How much food can you pack?

[Snow Nymph]

Just started eating Kashi (honey puffs) cereal and added it to our oatmeal when we did the SHR. Good stuff!

I eat 1-1.25 lb/day, and bring a few extra snacks in case I need more, or if we have to stay out an extra day. Usually I lose my appetite the first few days, but make up for it later in the trip.

My freeze dried dinners are 2.8-3.0 oz, with hot chocolate or soup after. On long trips we look forward to eating it! We add red or black pepper, parmesan cheese, garlic, dried onions, etc to spice it up.

Lunch is usually mozzarella sticks & salami/pepperoni, with French rolls, mayo/mustard packets. Salmon (in foil pkg) and tortilla for longer trips.

Oatmeal/kashi/dried fruit and coffee for breakfast. I package snacks like cashews, macadamia nuts and cheese-its in snack size baggies, sealed in half. I don’t eat much, so half a baggie is perfect. I pack different snacks so there’s variety depending on my mood. I bring 2 bars/day, and try not to bring more than 3 of the same kind. I don’t want to burn out on the same thing every day. So there’s Banana or Vanilla Crisp Powerbars, Cookie bars, Granola bars, Sweet & Salty bars (my favorite!), Honey Maid banana nut bars (thanks, MiT!) and a few misc ones.

The electrolyte powder drinks are heavy, and so are the Gu Packets. 

[Bearlover]

I am a calorie counter.. Thanks to surviving two teenage sisters.. I know the value/detriment of the calorie. And of course fat calories are not the same as carb calories.. Why my sister ATHENA could determine the number and destination of calories by eye: Cheeseburger-580-hips... OH Yes, I remember Tab cola. Any ways...

I can cram 8 days of comestibles into my Garcia base camp canister. The base camp is the four pound job a bit taller than the backpacker model. I repackage my food and much is already freeze dried from the Whole Foods Market bulk section. I have found the heath food store stuff really seems to have more punch for calorie... I never thought I would admit this (I am Californian afterall) I believe the natural crap does have a bit more food value than the commercial freeze meals.(OKAY get me a plate of Blue-Greens Algea! and I will put me Birkenstocks on!)
I just try to balance the fats/carbs/and proteins a bit based on total % over 8 days.. then fill the rest of the needed calories with crap foods like candy. Usually I top out around 18,000 kcal for 8 days and I lose weight but don't feel starved. The lost weight is probably dehydration 'cause my jaw is always wide open around that incredible scenery! :retard:

[wingding]

7 days will fit in my bear can and that's as long of a trip as I'd probably want to do.

[sierra cyd]

Looks like we are straying into diet specifics, since it is now lunch time and I'm hungry, I'll chime in....my backpacking diet is very similar to snow nymph's. I find that at altitude I need to eat more than my tummy tells me to, otherwise I'm in tears the last few miles (bonk!). Usually two packets of cream of wheat (or 3 for a big day) in the morning with some dried fruit and a cup of coffee. Then, a late morning snack while hiking - either an energy bar or a 1/2 snack baggie of gorp, then lunch is crackers and cheese or peanut butter, fish jerky, and grazing of snack items (pieces of dried fruit, a few corn nuts, etc). Then, afternoon hiking snack is usually a salty one, a 1/2 snack bag of crackers or corn nuts, then dinner is ~3/4-1 two-person backpacking meal, or a ramen noodles (the big kind from the asian food store!) with dehydrated veggies added. Then some candy for dessert. Oh, and always a few "emergency" jolly ranchers in the pocket while hiking.

[Snow Nymph]

I could save a little weight if I didn't bring candy along. Gotta have it!

[hikerduane]

When I was in my 20's, I thought I had plenty of food, but after a week being out, I had lost 5 lbs. or more. As skinny as I was to begin with, my hip bones really stuck out. Now, I don't seem to get rid of that little extra I gain over the winter on trips. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but I don't see how I could get goodies for snacks into my canister or carry the extra weight to boot. I tend to make camp most of the time before lunch, usually after a 6 to 10 mile hike. If longer, I take a pit stop. With groups, I have to remember to take food out of my canister before packing in the morning because we seem to get a later start then if I was by myself and stop for lunch sooner. I used to fix pancakes and some sort of cereal, either cold or hot, before I got on this kick about having to leave real early in the morning after getting up as soon as there was enough light to see a little.

[quentinc]

I would starve if I followed some of the food regimens here. Guess that's why I can't fit more than 3 days worth in a cannister! That's never proved a problem; I've been everywhere in the Sierras. And it's a good incentive to stay in shape -- got to carry a pack that's close to 1/3 of my bodyweight.

[Cross Country]

In 1976 my wife (Saint Diane) and I carried enough food for a 16 day trip. On the one hand we had a not lightweight tent, tube tent, full air mattresses and two rods and reels (she almost never fished) meaning we could have gone lighter on the equip and stayed out 20+ days. On the other hand we hired packers to Anvil camp to get us within 2000 feet of Shepard Pass. Also we took 2 days to Milestone Basin and a LO day. We then hiked only to Junction Meadow the next day. We did a 5 day side trip to Kaweah Basin with very little weight. We actually hiked very little with heavy packs. The bulk of our hiking was done the last 4.5 days to a trailhead south of Trout Meadow. The last days are of course hiked with not so much food. On the other hand if my wife ate fish like I do we could have taken less food. I would imagine that two people hiking this route (roughly) eating lots of fish, and spending lots of time fishing could easily hike in 30+ days of food, but of course this is almost cheating.

[jimqpublic]

16 days was my longest. I was 17, weighed 130, and my pack was 65. It was so heavy I could hardly lift it. I was so skinny that the only way to transfer any weight to my hips was with the belt so tight it cut into my bony flesh.

Leaving Onion Valley I didn't make it past Gilbert Lake the first night. I think it took 4 days to Lk. South America. It took about 6 days before I could start enjoying the trip as I got stronger and the pack got to a reasonable weight. The crazy thing was that we looped back down Bubbs Creek and then up Woods Creek- passing within 4 miles of Road's end at about midway through the trip. A resupply would have been EASY.

Jim

[Wandering Daisy]

In my "old school" days, my daughter and I did an 18-day trip. My pack weighed 65 pounds, hers 55 pounds. We really took too much food -caught so many fish that we could have done with half. These were the before-bear cannister days. My goodness, we used to put food in a big duffle bag and use it for a pillow! This was in the mid-90's. We did not have light gear.

Now I can fit 10 days in a Bear-i-Kade weekender, 2,400 calories per day, 1.4 pounds per day. I have to be really careful about low volumne choices and re-pack everything. Where bear cannisters are not requird I regularly go for 12-14 days. I did an 8-day trip about 5 years ago from South Lake to Taboose trailhead (basically a section of Roper's High Sierra Route) with my 2,400 cu in ArcTerex Khamsin pack. I had to tie one food bag on the top for the first few days. This was my most "compact" pack for an 8-day trip. I ran out of food and walked out from Bench Lake with no food.

For me the thing with amount of food has to do with finding a good "balance point". At some point the extra weight slows you down so much that you go few miles at first. If you simply were to speed up the rate with a lighter pack, you could cover the same miles in less time. For me my "break over" point is a 12-days trip. Two years ago I had 12-day ration and went from Zumwaldt Meadow to Roaring Fork Ranger hut over Avalanche Pass in 8 hours. Cannot say it was much fun but it did not slow me down too much. I do find that I cannot do much difficult off-trail work until my pack lightens up with about 8-days of food. I usually plan trips so that I take trails to my end point and then come back via off-trail travel.