Resupply Costs

[darkage]

About on average how much would one expect to pay each resupply point?

Food only --

Trying to get a good idea of how much i'm looking at along each section of trail ..

Again, this isn't including hostels/showers/inn's/hooter's .... Just simply food.
$50 a week?
$100 a week?
$200 a week?

[Rockhound]

$75.86 per week. No more. No less

[Blissful]

That depends on so many factors like your eating habits on the trail, if you plan to munch some goodies from the store while in town, if you plan to eat at local rstaurants while on town, etc. Resupply is about every four days or so, give or take. And each town is different - it may be more or less.

[darkage]

eh, yeah ... i eat quick dry foods for morning ... lunch's are normally tortillas with tater's or some meat from a pouch ... then the good ole ramon and pouched meats or whatever i got to toss in it ... from time to time will eat buffets and town pubs ... but it will be a very minded, quick town and back to trail ... little time spent in towns ... unless i'm just that impressed. I normally eat trail mix bars 3-5 times a day .... should i have something like that shipped ahead, or will supply points have plenty ?

[buckwheat]

I've found that one way you can learn what to expect is to make a special grocery shopping trip. Don't try this during your normal grocery run ... it won't work. Go on a different day. Go to the grocery with this thought in mind:

"I have just hitchhiked to this grocery store in this town and this is my resupply. I need 5 days worth of food. It has to fit in my pack and I have to be able to carry it."

With that thought in mind ... shop.

There are a few things you might discover:

* Which foods are lightweight.
* Which foods are easy to prepare (i.e., with boiling water only)
* How much extra you will pay (per unit) to get the size you want
* The limitations of a particular store (not all stores stock everything you might need, like canister fuel)

It's a real eye opener. It will get you into some ailes you might not be familiar with and with some foods you didn't even really know where there (unless you are a chef).

Now, take all your supplies home and repackage. This will help you to understand what you're going to want to do once you've bought those groceries before you're pack-ready ... such as getting rid of all the extra weight of the packaging the food came in. This will be another eye opener as you discover just how much extra all that packaging weighs.

I've even taken this experiment further by then cooking only that food for the next 5 days to get my mind wrapped around just how limited the choices can be and how bland most packaged dried food tastes.

Happy shopping,
Buckwheat

[Kanati]

If you're looking to save some money, Dollar General stores is a good place and they have most of what you'll eat on the trail. Sometimes you can shop with someone else, purchase in volume and split it. Outdoor stores are expensive, and ready fixed meals like Mountain House will break the bank.

[fiddlehead]

When in Rome...............
I can be happy eating the local food almost anywhere.
Can you?

This is one of those: "Up to you" answers.
Everyone's different. But i tend to plan on $100 per town stop. (in the states)
Sometimes i spend more, sometimes less.

I am presently on a trip driving through northern Thailand. It's hard to find different foods, prices, hotel quality, etc. so, each town here, i am spending about $30 for 3 people to eat, get a hotel, a little shopping.
In the states, it's about 5 times the cost for most things except gas (that's about the same)

[Johnny Thunder]

I typically spent $40 to $50 on groceries alone...for 3 to 5 days. Factor $5 for laundry every time you get to town or a hostel that charges. Then you're going to eat at least 1 meal in town. In the South that can be as little as $10. Past Harpers and you start looking at $15 to $20 bills. So, now every resupply cost an average of $55 to $60 once every 4 days. (this is all assuming you don't or won't drink...remember that in parts of the South that decision has all but been made for you).

With few exceptions "town" is the only time you can ever spend money on the hike. Carrying more days food will keep you out of towns for longer and will eventually cut down on the total number of times you drop $15 to $30 on a meal and laundry.

Ways to cut down on food costs...

Shop discount stores. (Dollar Stores, Big Lots). In the South this is easy to do.
Sign up for the discount store card or politely ask another patron in line if you can borrow theirs when you get rung up. Heading into the July 4th holiday some stores give away grilling items if you spend enough money so most shoppers will be happy to help you.
Buy off-brand and store-brand foods. Buy less processed foods with less packaging. Carrying small amounts of sugar and cinnamon is cheaper to mix into quick oats than buying the pre-mixed pouches. etc.

Finally,

Chicken Sandwiches are cheep and will do you fine.


Whatchoo know 'bout Chicken Sandwich?

Johnny

[Dogwood]

If U resupply every 5-6 days and spend wisely and don't have special dietary requirements and R an avg. american and hike an avg. number of miles per day and R on the AT between early spring and mid fall and stay away from Hooters and if U don't incude a lot of pricey dehydrtaed meals or freezd dried meals and if U resupply along the way or U mail food resupplies and whether or not U shop in gas stations/ convenient stores and whether or not U shop at large grocery stores and your likes and your dislikes and whether or not U include party favors(don't ask, U know what I mean)and ... and... and... Get the point. It's wide ranging depending on a great many factors. But, in general, which is the most accurate guesstimate that anyone can give U based on how U asked the question, is $15 per day. Certainly, can be less or more. And, certainly not $200 under virtually all posssible scenarios.

[Ramble~On]

:-? 2-3 or 4 of these a day x the number of meals you'll eat @ $1.25 each ?
http://www.spamgift.com/ProductDetail.aspx?Product=%7B9C7B58F9-A21E-4C18-A023-E2F1CDAD62F8%7D

Of course there are variables....say you want Spam eggs and Spam...the eggs would cost more. Spam bacon eggs and Spam - again the bacon & eggs are more $$
Spam Spam Spam and Spam would save you a bit and be 4 times as good.

Resupply ? what's the question ?

[fehchet]

I used to think if I got out of town spending only $100.00 I was doing good. I suspect that price has gone up.

[Ox97GaMe]

I use a baseline of $5-7/day for food items when I am on a multi day hike. Sometimes, it is less than that, sometimes a little more.

I buy the Lipton type noodles/rice dinners @ approx $1-1.25 each. breakfast bars and granola bars are about $1.50/box of 8. I like to carry 2 or 3 packs of tuna which can be purchased for about $1.50/pouch. Hot chocolate or spiced cider is about $1.50/box of 10. My remaining food items are usually snacks. This consists of a jar of peanut butter, some candy bars, crackers, pringles, etc. Occassionally, I will splurge on what I would call luxury food items like dried fruit or chicken or ham in place of tuna. I have also found that items like Stove Top stuffing or mashed potatoes are a good change from Liptons.

Grabbing these staples usually can be accomplished for between 20 and 25 dollars. That gives you between 10 and 20 dollars to consider other luxury food items to add to your pack.

The drawback to this is that I am usually famished when I get into town. But, most trail towns have some sort of AYCE buffets, so Im not spending much more in town than the average hiker.

If you are in the midst of the 'hiking season', there is always the option of raiding the hiker boxes or going to the post office with a group to get their bounce boxes. It may not be the most desirable items, but you can sometimes find some pretty delicious treasures this way at no cost.

[Tennessee Viking]

About on average how much would one expect to pay each resupply point?

Food only --

Trying to get a good idea of how much i'm looking at along each section of trail ..

Again, this isn't including hostels/showers/inn's/hooter's .... Just simply food.
$50 a week?
$100 a week?
$200 a week?It will also depend where you shop. Resupplying at grocery stores & WalMarts will be cheaper than gas stations and convenience stores.

I would experiment by buying a supply run then figure in an emergency fund that way you can treat yourself to extras/snacks/beer along the way. Always plan to overspend.

[WritinginCT]

Connecticut has some of the highest food prices around. (and in many ways consumer prices overall). If you want to do a "virtual" shopping trip to see what it would cost you- visit www.peapod.com It's the delivery arm of Stop&Shop (one of our major grocery store chains up here) and you can zip through the aisles from your desk to see what a resupply would run you on the high side. If you need a zip code use 06010

[garlic08]

On a typical grocery stop I would spend $20 to 25 for maybe 3-4 days, but my hiking partner would spend easily $40 to 50 for the same hike. He just had more expensive tastes. Like everyone else has said, it really depends.

[stranger]

That's kinda like asking "how much on average would one urinate per week" - food is pretty individualistic. What you can do and what you will do are usually very different, and no one can tell you what you will do.

I can absolutely guarantee you it will be more than you think however...

[Ramble~On]

Agreed. There are too many variables.

To get an average resupply cost for an entire hike probably wouldn't be very useful but it would provide you with a ball park figure. With the average of what 10 people spent you'd have to consider what year they spent that amount as prices have increased. Plus no two people are going to buy the same things or amounts of those things.
I think the average cost of a hike not including transportation to and from the trail and not including gear is roughly $4000.00. That covers the cost of the hike...food, laundry, hostels, meals in town.

[Panzer1]

The more money you spend, the more fun your going to have..

Panzer

[JAK]

I think its something you can practice before your trip. You can save some money while practicing also, and see what food you like, and try different homemade stoves. I hope this is straightforward enough, but my wife and I have eliminated going to Tim Horton's for coffee everyday by getting a single serving coffee maker at home. Now this was about a $5 a day habit for us, and hard to break. The single serving machines cost about $100 and the servings are expensive at $0.50 per, but they are very convenient and slick for those couples that can't drink the same coffee. There are cheaper ways to have coffee, but we will break even on the $100 investment in about a month.

I think the practical lesson for this thread is that its easiest to replace one habit or addiction with another. If you want to know how much food is on the AT, you might start by seeing what your habits are like at home, and how much it cost to eat the way you intend to on the AT. The cost might go up some with more calories consumed, so you might include an exercise program also, but you will get a sense of how easy it is to break some fast food and restaraunt habits, and replace them with something that works better for you. The AT will likely throw some curve balls, but at least you will know yourself better, and have some tricks of your own.

[partinj]

Don't Forget almost all town hav fast food now days and all of them have $1 menu you can eat petty cheap by get stuff from the $1 menu i can normal resupply for days for $25.00 that incl.
tunefish for my dinners and peanut butter to.