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What would be a normal food consumption for week on the trail. Say a full 5 days. Planning on a 2011 hike-thru.
Thanks, BABO
Appalachian Tater
02-07-2008, 13:28
I usually plan by the number of meals and snacks. Makes resupply easy. On a thru-hike you may need as many as five to six thousand calories a day, so a couple of pounds of even well-chosen food a day may be needed. Your tastes and caloric intake may change with your condition and the season. Since you have a couple of years, go on some shakedown hikes and you'll learn your eating style.
Be warned that sometimes your appetite is decreased when first hiking, then after a while "hiker hunger" kicks in and you can't eat enough. On my first hike after my thru-hike, I took way too much food, remembering how much I had been eating at the end of my thru.
FD compiled a nutritional list (http://www.whiteblaze.net/index.php?page=nutrition) some time back. It has a lot of good info on it, so you may want to reference it. As far as what to eat and what to carry, only you can answer that because only you know what you like and what your needs are. There are plenty of good books that have a lot of good into in them about stuff to eat on the trail. Lip Smackin' Backpackin' (https://www.atctrailstore.org/catalog/iteminfo.cfm?itemid=448&compid=1) is a good book and our own Sarbar, has a site devoted solely to Freezer Bag Cooking (http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/). Sarbar's site has plenty of recipes and a page from which to buy her cookbook. Do a Google search, the possibilities of what you can eat and how much are limited only by your appetite, stomach size, imagination and what you are willing to carry. Good luck! :D
for a full week, you're most important thing is going to be high calories and light weight because you'll need to carry a lot of food. I'm planning on carrying all my food i'm going to need through the entire Smokey Mt. stretch. Peanut butter, everything bagels, cheddar cheese, summer sausage, olive oil, rice n' beans etc....
bigcranky
02-07-2008, 15:34
Let's look at a five day hike. You'll need:
4 breakfasts
5 lunches
4 dinners
5 days of trail snacks
What you take depends on the time of year (hot meals in winter, cold in summer for me), your size and general metabolism, etc. I usually plan for the three meals, and 4 (2-4 oz) snacks over the course of the day.
There are plenty of threads with meal ideas on Whiteblaze.
Bare Bear
02-07-2008, 15:43
I always carried one spare dinner. Sometimes it came in handy for a fellow hiker running short or getting to a different trail hitch road than planned (sudden extra day) and once I ate it because I wanted to! Usually just a Raman, extra snack, that kind of thing. I gave up cooking and eating breakfast as it just took too much time and energy away from hiking. I started the day with a vitamin-mineral tablet and 16 oz of water then a snack bar every two hours. Big meal at lunch seemed to work better than a big dinner. I hike slow so I hiked longer hours than most. I also took a lot of side trail out and back that many skipped. I saw lots of great cliffs, waterfalls, etc off the trail and tried to take lunch there. It adds miles (and an extra snack or two) but hey how many times are you going to do this?
Rough numbers, 1.5 to 2 lbs of food per day. In some regions of the AT (eg. the middle third) you have easy access to town food and can carry less. Many hikers experience diminished appetites at the start of their hikes. Conversely, thru-hikers near the end of their hikes can't eat enough. If you play it right, on most parts of the AT, there's no need to carry more than 3-4 days worth of food.
Rough numbers, 1.5 to 2 lbs of food per day. In some regions of the AT (eg. the middle third) you have easy access to town food and can carry less. Many hikers experience diminished appetites at the start of their hikes. Conversely, thru-hikers near the end of their hikes can't eat enough. If you play it right, on most parts of the AT, there's no need to carry more than 3-4 days worth of food.
The 1.5-2 lbs per day rule works, but only if you're carrying relatively energy-dense foods. You probably need at least 3000 calories a day to keep yourself going on the trial (and I'd suggest more). At 1.5 pounds of food per day, your foods need to average 125 calories per ounce to get to 3000 calories. Pasta, rice, etc. average around 100 calories per ounce, but fatty foods (cheese, chocolates, etc. ) have more calories. Water has zero calories, so if you're carrying "wet" foods (canned stuff, bread, tortillas, etc.), you'll need more than 2 lbs per day most likely. If you're subsisting entirely on olive oil and peanut butter (not recommended), you can get away with less weight.
Andrew Skurka has a nice write-up on this subject here (http://www.andrewskurka.com/advice/nutrition.php) and a sample menu here (http://www.andrewskurka.com/GWL/diet.php).
It really comes down to how much food you desire to eat, your desire in thinking out the food (in other words, more planning, lighter weight foods) and how healthy you eat. Add in if you have special needs for foods....
Expect though 1-2 lbs food per day, and hedge on it being closer to 2 lbs if you are new to it.
Fat is one thing that gets overlooked often as it is heavy. It is heavy to carry but will fuel you, so don't be tempted to leave the olive oil or PB behind!
It also depends a lot of the weather and how many miles you are hiking.
Critterman
02-07-2008, 18:47
Here is a spreadsheet I finished last night that I am using to help plan my meals. It has a limited number of items but is useful to see the calories, protein and percentage fat, and weight of your meals.
Blissful
02-07-2008, 20:05
What would be a normal food consumption for week on the trail. Say a full 5 days. Planning on a 2011 hike-thru.
Thanks, BABO
Alright, the first 2011'er I have seen! Yippee. :banana
(I am also planning a 2011 hike with my hubby)
kayak karl
02-07-2008, 20:33
i used sgt rocks menu. am adjusting it on for me, grits were the first to go. http://hikinghq.net/at_stuff/at_menu.html
When you talk trail food menus, you'll find we're all about as different as the cars we drive. For those with little or no experience on putting together a week long menu, think light weight, nutritional, packable, and tasty. Your final menu should be what you like, not what another hiker says you should eat.
In 34 years of backpacking, I've changed around a lot, gotten tired of things that worked real well, and so on. Here are some of the items I've used and been pleased with over the years:
Breakfast
Flavored oatmeal
Cereal w/powdered milk
Breakfast bars
Pop tarts
Coffee, coffee, coffee :)
Splenda and creamer
Lunch
Hoggie roll w/ summer sausage (requires no refrig), foil packed chicken or tuna
Pita Pockets (good variation of hoggie rolls)
Cheese (Monterey Jack keeps exceptionally well when the weather is warm)
Beef Jerky
M&Ms
Gorp w/M&Ms
Anything w/M&Ms :)
Dry fruit gorp
NOTE: Recently I have dropped the sandwich and prefer to just snack on gorp and a little beef jerky between breakfast and dinner. Cuts down on food weight and my body/stomach don't seem to mind a bit. That would undoubtedly change on a long, extended hike, but works great for 1-2 week hikes.
Dinner
Minute rice w/:
- Knorr soups (dry packaged)
- Spices, bullion cubes
- Foiled chicken, turkey, tuna
Lipton rice dinners (various flavors) Add foiled meat if you like
Mountain House Meals
Crystal Lite Tea
Hot chocolate (cold weather)
I've gone a month on variations from the above list with excellent sustained energy and health. Also, if travel distance to the trailhead doesn't prohibit, pack a ziplocked frozen steak and tinfoil wrapped potato for your first night (if firewood available). It's a great way to start.