THE FOOD

Foods were chosen to be lightest weight : greatest kilojoule/nutrient ratio.

Protein: Nuts, cheese, natural muesli bars, raw food bars (protein), skim milk. 
Carbohydrates: Noodles, instant potato, couscous, chocolate bars, instant soup, oat bars, instant oats, breakfast biscuits, lollies, Jatz, dried fruit.
Micronutrients: Home dried fruit, fruit leather, dehydrated peas, nuts, sesame/chia bars, raw food bars, Gatorade, Magnesium supplement tablet. (Hard to get nutrients in when trying to get super high Kj foods).

Calculations (for the nerdy Nutritionist types like me):
Food requirements were calculated by using average adult RDI of 8700kj as a minimum, which far exceeds most people's usual daily required intake.  (65kg female doing 1hr walking a day in normal daily life - I need about 6200kj to maintain current weight).  For this strenuous hike, however, 8700kj was a good minimal starting point for a female my size.  If you're a man around 75kg or more, I would probably keep my daily food packed at minimum of 9500-10500kj.

Example of 4 days food I packed:

	Item kj	Day 1	2	3	4
Fruit mix	500	500
Nuts	1870		1870	1870	1870
Deb Instant Potato + peas	863
Skim milk	740	740	740	740	740
Instant Pudding	600			600	600
Jatz Crackers x6	490	490		490
Bounty bar mini	285	285	285	285	285
Mars bar mini	350	350		350
Carmen Muesli bar	809	809
Fruit Wibbles	288		288	288
Nutella mini	435	435	435	435	435
Sesame chia snap	758			758
2Min Noodles	1680	1680
Instant Soup	423			462
Couscous	765			765
Starburst Lolly (1)	130	130	260	260	260
Lolly Snakes(3)	345	245		345	245
Oat slice bar sultana	652	652		652	652
Oat slice bar almond	760		760
Fruit leather	285	285	285
Fruit fill bar	522	522			522
Raw food bar	830		830		835
Cous cous gourmet	1508		1508		1596
Instant oats	560			560
Breakfast Biscuit	940	940	940		940
Gatorade	550	550	550	550	550
Coffee	0		1
Chai	0	2	2	2	2
		8615	8754	9412	9532

The tally at the bottom is the total Kj for each day.  For each day packed, I chose from all the foods on the left and brought their Kj across to the day's column they were to be packed in. Some Kj's vary per day, as different varieties of the food were included ie. Thai soup vs Pumkin soup mix.

Extra Food:

1 day of extra food was packed and carried from the beginning of the trip to the end. In retrospect I would pack a few extra days food and leave them in the food drops, which could be discarded/ given away/ left behind if not needed when reached.

The first 4 days were so hot that my appetite left completely, and had to force myself to eat, which meant I had extra food when my metabolism kicked in on end of day 4... when I was conversely so hungry I ate all my rations, plus left overs and could have eaten the bark off trees. This was ok, as it was a day of food pickup at Ormiston Gorge, which has a kiosk (a saving grace).

Stove and fuel:

I took a Kovea supalite titanium stove with 2 x 230g net IsoButane Mix fuel canisters (1 from the start, and collected 1 at 2nd food drop).  With conservative daily use (boiling water only, not cooking with stove on) I ended up with left over fuel. I cooked most evening meals, and prepared up to 2 hot drinks a day. The Kovea was fantastic, and combined with a GSI Outdoors Halulite Kettle, gets 1L of water to boil in about 2 1/2 minutes.

Packaging:

Before

I repackaged most of my food into zip-lock bags - with one larger zip-lock bag per day, with a sticker label noting the day/date it was to be eaten, and which food drop it was to go into. All rubbish could then be sealed back into each day's zip-bag and be hiked out without any sticky/juicy mess. At home I wash and reuse many zip-bags.

After

Freeze dried meals:

I didn't take any, they are expensive, but that's not the main reason... alot of the time you end up with left over food, and once prepared it's heavy and juicy to carry around. Left overs are ok if in groups as there's usually someone hungry, but walking alone it would have meant waste. They are also quite heavy when you compare them with the variety of other foods you could be taking in smaller amounts.  You may find that smaller meals throughout the day suit your appetite better than a large meal at night. I saw freeze dried meals as a weight:kj commodity that I couldn't afford.  You could however pack these in your food drops to have on the night you collect your food. Couscous mixed with instant soup varieties in a zip-bag was a good dinner substitute, and the amount prepared can be altered depending on hunger.

Breakfasts:

Don't take breakfasts that need to be cooked. In the morning, you'll be trying to pack away gear and mess, not creating more things to clean.  I took half cookable/wet, and half bar form breakfasts. I regret entirely taking the breakfasts that needed preparation, as most often they weren't prepared due to fatigue, time constraint, and the mental idea that it was just another task that needed doing.  It was much better on the mornings where I could stash a couple bars in my pockets and get on the track before the heat hit, eating while walking, or at the first break of the day when my metabolism had kicked in a little.

Sheltering from the sun at Wallaby Gap - Day's food pack, water treating
in the Dromedary, and a cuppa on the boil, paradise.