Backpacking Food

Backpacking food doesn't necessarily need to be light. You can find your weight savings in other areas if you want, and even bring heavy foods like fresh fruit and vegetables. The real point is to bring what works for the type of trip you take, and bring what you personally need to enjoy the trip.

Backpacking food doesn't necessarily have to be healthy. On a trip in the Sierra Nevadas, I once ate 60 granola bars in five days with no ill effects. It kept my pack light (I had no stove), and was very convenient. Of course, since I supplemented my food with berries and other wild foods, it probably wasn't all that unhealthy - for a short trip. Naturally, the longer the trip, the more important it becomes to bring healthy foods.

We are all different in our needs. I don't need cooked meals to be happy, but you may. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the question of what kinds of backpacking food to bring. You have to balance for yourself the issues of weight, health, taste, and cost. The following are some important factors to consider in doing this.

The lightest food is generally that which has the most calories per ounce. Pure fat wins by this measure, followed by high-fat foods (butter), low moisture carbohydrates (granola bars), concentrated proteins (beef jerky), and then bread, fruit, vegetables, etc. For example, nuts have 50% more calories per pound than pure sugar, because of their high fat content.

Note: See the guide to calorie counts of the most common backpacking food items at the bottom of the page.

Even if you are trying to go as light as you can, this doesn't mean you should subsist on stick of butter. You have to have something besides calories - like vitamins, fiber, protein, and enough variety to keep you happy. Still, even if you need cooked meals, healthy foods and want every meal to be different, there are ways to reduce weight.

Start looking at the information on the labels. Find many healthy foods you like, and then from those choose the ones that are higher in calories for their weight. In this way, you get the variety and tastes you want, you get what your body needs, and you keep it light. I like to first get all the lightest foods that will be relatively healthy, and then maybe add a treat or two.

How much food do you need to bring? This depends, of course, on your metabolism, your plans, and the time of year (you'll burn more calories in winter). For most trips, I plan for about 3000 calories a day. I'm 6'3", and 165 pounds. This may not be enough calories, but it's no disaster to lose a pound or two on a weekend trip (it comes back quick enough).

What does this mean in terms of pack weight? That depends on the foods you choose. With high-calorie foods like tortilla chips (2100 calories per pound) and mixed nuts (2700 calories per pound), I can get by with about 20 ounces of food per day. This means that for four days of backpacking I'll carry around 5 pounds of food.

To reduce the amount of food you carry, you can also eat a big meal before you leave. You'll be carrying the weight of the meal inside you, of course, but at least it will be centered instead of on your back. Athletes use a technique called carbo-loading, which involves avoiding carbohydrates for several days, and then pigging out on them the day before an event. This causes your liver to store up to a couple pounds of carbs, ready to used. This is for the fanatical ultralight backpackers.

You can cut weight if you know which berries and other foods to eat along the trail. I've eaten 500 calories in raspberries during a break while hiking in Colorado. Fishing can supplement your backpacking food as well, if you enjoy doing that.

Try this routine to stay healthy when backpacking. First, try to at least bring foods that aren't too unhealthy. Then, just before you leave, eat a good salad. Eat another healthy meal right after you get back. If also eat some berries and herbs along the way, you can concentrate on bringing only light backpacking food, and your health shouldn't suffer.

A more obvious alternative, is to spend some money. With enough money, you can feast on backpacking foods that are nutrition-packed and calorie rich. These include bee pollen, spirulina, raw nuts and seeds, molasses, dried papaya - I could go on, but you get the idea.

Below are some backpacking foods, along with their calories-per-ounce. You can simple multiply by 16 to get the calories-per-pound. While any food can be brought on a lightweight trip, by balancing out low-calorie foods with high-calorie ones, you can bring the foods you like, while keeping your food weight to less than two pounds per day.

Almonds................165
Beef Jerky.............. 70
Bread..................... 70
Cereal...................110
Cheese................... 80
Chocolate..............140
Cookies.................130
Crackers................110
Fruit........................ 20
Fruit, dried.............. 90
Granola..................110
Noodles.................110
Nuts, mixed...........170
Olive oil.................240
Pasta.....................110
Peanuts..................160
Peanut Butter.........160
Potato Chips.........150
Raisins................... 90
Ramen Noodles....130
Snickers Bar.........140
Sugar....................110
Tortilla Chips.........150
Vegetables............. 10
Dried Vegetables.... 70

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned freeze-dried foods. They can be delicious, but I don't like to cook, and I don't like to pay restaurant prices for a meal on the ground. Other than those two problems, and the fact that with the over-packaging they are often heavy, I have nothing against them.

Key Points

1. If the food is one of the most important parts of the trip, find your weight savings elsewhere.

2. You can find ways to carry less weight, even with healthy and tasty foods.

3. With backpacking food, lightweight generally means that which has more calories per ounce.

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