Food ideas for a 5 day hike...

Loneriderz

Loneriderz

Joined
Dec 1, 2008
Messages
397
I've been on short weekend hikes alone and extended hikes up to a week in groups but this will be the first time I'll be out on my own for 5 days. Obviously in a group scenario packing a lot of food does not present a big problem but alone I figure it'll add a lot of weight to my pack. I've been to a few sites and calorie counts seems to figure a lot and there has been some useful suggestions but I'd like to hear your take on good lightweight hiking food. I'll be packing a liquid stove and a water filter...

At present my pack weight including shelter, clothes, stove, cooking and meal kit, filter, wet weather gear and simple 1st aid kit weights in at around 15lbs excluding fuel and misc. tools such as headlamp, knife (obviously) and Nalgene. Been tough trying to cut down on weight. It'll be a 30km hike per day.

How much would 5 days worth of food weight?
What food do you generally pack?
Do you count your calorie requirement and is it important or would you risk "guesstimating" it?
 
I like to mix oatmeal with a little protein powder and some dried fruit, and put individual servings into small microwave cooking bags. All you do is add boiling water to the bag and you have breakfast with no cleanup. The new cooking bags have a flat bottom, so you can put the bag down without spilling the contents. You can also do the same thing with mashed potatoes, powdered butter, and bacon bits.


I also like to bring:

peanut butter
honey
tortillas
ramen
shelf stable bacon
gorp of choice
 
Man, your packing light, make sure you have all you need. I would do that with a 40lb pack all in.
I would carry like rice and beans, pasta, that sort of thing. I also smoke and dry my own meat, then fluff it up with a little boiling water at camp. I aslo use those gravy packets available at the store, very handy flavor enhancers. Take some gatorade mix, pancvake mix, powdered milk, that sort of thing and I carry tuna in the packets.
Plan your meals ahead of time and pack what you know your going to need. If theres fishing available thats a bonus. I have never done a calorie count and generally guestimate what I need. I am a pretty big guy, 6'1" and 240# so for that trip I could pack probably about 6 or 8 lbs of stable foods, maybe a bit more
 
Trying to keep it all down to 25lbs as much as possible. I'm a pretty small guy so I can't pack as much as you guys... I'm 5ft 6in, 143lbs. Only thing I have going for me is I run a lot, 5 miles a day 6 days a week. Stamina wise I'm covered but I don't run with a pack on me so it's not really useful. I may need to bulk up before the trip (if that's even possible). For a small guy I have a big appetite and I usually eat 5 small meal a day.

I'll have to look for those microwave bags. That seems like a great idea!

Rice will figure for a lot in my packing list as it's what I'm used to being Asian and all. Ramen is cheap and I guess pretty light and compact. Those 2 will be my main staple.

To BushcraftBrainTrust... Oatmeal and protein powder sounds good especially with raisins. Sounds like a good breakfast item. I'm not sure about honey though, it might get messy but they do pack a lot of punch calorie wise. I don't take bacon but they've started selling tuna n salmon in small packets here recently. May alternate between those 2.

To SIXFOOTER... 40lbs is a bit too much for me. I haven't lugged that much weight in years. Gravy packets... Sounds good. We have something similar to those Gatorade mix, glucose, salts and flavouring... Good tip, I don't want to get cramps out on the trail. I'm guessing candy bars are a good idea but I think they'll end up as mush in the heat.

I guess bringing a bit more food is generally better than having too little. I'll bring a small digital scale to the local supermarket and see how much they add up to.

Thanks, I appreciate your ideas...
 
Well, treat your food like you pack contents. First make a list of each meal and its contents. See where you can duplicate ingredients across meals. See where you can subsitute ingredient choices for weight savings. At the end of it figure out the approximately calories/day you will be eating. Depending on your size, 2000 [EDIT 2400] calories/day for a 180 lb guy is a good start unless you plan on more strenuous activity than just walking. I find figuring out the calorie content lets you think objectively a little more about how much food you need instead of just thinking about what you would like to eat out there. Otherwise, I tend to pack more food than I need. Of course, when all is told don't forget to add a few goodies in there but get your basic needs and weight of food figured out first.

Make sure you have secure water sources on route. That is probably the most important part. You won't starve in five days, but you can die of dehydration if you can't locate water!

Have fun!
 
Rice and noodles you've got covered. I use lasagne sheets a lot too. They stack flat and can be broken up and chucked in or softened and wrapped round something. Huge fan of instant mash potato. It makes a great thickening agent.

I usually start out with the heavy stuff and work my way down to the not so pleasant, reserving a few moral boosters to pack that end out. Tuna steaks work well for me at the beginning. Minimal cooking and versatile. Fresh stuff like that I offset against the amount of water I'd need to rehydrate stuff , or the effort to source water early on. So the weight penalty doesn't bother me. I use mushrooms a lot too. Bulky but not heavy and I can get a good feed off those.

The thing I miss most by the end of a trip isn't flavor it is texture. I don't really care so much what it tastes like but the texture of crunchy is missing when you start to get down to the one pot noodle slop and whatever. Crackers overcome that well and can even cheer up vile tube cheese. Marmite brings a rest from bland too. And it's a blessing after TVP.

I'd have to be doing something pretty extreme before calories and nutrition become a serous consideration. It takes a long time before they become a factor. I can run for ages on cereal, powdered milk and sugar. Lob in a handful of raisins and I can even ignore taking the odd mouthful of suet in between. It all warms up when it gets inside.
 
I know it's not light, but you can take a summer sausage. Doesn't need to be kept cool. Cut it up into your noodles when you cook them and it's real yummy.
 
When going longer than a couple of days, I'll usually pack lightweight commercially prepared freeze-dried meals, I've found Harvest Foodworks to be about the best but most of their dishes require some cooking (this is an issue if on a strict fuel budget).

I always supplement with Minute Rice, flavoured with a pouch of Cup-o-Soup (about one pouch per cup of rice), this is a lightweight, high carb, tasty meal.

Light weight instant oatmeal for breakfast.

I usually stick with just water to drink, but mix it up a bit with Cristal Light, which is an especially nice treat if your water has a bad taste, or to cover the taste of iodine if you are forced to use it.

Although I am a coffee drinker, I will generally stick to tea on longer trips to avoid carrying the coffee making paraphanalia.
 
Last edited:
Do you have a way to dry food??? I like to cook pasta and then dry it. At camp you boil water with a packet of spices and some dry meat in it. Add some to the pasta and you got a meal fit for a king. Another great meal is cooked and then dried beans. At camp add some hot water and when they are done add some chedder cheese and a few packets of hot sauce.. It would keep you going all day long.

Sasha
 
Check out some area natural foods or organic foods type store if you can. I am about to go on a solo elk hunt myself and in addition to some of the things mentioned above, you can get dehydrated soups (split pea, corn chowder, and lentl are all quite excellent), dehydrated refried beans, and a lot of granola varieties. The soups and beans BTW are feather light and go a long way! :thumbup:
 
I'm 5'9" and 200 lbs.

I'm all about honey and peanut butter on hard tack (my favorite is Sailor Boy Pilot Bread)

as long as you have good water on your route the dried soups are a great deal, instead of bacon I'd say dried meat like slim jims for fat and salt.

I haven't gone on a 5 day hike yet, but in the heat of summer I'd make sure that I was wearing clothing that dries easily, kinda feels like air conditioning when you have some water to rinse off your sweat and provide a bit of extra cooling.

Calorie counting will always have a margin of error to it, a hand held GPS unit or topographical map can help you guesstimate how much uphill or downhill you will be walking along with a 5 day weather forecast to get a better idea of how much you'll be sweating and how much energy you'll need.

In the realm of food and drink and 93 mile hikes I'd say the choice is completely up to you, it is a solo hike, you will be moving rather quickly, and I'm not familiar with hiking in your area.
 
Mountain house is Great! The spaghetti with meat sauce, and the lasagna with meat sauce are good, and the chicken teriyaki with rice, and the jamaican chicken and rice are great.

I take packets of oatmeal for breakfast, and I just kinda wing it for lunch.

I haven't tried backpackers pantry, but Boomstick says it tastes like crap, so...
 
one word stuffing.... its amazing and you can get cornbread stuffing traditional stuffing or any other wild kinds they have... i sometimes mix it with instant rice dehydrated hamburger meat or other things... instant mashed potatoes is great too... but stuffing with jelly(small packages) is almost like thanksgiving day on the trail
 
:thumbup:on the mre's! you have a hot meal loaded with calories thats lightweight and cooks themselves.awesome. i would stick to those for a good meal and pack some oatmeal for breakfasts. its better to skip the large meals during the day and just eat continuously as you move. peanut butter, trail mix,jerky,energy bars and dried fruit are great for hiking. i would stick to that kind of stuff. high calorie, low maintenance and light weight
 
Loneriderz is in Singapore, so he may not have access to certain US brands.

In calculating the max you should carry, you can use 1/3 your body weight as a reference and then pare-downwards to reach a total weight satisfactory for yourself. Don't forget to include water as part of your total carry load.

Will you have access to a lot of potable water? If not, don't bother with rice or dry pastas that need a lot of prep & water wastage. Just carry ramen, you certainly have access to more types & flavors than here in the USA, the 'better' ones will also have a pack of meat included. You can also carry those heavy "digestive" biscuits available in Asia as a dense source of carbs. I suggest that you first set-out your daily essential rations, like ramen & oatmeal & biscuits, etc. Once you have this calculated, then you can add snacks and comfort items. For snacks, I carry trailmix (although the ones I've had in Asia always seem to have those little dried fishes in them!), a salami and a tiny bottle tabasco sauce. I also like lots of dried fruits to add to breakfast, or as a snack/dessert item. Tea, coffee, tobacco and candy as you need.

Once you set your essentials aside, it is easy to figure out how much extra you can carry of comfort items.
 
Bannock is a favorite staple of mine on the trail. Mix up a bag dry (with lard of course), then just add some water and bake it on the fire. Dry cured meats, calabreze is my favorite, and dry cheese keep well on the trail and add a lot of flavor.
 
The food weight works out to 1 1/2lbs per day(absolute minimum) to about 2 lbs./day.

I see backpackers eating a lot of Ramen noodles, "Cup-a-Soup", any sort of quickly cooking noodle soup.

Try to bring 3,000 calories a day worth of food/snacks. If you walk 30 klicks/day, you'll be running a deficit, burning 4 or 5k calories/day.

Bring stuff that is easy to cook, easy to eat. That means instant noodles, peanut butter, cookies, lots of tea, pop tarts, Cliff Bars, rice, Gatoraide, enough hard liquor that you can have one shot at the end of each day, bread, honey, jerkey, butter, instant soup, oatmeal, tuna, Hot Sauce!, granola bars, peanuts, instant "Idahoan" brand mashed potatoes, packets of instant gravy powder, instant stuffing, foil packets of "roast beef hash" from Trader Joes, little cans of Blue Diamond almonds, Lara Bars...

Your diet will be mostly carbos, fat and sugar. You also need some animal protein each day. I'm throwing a frozen package of German sausages in my pack later this week. And a frozen breakfast sausage. And a frozen steak.

If you will be fishing, you also need aluminum foil, garlic, onions, salt and soy sauce packets.

CHEERS

If you need to eat 3,000 calories a day:
I can only stand to eat about 600 calories per meal. If I eat 3x 600 calory meals, that's only 1,800 calories. It will take a bunch of snakin' to make up the 1,200 calory deficit.

But you will be burning 4k or 5k calories, so it will be even worse. Got Snacks?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top