Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Lunch for kids?

We are going up with several kids 10-12. Any ideas on what we might give them for lunch on the trail, aside from sports bars & beef jerkey?

Basically, whatever they'll eat...it's the calories that count.

Bagels and peanut butter were our standard, or tortillas and PB to save space. String cheese usually goes over well, too.

Nathan and I have been backpacking since he was 5. (He's 18 and off to college this fall, so I lose my pack horse now that he's actually useful...)

When he was younger, he wouldn't touch jerky or sports bars. It was PB, cheese, some sort of bread, yogurt pretzels and red Gatorade for him. The Gatorade (Powerade, etc.) was actually a critical item because he'd lose enough electrolytes to start having leg cramps. We found that the Reliv "Innergize" sports drink that is blended for kids ("cool punch" or red flavor) actually worked better than Gatorade because it added calcium which he seemed to need when hiking.

Once he hit about 14 or 15, he couldn't afford to be picky and would eat whatever you put in front of him...funny how kids tastes broaden when they're desperate for calories!!

My kids love to have the Goober Peanut butter (strawberry or grape jam premixed with the Peanut butter) on tortilla's. They even ask for this at home. I put the peanut butter in a backpacker tube and bring along the tortillas and squeeze it out when ready. This is a high energy food that seems to taste good to kids even at altitude.
They also like to cut off chunks of Salami or summer sausage and eat it with string cheese.

I'll second that. Gallo dry salami, sharp cheddar cheese, french bread, apples and fresh almonds. Ummmmm..............

MC

chocolate. good energy and yummilicious.

I would mix up sweets and salty carby things. Cheetos, M and M's, etc. I eat like a child and I took way too many sweet things and got sick of them before I got to the top. You can only eat so many Clif bars...

Pringles make a good salty snack and their packaging is pretty crush-proof. They are now available in sturdy single-serving tubs.

Reading all of this on PB, salami & cheese (which I personally like), I thought protein takes more oxygen to digest. Is everyone here just not that anal about the protein issue or is the oxygen/digestion thing just regarding meats?