Backpacking Food for a Week: A 7-Day Plan by Weight

Planning backpacking food for a week is mostly a weight problem. A week of food is the heaviest single item in your pack, often 4 to 6 kg at the start, so every choice about density, meals and packing matters more than on a weekend trip. This guide gives you the numbers, a seven-day menu, and practical advice on appetite, storage and packing.

Step 1: How many days of food?

A "one-week trip" rarely means seven full days of trail food. Count the meals you'll actually eat on the trail:

Pack the spare day (or half-day) as a separate reserve rather than spreading it across every bag.

Step 2: Calories and weight

Use the backpacking food weight calculator with your own numbers. Here's what different choices mean for a six-day trip:

Raising density can let you carry more calories for the same weight. Compare the first and last rows.

Estimate your daily need with the hiking calorie estimator for the walking part of the day, then add resting energy for the rest. Many backpackers plan around 3,000 to 3,500 kcal on a week-long trip and accept a modest deficit.

Step 3: Plan for changing appetite

Two common patterns on week-long trips:

• Days 1–2: appetite is often lower than expected because of nerves, a heavy pack or altitude.
• Days 4–7: many people get much hungrier, a pattern hikers often call "hiker hunger".

A practical response is to taper your bags: slightly smaller for days one and two, slightly larger for days five to seven, with the same weekly total.

That's 18,000 kcal in total, the same as six even days at 3,000 kcal, but shaped to how many people actually eat. Treat these percentages as an example, not a rule.

Step 4: A seven-day menu

Breakfasts and lunches repeat with small variations. Dinners rotate so you don't tire of them. Recipes are in easy backpacking recipes.

Add about 700 to 1,000 kcal of snacks per full day: trail mix, bars, chocolate, jerky and dried fruit. The trail mix builder designs a mix that's dense and fairly high in protein.

Step 5: Getting density up

On a week-long trip, density decisions save real weight. The highest-leverage moves:

1. Olive oil sachets in every dinner. About 120 kcal for about 14 g.
2. Nut butter at breakfast and lunch.
3. Seeds and nuts as the trail mix base, with fruit as a small accent.
4. Hard cheese and salami rather than bread-heavy lunches.
5. Whole milk powder rather than skim.

Check individual foods with the calorie density checker.

Step 6: Packing a week of food

Bag by day

Put each day's food in its own labelled bag. It makes rationing obvious. If day three's bag is empty by lunch, you know you're eating ahead of plan.

Load the pack well

A week of food is dense and heavy. Pack it in the middle of the pack, close to your back, to keep the load stable. Keep the current day's snacks in an accessible pocket.

Bear canisters

Where canisters are required, they set a hard limit on volume. Repackage everything into flexible bags, remove air, and fill gaps with small items. Test-pack the canister at home. A week of food may not fit unless it's dense and well packed, which is another reason to favour calorie-dense foods.

Rodents

Even where bears aren't an issue, mice and other animals chew into packs. Use a rodent-resistant bag or hang food where allowed.

Step 7: Consider a resupply

If the route passes a town, hut or road halfway, a resupply can cut your starting food weight roughly in half. Options include buying food in town, posting a box ahead, or arranging a drop with a friend. Plan each half as a separate section in the calculator.

How the pack gets lighter

A useful way to think about a week of food is that your pack loses weight every day. If you start with about 4 kg of food and eat about 670 g a day, the food in your pack goes something like this:

The first two days are the hardest. If your route allows it, plan shorter or easier days at the start and save longer distances for later in the week, when the pack is lighter.

Protein over a week

On short trips, protein rarely matters much. Over a week, many hikers notice they feel better with a decent protein intake every day. The menu above spreads protein across all meals with milk powder, protein powder, cheese, salami, fish pouches, beans and nuts. Check where your protein comes from with the protein density calculator.

Food safety for a week

• Avoid fresh meat and soft dairy after day one.
• Hard cheeses and dry-cured meats keep for several days in moderate temperatures. In heat, eat them first.
• Keep oil sachets intact. Once opened, use them that meal.
• Treat water for cooking and drinking.
• Hand hygiene matters more over a week. Use sanitiser before meals.

Week-long shopping list (one person, six days of food)

Common mistakes on a first week-long trip

1. Planning seven full days when you'll eat about six.
2. Even bags every day, then running short on days five to seven.
3. Low-density lunches with bread and fresh food that add up over a week.
4. No canister test-pack before the trip.
5. Too little variety, which leads to food fatigue and under-eating.

Checklist

• ☐ Days of trail food counted (partial days as fractions)
• ☐ Daily calories chosen, with tapering if you like
• ☐ Average density checked
• ☐ Menu rotates dinners
• ☐ Food bagged and labelled by day
• ☐ Reserve packed separately
• ☐ Storage meets local rules; canister test-packed
• ☐ Resupply considered

Sources: nutrition values and density ranges are approximate, based on USDA FoodData Central reference data and typical labels. "Hiker hunger" and appetite tapering are common experiences reported by hikers, not personal prescriptions.