What food could I pack for my backpacking trip?

Spam, vienna sausage, granola bars, bagel, summer sausage, beef jerky, tuna in a pouch

Definitely some good trail mix. And dried fruit (I like mango).

@dverhey you really had to ignore the request of poster, right.

get some dried beans.. tuna is a good idea too.. you can smoke/salt some meat, if done properly it can keep for awhile (basically like making your own beef jerkey), bring some spices along – garlic, salt, pepper, whatever you like.. that will really (excuse the pun) spice up your choices.. bring some bullion cubes so its not just straight rice.. uummm… bread… pasta.. oil doesnt spoil, you could bring some olive oil… season the pasta with and cook with.. hmm probably are some other things im forgetting but thats all i can think of atm, if i think of anything else ill post.

@njnyjobs Damn. Didn’t even read that. Now I feel like an idiot.

@dverhey its ok.. i just reread and didnt realize it said prepackaged… most of the stuff i said needs to be cooked… hopefully it still helps though..i thought dried fruit is good though =)

Bricks of cheese, summer sausage, peanut butter, bagels, anything that will give you protein and energy.

You could bring stuff for pancakes. All you need is water and the mix and syrup. And it is cheap.

Sunflower seeds, tuna pouches, chocolate bars, cheese, and an empty water bottle.

My biggest problem was always having enough water. I always overestimated my need for food and way underestimated the need for water. I used to pack stuff like cereal bars and protein energy bars (supposedly for dieters, but loaded with nutrients and protein). I didn’t bother cooking. What season are you going? I usually went in the summer. I think that’s why I drank more than normal. Hot weather dries me out.

@escapedone7 instead of water, bring gatorade or powerade instead… you’ll need less of the volume of water with the electrolytes.

@johnpowell do you mix and chug the pancake mix, or do you suggest cooking it?

Canned pork and beans is also a staple for camping out…and don’t forget that flask of tequila to have around the campfire.

Gotta love light and easy to cook/ pack.

If you have the money: http://www.backpackerspantry.com/

This stuff can get mixed into anything, even ramen and oatmeal, and it will taste better: http://www.justtomatoes.com/

Put almond butter or peanut butter into a tube: instant energy

Great idea in re pancake mix @johnpowell Since Jake is taking a fork, a knife, a bowl, and a pan for cooking it will be easy! Maybe just needs a little oil, but teflon pan will do!

I was just going to suggest it, but @liminal beat me to it! Those freeze-dried meals are light, easy to prepare, and when you’re in the woods after a long day of hiking, they taste really damn good.

I have a friend who always brings along MREs you can find them on ebay and in army surplus shops.

MREs = Meals Refused by Ethiopians!

@davidbetterman You are so right! I have no idea how he eats those things!

Lot’s of good suggestions here. Four days isn’t really that long. You could not eat a thing and probably still survive. I don’t recommend that, just to put things in perspective.

I’ve done Backpacker’s Pantry before, and it is fine, but you have to pack out the trash. Remnant trash kind of eats away at my wilderness experience so I prefer to avoid packaging that can’t be reused. REI has ratings on their BP selection that was real helpful to me.

I always do oatmeal for breakfast, and bring raisins to mix into it. On a longer trip, I’ll bring sugar just to keep things interesting. Sugar can be dual purpose (put it on peanut butter and bread to make a sandwich or in tomato sauce to cut the tartness). It’s fast, healthy, lightweight, and filling.

For lunch, I do sandwiches (bread and peanut butter and sugar), citrus fruits (citrus I always crave after a couple of days so it is worth the weight for me), dried fruits. I mix dried fruit into oatmeal, too, to mix things up, and dried coconut is nice in oatmeal as well as in rice (creamy).

For dinner, I do pasta, couscous, risotto, rice, beans, and bring spices and tomato sauce. Spices are pretty light, and pack tons of flavor.

Some dried meats will last a long time without refrigeration.

Is there anything growing where you’ll be going that you could scavenge? If so, you could plan on collecting some food along the way.

I wouldn’t want to lug gatorade in a pack. It isn’t multi-functional, and only tastes good to me under extreme physical fatigue. Will you be hiking near water? If so, just pack a 1L bottle and plan to refill (boil or filter). Water is the heaviest thing I pack so I don’t want to carry a lot of it at any given time.

MREs are okay, but again lots of packaging.

Pack as light as possible. The lighter your pack, the more enjoyable the trip.

I’m not in to cooking, and I’m a total weight baby. We boil water, period. We use a Jet Boil

Because we don’t cook, we use prepackaged meals, which have actually gotten pretty good. Backpacker’s Pantry and Mountain House are popular. Biscotti work well for something sweet after, or sweettarts

Like @lilikoi I use oatmeal for breakfast, but I usually spike it with some bran flakes and dried fruit. I also usually have a Carnation Instant Breakfast. For caffeine I’ll have a caffeine-laced crystal light and a couple chocolate covered espresso beans.

For lunches I’ll usually have a variety. String cheese, crackers, beef jerky, sausage (heavy—I don’t use it any more), dried fruit, pita chips, dehydrated hummus (rehydrate with water and spike it with a little lemon). I’ve seen people eat hard boiled eggs, but I’m not a huge egg fan myself.

For snacks, some people use gorp of various times. I prefer Clif bars as they’re lighter and not as messy.

I’ve always liked taking Tasty Bites and instant rice for dinners on overnighter when weight isn’t really that big of a deal…easy and very delicious.

I did a 4-day solo trip last summer and took things I could mix with one another. I ate really well and never got sick of what I had. Here’s what I did for that hike, which was very cheap and light:

Dinners/Lunch
• Ramen
• Dehydrated re-fried beans (bulk)
• Dehydrated soup mix (bulk)
• Dehydrated Hummus (bulk)
• Pita bread
• Cheese
• Peanut Butter
• Granola bars

Breakfast
• Oatmeal
• Coffee
• Granola bars

Spices, condiments, etc.
• Mustard
• Garlic Granules
• TVP
• Nutritional Yeast
• Curry powder
• Salt/Pepper

I am vegetarian so there’s no meat here, but you could throw in some jerky, tuna or something like that. I even got creative and had peanut sauce curry ramen one night.

Oh, and if you like to drink liquor, bring a small plastic bottle of vodka and instant Kool-Aid packets for back-country cocktails.

Check this out.

There’s so many easy to prepare, high calorie meals you can get in the grocery stores. Zatarin’s makes compact rice and beans with a decent amount of spice. Powdered cheese and potato soup, though rehydrated, will certainly keep your belly full, too! Oatmeal packets are easy, but I find it to be cheaper and lighter to take a single baggie with several portions of plain oats. If you absolutely feel compelled to add something to the plain oatmeal, bring some honey packets along. Not only will they sweeten drinks and foods, but on their own they’re perfect for a quick pick-me-up in the middle of a long day’s hiking. Other than that, buy lots and lots of nuts. They’re quite high in calories per ounce (160-ish I think, which is good, since I like to average 120 cal/oz for all my food) and if eaten throughout the day, will provide you with the greatest proportion of your daily food energy.

Meat is good for a variety of reasons. So many people say that summer sausage is the way to go. Are you kidding? Do you know how much water is in that stuff? Bring dried meats like jerky and whole salami sticks to cut down on the weight.

Cheese is fantastic universally. Naturally it is also fantastic for hiking.

Butter. Don’t fret about the impact on your health. This is short term and really helps. Not only does it add flavor to any dish, you can cook fish in it, and spread it on meat and crackers at lunchtime. Consuming high fat foods such as butter and oil has also been a staple of indigenous life in cold climates. Spread butter on a little slice of meat and chew it up to give the inner furnace a high energy boost as you tuck in for the night. If you keep it out of sunlight, in a cold place at night, and in a deep part of your backpack while you hike, you don’t need to worry about it melting, unless we’re talking really hot.

Oh. Dark chocolate, too. Follow the same handling rules as butter. A few squares a day are a wonderful rush of energy and happy chemicals, plus there’s even a decent amount of iron in them! Of all things I’ve learned, it’s that I will never hike without dark chocolate again.