| Weight is always a concern with backpacking | | | | energy, and you keep it light. I usually plan |
| food you'll be carrying everything on your | | | | for about 3000 calories a day. This isn't |
| back. Some will tell you to find your weight | | | | quite enough (I'm 6'3", 160 pounds), so I'll |
| savings in other areas, and argue for the | | | | lose a pound or two on a weekend trip. |
| necessity of healthy, meaning heavy, food. My | | | | |
| experience, however, tells me that we can | | | | Bringing high-calorie foods like mixed nuts |
| enjoy lighter loads and worry less about | | | | (2700/pound) and tortilla chips (2100/pound), |
| healthy food on short trips. | | | | I can get by with about 20 ounces of food per |
| | | | day. For a four day trip I'll carry around 5 |
| In the Sierra Nevada I ate more than 60 | | | | pounds. Eat a big meal before you go, and you |
| granola bars in five days with no ill | | | | can carry less food (although you'll carry it |
| effects. No stove meant a lighter pack, and | | | | inside you anyhow). You can cut weight if you |
| it was very convenient to not cook. Of | | | | know which berries to eat along the trail. |
| course, I usually supplement my backpacking | | | | I've eaten an entire meal of rasberries |
| diet with berries and other wild foods, so it | | | | during one break while hiking in Colorado. |
| probably wasn't all that unhealthy. | | | | |
| | | | Healthy Backpacking Food |
| Different Foods For Different Backpackers | | | | |
| | | | For a healthier trip, try this: Eat a large |
| Each of us is unique. I don't suffer when I | | | | salad right before you leave, and right after |
| have no cooked meals, but you may. There | | | | you get back. If you also eat berries and |
| isn't a one-size-fits-all solution to the | | | | herbs along the way, you can concentrate on |
| backpacking food question. You have to | | | | bringing only light backpacking food, and |
| balance the weight/health/taste/cost issues | | | | your health won't suffer. |
| in your own way. Consider the following | | | | |
| points, though, in making your choices. | | | | A more obvious alternative is to spend some |
| | | | money. Enough money, and you can feast on |
| The lightest food is that which has the most | | | | nutrition-packed, calorie-rich foods the |
| calories per ounce. Pure fat wins the contest | | | | whole time you are hiking. Try bee pollen, |
| (oils), followed by high-fat foods (nuts), | | | | spirolina, raw nuts and seeds, molasses, |
| low moisture carbohydrates (granola bars), | | | | dried papaya - I could go on, but you get the |
| proteins (beef jerky), and then bread, fruit, | | | | idea. |
| veggies, etc. Nuts, for example, because of | | | | |
| their fat content, have 50% more calories per | | | | Finally, don't forget the freeze-dried meals |
| pound than pure sugar. | | | | and other traditional backpacking foods. They |
| | | | are not necessasrily healthy, and can be very |
| Look at the lables. Choose foods you like, | | | | expensive, but they sure are convenient and |
| but choose the ones that are higher in | | | | tasty. You can always pack ramen noodles if |
| calories for their weight. In that way, you | | | | you want cheap food. |
| get what you want, what your body needs for | | | | |