Where to start...

[Entropy2012]

I know it's a long, long way in the future but I figured I might as well have a wee think about my food consumption along the trail (my stomach always comes first :p). For a start, I'll be coming in from the UK so I'll most likely be dropping in to Atlanta. Is there a place for me to stock up near the hiker hostel, or should I make the most of being in a city? (honestly the thought of that kinda freaks me out. I've never been alone in a large city abroad before :o)

I'm a little confused as to what to take as well. I'm assuming the stuff you can find in walmart and kroger is much the same as over here. I checked out trailcooking but most of the prep seems like it would be a huge hassle having to buy the foods, weigh everything and bag it all up at each stop. Especially when the supplies and situation (short stops in town) might be limited? :confused:

Is it best to just load up on lots of little snacky things and maybe a few simple meals that can be boiled up quickly? i.e. noodles/soups/dehydrated meal packs.

I'm probably waaaaay overthinking this but I can just imagine running out of food halfway between towns, or ending up becoming sick from some food group deficit because I stocked up on too many carbs and not enough protein or vitamins or something. Can just see myself having to quit the trail because of scurvy or something equally stupid. :p

[buzzamania]

There are a couple REI's in North Atlanta. They'll have every thing you need, not to mention plenty of grocery stores for the main stuff.

[brian039]

You'll only need about 4 days of food to start with and the kind of stuff that you mentioned is what 90% of thru-hikers eat. Knoors makes a good variety of pasta and rice meals that cooks in 7 minutes that you'll find in virtually every resupply point on the trail. You can also buy foil packs of tuna to mix with the pasta though this will probably get old after a while. Most people carry peanut butter and use it on a variety of foods. Other than that, snack foods will be a mainstay of your trail diet. When in town, try to make sure you eat fruits and vegetables and drink milk. You'll learn from other hikers on the trail so don't sweat it, by the time you've done a couple of resupplies it will be second nature.

[fiddlehead]

I normally start with 2-3 days food (start point FS road 42) or just enough to get to Neels Gap at mile 30 (aprox) then have a mail drop there to get me to Hiawasee. (a few days only once again)
Then in Hiawasee, take a half day to buy food at a decent food store and mail out the next 3 or 4 mail drops. Do it again in Erwin TN.
Do your own maildrops as you go from the bigger towns.
I do this on all my hikes including European hikes of the Pyrenees, addressed to myself at Poste Restante as it is normally called in Europe.
That way, you don't have to rely on someone else, postal fees are much smaller because you are not mailing long distances.
So, your problem is now limited to 3 days food to start and a 3 day maildrop.
You could carry that much food from Scotland, or, stop at a grocery store somewhere along the way to the trail and do it, and then hit a post office somewhere.

Good luck and have fun.