Years ago, I found the best snack when hiking in the heat was a single serving of potato chips and water. It had potassium, salt, and water – giving you easy hydration and potassium to help potentially ward off leg cramps.
Something I learned early on – when on one of my first backpacking trips, I got dehydrated on a very hot day and had to climb under downed trees for a mile or two. That day, I experienced cramps on both sides of my legs at the same time, while stuck under a tree, with my massive 5,000 ci backpack hooked up on a branch above me. I had not been eating and was just drinking water that day. That night, I felt awful until I ate the chips I packed in my bag. I made the connection….slowly. I would feel better if I ate potassium-rich snacks. Over the years, as I started hiking long mile days, often half my food was that. I walked and drank water while I ate my snacks.
A single serving of Lay’s original chips gives about 6% of what you need. They are, though, not something everyone can eat – or wants to. Potato chips also don’t have much fiber.
The other backup choices were apricots – dried apricots are VERY high in potassium. The downside is they can be harder to digest, as they are dense and take a lot of chewing (at the time, with the tater chips, I had braces, and chips melted in your mouth…unlike the apricots)
Bananas are also beneficial. However, fresh ones don’t travel well for more than a few hours, and fried banana chips are dense, freeze-dried slices that gum up in your mouth. At home, I eat a banana a day, but traveling or hiking, not so much.
Instead, maybe consider this instead:
My friend Jennifer (The Hiker Mama) and I were talking recently, and she mentioned she was intrigued by how much potassium they had per serving. I eat prunes daily, not thinking about that. It is also 6% of your daily.
Sunsweet Ones can be found in most grocery stores, in the dried fruit aisle – Amazon does carry them online as well.
I do love the single wrapped ones, which yes, do have more trash, but they keep the prunes soft – and no dirty hands touching each prune.
I weighed them out, and it is about 4 prunes per serving to reach 150 grams.
It has potassium. Fiber. Easy to chew (they melt in the mouth). And they taste so good!
Consider this summer, you tuck a bag of prunes in your food bag/canister. You might just like it, and find you have another helper against summer heat cramps. And on a side bonus, keep your daily fiber consumption up.
And yes, organic and natural prunes with no preservatives exist. You can get them on Amazon and in stores like Sprouts and Whole Foods. In this case, I happen to like being able to grab a day’s worth and know they will be ready to eat.
~Sarah