Buy as you go or pre-plan?

[Kirby]

I have now entered the age old debate of whether to pre-plan mail drops or to use the plan as you go method. What do you all think? What have you found to be an effective way of executing food resupply?

Thanks,
Kirby

[Jack Tarlin]

You can buy as you go for almost the entire Trail. Unless you're on some sort of specialized diet you won't need to send yourself food. There are a handful of places where it makes sense to have some food mailed. These places are discussed in my Re-Supply article in the Articles section of this website.

[Lone Wolf]

I have now entered the age old debate of whether to pre-plan mail drops or to use the plan as you go method. What do you all think? What have you found to be an effective way of executing food resupply?

Thanks,
Kirby

no brainer. buy as you go. you might not make it past neel gap. pretty dumb to pre- purchase food for the whole trip. plus you WILL get sick of the crap you did send yourself by damascus. i know what i'm talking about.

[Just a Hiker]

Buying as you go gives you the luxury of a bit more variety and you won't be a slave to the Post Office either.

Just Jim

[Kaptain Kangaroo]

I agree with Jack, you can buy as you go. I did not have any mail drops at all on my thru. It did mean that the food selection was a little limited in some places (see Jack's resupply article) but it worked really well for me as I am not a fussy eater.
My best piece of advice for planning would be to plan to be flexible. It's often a lot different out on the trail from what you expect & you might change your preferences on lots of things. Try not to tie yourself into any particular method or you might find you have wasted a lot of money and/or time.

Cheers,

Kaptain Kangaroo

[DuctTape]

Buy food as you go.

[Appalachian Tater]

You can actually buy as you go the whole trail if you're willing to accept lean pickings a couple of times or plan around them. A lot of people get drops in Harper's Ferry because it is convenient to have them at the ATC office but you can flag down a bus on the main street and it takes you straight to a huge super WalMart, dollar store, laundry, etc. Fontana Dam isn't a bad place to get a drop because the store there is weird, but it's certainly not absolutely necessary. There are a couple of other places like that. I did zero food drops, seasonal gear only.

[Jack Tarlin]

Advantages to buying as you go:

1. Less waste, as you'll have a better idea of what your needs actually are.
Most people tend to put too much stuff in food maildrops and this stuff
gets given away or thrown out. Or you end up leaving a town with a
heavy pack because you DON'T throw stuff out or give it away. Either
way, you lose.

2. You won't be stuck eating food you've grown sick and tired of; lots of folks
get totally sick of some, if not most of their food.....they never want to
see another Lipton or another Pop Tart or whatever. But they're stuck
with the stuff, unless they want to throw it all out and replace it with
stuff they actually want to eat, and this is expensive.

3. You'll be able to see what other hikers are buying and may wish to
emulate them and try something new. If all your stuff is pre-bought,
you're essentially stuck with it.

4. You'll save on postage. Why spend lots of money mailing yourself food
to places where there are perfectly good food markets?

5. The fewer packages you send yourself, the less chance you'll lose one.
If you rely on tons of maildrops, sooner or later one will go missing.

6. Likewise, you'll have fewer dashes to town in order to get to the Post
Office before it closes.

7. Your food will be fresher. The box you pack in late February might not
get eaten for seven months!

8. If you shop as you go, you can shop with other hikers and have communal
meals, which is fun.

9. Maildrops tend to get boring, as they're all pretty similar. When you
actually go food shopping instead, you have all sorts of options, and are
likely to eat healthier too, with fresh fruit, vegetables, etc.

[Kirby]

A hiker over the weekend told me that planning as you go works best. He told me that I should plan as I go, and send mail drops ahead to myself from different places along the trail if the pickings are slim. This seems like an effective method to me. I like the idea of planning as I go, and sending food from one point on the trail to another point on the trail where buying food might not be a great option.

Hey Jack, great article! Very helpful, that was what convinced me to consider planning as I go, seems like a idea that would work for me.

Kirby

[Lyle]

I tried purchasing food ahead, getting good bulk deals, packaging, then receiving mail drops when I was on my cross-country trip. I made it through about 1/8 of the mail drops before I was sick of most everything in them. You will also not be very good at estimating how much of everything you will eat. Your body will need, and thus crave, different nutrients at different times, plus the same food day after day gets real boring, especially when you are seeing other people eating and buying what they want, when they want.

My advice:
1) Purchase your food as you go. May be more expensive, but not as expensive as throwing out most of what you sent to yourself, or just not bothering with all the pre-planned food drops and returning home to a stack of trail food waiting for you. Plus, this is by far the easiest method.

Or, if you still want food drops:

2) Do not plan to drop ALL of your food. Just plan to send yourself the difficult to find things some people like (smoked oysters, canned crab, specialty soups or sauces, home dehydrated entrees, etc.) or the things that you KNOW you will not tire of (Snickers, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms, tuna, Mac & Cheese, etc.). This way you can still purchase the unusual or new things your crave without feeling guilty about wasting the food you already bought.

My $0.02 worth.

[Appalachian Tater]

Kirby, Jack's article is excellent. He knows his stuff. I carried the entire article and discarded as I went. The night before you go into town, take inventory of any food you have left, use his guide to figure out how many days resupply you need, and make a shopping list. For what you were planning to pay for drops, you could eat like a king. (At least like a thru-hiking king.) After a couple of resupplies, you become very proficient at choosing what you will want to eat.

Also, always carry some extra food, at least a couple of packs of ramen, in case you are delayed. You might twist your ankle or have bad weather and want to hole up in a shelter for a day, or you might like a spot and want to camp there even though it's early in the day.

Also, your tastes may change. Sweet food may appeal during the winter, things like peanut butter cups, M&Ms, and Little Debbie fudge rounds. Then in the summer you may want salty things, like ramen, chips, and those little packs of orange crackers made into peanut butter sandwiches.

It's all about flexibility and freedom.

[SGT Rock]

Kirby - a thought to the plan as you go idea that I have picked up on from Mags. In those few places that would be easier to mail drop in based on Jack's article, you can buy in one town along the trail and mail that drop to yourself at the hard to resupply town. That way your buy is done with what you like at the time closer to when you are going to get that drop. Makes sense to me and I don't know why it has never been suggested for an AT thru-hike until recently.

Another thought for these sorts of places is keeping in touch with family back home. I've used BJs articles and talked to people here about what I was planning to do for food drops in a few locations and I think I am down to two food drops for my hike plan - and my wife will get those foods from the grocery store right before she mails them based on what I ask her to get close to time. Your parents could do the same if you find a place on the trail you think you might want to do a mail drop at.

[Chaco Taco]

Man, good luck you guys.

[Kirby]

Man, good luck you guys.

Do you disagree with a statement made before yours? I am curious your take if you do.

Kirby

[Jack Tarlin]

Actually, Rock's idea is a very good one. For example, if you're planning to send yourself food in Harpers Ferry, don't buy it now. Buy it instead in say, Waynesboro, ten days before you get to Harpers. You'll have a much better idea of what sort of food you like to eat; how much you'll need each day; and it'll even be cheaper to mail.

Likewise you can put together your Northern New England food drops (if any) in Hanover or Gorham; etc. But buying food in advance that you're not gonna be eating for half a year is sorta scary.

[Chaco Taco]

Well, Im planning on doing buy as you go and may throw some drops in. I like the idea of not having it set in stone what you are going to eat. I get sick of things quickly. I like the idea of not spending money on postage. I ike Rocks idea about getting info out to family. Sometimes I get cravings and cant find them near the trail. I feel like maybe a drop or two could be a good morale booster. It feels good to get things from home. I plan on leaving drops with people that are close to me and letting them seal up the drop in case they want to throw in something special to surprise me. In terms of convinience, I think buy as you go is easier but thats just me.

And Jack's article is awesome when it comes to this.

[The Old Fhart]

Other than item you can't find along the trail, I say buy locally. Higher priced sometimes in smaller stores but without the postage, it is probably about the same.

One big reason to buy local that I didn't see mentioned is that buying locally helps support the people along the trail who are helping us.

[Sly]

Going contrary here (what else is new). Kirby, since you're young, I'm sure your parents are going to worry. Mail drops are fine, especially if you sent them to hostels and such that are open 24/7. Assuming they won't mind, doing maildrops gives your parents a chance to get involved. If you're inclined make it a family thing...

[A-Train]

Places I'd send drops to if/when I hike again:

Fontana Dam (supposing I decided not to visit the Hoch's again)
Harpers Ferry, WV (Sent to ATC office)
Port Clinton PA (Though this can be avoided with some extra time spent hitching)

I'd consider sending a box to Bear Mtn if I didn't live in the area.

The method Rock mentions that Mags and I have discussed here before is effective. It's wildly popular on the PCT, not sure why it hasn't really caught on in the AT community. Saves a lot of time and money, though can create some headache if you try to assemble multiple drops in a trail town

[Bearpaw]

Buy as you go for food.

Mail drop maps and gear to yourself. This also gives parents a chance to sneak goodies into your maildrop, which is nice.

I did the create your own mail drop en route for Bear Mountain. I bought it in the town 3 miles from Delaware Water Gap. (Name slips my mind at the moment). I wound up with too much food because of delis and an unplanned party along the way!

Also, if you buy along the way, you can economize by raiding hiker boxes before you hit grocery stores. You'll get plenty of Liptons and rice along the way!