How Do You Carry Food When Backpacking?

By Robert Palmer

Backpacking can be an incredibly fun and rewarding experience, providing an opportunity to explore the outdoors and connect with nature. But if you’re out in the wilderness for more than a few hours, you’ll need to bring along some food to keep your energy levels up and sustain yourself on the trail.

Carrying food when backpacking can be a challenge, as you need to balance weight and nutrition, but with some planning and preparation, it can be manageable and even enjoyable.

Selecting the Right Foods

When selecting food for your backpacking trip, it’s important to think about foods that are lightweight, nutritious, calorie-dense and easy to prepare. Some great options include energy bars, trail mix, jerky, granola and dehydrated meals.

Try to focus on foods that will provide carbohydrates for energy as well as proteins and fats for sustained energy release.

Storing Your Food

Once you’ve selected your food items for your backpacking trip, it’s important to store them properly. It’s essential to keep your food secure from animals or other wildlife that may be attracted by the smell of food.

For short trips of one or two nights, it’s usually sufficient just to store your food in a bear bag or in a bear-resistant container hung from a tree branch away from your tent site. For longer trips when more food is needed, it might be necessary to invest in a bear-proof canister.

Organizing Your Pack

Organizing your pack is key when carrying food when backpacking. It’s important to divide up the weight of all items evenly throughout the pack so that it is comfortable and well balanced when carrying it on the trail.

Start by packing heavier items such as water bottles and tent at the bottom of your pack closest to your back so they don’t throw off your balance while walking. Place heavier food items such as canned beans or fresh vegetables towards the center of the pack where they won’t move around too much.

Conclusion

Carrying food while backpacking requires careful planning and preparation in order to ensure that you have enough nutrition while also keeping weight down in order to make hiking more enjoyable. By selecting lightweight but nutritious foods such as energy bars or dehydrated meals; storing them properly; and organizing them in an even way throughout your backpack; you’ll have no trouble carrying enough nourishment for even longer trips into the wilderness!