Ultralight Backpacking Food - CleverHiker.com

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Episode 7 of my Lightweight Backpacking Foundations series

Top Ultralight Backpacking Food Tips:

Some choose:

A food is fuel mentality - Strictly for calories, taste, and ease
Body is a temple approach - Take time to prepare, dehydrate their own recopies, and are willing to bring a little extra weight for better nutrition.

For ease and convenience Lightweight backpackers tend to lean towards the food is fuel mentality.

To go light and get serious, measure Calories per ounce.
Get as light as possible.
Nut & seeds, olive oil, peanut butter, chocolate, high fat foods – more cal/oz
Fresh fruits and veggies – less cal/oz
Good range 120-130 cal/oz

The goal – nutrition, taste, & calories while keeping weight low

Good trail nutrition is just like good nutrition at home –
Balance of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates – with fiber, fruit + veg when possible

When “cooking” on the trail - Ease of “cooking” for most lightweight backpackers is important
Boil water and pour in a bag
Choose meals with short cook times

Amount of food. You’ll need more calories than normal, especially for full days and long trips
Some thru-hikers find that they consume 5-6,000 calories per day – very long hiking days

Avoid all canned food. Heavy - low in calories - pack out the trash.
Repackage all food when possible to reduce weight and volume

Save weight and add nutrition with dried Fruits & Veggies
Use a food dehydrator to make your own delicious and healthy trail snacks.

Popular UL Food Choices:

Snacks
• Very important part of trail diet – keeping constantly fueled
• Dried fruit
• Trail mix
• Energy bars – lots of bars
• Fruit leather strips
• Nuts
• Chocolate
• Chips & crackers
• Beef jerky
• Candy


Breakfast
• Will you want to cook?
• Powdered milk
• Granola
• Pop tarts
• Bars
• Carnation instant breakfast mix
• Snacks – trail mix, dried fruit
• Tea/coffee
• Instant oatmeal


Lunch
• Sandwitches
• Whole wheat tortillas
• Bagels
• Salami
• Summer sausage
• Peanut butter & jelly
• Honey
• Hard cheeses
• Fill in with snacks


Dinner
• Freeze dried meals are light but can be expensive – $7-10 per
• Similar meals can be found in grocery stores for a fraction of the price
• Dehydrated meals
• Dry soups
• Pasta sides
• Rice sides
• Instant potato flakes
• Instant stuffing
• Easy Mac
• Ramen noodles
• Couscous
• Tuna and chicken in foil packets
• Add freeze dried veggies when possible


Extras
• Fast food packets for condiments
• Hot sauce
• Olive Oil
• Seasoning
• Powdered sports drinks
• Hot coco