

How do you cook acorns? Every preparation I've had doesn't taste terribly pleasant.

Check out the NOLS Cookery book.
It has recipes for cooking from bulk supplies. The bread and calzone recipes are absolutely awesome.

It's not hard to find, Amazon.com has lots of it and they'll send it to your door. Also any health food store will have it, and many main stream food markets too.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...etable+protein

oatmeal, raisins, nuts, corn tortillas, eggs

According to whom? Sounds like a recipe for a heart attack to me.

I do most of my touring in Portugal. Free foods I've scarfed down include: grapes, figs, almonds, acorns (in small quantities--still looking for a good way to prepare these; eating lots of raw ones not supposed to be a good idea), pears, apples and plums.

Best way I've found is to turn it into flour and make bread or biscuits, then just top it off with some agave or if I don't have anything sweet I'll use hot sauce.

condiments seem really important.