Meal Tips: Backpacking

[renodesertfox]

Howdy,

Preparation is key. The most common mistake hiker's make is bringing too much food for short trips and too little food for long trips. Writing up a meal plan is the best way to make sure you won't forget anything crucial as well as making the actual meal preparation simpler. Write out what you want to have each day and bring it with you. A little forethought goes a long way and is never a waste of time.

Simple overnight trips leave your menu fairly wide open. Fresh foods aren't a problem so you can have quite the feast if you don't mind carrying it. For trips of 3 to 4 days, you'll need to be a bit more careful and diligent about what you pack. A good rule is to pack what you'll eat and eat what you pack. It's probably not the best time to experiment with new foods. Stick to what you like and know you'll eat. An upset stomach or lower intestine is not fun on the trail.

Dehydrated foods can save a lot of weight but aren't always the tastiest. Having at least one "backup" meal wouldn't be a bad idea either. Cooking at altitude can be tricky and you wouldn't want to ruin the only meal you had for the night!

Make sure that you pack out all your trash. A good way to reduce the amount of waste is to repackage foods that you buy, as they tend to come with a lot of extra packaging from the store. Some careful planning will pay off big on the trail and those at your meal mercy will thank you for it!

[Eaglebait Ranch]

Howdy,

Preparation is key. The most common mistake hiker's make is bringing too much food for short trips and too little food for long trips. Writing up a meal plan is the best way to make sure you won't forget anything crucial as well as making the actual meal preparation simpler. Write out what you want to have each day and bring it with you. A little forethought goes a long way and is never a waste of time.

Nothing, absolutely nothing is more important on the trail than preparation and planning.

1. I count the number of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners I need to prepare for.

2. I then start w/ breakfasts and plan out what I am going to eat for each breakfast: Cereal, fruit, COFFEE.
a. If I am planning for 4 breakfasts, then I plan out how much hot/cold cereal I will NEED, and how much dried peaches, dried apricots, and dried blueberries I need to take to add to those cereals.

3. Then I plan out my lunches:
a. If I am planning 4 lunches, I need to look at what I will want to eat for lunch, and how much/many of each item I will need: yam/s, cheese/s, dried fruit, nuts, trail mix, individual tortilla/s, cookies, yada, yada.

4. Then I plan out my dinners:


Next, I start gathering ALL the things I need to fill out my breakfast inventory, individually bagging the dried fruit/s and cereals.

Next, I start gathering all the things I need to fill out my lunch inventory. What I don't have, I put on a grocery list, go shopping, and get it.

Next, I do the same for dinner/s, making out a shopping list for what I need.

Lastly, end of day/evening snacks: tea, flavored coffee mix, cookies, chocolate, whatever.

Prior to loading my pack, I lay out all food and physically inventory what I have, so I know I am covered for EACH AND EVERY meal.

And, most importantly............ I ALWAYS CARRY ENOUGH EMERGENCY/EXTRA FOOD FOR ANOTHER DAY'S MEALS. I know, if I have enough food for an extra day, I can stretch that food to last 4-5 days if needed.

Again, preparation is the important thing when going out into the backcountry.