December 5, 2024 • 42 mins
Get ready to elevate your snack game with this flavorful episode of Shawn & Mike Take A Hike! 🍫🥜
Shawn and Mike dive into the art of making the perfect trail mix, a hiker’s ultimate fuel for adventure. Whether you’re craving sweet, salty, or savory, this episode covers it all:
🌟 Key ingredients for balanced energy, from protein-packed nuts to slow-burning dried fruits.
🌟 Creative mix-ins like chocolate, pretzels, and seeds for added taste and texture.
🌟 Tips for customizing your trail mix to suit dietary needs and preferences.
🌟 Strategies for portioning and storing your mix to keep it fresh on the trail.
Plus, the hosts share their favorite recipes, along with expert advice on what makes trail mix an essential item for day hikes and long treks alike.
Whether you’re new to hiking or a seasoned trailblazer, this episode is packed with practical advice and tasty inspiration. Tune in now and get ready to mix up your next hiking adventure!
🌲🗺️ Fuel your journey with Shawn & Mike Take A Hike! 🥾
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm Shawn and I'm Mike and you're listening to Shawn and Mike take a hike.
(00:17):
Welcome to another episode of Shawn and Mike take a hike.
What do you want to talk about today, Shawn?
Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite things about hiking.
Today I would like to talk about trail mix.
It is one of my absolute favorite parts of hiking as we have talked about in the past.
(00:42):
And so I thought maybe we could talk about, I know it's kind of a lot to have like a whole
episode dedicated to trail mix, but like there's a lot of different ways to do trail mix.
So I thought maybe we could talk about like, what are some of the options?
Turns out you don't just have to go to the store to buy it.
You can make your own.
(01:04):
Well because I mean, personally, I don't like a lot of the store bought trail mixes because
I don't like raisins or dried apricots or anything like that, like cranberries or whatever
the crap they put in them, the little fruit things.
So I don't really like all of that because as we mentioned before, I'm a meat and potatoes
kind of guy and I don't eat a lot of fruits or veggies.
(01:28):
So I don't like a lot of the prepackaged trail mix, but I don't want to take just a packet
of peanuts or just a packet of almonds or whatever.
So I like some sweets and things like that.
So I had found a trail mix that was perfect.
(01:50):
It had peanuts, cashews, almonds, all sorts of stuff.
It had sunflower seeds.
It had some, I think little mini peanut butter cups.
It had all sorts of stuff.
So you had your sweet, you had your savory, you had your salt, you had protein, you had
all this stuff.
(02:13):
But because those little peanut butter cups is just bare chocolate, no coating on it,
it just got real melty and turned into like a candy bar in a plastic bag that really was
hard to eat.
Yeah.
And your hands got covered with chocolate.
And your hands got covered in chocolate.
Now in all fairness, it was delicious.
(02:33):
Even all melted together, it was still delicious.
It was still delicious.
It was just a mess and kind of a pain.
So I stopped buying that and I started making my own.
Yes.
So yeah.
So I think the majority of what we are going to talk about today, I want to talk mainly
about like the make it your own stuff.
But before we get away from the store bought stuff, like I am probably going to shit on
(02:58):
store bought trail mix quite a bit in this episode.
But I do want to have a disclaimer upfront that I do like store bought trail mix.
Like you can buy the individual packages of it, which are great for portion control.
You know, it is or can be cheaper to buy the store bought stuff because like you don't
have to buy so much of stuff.
(03:18):
Like you can buy just what you're going to need for that trip.
And there's like a ton of varieties for the store bought stuff.
So you if you don't like raisins, for example, we'll get one with craisins in it or get one
with dried apricots in it or whatever.
Or if you don't like sunflower seeds, they make one with pumpkin seeds or they make one
with just peanuts or whatever.
(03:38):
So we're I think the bulk of this conversation today is going to be like about homemade stuff.
But there is a place for store bought stuff in this conversation to like if you have a
store bought kind that you like, get that.
Like if that's what works for you, get that.
It's easier.
It's convenient.
(03:59):
It can be cheaper.
But do that if that's what you like.
But there are so many ways to make your own and to make it so much better and to make
it like exactly what you want.
That's the part that excites me because like you can really make whatever you want out
(04:21):
of trail mix.
And it's like the like you could live off trail mix out in the backcountry.
I know I could anyway.
I could eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I love trail mix.
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
It's got the salty.
It's just yeah, it's delicious.
There's times where like you'll be sitting you, Shawn, will be sitting at camp and you're
like, I don't know if I could eat this or the rest of this meal.
(04:43):
Because every every MRE ready to eat, you know, dehydrated meal is a two serving meal,
which I don't understand because it's not like in the backcountry you're sharing.
Right.
But you feel like you have to eat the whole damn thing because where are you going to
toss it?
Yeah.
(05:03):
So then you'll be like stuffed beyond relief.
And then so we get into my trail mix.
Yeah.
He's like, I don't know if I can finish it.
Blah, blah, blah.
I'm so full.
And then he finishes it and starts putting it away and everything.
And then he's two minutes later, he's digging into his trail mix.
I'm like, what the hell happened?
And like literally two minutes later, I don't know what it is.
You know what it is?
It's the salty.
(05:24):
Like that is what I love salt, like probably to an unhealthy level.
I love salt.
And that's what I so the trail mix that I make or you make and share with me is like
the right amount of salty for me.
It's like hits that salt is almost the main ingredient of that.
(05:46):
Yeah.
I mean, that realistically, that is what I like about it.
Like you make a great mix, like the stuff that you put in there from trial and error
over the last few years.
Like it is a good mix.
Like it's got.
Yeah.
Well, so I guess before we tell everybody exactly what's in your secret recipe, let's
go.
I want to go through like, so these are the categories.
(06:08):
I made categories for what like I think every good trail mix has.
Right.
So I'm going to run through the categories real quick.
So every good trail mix, in my opinion, is going to have what I have called nuts and
seeds.
So either some sort of nut seed, either or both, whatever.
(06:29):
Those labeled as energy boosters.
Oh, see.
Okay.
Well, so our lists are going to be a little bit different, but so we'll make it work.
Okay.
So you got your nuts and seeds.
You've got firm for Shawn.
I want a dried fruit in there, so I've got that as a one.
Then I want something sweet.
(06:50):
Okay.
Then I want something.
I don't know if it's savory.
I don't know if it's salty.
I don't know what the right word is to use for this category, but like that, like salty,
textury, you know, like that component.
And then depending on whether you need it or not, this is like a sometimes like optional
(07:11):
one, some sort of like grain in there.
Okay.
Yep.
Just kind of for like some bulk and some like extra bits to it.
And that is one that we don't always do.
But like, I do like that one that's in there.
From my research, I hadn't even thought of adding some of that stuff.
(07:34):
But from researching this and looking that some people do put that in, I'm like, that's
not a bad idea.
So the one store bought one that I have that I really like, it comes, it has, I think you
just call them granola clusters.
I don't know how they make a cluster out of the granola.
I don't know what it is that binds it all together.
But like, so the one mix that I buy from the store has those in it.
(07:56):
But like I've had trail mix that other people have made that has like Cheerios in it, or
you know, like little bits of like cereal cluster type things in it.
So like that, right, I get when I say like, whatever that category is, that's the type
of stuff that I'm keeping the cost down to because cereals relatively inexpensive.
Well, I know last time you bought cereal, but no, sir, that is not true.
(08:21):
Well, you can get the knockoff.
You get the knockoff brand, right?
Because it's going into trail mix.
It don't need to be named brand.
But like, or even like, you know, another one that's really good in there is like a
honey nut Cheerio, because then you get like that's in green.
When you mentioned Cheerios, I was like, I would go for a honey nut Cheerio on there.
Yeah, for sure.
Um, but so like those are my main categories.
(08:41):
So like when I'm talking nuts or seeds, right?
Like you've got your love me some almonds, right?
Like that's an option to throw a few almonds in there.
The mix you make, you put cashews in there once in a while.
I don't think you do every time, but you do once in a while.
Well, I do every time that I can find them at a decent price because cashews are an expensive
(09:03):
nut.
Yeah.
But when I can find them at a reasonable price, I will put them in there because cashews are
my favorite.
Well, realistically, just like salted peanuts in there or honey roasted peanuts.
Like, you know, some sort of peanut peanuts are freaking cheap.
Yeah.
So I mean, throw some of those in there.
I've also had trail mix that has wallets in it before, which is like a nice surprise once
(09:26):
in a while.
But then like in the same category, if we're getting more to the seed things you got your
sunflower seeds, you've got my personal favorite, a pumpkin seed.
I know you love pumpkin seeds.
I like them out of the shell, but you like the shell at all.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Prefer with the shell.
I mean, really, yeah, that's where all the salt gets held on is in the shell.
(09:49):
Same, same with sunflower seeds.
I get that.
But I eat the I guess you could probably do that with pumpkin seeds, just unshuck it in
your mouth like you do a sunflower seed.
You know, I don't even know.
Never.
I've literally never tried.
Don't even know how that would work.
I mean, clearly, if you could buy like shell the pumpkin seeds, clearly there must be a
(10:10):
way to get it out of the shell.
Right.
I always thought the entire thing when I hear your pumpkin seeds, I think of it in the shell.
I thought that was all one thing.
I didn't realize that there was like.
I didn't realize it was two pieces.
The exoskeleton of the of the seed.
Yeah, right.
Didn't realize that that was a thing.
And I'll be honest with you, my favorite type of pumpkin seeds and I don't love saying the
(10:36):
name.
I feel like the name is maybe a little bit problematic, but like the better if you listener
have never had Indian brand salted pumpkin seeds, they're in like a red packet.
I thought it was Indian header.
It's just Indian is the brand.
The logo is like a Indian with like full headdress on Native American.
(10:59):
Yes, Native American.
Yes.
I mean, the name is Indian.
It is, you know, first nation.
I have to look into that because I do wonder if they keep that name, if they if it is indigenous
that are that's the creators of it.
If it's not just a I don't know.
I that's why I say I would like to look into that.
Like as a white guy, I feel weird saying that name, but they are my favorite pumpkin seeds.
(11:26):
So I continue to buy them because they're just they're so salty and so good.
So like throw them in the mix.
Truly like we would get them as kids.
It's a little bit nostalgic for me to buy them.
But really, there's just like I have never had a pumpkin seed that's nearly as good as
those.
The last batch that I made that had pumpkin seeds in it were unfortunately just Meyer
(11:49):
brand.
Out of the shell pumpkin seeds.
Yeah, I mean, still good.
Still good.
And way better, in my opinion, way better than a what's the other seeds?
Sesame seed, not sesame seed.
Sunflower.
Sun there.
That's the one sunflower seed.
Way better than a sunflower seed.
Sunflower seeds are my jam.
Yeah, I love them.
I would just take a bag of sunflower seeds.
(12:12):
I prefer sunflower seeds in the shell like you.
I don't eat the shell.
I shuck them.
You know, it's just like baseball players.
You spit them out and all that stuff.
But problematic out on the trail because sunflower seeds aren't naturally found out in the woods
usually.
Exactly.
I mean, that gets into a whole other thing.
So I don't like to spit the shells out on the ground where potentially some animal that's
(12:36):
not used to that in their digestive tract causing wreaking havoc on population.
That whole thing.
We talked for hours about that, but I think we did have an entire episode about it.
So we probably did talk for hours about it.
But yeah, I mean, I don't know.
For my money, sunflower seeds, like one of the most overrated things, I just don't get
(12:57):
it.
I know they're everywhere and people love them.
I don't get it.
It's not my jam.
We had a friend that used to make them and they were delicious, too.
Every Halloween when they were carbon pumpkins doing whatever, she would save everybody seeds
and make her own.
Oh, I thought about it.
I have certainly thought.
I mean, it seems like a lot of work, let's be honest.
But I've thought about doing it because yeah, delicious.
(13:19):
So yeah, so those are the things in that category that you can choose from.
And then I'm going to go on to this one.
You're probably not going to have a lot to say about because you've already said you
don't like dried fruit.
But like you're dried fruit.
Tons of options these days.
You can get raisins, you can get craisins, you can get dried apricots, you can get...
What is a craisin?
You've mentioned that twice now.
(13:39):
I don't even know what a craisin is.
It's a cranberry that's...
So dried.
Yeah, it's a dried cranberry.
OK.
I mean, it looks like a raisin, but it's cranberry.
Gotcha.
OK.
Because dried cranberries is on my list.
OK.
Well, realistically, craisins might be trademarked.
I mean, that might be owned by Dole or something.
(14:01):
I don't know that.
I mean, it could be.
I just...
In my head, they're craisins.
Right.
Well, yes, dried cranberries is probably the generic term for it.
You got your banana chips.
You've got dried apples you can throw in there if you wanted to.
Like really any fruit that you want to dehydrate or buy dehydrated, throw it in there.
The more the merrier.
(14:21):
Absolutely.
Great way to get a little bit of sugars back into you.
You get a little bit of that sweetness from fruits.
It's typically pretty sweet and then you dehydrate it, makes it sweet.
Yep.
Lots of options.
The more the merrier.
You make a whole fruit salad into your trail mix.
All good options.
(14:41):
And so then from there, you get into your like your sweet.
And this is where Mike and I both have strong opinions on the sweet stuff.
So you're basically looking for something chocolate, right?
Like when we say sweet, realistically, we're talking chocolate.
Here's the problem with chocolate.
It melts.
(15:01):
Yep.
Pretty easily.
Yep.
Turns out like way easier than you would want it to.
Yeah.
I mean, if it's out of the sun, but it's still in your pack and your pack's heating up because
you're sweating and causing all this body heat to go through it, your chocolate's melting.
Yeah.
It's it.
It's just going to melt.
So the tried and true candy coated chocolates.
(15:26):
Yep.
Without mentioning name brand.
Yep.
It's M&Ms, but candy coated chocolates for the generic.
If they want to send us some candies, then by all means.
Yes.
I mean, realistically, that's great for a trail mix because the candy coating don't
melt as easy as the chocolate does.
So I agree.
It's not the best chocolate to put in there, but like convenience wise.
(15:47):
It gets the job done.
It's you know, there's a reason that that's the popular one to have in there.
Right.
Right.
It would.
I bet I didn't the last time, but I I've thought about putting in the dark chocolate
ones.
At least it's a little bit better chocolate.
I know it's a little bit better chocolate and does dark chocolate have a different melting
point than regular chocolate?
I wonder.
(16:09):
Because I think that white chocolate melts at a lower temperature than milk chocolate.
And I almost wonder if dark chocolate.
I don't know.
That is something to look into.
I'm kind of talking out of my ass here because I don't actually know the answer to that.
But like, I wonder what the melting point of that is.
Like that might be a good option to fix some of that problem.
(16:32):
Yeah.
Well, and my my research did say that like dark chocolate offers more antioxidants than
like a milk chocolate or anything like that.
I've heard that.
I'm not really entirely sure what an antioxidant does.
It defies oxidants.
Right.
Like, don't you want a lot of oxygen when you're on the trail?
(16:55):
Yeah, I guess I don't know.
But right.
I know.
I know.
He says dark chocolate is better for you than milk chocolate.
I guess I take people's word for it because I don't really know how to know.
I think it I think it just the milk chocolate has more sugar.
Like it's more it's because it's more sugar and less chocolate.
(17:16):
Yeah, I think.
OK, because cacao again, not a doctor.
I haven't researched chocolate or anything like that.
But from my understanding and just you and me talking, I believe cacao, which is the
main ingredient in chocolate, is actually a pretty healthy thing to consume.
OK.
I think you know what else you can get that I like just popped into my head that might
(17:41):
be good in trail mix.
I'm not sure if it would or if it wouldn't.
But I'm pretty sure you can get chocolate covered coffee beans.
Yes.
Espresso beans, especially are amazing.
I have to wonder if that wouldn't be delicious in a trail mix.
Yeah.
Yeah, they would be.
OK, we'll put that on the list as like an optional.
(18:05):
Now the other thing that I have had in trail mix that you probably won't like, Mike, but
that I really like is related to chocolate, even though it's not chocolate in any way.
You can get yogurt covered fruit.
So like yogurt covered raisins or yogurt covered dried cranberries or like some of that sort
of stuff also gives you like a sweet yumminess to it that.
(18:31):
I could see the time and place for that.
Yeah.
And that the yogurt doesn't melt.
Right.
I mean, I am sure that it does.
I don't know.
I just don't know at what point.
I mean, because it's it's shelf stable.
Right.
So I mean, it can be sitting out on a shelf and not melt.
But like, you know, if I got up to 90 degrees, I guess I'm not entirely sure.
(18:51):
Right.
OK.
But that's another like if you're not a chocolate person, but you still want a sweet component,
that might be an option to do like you said.
Or if you like coconut, you could throw some coconut something there because like coconut
is super sweet.
Right.
I know a lot of people are very mixed on whether they do or do not like coconut.
(19:12):
So clearly a personal preference thing.
Yeah, I'm a no.
Yeah.
See, I love I would.
Damien or everything.
But then OK, so then moving on from that category, you've got what I'm going to call our salty
options.
Right.
Those are going to be like your crackers or pretzel bites or.
(19:42):
I have never actually seen this, but it kept coming up in the in all the different like
when you got to like weird trail mix stuff that I was looking into today.
People put popcorn in their trail mix.
Which I don't know how I feel about that.
I could see that because you're realistically sealing it in a little baggie.
So it's not going to get too stale on you.
(20:05):
And I mean, I love popcorn.
So a little bit of staleness in popcorn isn't going to stop me from eating it.
Well, I don't know how I feel about that either.
And I mean, I love popcorn.
OK, so even if you don't do regular popcorn, they do make like caramel corn or cheesy popcorn
or whatever you could throw in there.
And it's like, OK, I might be into that.
(20:26):
Now the caveat on the caramel corn is when it heats up, it's going to get melty and sticky.
So I know.
So that's the thing.
I mean, the cheesy one wouldn't throw like the cheesy one.
The cheesy one.
And I don't want to lick my fingers with the cheesy mess.
And it's I've been in the back country now washing my hands.
OK, but what if you hand sanitize before you start eating it?
OK, yeah.
Would that make a difference?
Which I should do.
(20:47):
Which you should do anyway.
Or or hear me out.
Dump it right out of the bag into your mouth.
And then you don't got to make your fingers.
There you go.
I mean, because I want to get into like I have a whole different like once we get done
talking about the ingredients, I got different ways that you can carry it with you.
(21:08):
Like a good Chicago blend of popcorn.
That is my jam.
So Chicago one popcorn is the best blend.
Quite me.
So about it.
I mean, I mean, maybe we just start taking that.
I mean, I wouldn't hate it.
I'll be honest with you.
In addition to trail mix, not in the trail.
(21:28):
Right.
Yes.
Have options of snacks.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm into it.
OK, write that down because right now that's going on the camping list next year.
But yeah, I mean, or you can throw like other things like I've had trail mix before.
And this gets borderline like checks mixy.
But like people throw like oyster crackers and stuff in their trail mix.
(21:51):
You can get like crackers or stuff like that.
So I mean, those little things throw a little, you know, you're going to throw a giant saltine
in there, but you know, you get little crackers or something in there.
Right.
Little crackers or whatever.
Yeah.
Soup crackers.
Not so bad.
And then like the optional one that I mentioned is like your, you know, we kind of talked
(22:12):
about it already.
It's like your cereal pieces, your granola clusters, your oats, anything like that.
But like even, you know, Czech cereal, like it works good in a mix.
It would work good in trail mix, you know, depends on what you want.
So anyway, take all those different options and blend them together, mix them together.
(22:34):
Yep.
Trail mix, baby.
You know what?
So another thing that I read is an optional thing is some people will and I don't, but
some people will add like spices like cinnamon or cayenne pepper or sea salt, something like
that, just to add a little bit of different flavor to it.
So I read that too.
And I was trying to think whether or not I had ever actually had anything like that before.
(22:59):
And I do think once upon a time, a couple of years ago for one of our trips, I got like
a, I think it was marketed as like a breakfast trail mix.
It was a little bit cinnamon-y and so it was more of like your fruits.
I think it might've had like some yogurt covered fruit in there, but then it had like those
granola clusters in it.
(23:23):
Probably a couple of other things too, but like it really wasn't heavy on the nuts and
it really wasn't heavy on the salty, but I'm pretty sure it had some cinnamon flavor mixed
in with it.
See, in my opinion, that would cut down on the salt.
So right.
So you can take multiple, you can have a morning and an afternoon and an evening version.
Nobody's saying you can't take multiple kinds.
(23:45):
Trail mix is for everybody, friend, and you can have it for every meal of the day.
It will sustain you while you're on the trail.
It is like the best part about hiking.
It really is.
You just sit and enjoy it.
You take a break and grab your trail mix.
You get to camp and grab your trail mix.
You sit around the fire, you grab your trail mix.
(24:07):
And here's the thing.
Now as not a nutritionist, I can tell you it's also good for you.
I mean, it's got your proteins.
It's going to get you some of that salt back in your body.
Let's be honest.
We've talked about how much you sweat while you're out hiking, generally speaking.
(24:27):
You need some of that salty put back into you.
You need some of that sugars put back into you.
You need some of that protein put back in you.
What is from the calories?
You need some of the calories.
And guess what?
Trail mix has it all friend.
You get all of it with your trail mix.
It is like a superfood.
It's like a superfood.
(24:48):
I'm putting it in the category of superfood.
But no, it's got proteins.
It's got fats.
It's got carbohydrates.
It's got sugar.
It's got it's what your body craves.
You know what I'm saying?
You've got all the things.
It really does hit like every spot.
It really does.
It's weird.
(25:08):
It's delicious, but it hits every every damn spot.
It hits every spot.
So I put together a list of a couple of different like suggested mixes that you could make.
So just to run through some of them with the listener, you've got your classic trail mix.
And so that's going to be like almonds, peanuts, raisins, chocolate pieces, and pretzels.
(25:33):
And I say chocolate pieces because traditionally I think it's your M&Ms, but really as long
as it's a piece of chocolate or whatever they're candy coated chocolates, whatever they are.
Yeah.
You've also got a tropical mix that you can do, which this is one that I full disclosure
bought some of this at a store and now make my own because I don't want to pay for it
(25:57):
at the store because this is kind of a pricier one, but it's called a tropical trail mix.
So that one's got going to have your cashews.
It's going to have dried mango.
It's going to have dried pineapple chunks in it.
It's going to have macadamia nuts, which are a tropical nut, and it's going to have coconut
flakes in there.
(26:18):
That one is freaking delicious.
Let me just tell you, it is expensive, but that one is delicious.
You lost me after cashews.
Well, and that's very fruit heavy too.
I mean, you're not so much into the fruit heavy, but I have said before, when you're
out there, sometimes you're eating these dehydrated meals all the time, right?
(26:39):
Your body just starts craving something that's not just a rehydrated, dehydrated meal.
I understand that this fruit is dehydrated also, but it almost feels like there's some
moisture or freshness to that, even though it's a dry dehydrated fruit, it feels like
there's some freshness to it.
(27:00):
Well, and it's a different texture and it's just a different dehydrated.
It is a different dehydrated.
You're still going to be sick of your dehydrated, rehydrated food.
Don't get me wrong, but it gives you some of that fruit, get some freshness back in
your life.
(27:21):
Or the other one that I really like is, they call it the sweet and salty mix.
It's got your salted peanuts, a yogurt covered raisin, some mini chocolate covered pretzels.
Love those.
That sounds good.
(27:41):
I also read some brands will also include popcorn in that mix.
I've never personally seen that.
Today is literally the first time I have ever heard of popcorn being in trail mix.
Maybe it's a regional thing or maybe it's a country, differences in country thing.
I don't really know.
(28:02):
Where we're at here in the Midwest, I've never seen popcorn in trail mix.
Not to name drop, but I do remember, and this is a store bought thing, and it has a lot
of bare chocolate pieces because it is Reese's brand, but I do remember there being a Reese's
mix that was peanut butter cups, Reese's drizzled pretzels, Reese's drizzled popcorn.
(28:30):
It was a mix of just Reese's stuff with different textures, and it was amazing.
Are you looking for Reese's now?
Is that what's going on?
Well, I'm just trying to get free stuff.
Oh, yes.
By all means, Reese's.
If you would like to send us a sample of your mixture to try out on the trail, twist my
(28:53):
arm.
I am sure I could be convinced to try it out on the trail.
I mean, realistically, as delicious as that sounds, it also sounds like it's going to
melt the minute the temperature gets warm.
Yeah.
Well, even just eating it at your house and everything, room temperature, that drizzle
and everything gets when you pick it up in your hands, it's definitely not a melt in
your mouth, not in your hands type of a thing.
(29:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But then the other mix that I wanted to share just as a recipe sample for people is, I know
a lot, the keto diet's a big thing, right?
They do make keto trail mix.
So that's going to be almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, coconut flakes, and then a pinch of
sea salt in there to get you the salty, but without the things that a keto diet won't
(29:40):
let you have.
Right.
The nuts and the carbs and all that sort of stuff.
So that's an option too.
But realistically, those are just a couple of samples of things you can make.
Take any or all the things that we've said and mix it all together.
I'm guessing it's going to be delicious.
(30:01):
I'm sure.
I mean, aside from the fruit.
Yeah, I'm saying, you are saying aside from the fruit, I'm saying including the fruit.
Okay.
Now here's something that Mike does for us that I think is a great idea.
And really he started doing this after our first trip when we took five pounds of trail
(30:22):
mix, maybe five pounds a piece because we thought we were going to be starving to death.
Mike now portions everything out into like miniature sized Ziploc baggies.
Yeah, they're the portion control snack Ziploc baggies.
They're like a mini sandwich bag or half a sandwich bag.
(30:45):
You have started doing that.
I think that is a great idea.
It does keep you from eating like handfuls and handfuls and handfuls at one time.
So well, I started doing that because some of the pockets that I like to keep it in my
pack will only fit that much anyway.
So that's the main reason it just fits in your pack better.
(31:06):
It does fit in your pack better.
I also find that it keeps me from eating handfuls and handfuls and true.
So like it's a twofer, right?
So it fits in your pack better and it keeps you from well, because the first trip we took,
you mentioned before, I think we both took two one gallon baggies of it and we barely
got through half of one gallon bag.
(31:27):
So that's, I started portioning it a little bit smaller and now that I read, I read through
some recommendations on portions and things like that and now I feel like we are starting
to portion it the right way.
But yeah, I know, I mean, standing here today, I still think like, yeah, I don't think two
(31:50):
little miniature sandwich baggies is going to be enough for a four day trip.
It typically is.
Yeah.
But yeah, standing here right now, there's no way that's enough.
Well, I feel like just sitting at the, like we take a five minute break and feel like
I'm going to go through one of those sandwich baggies things on a break.
I'm really not, but yeah, I feel like I'm going to, sitting here right now.
(32:15):
Now, here's the other thing that I do want to say about trail mix.
So like we've talked about the, you know, the chocolate melting and it melting all your
stuff together, which is a thing.
Turns out it still tastes the same.
So as long as that firms back up, right, you know, if it's 90 degrees during the day, when
it gets down to 70 at night and you can wait until it cools back off and re congeals, not
(32:38):
a big deal, but there are ways to take trail mix and make trail mix bars out of them.
Like if you don't want the messiness of having like loose trail mix, there's ways to do that.
I think you not exactly sure how to do it.
I know there, I know people that have done it.
(33:00):
That makes it sound like making that up, but I really do know people that have made these.
My understanding is you use some sort of honey or nut butter or somehow in like, I don't
know if you bake it.
I don't know exactly how you do it, but there is a way to mix that with like a nut butter
or something where it makes not only does it stick together, but it makes like an actual
(33:23):
bar out of it.
Like think of, I'd be interested in looking into that.
Think of like a nature valley type bar or you know what I mean?
Like there's a way to make a bar out of it so that you don't just have like loose stuff.
I'm not sure whether I need that.
I mean, I'm perfectly fine just grabbing a few pieces and chucking them in my mouth.
(33:47):
Although having the nutrition of honey or something like that in there too wouldn't
be the worst thing.
Well, I'm a sweetener so I don't need that.
I know you're not a honey fan, but I'm not going to go out of my way to have honey, but
I had honey on my dinner tonight.
So you know, that would be a, yeah, I'd look into that because I love honey.
(34:07):
So I would maybe look into that.
Yeah.
But so anyway, so there's a way to do it.
Because I guess what I'm trying to get to is like, if you don't want, if you want more
of a bar, you like all this stuff in trail mix, but you want more of a bar to eat versus
having like loose stuff.
There is a way to do it.
I am sure a quick Google search will tell you how to do it.
Absolutely.
Or they make pre-made stuff at the store.
(34:28):
You can go get a pre-made one at the store.
You know what I mean?
Get your protein bars or your nut bars or whatever they are.
Yeah, exactly.
So, but yeah, I mean just the big thing, have fun with it.
Get what you like.
And if you want something that we haven't listed, turns out you can still call it trail
mix.
(34:48):
You know what I'm saying?
Like whatever type of nut you want in there or you want a different type of cereal in
there or you want, you know what, one of my favorite parts of checks mix is those little,
I don't even know what they're called.
Are they rye chips or I don't know what you know there.
They're like a brown chip thing that's in checks mix.
I bet you could toss that into a trail mix.
(35:09):
Oh yeah.
And it's still be delicious.
And like you were saying, try some seasonings.
Throw some garlic powder in there or some seasoned salt or some, if you like cinnamon,
throw some cinnamon in there.
Whatever your seasoning of choices, throw some of that in there.
Spice it up a little bit.
You want, you know what you could do this one.
I saw this one and you could do this.
(35:30):
Throw some ranch seasoning in there.
Mix it up.
Toss it around.
It's not, it's a very anti Midwestern thing to say, but I don't like ranch seasoning.
That is a very non Midwestern thing to say.
But yeah, throw some ranch seasoning powder in there.
Shake it up in the little baggie.
You got ranch season trail mix.
The other thing you can do if you want a bunch of protein is you can throw chickpeas in there.
(35:57):
So you can like roast chickpeas to make them like crunchy.
They almost turn into like almost kind of like a crouton type thing.
Throw some seasoning on them, put them in the oven, bake them till they're crunchy,
throw that into your trail mix.
That's a great way to get a bunch of protein too.
You know,
I feel like we're turning into the great outdoors baking show or something like.
(36:17):
Man, I'm telling you what, if somebody would pay me to do nothing but make trail mix all
day long, I feel like that would be the dream job.
I love trail mix.
I know I sound way too excited about it.
Go play it hard or whatever brand make the different trail mix.
Right.
I'm telling you, like it is.
I have said before, I think it was on like one of our first episodes, you were making
(36:38):
fun of me for it because I'm taking five gallons of trail mix on our first trip.
But like I never put two and two together that trail mix was called trail mix.
Because you're supposed to eat it out on the trail.
Like I never put two and two together right until we started hiking.
And because it replenishes you out on the trail.
(37:00):
Yeah, for sure.
Totally makes sense.
I don't know why it never clicked in my head that that's why it was called trail mix.
But it totally makes sense.
And it really is a great snack for out on the trail because it has everything.
This mix has everything.
(37:21):
I mean, the stuff I make doesn't have everything, but it has enough to get me by.
You know what, but it does though.
So it might not be heavy on the fruit, but you get your sweetness from the chocolate.
You know, like so and it's got the different textures in it.
It's like the stuff you make.
It's not all just like all crunchy stuff, right?
You get the you put your peanut butter cups or your, you know, candy coated chocolate
(37:45):
pieces or whatever in there.
And like you did do get a different texture with all that.
And realistically, that's what you want when you're out there is you want a little texture
variation, some salty, some sweet.
So yeah, is your mix like perfect for everybody?
No, probably not.
But it's damn good.
It works for me.
And apparently it works for you.
So it gets me jazzed up.
I really like it.
(38:06):
Yeah.
So, I mean, I don't have anything other than if you wanted to talk about what I put in
ours, we can do that.
Yeah.
Tell people you put in yours.
I mean, that's like the Shawn and Mike version of trail mix.
What's in the Shawn and Mike trail mix version?
So I start with some salted peanuts.
(38:27):
I might do dry roasted next time because I also do roasted or salted cashews.
So I'm heavy on the nuts because I also do some almonds.
So I do those and I just buy, I don't know, I don't know what the if it's a pound or however
(38:50):
much it is just the store bought baggie of each.
It's not a full can or tin of each.
It's just a baggie of them.
I go for some seeds.
I do pumpkin seeds for Shawn and sunflower seeds for me.
I haven't done any granola or cereal, but as we've been talking, I've been thinking
so the next mix might be a little bit different.
(39:12):
You know what kind of cereal I think would be good in there too?
Not to sorry not to interrupt your recipe, but frosted mini.
See I was thinking frosted mini wheats might not be bad, but I was because we were talking
about the Cheerios thing.
They make frosted Cheerios and they also make honey nut Cheerios.
I was thinking about mixing some of those in there.
I do like me a honey nut Cheerios.
(39:33):
Mini wheats to me might be a little too stringy without milk and everything.
I don't think so because I used to buy boxes of mini wheats and just snack on them.
Just eat them?
Okay.
I might try it.
We could try some.
Okay.
That because I would add some sweet to it that frosting on it.
I do throw in some M&Ms, just regular M&Ms.
(39:57):
I might try the dark chocolates, but I also throw in Reese's Pieces for the peanut butter
in there.
There it is.
I don't do peanut butter cups to get away from the melting and all that.
It's a candy coated peanut butter.
I also do, I was doing pretzel sticks, but I found that they would sometimes poke through
(40:21):
the baggies.
I would.
I don't remember the brand, but I think most brands now make them, but they make peanut
butter balls.
Yep.
They're tiny little bite sized little peanut butter balls.
Not peanut butter balls, pretzel balls.
Or pretzel balls.
Sorry.
Yes.
Yeah.
(40:41):
But pretzel balls.
I buy the regular salted and then I also throw in a bag of buttered pretzel balls.
Oh, see.
I didn't even know that.
Yep.
So I do that.
And then that is pretty much it.
I throw it in a giant mixing bowl and stir like crazy and make the mix.
(41:03):
And then I portion it out.
And I actually, from our last trip, I still have some in that mixing bowl that I snack
on from time to time.
I don't know why you haven't shared that with me.
I probably could.
But yeah, I mean, realistically, have fun with it.
Make whatever you want, put whatever you want.
Yeah.
And if your trail mix is made up entirely stuff that we haven't even mentioned here
(41:26):
today, if there's stuff that you put in there and you still call it trail mix, by all means,
let us know.
You can let us know in a multitude of ways.
You can email us on our email, which is shawnmikehike at gmail.com.
You could reach out to us on all of our socials, which is at shawnmikehike on pretty much everything.
Or you can reach us right through our website, which is shawnmikehike.com.
(41:50):
Please rate, rate, and subscribe anywhere you're listening to this podcast.
Do you have anything else to go over before we sign off, Mike?
No, go take a hike and take some trail mix with you.
Yeah, go take a hike, everybody.
We'll see you in a couple of weeks.
See you.
I'm Shawn and I'm Mike and you're listening to Shawn and Mike take a hike.
(00:17):
Welcome to another episode of Shawn and Mike take a hike.
What do you want to talk about today, Shawn?
Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite things about hiking.
Today I would like to talk about trail mix.
It is one of my absolute favorite parts of hiking as we have talked about in the past.
(00:42):
And so I thought maybe we could talk about, I know it's kind of a lot to have like a whole
episode dedicated to trail mix, but like there's a lot of different ways to do trail mix.
So I thought maybe we could talk about like, what are some of the options?
Turns out you don't just have to go to the store to buy it.
You can make your own.
(01:04):
Well because I mean, personally, I don't like a lot of the store bought trail mixes because
I don't like raisins or dried apricots or anything like that, like cranberries or whatever
the crap they put in them, the little fruit things.
So I don't really like all of that because as we mentioned before, I'm a meat and potatoes
kind of guy and I don't eat a lot of fruits or veggies.
(01:28):
So I don't like a lot of the prepackaged trail mix, but I don't want to take just a packet
of peanuts or just a packet of almonds or whatever.
So I like some sweets and things like that.
So I had found a trail mix that was perfect.
(01:50):
It had peanuts, cashews, almonds, all sorts of stuff.
It had sunflower seeds.
It had some, I think little mini peanut butter cups.
It had all sorts of stuff.
So you had your sweet, you had your savory, you had your salt, you had protein, you had
all this stuff.
(02:13):
But because those little peanut butter cups is just bare chocolate, no coating on it,
it just got real melty and turned into like a candy bar in a plastic bag that really was
hard to eat.
Yeah.
And your hands got covered with chocolate.
And your hands got covered in chocolate.
Now in all fairness, it was delicious.
(02:33):
Even all melted together, it was still delicious.
It was still delicious.
It was just a mess and kind of a pain.
So I stopped buying that and I started making my own.
Yes.
So yeah.
So I think the majority of what we are going to talk about today, I want to talk mainly
about like the make it your own stuff.
But before we get away from the store bought stuff, like I am probably going to shit on
(02:58):
store bought trail mix quite a bit in this episode.
But I do want to have a disclaimer upfront that I do like store bought trail mix.
Like you can buy the individual packages of it, which are great for portion control.
You know, it is or can be cheaper to buy the store bought stuff because like you don't
have to buy so much of stuff.
(03:18):
Like you can buy just what you're going to need for that trip.
And there's like a ton of varieties for the store bought stuff.
So you if you don't like raisins, for example, we'll get one with craisins in it or get one
with dried apricots in it or whatever.
Or if you don't like sunflower seeds, they make one with pumpkin seeds or they make one
with just peanuts or whatever.
(03:38):
So we're I think the bulk of this conversation today is going to be like about homemade stuff.
But there is a place for store bought stuff in this conversation to like if you have a
store bought kind that you like, get that.
Like if that's what works for you, get that.
It's easier.
It's convenient.
(03:59):
It can be cheaper.
But do that if that's what you like.
But there are so many ways to make your own and to make it so much better and to make
it like exactly what you want.
That's the part that excites me because like you can really make whatever you want out
(04:21):
of trail mix.
And it's like the like you could live off trail mix out in the backcountry.
I know I could anyway.
I could eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I love trail mix.
Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.
It's got the salty.
It's just yeah, it's delicious.
There's times where like you'll be sitting you, Shawn, will be sitting at camp and you're
like, I don't know if I could eat this or the rest of this meal.
(04:43):
Because every every MRE ready to eat, you know, dehydrated meal is a two serving meal,
which I don't understand because it's not like in the backcountry you're sharing.
Right.
But you feel like you have to eat the whole damn thing because where are you going to
toss it?
Yeah.
(05:03):
So then you'll be like stuffed beyond relief.
And then so we get into my trail mix.
Yeah.
He's like, I don't know if I can finish it.
Blah, blah, blah.
I'm so full.
And then he finishes it and starts putting it away and everything.
And then he's two minutes later, he's digging into his trail mix.
I'm like, what the hell happened?
And like literally two minutes later, I don't know what it is.
You know what it is?
It's the salty.
(05:24):
Like that is what I love salt, like probably to an unhealthy level.
I love salt.
And that's what I so the trail mix that I make or you make and share with me is like
the right amount of salty for me.
It's like hits that salt is almost the main ingredient of that.
(05:46):
Yeah.
I mean, that realistically, that is what I like about it.
Like you make a great mix, like the stuff that you put in there from trial and error
over the last few years.
Like it is a good mix.
Like it's got.
Yeah.
Well, so I guess before we tell everybody exactly what's in your secret recipe, let's
go.
I want to go through like, so these are the categories.
(06:08):
I made categories for what like I think every good trail mix has.
Right.
So I'm going to run through the categories real quick.
So every good trail mix, in my opinion, is going to have what I have called nuts and
seeds.
So either some sort of nut seed, either or both, whatever.
(06:29):
Those labeled as energy boosters.
Oh, see.
Okay.
Well, so our lists are going to be a little bit different, but so we'll make it work.
Okay.
So you got your nuts and seeds.
You've got firm for Shawn.
I want a dried fruit in there, so I've got that as a one.
Then I want something sweet.
(06:50):
Okay.
Then I want something.
I don't know if it's savory.
I don't know if it's salty.
I don't know what the right word is to use for this category, but like that, like salty,
textury, you know, like that component.
And then depending on whether you need it or not, this is like a sometimes like optional
(07:11):
one, some sort of like grain in there.
Okay.
Yep.
Just kind of for like some bulk and some like extra bits to it.
And that is one that we don't always do.
But like, I do like that one that's in there.
From my research, I hadn't even thought of adding some of that stuff.
(07:34):
But from researching this and looking that some people do put that in, I'm like, that's
not a bad idea.
So the one store bought one that I have that I really like, it comes, it has, I think you
just call them granola clusters.
I don't know how they make a cluster out of the granola.
I don't know what it is that binds it all together.
But like, so the one mix that I buy from the store has those in it.
(07:56):
But like I've had trail mix that other people have made that has like Cheerios in it, or
you know, like little bits of like cereal cluster type things in it.
So like that, right, I get when I say like, whatever that category is, that's the type
of stuff that I'm keeping the cost down to because cereals relatively inexpensive.
Well, I know last time you bought cereal, but no, sir, that is not true.
(08:21):
Well, you can get the knockoff.
You get the knockoff brand, right?
Because it's going into trail mix.
It don't need to be named brand.
But like, or even like, you know, another one that's really good in there is like a
honey nut Cheerio, because then you get like that's in green.
When you mentioned Cheerios, I was like, I would go for a honey nut Cheerio on there.
Yeah, for sure.
Um, but so like those are my main categories.
(08:41):
So like when I'm talking nuts or seeds, right?
Like you've got your love me some almonds, right?
Like that's an option to throw a few almonds in there.
The mix you make, you put cashews in there once in a while.
I don't think you do every time, but you do once in a while.
Well, I do every time that I can find them at a decent price because cashews are an expensive
(09:03):
nut.
Yeah.
But when I can find them at a reasonable price, I will put them in there because cashews are
my favorite.
Well, realistically, just like salted peanuts in there or honey roasted peanuts.
Like, you know, some sort of peanut peanuts are freaking cheap.
Yeah.
So I mean, throw some of those in there.
I've also had trail mix that has wallets in it before, which is like a nice surprise once
(09:26):
in a while.
But then like in the same category, if we're getting more to the seed things you got your
sunflower seeds, you've got my personal favorite, a pumpkin seed.
I know you love pumpkin seeds.
I like them out of the shell, but you like the shell at all.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Prefer with the shell.
I mean, really, yeah, that's where all the salt gets held on is in the shell.
(09:49):
Same, same with sunflower seeds.
I get that.
But I eat the I guess you could probably do that with pumpkin seeds, just unshuck it in
your mouth like you do a sunflower seed.
You know, I don't even know.
Never.
I've literally never tried.
Don't even know how that would work.
I mean, clearly, if you could buy like shell the pumpkin seeds, clearly there must be a
(10:10):
way to get it out of the shell.
Right.
I always thought the entire thing when I hear your pumpkin seeds, I think of it in the shell.
I thought that was all one thing.
I didn't realize that there was like.
I didn't realize it was two pieces.
The exoskeleton of the of the seed.
Yeah, right.
Didn't realize that that was a thing.
And I'll be honest with you, my favorite type of pumpkin seeds and I don't love saying the
(10:36):
name.
I feel like the name is maybe a little bit problematic, but like the better if you listener
have never had Indian brand salted pumpkin seeds, they're in like a red packet.
I thought it was Indian header.
It's just Indian is the brand.
The logo is like a Indian with like full headdress on Native American.
(10:59):
Yes, Native American.
Yes.
I mean, the name is Indian.
It is, you know, first nation.
I have to look into that because I do wonder if they keep that name, if they if it is indigenous
that are that's the creators of it.
If it's not just a I don't know.
I that's why I say I would like to look into that.
Like as a white guy, I feel weird saying that name, but they are my favorite pumpkin seeds.
(11:26):
So I continue to buy them because they're just they're so salty and so good.
So like throw them in the mix.
Truly like we would get them as kids.
It's a little bit nostalgic for me to buy them.
But really, there's just like I have never had a pumpkin seed that's nearly as good as
those.
The last batch that I made that had pumpkin seeds in it were unfortunately just Meyer
(11:49):
brand.
Out of the shell pumpkin seeds.
Yeah, I mean, still good.
Still good.
And way better, in my opinion, way better than a what's the other seeds?
Sesame seed, not sesame seed.
Sunflower.
Sun there.
That's the one sunflower seed.
Way better than a sunflower seed.
Sunflower seeds are my jam.
Yeah, I love them.
I would just take a bag of sunflower seeds.
(12:12):
I prefer sunflower seeds in the shell like you.
I don't eat the shell.
I shuck them.
You know, it's just like baseball players.
You spit them out and all that stuff.
But problematic out on the trail because sunflower seeds aren't naturally found out in the woods
usually.
Exactly.
I mean, that gets into a whole other thing.
So I don't like to spit the shells out on the ground where potentially some animal that's
(12:36):
not used to that in their digestive tract causing wreaking havoc on population.
That whole thing.
We talked for hours about that, but I think we did have an entire episode about it.
So we probably did talk for hours about it.
But yeah, I mean, I don't know.
For my money, sunflower seeds, like one of the most overrated things, I just don't get
(12:57):
it.
I know they're everywhere and people love them.
I don't get it.
It's not my jam.
We had a friend that used to make them and they were delicious, too.
Every Halloween when they were carbon pumpkins doing whatever, she would save everybody seeds
and make her own.
Oh, I thought about it.
I have certainly thought.
I mean, it seems like a lot of work, let's be honest.
But I've thought about doing it because yeah, delicious.
(13:19):
So yeah, so those are the things in that category that you can choose from.
And then I'm going to go on to this one.
You're probably not going to have a lot to say about because you've already said you
don't like dried fruit.
But like you're dried fruit.
Tons of options these days.
You can get raisins, you can get craisins, you can get dried apricots, you can get...
What is a craisin?
You've mentioned that twice now.
(13:39):
I don't even know what a craisin is.
It's a cranberry that's...
So dried.
Yeah, it's a dried cranberry.
OK.
I mean, it looks like a raisin, but it's cranberry.
Gotcha.
OK.
Because dried cranberries is on my list.
OK.
Well, realistically, craisins might be trademarked.
I mean, that might be owned by Dole or something.
(14:01):
I don't know that.
I mean, it could be.
I just...
In my head, they're craisins.
Right.
Well, yes, dried cranberries is probably the generic term for it.
You got your banana chips.
You've got dried apples you can throw in there if you wanted to.
Like really any fruit that you want to dehydrate or buy dehydrated, throw it in there.
The more the merrier.
(14:21):
Absolutely.
Great way to get a little bit of sugars back into you.
You get a little bit of that sweetness from fruits.
It's typically pretty sweet and then you dehydrate it, makes it sweet.
Yep.
Lots of options.
The more the merrier.
You make a whole fruit salad into your trail mix.
All good options.
(14:41):
And so then from there, you get into your like your sweet.
And this is where Mike and I both have strong opinions on the sweet stuff.
So you're basically looking for something chocolate, right?
Like when we say sweet, realistically, we're talking chocolate.
Here's the problem with chocolate.
It melts.
(15:01):
Yep.
Pretty easily.
Yep.
Turns out like way easier than you would want it to.
Yeah.
I mean, if it's out of the sun, but it's still in your pack and your pack's heating up because
you're sweating and causing all this body heat to go through it, your chocolate's melting.
Yeah.
It's it.
It's just going to melt.
So the tried and true candy coated chocolates.
(15:26):
Yep.
Without mentioning name brand.
Yep.
It's M&Ms, but candy coated chocolates for the generic.
If they want to send us some candies, then by all means.
Yes.
I mean, realistically, that's great for a trail mix because the candy coating don't
melt as easy as the chocolate does.
So I agree.
It's not the best chocolate to put in there, but like convenience wise.
(15:47):
It gets the job done.
It's you know, there's a reason that that's the popular one to have in there.
Right.
Right.
It would.
I bet I didn't the last time, but I I've thought about putting in the dark chocolate
ones.
At least it's a little bit better chocolate.
I know it's a little bit better chocolate and does dark chocolate have a different melting
point than regular chocolate?
I wonder.
(16:09):
Because I think that white chocolate melts at a lower temperature than milk chocolate.
And I almost wonder if dark chocolate.
I don't know.
That is something to look into.
I'm kind of talking out of my ass here because I don't actually know the answer to that.
But like, I wonder what the melting point of that is.
Like that might be a good option to fix some of that problem.
(16:32):
Yeah.
Well, and my my research did say that like dark chocolate offers more antioxidants than
like a milk chocolate or anything like that.
I've heard that.
I'm not really entirely sure what an antioxidant does.
It defies oxidants.
Right.
Like, don't you want a lot of oxygen when you're on the trail?
(16:55):
Yeah, I guess I don't know.
But right.
I know.
I know.
He says dark chocolate is better for you than milk chocolate.
I guess I take people's word for it because I don't really know how to know.
I think it I think it just the milk chocolate has more sugar.
Like it's more it's because it's more sugar and less chocolate.
(17:16):
Yeah, I think.
OK, because cacao again, not a doctor.
I haven't researched chocolate or anything like that.
But from my understanding and just you and me talking, I believe cacao, which is the
main ingredient in chocolate, is actually a pretty healthy thing to consume.
OK.
I think you know what else you can get that I like just popped into my head that might
(17:41):
be good in trail mix.
I'm not sure if it would or if it wouldn't.
But I'm pretty sure you can get chocolate covered coffee beans.
Yes.
Espresso beans, especially are amazing.
I have to wonder if that wouldn't be delicious in a trail mix.
Yeah.
Yeah, they would be.
OK, we'll put that on the list as like an optional.
(18:05):
Now the other thing that I have had in trail mix that you probably won't like, Mike, but
that I really like is related to chocolate, even though it's not chocolate in any way.
You can get yogurt covered fruit.
So like yogurt covered raisins or yogurt covered dried cranberries or like some of that sort
of stuff also gives you like a sweet yumminess to it that.
(18:31):
I could see the time and place for that.
Yeah.
And that the yogurt doesn't melt.
Right.
I mean, I am sure that it does.
I don't know.
I just don't know at what point.
I mean, because it's it's shelf stable.
Right.
So I mean, it can be sitting out on a shelf and not melt.
But like, you know, if I got up to 90 degrees, I guess I'm not entirely sure.
(18:51):
Right.
OK.
But that's another like if you're not a chocolate person, but you still want a sweet component,
that might be an option to do like you said.
Or if you like coconut, you could throw some coconut something there because like coconut
is super sweet.
Right.
I know a lot of people are very mixed on whether they do or do not like coconut.
(19:12):
So clearly a personal preference thing.
Yeah, I'm a no.
Yeah.
See, I love I would.
Damien or everything.
But then OK, so then moving on from that category, you've got what I'm going to call our salty
options.
Right.
Those are going to be like your crackers or pretzel bites or.
(19:42):
I have never actually seen this, but it kept coming up in the in all the different like
when you got to like weird trail mix stuff that I was looking into today.
People put popcorn in their trail mix.
Which I don't know how I feel about that.
I could see that because you're realistically sealing it in a little baggie.
So it's not going to get too stale on you.
(20:05):
And I mean, I love popcorn.
So a little bit of staleness in popcorn isn't going to stop me from eating it.
Well, I don't know how I feel about that either.
And I mean, I love popcorn.
OK, so even if you don't do regular popcorn, they do make like caramel corn or cheesy popcorn
or whatever you could throw in there.
And it's like, OK, I might be into that.
(20:26):
Now the caveat on the caramel corn is when it heats up, it's going to get melty and sticky.
So I know.
So that's the thing.
I mean, the cheesy one wouldn't throw like the cheesy one.
The cheesy one.
And I don't want to lick my fingers with the cheesy mess.
And it's I've been in the back country now washing my hands.
OK, but what if you hand sanitize before you start eating it?
OK, yeah.
Would that make a difference?
Which I should do.
(20:47):
Which you should do anyway.
Or or hear me out.
Dump it right out of the bag into your mouth.
And then you don't got to make your fingers.
There you go.
I mean, because I want to get into like I have a whole different like once we get done
talking about the ingredients, I got different ways that you can carry it with you.
(21:08):
Like a good Chicago blend of popcorn.
That is my jam.
So Chicago one popcorn is the best blend.
Quite me.
So about it.
I mean, I mean, maybe we just start taking that.
I mean, I wouldn't hate it.
I'll be honest with you.
In addition to trail mix, not in the trail.
(21:28):
Right.
Yes.
Have options of snacks.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm into it.
OK, write that down because right now that's going on the camping list next year.
But yeah, I mean, or you can throw like other things like I've had trail mix before.
And this gets borderline like checks mixy.
But like people throw like oyster crackers and stuff in their trail mix.
(21:51):
You can get like crackers or stuff like that.
So I mean, those little things throw a little, you know, you're going to throw a giant saltine
in there, but you know, you get little crackers or something in there.
Right.
Little crackers or whatever.
Yeah.
Soup crackers.
Not so bad.
And then like the optional one that I mentioned is like your, you know, we kind of talked
(22:12):
about it already.
It's like your cereal pieces, your granola clusters, your oats, anything like that.
But like even, you know, Czech cereal, like it works good in a mix.
It would work good in trail mix, you know, depends on what you want.
So anyway, take all those different options and blend them together, mix them together.
(22:34):
Yep.
Trail mix, baby.
You know what?
So another thing that I read is an optional thing is some people will and I don't, but
some people will add like spices like cinnamon or cayenne pepper or sea salt, something like
that, just to add a little bit of different flavor to it.
So I read that too.
And I was trying to think whether or not I had ever actually had anything like that before.
(22:59):
And I do think once upon a time, a couple of years ago for one of our trips, I got like
a, I think it was marketed as like a breakfast trail mix.
It was a little bit cinnamon-y and so it was more of like your fruits.
I think it might've had like some yogurt covered fruit in there, but then it had like those
granola clusters in it.
(23:23):
Probably a couple of other things too, but like it really wasn't heavy on the nuts and
it really wasn't heavy on the salty, but I'm pretty sure it had some cinnamon flavor mixed
in with it.
See, in my opinion, that would cut down on the salt.
So right.
So you can take multiple, you can have a morning and an afternoon and an evening version.
Nobody's saying you can't take multiple kinds.
(23:45):
Trail mix is for everybody, friend, and you can have it for every meal of the day.
It will sustain you while you're on the trail.
It is like the best part about hiking.
It really is.
You just sit and enjoy it.
You take a break and grab your trail mix.
You get to camp and grab your trail mix.
You sit around the fire, you grab your trail mix.
(24:07):
And here's the thing.
Now as not a nutritionist, I can tell you it's also good for you.
I mean, it's got your proteins.
It's going to get you some of that salt back in your body.
Let's be honest.
We've talked about how much you sweat while you're out hiking, generally speaking.
(24:27):
You need some of that salty put back into you.
You need some of that sugars put back into you.
You need some of that protein put back in you.
What is from the calories?
You need some of the calories.
And guess what?
Trail mix has it all friend.
You get all of it with your trail mix.
It is like a superfood.
It's like a superfood.
(24:48):
I'm putting it in the category of superfood.
But no, it's got proteins.
It's got fats.
It's got carbohydrates.
It's got sugar.
It's got it's what your body craves.
You know what I'm saying?
You've got all the things.
It really does hit like every spot.
It really does.
It's weird.
(25:08):
It's delicious, but it hits every every damn spot.
It hits every spot.
So I put together a list of a couple of different like suggested mixes that you could make.
So just to run through some of them with the listener, you've got your classic trail mix.
And so that's going to be like almonds, peanuts, raisins, chocolate pieces, and pretzels.
(25:33):
And I say chocolate pieces because traditionally I think it's your M&Ms, but really as long
as it's a piece of chocolate or whatever they're candy coated chocolates, whatever they are.
Yeah.
You've also got a tropical mix that you can do, which this is one that I full disclosure
bought some of this at a store and now make my own because I don't want to pay for it
(25:57):
at the store because this is kind of a pricier one, but it's called a tropical trail mix.
So that one's got going to have your cashews.
It's going to have dried mango.
It's going to have dried pineapple chunks in it.
It's going to have macadamia nuts, which are a tropical nut, and it's going to have coconut
flakes in there.
(26:18):
That one is freaking delicious.
Let me just tell you, it is expensive, but that one is delicious.
You lost me after cashews.
Well, and that's very fruit heavy too.
I mean, you're not so much into the fruit heavy, but I have said before, when you're
out there, sometimes you're eating these dehydrated meals all the time, right?
(26:39):
Your body just starts craving something that's not just a rehydrated, dehydrated meal.
I understand that this fruit is dehydrated also, but it almost feels like there's some
moisture or freshness to that, even though it's a dry dehydrated fruit, it feels like
there's some freshness to it.
(27:00):
Well, and it's a different texture and it's just a different dehydrated.
It is a different dehydrated.
You're still going to be sick of your dehydrated, rehydrated food.
Don't get me wrong, but it gives you some of that fruit, get some freshness back in
your life.
(27:21):
Or the other one that I really like is, they call it the sweet and salty mix.
It's got your salted peanuts, a yogurt covered raisin, some mini chocolate covered pretzels.
Love those.
That sounds good.
(27:41):
I also read some brands will also include popcorn in that mix.
I've never personally seen that.
Today is literally the first time I have ever heard of popcorn being in trail mix.
Maybe it's a regional thing or maybe it's a country, differences in country thing.
I don't really know.
(28:02):
Where we're at here in the Midwest, I've never seen popcorn in trail mix.
Not to name drop, but I do remember, and this is a store bought thing, and it has a lot
of bare chocolate pieces because it is Reese's brand, but I do remember there being a Reese's
mix that was peanut butter cups, Reese's drizzled pretzels, Reese's drizzled popcorn.
(28:30):
It was a mix of just Reese's stuff with different textures, and it was amazing.
Are you looking for Reese's now?
Is that what's going on?
Well, I'm just trying to get free stuff.
Oh, yes.
By all means, Reese's.
If you would like to send us a sample of your mixture to try out on the trail, twist my
(28:53):
arm.
I am sure I could be convinced to try it out on the trail.
I mean, realistically, as delicious as that sounds, it also sounds like it's going to
melt the minute the temperature gets warm.
Yeah.
Well, even just eating it at your house and everything, room temperature, that drizzle
and everything gets when you pick it up in your hands, it's definitely not a melt in
your mouth, not in your hands type of a thing.
(29:15):
Yeah.
Yeah.
But then the other mix that I wanted to share just as a recipe sample for people is, I know
a lot, the keto diet's a big thing, right?
They do make keto trail mix.
So that's going to be almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, coconut flakes, and then a pinch of
sea salt in there to get you the salty, but without the things that a keto diet won't
(29:40):
let you have.
Right.
The nuts and the carbs and all that sort of stuff.
So that's an option too.
But realistically, those are just a couple of samples of things you can make.
Take any or all the things that we've said and mix it all together.
I'm guessing it's going to be delicious.
(30:01):
I'm sure.
I mean, aside from the fruit.
Yeah, I'm saying, you are saying aside from the fruit, I'm saying including the fruit.
Okay.
Now here's something that Mike does for us that I think is a great idea.
And really he started doing this after our first trip when we took five pounds of trail
(30:22):
mix, maybe five pounds a piece because we thought we were going to be starving to death.
Mike now portions everything out into like miniature sized Ziploc baggies.
Yeah, they're the portion control snack Ziploc baggies.
They're like a mini sandwich bag or half a sandwich bag.
(30:45):
You have started doing that.
I think that is a great idea.
It does keep you from eating like handfuls and handfuls and handfuls at one time.
So well, I started doing that because some of the pockets that I like to keep it in my
pack will only fit that much anyway.
So that's the main reason it just fits in your pack better.
(31:06):
It does fit in your pack better.
I also find that it keeps me from eating handfuls and handfuls and true.
So like it's a twofer, right?
So it fits in your pack better and it keeps you from well, because the first trip we took,
you mentioned before, I think we both took two one gallon baggies of it and we barely
got through half of one gallon bag.
(31:27):
So that's, I started portioning it a little bit smaller and now that I read, I read through
some recommendations on portions and things like that and now I feel like we are starting
to portion it the right way.
But yeah, I know, I mean, standing here today, I still think like, yeah, I don't think two
(31:50):
little miniature sandwich baggies is going to be enough for a four day trip.
It typically is.
Yeah.
But yeah, standing here right now, there's no way that's enough.
Well, I feel like just sitting at the, like we take a five minute break and feel like
I'm going to go through one of those sandwich baggies things on a break.
I'm really not, but yeah, I feel like I'm going to, sitting here right now.
(32:15):
Now, here's the other thing that I do want to say about trail mix.
So like we've talked about the, you know, the chocolate melting and it melting all your
stuff together, which is a thing.
Turns out it still tastes the same.
So as long as that firms back up, right, you know, if it's 90 degrees during the day, when
it gets down to 70 at night and you can wait until it cools back off and re congeals, not
(32:38):
a big deal, but there are ways to take trail mix and make trail mix bars out of them.
Like if you don't want the messiness of having like loose trail mix, there's ways to do that.
I think you not exactly sure how to do it.
I know there, I know people that have done it.
(33:00):
That makes it sound like making that up, but I really do know people that have made these.
My understanding is you use some sort of honey or nut butter or somehow in like, I don't
know if you bake it.
I don't know exactly how you do it, but there is a way to mix that with like a nut butter
or something where it makes not only does it stick together, but it makes like an actual
(33:23):
bar out of it.
Like think of, I'd be interested in looking into that.
Think of like a nature valley type bar or you know what I mean?
Like there's a way to make a bar out of it so that you don't just have like loose stuff.
I'm not sure whether I need that.
I mean, I'm perfectly fine just grabbing a few pieces and chucking them in my mouth.
(33:47):
Although having the nutrition of honey or something like that in there too wouldn't
be the worst thing.
Well, I'm a sweetener so I don't need that.
I know you're not a honey fan, but I'm not going to go out of my way to have honey, but
I had honey on my dinner tonight.
So you know, that would be a, yeah, I'd look into that because I love honey.
(34:07):
So I would maybe look into that.
Yeah.
But so anyway, so there's a way to do it.
Because I guess what I'm trying to get to is like, if you don't want, if you want more
of a bar, you like all this stuff in trail mix, but you want more of a bar to eat versus
having like loose stuff.
There is a way to do it.
I am sure a quick Google search will tell you how to do it.
Absolutely.
Or they make pre-made stuff at the store.
(34:28):
You can go get a pre-made one at the store.
You know what I mean?
Get your protein bars or your nut bars or whatever they are.
Yeah, exactly.
So, but yeah, I mean just the big thing, have fun with it.
Get what you like.
And if you want something that we haven't listed, turns out you can still call it trail
mix.
(34:48):
You know what I'm saying?
Like whatever type of nut you want in there or you want a different type of cereal in
there or you want, you know what, one of my favorite parts of checks mix is those little,
I don't even know what they're called.
Are they rye chips or I don't know what you know there.
They're like a brown chip thing that's in checks mix.
I bet you could toss that into a trail mix.
(35:09):
Oh yeah.
And it's still be delicious.
And like you were saying, try some seasonings.
Throw some garlic powder in there or some seasoned salt or some, if you like cinnamon,
throw some cinnamon in there.
Whatever your seasoning of choices, throw some of that in there.
Spice it up a little bit.
You want, you know what you could do this one.
I saw this one and you could do this.
(35:30):
Throw some ranch seasoning in there.
Mix it up.
Toss it around.
It's not, it's a very anti Midwestern thing to say, but I don't like ranch seasoning.
That is a very non Midwestern thing to say.
But yeah, throw some ranch seasoning powder in there.
Shake it up in the little baggie.
You got ranch season trail mix.
The other thing you can do if you want a bunch of protein is you can throw chickpeas in there.
(35:57):
So you can like roast chickpeas to make them like crunchy.
They almost turn into like almost kind of like a crouton type thing.
Throw some seasoning on them, put them in the oven, bake them till they're crunchy,
throw that into your trail mix.
That's a great way to get a bunch of protein too.
You know,
I feel like we're turning into the great outdoors baking show or something like.
(36:17):
Man, I'm telling you what, if somebody would pay me to do nothing but make trail mix all
day long, I feel like that would be the dream job.
I love trail mix.
I know I sound way too excited about it.
Go play it hard or whatever brand make the different trail mix.
Right.
I'm telling you, like it is.
I have said before, I think it was on like one of our first episodes, you were making
(36:38):
fun of me for it because I'm taking five gallons of trail mix on our first trip.
But like I never put two and two together that trail mix was called trail mix.
Because you're supposed to eat it out on the trail.
Like I never put two and two together right until we started hiking.
And because it replenishes you out on the trail.
(37:00):
Yeah, for sure.
Totally makes sense.
I don't know why it never clicked in my head that that's why it was called trail mix.
But it totally makes sense.
And it really is a great snack for out on the trail because it has everything.
This mix has everything.
(37:21):
I mean, the stuff I make doesn't have everything, but it has enough to get me by.
You know what, but it does though.
So it might not be heavy on the fruit, but you get your sweetness from the chocolate.
You know, like so and it's got the different textures in it.
It's like the stuff you make.
It's not all just like all crunchy stuff, right?
You get the you put your peanut butter cups or your, you know, candy coated chocolate
(37:45):
pieces or whatever in there.
And like you did do get a different texture with all that.
And realistically, that's what you want when you're out there is you want a little texture
variation, some salty, some sweet.
So yeah, is your mix like perfect for everybody?
No, probably not.
But it's damn good.
It works for me.
And apparently it works for you.
So it gets me jazzed up.
I really like it.
(38:06):
Yeah.
So, I mean, I don't have anything other than if you wanted to talk about what I put in
ours, we can do that.
Yeah.
Tell people you put in yours.
I mean, that's like the Shawn and Mike version of trail mix.
What's in the Shawn and Mike trail mix version?
So I start with some salted peanuts.
(38:27):
I might do dry roasted next time because I also do roasted or salted cashews.
So I'm heavy on the nuts because I also do some almonds.
So I do those and I just buy, I don't know, I don't know what the if it's a pound or however
(38:50):
much it is just the store bought baggie of each.
It's not a full can or tin of each.
It's just a baggie of them.
I go for some seeds.
I do pumpkin seeds for Shawn and sunflower seeds for me.
I haven't done any granola or cereal, but as we've been talking, I've been thinking
so the next mix might be a little bit different.
(39:12):
You know what kind of cereal I think would be good in there too?
Not to sorry not to interrupt your recipe, but frosted mini.
See I was thinking frosted mini wheats might not be bad, but I was because we were talking
about the Cheerios thing.
They make frosted Cheerios and they also make honey nut Cheerios.
I was thinking about mixing some of those in there.
I do like me a honey nut Cheerios.
(39:33):
Mini wheats to me might be a little too stringy without milk and everything.
I don't think so because I used to buy boxes of mini wheats and just snack on them.
Just eat them?
Okay.
I might try it.
We could try some.
Okay.
That because I would add some sweet to it that frosting on it.
I do throw in some M&Ms, just regular M&Ms.
(39:57):
I might try the dark chocolates, but I also throw in Reese's Pieces for the peanut butter
in there.
There it is.
I don't do peanut butter cups to get away from the melting and all that.
It's a candy coated peanut butter.
I also do, I was doing pretzel sticks, but I found that they would sometimes poke through
(40:21):
the baggies.
I would.
I don't remember the brand, but I think most brands now make them, but they make peanut
butter balls.
Yep.
They're tiny little bite sized little peanut butter balls.
Not peanut butter balls, pretzel balls.
Or pretzel balls.
Sorry.
Yes.
Yeah.
(40:41):
But pretzel balls.
I buy the regular salted and then I also throw in a bag of buttered pretzel balls.
Oh, see.
I didn't even know that.
Yep.
So I do that.
And then that is pretty much it.
I throw it in a giant mixing bowl and stir like crazy and make the mix.
(41:03):
And then I portion it out.
And I actually, from our last trip, I still have some in that mixing bowl that I snack
on from time to time.
I don't know why you haven't shared that with me.
I probably could.
But yeah, I mean, realistically, have fun with it.
Make whatever you want, put whatever you want.
Yeah.
And if your trail mix is made up entirely stuff that we haven't even mentioned here
(41:26):
today, if there's stuff that you put in there and you still call it trail mix, by all means,
let us know.
You can let us know in a multitude of ways.
You can email us on our email, which is shawnmikehike at gmail.com.
You could reach out to us on all of our socials, which is at shawnmikehike on pretty much everything.
Or you can reach us right through our website, which is shawnmikehike.com.
(41:50):
Please rate, rate, and subscribe anywhere you're listening to this podcast.
Do you have anything else to go over before we sign off, Mike?
No, go take a hike and take some trail mix with you.
Yeah, go take a hike, everybody.
We'll see you in a couple of weeks.
See you.
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