food $$$$$

[Starchild]

The discount card thing others have talked about is a good idea....use a bogus address or you will get all kinds of crap in the mail and on your email...

I use my real address and got several cards along the way, never had this issue, IIRC I may have gotten 1 piece of mail ever from perhaps 4-5 cards I signed up for. It seems like much of the mailing is done regionally and if you don't live close by they don't send any.

[garlic08]

Instead of signing up for a new discount card, you can first try using "Jenny's number" (867-5309) with the local area code. I hear it often works. (Sorry for the earworm.)

[Marta]

That's a great suggestion! I picked up a Safeway card somewhere in California to save some money on a 1 time purchase and for whatever reason didn't throw it away. I ended up using it several times - saved quite a bit.

(Actually, I put it in an app called "Keyring" on my phone and tossed the card... weight you know... )

You can normally skip the cards altogether and simply punch in or recite your phone number. ;-)

[Coffee]

BTW the $1,000 per month on trail budget estimate I've seen a few times on Whiteblaze was pretty much spot on for me over the past month on the Colorado trail. This is inclusive of food, hostel/motels, and local transportation but not long distance travel to and from the trail. I feel like costs are similar to the AT. So I'd be comfortable budgeting 4-5k for an AT thru hike or 5-6k for the PCT. It could be done for quite a bit less. I eat well at restaurants in towns and that's optional.

[Rolls Kanardly]

I am allowing myself 180 days to complete my hike.
Starchild suggests $2 per mile so for 2180 miles that is $4,360.00. $4,360.00 would be $24.22 a day.
Bigcranky suggests $15 per day so 180 days is $2,700.00
Somewhere between $15 a day and $25 a day would be a good goal for me.
The $15 a day might be okay for a couple of days on the trail but my budget would disappear once in town.
Rolls

[RED-DOG]

I have always calculated my budget by the week or (by the resupply stop), never understood why people does it by the day or mile, I don't seem to spend anything while I am on the trail it seems I only spend money when I go into towns, and I go into towns about once or twice a week, I budget between $100.00 To $140.00 a WEEK so that would be $50.00 To $90.00 per resupply stop= For a TOTAL of $ 3,360.00 for 24 weeks.

So in my opinion a person should have a nice comfortable thru-hike and enjoy it for around $4000.00, Remember you got to budget for Emergencies such as a Illness.
If a person started with an Overall budget of $6000.00 and that's for Everything, a person should be fine.

Remember this is the Low End of a Thru-hike budget, on my 2012 thru I spent $5,700.00 Total.

[fadedsun]

I think the thing to realize here is that food is a big part of the quality-of-life while on the trail. I do not recommend skimping on the food budget: It is very nice after a good day hiking to eat a good meal and also nice to start the day with a good meal. Knorr/Lipton/Ramen do not meet that criteria. With that in mind I budgeted $20/day for food. Some other hikers were openly envious of my diet. Also keep in mind a balanced diet: Where are your protiens coming from? What about fruit/veggies? Knorr/Lipton/Ramen also do not answer these questions. Some internet research will be very helpful. I recommend checking out this site: Harmonyhousefoods.com

[bigcranky]

I wouldn't want to eat Knorr sides by themselves, but they are pretty darn great as the base for a good meal, IMHO. We always add dried veggies and protein of some sort, sometimes fresh stuff if it's the first day or two out of town.

Other good places to start are the various couscous mixes and some of the better mac and cheese. One can make a tasty and healthy meal out of them with a little planning and shopping.

All this assumes I'm shopping locally near the trail, not mail dropping.

[fadedsun]

Knorr does make a serviceable base. A bit high in salt content for my taste, but salt tastes vary. Another good base is Ramen noodles - I throw away the flavoring pack or maybe use half of it (or less - even more salt than Knorr).

I had a hard time finding dried veggies/fruit. Mostly found it in maildrops. Bigcranky, where did you find them and what did you use for protein?

[BillyGr]

Incidentally resupply costs in towns can be wildly different based on whether a large supermarket is present. Small grocery stores can be 2x as expensive as a supermarket like Safeway. Example: $2 clif bar vs $1; $1.89 for Idahoan mashed potato vs $0.99, etc. Sending food to towns with only small stores could pay off.

Another thing to think about is if you must have a specific brand or don't care – that can make a difference many times.


Using the potato example, the store that has the Idahoan for $1.89 very well might have a store brand that is cheaper. Or for something like peanut butter – will you only eat Skippy or are you willing to take whatever happens to be on sale that week – it could make a difference, maybe even a $1 or more on just one item. Multiply by the number of things you buy and it could add up over a long hike.

[Coffee]

Most small town groceries don't have house brands, just high prices for nearly everything. I can often easily cover the cost of a mail drop on just the savings on clif bars alone. The trick is to use regional rate priority mail. I pay less than $7 for regional rate b, which is nearly as big as a large priority mail box, for delivery within a hundred miles or so... Rate goes up for longer distances.

[10-K]

Most small town groceries don't have house brands, just high prices for nearly everything. I can often easily cover the cost of a mail drop on just the savings on clif bars alone. The trick is to use regional rate priority mail. I pay less than $7 for regional rate b, which is nearly as big as a large priority mail box, for delivery within a hundred miles or so... Rate goes up for longer distances.

Man you got that right.

On the PCT some of the smaller towns were selling Clif bars for $2.99 with everything else inflated to an equally absurd amount. I spent $75 resupplying in Sierra City and everything fit in 1 plastic grocery bag.

In Ashland I sent out boxes for the 900 miles of Oregon and Washington and spent about $350 doing it which I thought wasn't *too* bad. Note that I didn't try to buy every single bite - I mostly bought the big stuff and supplemented along the way so I'd have some variety.

BTW - if you're ever hiking the PCT Ashland, OR has the best resupply grocery store in the entire world - it's called the "Shop-N-Kart" and it is a hiker food paradise. Seriously.

[bigcranky]

I had a hard time finding dried veggies/fruit. Mostly found it in maildrops. Bigcranky, where did you find them and what did you use for protein?

We brought some Just Veggies with us, and found dried tomatoes and dried mushrooms in every little town on the Long Trail. Sometimes we had to go to the health food store when we found one. Dried fruit was pretty easy most places, though sometimes the choices were raisins or craisins We used bags of chicken, tuna, or real bacon for protein. (Try the Knorr Broccoli Alfredo pasta with dried tomatoes and bacon. Mmm.)

[BillyGr]

Most small town groceries don't have house brands, just high prices for nearly everything. I can often easily cover the cost of a mail drop on just the savings on clif bars alone. The trick is to use regional rate priority mail. I pay less than $7 for regional rate b, which is nearly as big as a large priority mail box, for delivery within a hundred miles or so... Rate goes up for longer distances.

That is true for the smallest stores (though even some "smaller" ones like IGA often do carry them), but it is a money saving option in the larger stores that some might not think of if they are used to a specific brand of things.

[hikehunter]

Back in 2012, I got a coffee can and started putting my change in it every day. After one year I had almost $425 in it. This has been the way I have saved for special things,
I just got a new truck after saving for 14 years. I paid cash for a 2013 F150. I would put my pocket change in the can every day before bedtime.
Every 30 to 40 days I would deposit it in an interest bareing acct. After 14 years I had almost $20k in it.

In 2012 I opened a new account at the bank..."the AT Account" I put $20 or more a week in it.
This is what I am using for my 2015 walk into spring along the AT.

You can work for JP Morgan or R. McDonald and do anything if you have the self-discipline to save and invest.

Yes I looks like a $3k plus deal to do the AT. It can be done . Look for ways to save in all aspects.

[off-pher]

Back in 2012, I got a coffee can and started putting my change in it every day. After one year I had almost $425 in it. This has been the way I have saved for special things,
I just got a new truck after saving for 14 years. I paid cash for a 2013 F150. I would put my pocket change in the can every day before bedtime.
Every 30 to 40 days I would deposit it in an interest bareing acct. After 14 years I had almost $20k in it.

In 2012 I opened a new account at the bank..."the AT Account" I put $20 or more a week in it.
This is what I am using for my 2015 walk into spring along the AT.

You can work for JP Morgan or R. McDonald and do anything if you have the self-discipline to save and invest.

Yes I looks like a $3k plus deal to do the AT. It can be done . Look for ways to save in all aspects.

This is good advice for every day living not just saving for a hike.

[kayak karl]

This is good advice for every day living not just saving for a hike.

my jar takes my to Storybookland with the grandkids every year. THAT place is expensive