Figuring out how much food to bring on backpacking trips used to be really stressful for me. I would “eyeball” the amounts when packing food. Since I was scared that I’d end up hungry, I’d inevitably bring too much food – meaning my pack was way heavier than it should have been and I also ended up with a lot of wasted food.
Now, I carefully calculate how much food to bring backpacking. It takes a lot of work at the beginning, but it is worth it because my pack doesn’t get weighed down by “just in case” food and I don’t have to worry about being hungry.
The Quick Answer:
There are two methods for planning much food to bring backpacking. The first is to pack 1.5 to 2.5lbs of food per day. However, this can be highly inaccurate because some heavy foods don’t have many calories. The second method is to calculate your daily calorie needs, which is usually 2,500 to 3,500 calories per day for healthy backpackers. You then tally up the calories in the food you pack to make sure you have this many calories.
Method 1: Pounds of Food Per Day When Backpacking
The most common recommendation for how much food to bring backpacking uses “pounds of food per day”. Recommendations vary but are usually 1.5 to 2.5lbs of food per day. This method makes packing food for your trip easy. However, it can be highly inaccurate.
It doens’t calculate in your individual calorie needs. As a 110lb woman, I definitely don’t require as much food as my 150lb male hiking partner!
Further, it doesn’t factor in caloric-density.
Let’s say you estimate you need 2lbs of food per day on your trip. As the examples show, the foods you choose could result in a very different amount of calories.
| Food | Calories in 2lbs of Food |
|---|---|
| Uncooked Pasta | 3,392 |
| Peanut butter | 2,672 |
| Starkist tuna in oil (pouch) | 1,856 |
| Tortillas | 1,296 |
| Bread | 1,200 |
| Dried apples | 1,104 |
Obviously you wouldn’t be eating just one food during a backpacking trip. However, these examples show how the caloric density of the foods you choose affects how many calories you ultimately end up eating on your trip — and thus whether you end up hungry or not.
If you do use the pounds of food per day method…
- Aim for foods with at least 110 calories per ounce. This will give you 3,520 calories/day in 2lbs.
- If you are thru-hiking and need to be ultralight, then aim for 150 calories per ounce. This will give you 3,500 calories/day in 1.43lbs.
Also Read: Most calorie-dense foods for backpacking
Method 2: Calories Per Pound of Body Weight
Another way of planning how much food to bring backpacking is to calculate your daily calorie needs. Here’s how it works:
- Calculate 16-25 calories per pound of bodyweight. Easy hikes in mild weather require fewer calories per pound, and harder hikes in colder weather require more. It usually ends up being 2,500 to 3,500 calories per day for a healthy adult. For a more precise amount, see this backpacking calorie calculator tool.
- Tally up the calories in each food you pack. The total calories should meet your daily requirements.
- Divide up daily calories by meal. Approximately 20-25% calories should go to breakfast, 15% of calories for lunch, 25% of calories for dinner, and the remaining for snacks.
- Make a meal plan. It takes a lot of work, but it helps to make a spreadsheet with your meal plan.
Below you can see an example of a meal plan for a backpacking trip for two people. It breaks down to 2,200 calories for me (I weigh just 110lbs) and 2,800 calories for my partner (140lbs). It was a moderately-difficult hike, so I calculated 20 calories per pound of body weight.
See more backpacking meal plan examples (with calorie counts) here.
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