re: food bags

[DavidNH]

I was wondering.. do you long distance hikers generally take One large bag to put all of your food and perhaps even some cooking gear into or do you take two small bags (for instance, one bag for dinner and one for breakfast/lunch? Also does it matter if the food bag is water proof?


I have thus far slept and cooked mostly in shelters where one can hang the food from a string complete with the upside down tuna can to keep mice away. But I wonder about in bear country where one should keep food away from shelters and supposing it is raining all night (figure a good all night southern downpour). I dont want a sopping wet mess in the morning.

I have a see through dry bag that I have used mostly for canoeing thus far...trouble is while not too large it is a little heavier than the ganite gear nylon bags I have used for my Long Tail hiking.


David

[SGT Rock]

I have one large bag. Inside that I carry all my food and kitchen supplies. But inside that bag I have a breakfast zip-lock, a lunch zip-lock, a dinner zip-lock, and a trash zip-lock.

[Mouse]

I used one large silnylon stuff sack with a trash bag inside to limit odor. Having one bag made it easier to hang.

My pot traveled in its own stuff sack with the fuel cannister inside and the Pocket Rocket stove and spoon squeezed in. That made my kitchen one neat package. In bear country it traveled inside the food bag; in stretches where I needed extra room for food it went in the pack by itself.

I often carried lunch or snacks in a ziplock at the top of my pack or in a side pocket for easy access.

[DavidNH]

I have one large bag. Inside that I carry all my food and kitchen supplies. But inside that bag I have a breakfast zip-lock, a lunch zip-lock, a dinner zip-lock, and a trash zip-lock.

Rock that is a most interesting system. I suspect that would mean you empty todays beakfast zip lock and then tommorows breakfast goes into the same zip lock? Or do you have a whole lot of zip lock bags to have one for each meal for each day of food you are carrying?

David

[Doctari]

All: food, salt - pepper, Olive oil, tooth paste in one bag. this bag will easily hold 6+ days food & acc and works well for hanging food away from the critters. All of my food & stuff is in zip locks.

My stove (pepsi can) & cook set in another. I sometimes hang this with the food bag, not often tho.

Doctari.

[SGT Rock]

No, what I have are basically four 1-gallon zip lock bags. All my breakfast foods go into one bag, all my lunches go into another bag, and all my dinner foods go into a third. So when I am looking to eat a meal, I just need to grab the bag for the meal I am currently on.

[MDSHiker]

I put food and stove into one OR (Outdoor Research) waterproof bag. I've had the bag for several years and it's held up well. It has loops sewn on so you can hang it almost anyway you want.

[vipahman]

I pack a complete day's meal in one ziplock bag. The max days I've done is 4 days. So that's 4 ziplocks plus one trash bag. It works better for me this way because I don't have to repack supplies for other days. I pack the current day to be handier in my backpack than future days.

[Whistler]

I use 2 bags: 1 medium sack stores a day's worth of snacks, the breakfast I had, and a small zip for trash. I keep it in the side pocket of my pack, so I can get to it easily.

1 large bag stores everything else, sorted by breakfast/ snack/ dinners/main trash. It only comes out at dinnertime. While I'm cooking, I separate the day's trash, and I sort out the next day's breakfast and snacks to the smaller sack so I'm ready to go in the morning.
-Mark

[Just Jeff]

I just use one food bag. I bring a gallon ziplock for trash, but other than that I just put everything together in the food bag.

Sometimes I have another ziplock for certain foods, like a cheese block and hard sausage, but I don't see a need to organize 4 days worth of food into individual bags. Works for me, anyway.

[Peaks]

I typically carry all my foods in one sil-nylon stuff sack. Inside it, foods are usually organized by meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks). Each is in a one gallon zip lock.

Cooking gear is in it's own bag, although it could be put in the stuff sack also.