Food for Backpacking: What to Pack and How Much

Good food for backpacking is light for its energy, shelf-stable, quick to prepare and enjoyable after a long day. In practice that means building your food bag around dry staples like oats, tortillas, couscous, instant potato and dehydrated meals, plus dense fats and proteins like nut butter, nuts, seeds, hard cheese, salami and oil. Most backpackers carry somewhere around 0.7 to 1.1 kg of food per day.

This guide explains how to work out how much food to carry, which food groups earn their weight, and how to pack it. For a fully worked trip with every meal laid out, see the 3-day backpacking meal plan.

How much food for backpacking per day?

Two numbers decide your daily food weight: calories per day and average calorie density (kcal per 100 g). The backpacking food weight calculator does the maths:

Raising density from 350 to 450 kcal per 100 g saves about 190 g per day at 3,000 kcal. That's over a kilogram across a week.

Your daily calorie figure is an estimate. Use the hiking calorie estimator for the hiking portion of your day and add your resting needs for the rest of it. Then compare with how hungry you actually were on past trips.

The food groups that earn their weight

Fats: the densest fuel

Fat gives about 9 kcal per gram, more than twice as much as carbohydrate or protein. Olive oil, nut butters, nuts, seeds, hard cheese, chocolate and salami all raise the average density of your bag.

Carbohydrates: quick and easy energy

Oats, couscous, instant rice, pasta, instant potato flakes, tortillas, crackers, dried fruit and sweets give fast energy for climbs and are easy to eat. Most dry carbohydrate foods land around 350 to 400 kcal per 100 g.

Protein: keeps you full

Protein helps meals feel satisfying. Good backpacking sources include tuna and salmon pouches, jerky, hard cheese, nuts, seeds, peanut butter, milk powder, protein powder and dehydrated beans. Check any label with the protein density calculator. Our list of high-protein hiking snacks compares them side by side.

Drinks

Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, milk powder and electrolyte mixes. Count the calories and weight of sweetened drinks.

A backpacking food list

Store-bought dehydrated meals vs DIY

Many backpackers mix both: commercial meals for convenience, DIY couscous and potato meals for cost. See easy backpacking recipes for DIY ideas.

Packing food for backpacking

1. Repackage. Remove bulky boxes and outer packaging. Decant into labelled zip bags.
2. Bag by day. One bag per day, with that day's breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. That makes rationing simple.
3. Keep the day's snacks handy in a hip-belt pocket or the lid of the pack.
4. Add a reserve. One extra bar and a bag of nuts kept separate.
5. Weigh it. Compare with the calculator's target.

Resupply on long routes

On trips longer than about a week, most people resupply instead of carrying everything from the start. Options include mailing boxes to post offices or hostels along the route, buying from shops in towns you pass, or caching food where it's allowed. Shops in small trail towns may have limited choice, so check before relying on them. Plan each section between resupplies as its own mini-trip in the food weight calculator.

Food storage and wildlife

Animals from mice to bears are attracted to food. Follow the rules for the area you're visiting. Some areas require approved bear canisters, others allow hangs, and many campsites provide food lockers. Keep food, rubbish and scented items like toothpaste together and away from your tent where required. Pack out every wrapper.

Food safety on the trail

• Prioritise shelf-stable foods.
• Eat any perishables, such as fresh wraps or soft cheese, on day one.
• Hard aged cheeses and dry-cured salami tolerate a few days in moderate temperatures. In heat, eat them early.
• Treat water used for cooking and rehydrating, as you would drinking water.
• Wash or sanitise hands before eating.

Adjusting for conditions

Food for backpacking: worked example

Sam (a made-up example) is planning four days, with partial first and last days, so 3.5 days of food at 3,200 kcal per day.

• Total energy: 3.5 × 3,200 = 11,200 kcal
• Target density: 450 kcal/100 g
• Food weight: 11,200 ÷ 450 × 100 ≈ 2,489 g
• Per full day: about 711 g

With a 15 ml olive oil sachet added to each dinner and pumpkin seeds as her trail mix base, her density rises to about 480. That brings the total to about 2,333 g, a saving of around 150 g. She uses the trail meal planner to split each day into slots and the trail mix builder to design her snack mix.

Budgeting for backpacking food

Backpacking food doesn't have to be expensive. Specialist outdoor brands are convenient, but supermarkets sell most of what you need for less:

Compare protein sources by price with the protein cost calculator. Peanut butter, oats and dry legumes usually come out well.

Appetite on longer trips

Many backpackers notice two patterns. On the first day or two their appetite is lower than expected, especially with altitude or nerves. By day four or five they're hungrier than at home. On longer trips, consider packing slightly less for days one and two and a bit more for the later days, rather than equal bags every day. Our guide to backpacking food for a week covers this in detail.

Common mistakes

1. Too much bread and fresh food. They're heavy for their energy.
2. No fats. Lean-only food bags get very heavy for the calories.
3. Ignoring drinks when counting calories and weight.
4. Untested meals. Try everything at home first.
5. No reserve. Delays happen.

Checklist

• ☐ Days counted honestly (partial days as fractions)
• ☐ Daily calorie target chosen
• ☐ Average density checked
• ☐ Food bagged by day and labelled
• ☐ Reserve packed separately
• ☐ Storage method meets local rules
• ☐ Spoon, lighter or stove, and pot, unless going stoveless

Sources: nutrition values are approximate, from USDA FoodData Central reference entries and typical labels. Daily food weight ranges are commonly cited backpacking planning figures.