Starting this thread due to the response on MREs. Everyone seems to think they are too heavy for anything more than a day or two. Why?

I'm a 2-3 week section hiker and I am at 2 lbs, give or take an ounce, of food per day with a full MRE for dinner. Breakfast and lunch are lightweight, on-the-go, foods like poptarts, crackers, breakfast bars, Rice Krispie squares, fruit rollups, etc. (No power bars.....blech!). Caloric intake is around 3000. Enough to keep me going, but also losing some weight that needs lost anyway. So, I'm at roughly 95 calories per ounce, food only. (I'm thinking you "cookers" gotta figure in stove, fuel, and utensils as part of you overall food weight before you break it down into calories per ounce).

So...

What's your typical calories per ounce?

The easy straight forward uncomplicated answer is at least 120 cals per oz. Some days trail food calculates at more than 140 cals per oz.

Dogwood's figures are about right. Carbohydrates and lean protein are 4 calories per gram. At 28 grams per ounce, this comes out to 112 calories per ounce. Efficient backpacking calls for minimum weight in packaging and carrying food with little water beyond the first night (for example, carrying whiskey instead of wine or beer).

Dunno, but I carry about 2.25 pounds of food per day, none of it with much moisture content (save the clif bars).

I've been meaning to do a nutritional analysis for a while now, but I haven't gotten a round tuit yet.

Warning...possible sarcasm ahead......

Subjects like these are why I am obviously no good as a backpacker.
I couldn't tell you how many calories per ounce.
Grams of fat per meal.
Bad carbohydrates per bite.
Tablespoons of sodium per teaspoon.
Or any other type of measurement of meals by number.

All I know is that I eat what I like, spend more time money and weight on food and beverage than I probably ought to, and enjoy most every meal that I prepare.
Everything else that I carry is cut and scrutinized, but there is no way I will worry about weight when it comes to food and food prep as long as the food is good and the company that I share it with is also.

Carry more cheese.
The larger the spice kit the better.
Fresh garlic and an onion make most any dinner better.
Be sure to share, but only enough so that everyone else is jealous.
If you have convinced someone else to split the food load, make sure they are full and impressed with the meal.
Wine in a platypus, sure for the first dinner.
Some bourbon for after dinner and whenever else it seems appropriate, obviously.

As far as MRE's go, if they work for you then go ahead and use them. You can probably save quite a bit of weight by stripping off a bunch of trash before you head out.

I also have no idea of the caloric or fat content of the foods I carry. I usually carry about 1-1/2 lbs. per day - oatmeal for breakfast (2 instant pkg.), a raisin bagel with lots of peanut butter on it for lunch (on longer trips I bring a small plastic jar of peanut butter, on shorter trips I pre-spread the bagels, and a Knorr-Lipton dinner (fortified with at least a tablespoon of olive oil - I've also used Ghee). Cheese is a must for me as well as beef jerkey. For snacks I have gorp (peanut M&M's, craisins, and whatever I feel like adding) and lots of hard candies (my current favorites are Trader Joe's coffee candies). For up to two weeks I don't think you'll crash if you eat a similar diet. I'm assuming that you can get into a town at least once a week to pack in a few extra calories there, too.

RedneckRye, can't say I'm that careful about such things either. A sub-4000 cubic inch internal frame pack has forced me to be careful about volume on longer trips.

Warning...possible sarcasm ahead......

Subjects like these are why I am obviously no good as a backpacker.
I couldn't tell you how many calories per ounce.

Everything else that I carry is cut and scrutinized, but there is no way I will worry about weight when it comes to food and food prep.

Sarcasm: intellect on the offensive. Always welcome and appreciated.

I don't claim to be, and will never hope I am, some backpacking whackjob who thinks about weight, miles, equipment, and technique more than fresh air, beautiful views, and raw experiences. I'm simply looking for a better way of enjoying the chore of eating on the trail without cleanup (If I see one more Ramen Noodle rotting in a water source, I'm gonna go postal.) , food odors (Yeah, I have phobia of things that go bump in the night.), and unnecessary weight (Got the gear down as low as I'm willing to go, food is next.). I've already been enlightened by this guy: http://www.hawkvittles.com/ (http://www.hawkvittles.com/) and content like this: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=23658 or this: http://www.andrewskurka.com/advice/nutrition.php

If I can do nothing more than boil some water, dump it in a ziploc, wait 20 minutes, have a great meal, while paying a honest to goodness MADE IN THE USA business to do all the grunt work, I am there!