Backpacking Food List – Simple and Nutritious for 7 days
NEW June 2016 – Meal Recipes are Posted. See Nutritious Backpacking Meal Recipes here
This list is packed with nutritious backpacking food for a “week long” trip of 7 days
- 6 nights of dinners and breakfasts
- 7 days of lunches and daytime snacks
That is you don’t eat breakfast on the day your go in. And you don’t eat dinner on the day you come out. This is equivalent to around 6.6 full days hiking. I’ve organized the food so that it should be easy to scale to more or fewer hiking days.
Note: any entry with a blank in “qty” means the food item is an alternative that may be a) added and/or b) substituted for another item on the list. For example if you are veggie, you could substitute one of the soy jerkies (Primal & Stonewall) the meat jerky. And to easily add vegetables to my homemade dinners I use freeze dried vegetables from Just Tomatoes. I like the “Hot Just Veggies.”
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A Simple and Nutritious Backpacking Food List for 7 days
| Breakfasts (6 mornings) | qty | oz | tot | c/oz | Comments |
| Familia Breakfast (with Bob’s Red Mill Muesli) | 2 | 5.5 | 11.0 | 125 | see Recipe Page |
| Grape Nuts/Kashi Seven Nuggets (my recipe) | 2 | 5.0 | 10.0 | 124 | see Recipe Page |
| Oatmeal Breakfast (my recipe) | 2 | 5.4 | 10.8 | 115 | see Recipe Page |
| Coffee, Starbuck’s VIA ($0.72/cup @Amazon) | 6 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 4g pkt = 130-140 mg caffeine | |
| Coffee for gold filter brewing 25g per 12 fl-oz | 0.9 | alternative to instant coffee, less $ | |||
| Tea – bag or loose leaf (4-6g per 12 fl-oz) | 0.1 | if using bags, sealed packets are best | |||
| Lunches (7 days) | qty | oz | tot | c/oz | Comments |
| Dense whole grain bread (lunch serving) | 3 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 80 | |
| Almond Butter (2 oz serv) | 3 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 155 | pers fave – eat w bread/crackers |
| Tuna in olive oil 2.6 oz pkt (2.9 oz incl packet) | 2.9 | 65 | eat w bread, oil adds cal’s & healthy fat | ||
| Crackers, Dr Kracker (lunch serving) | 2 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 125 | Awesome, high calorie & indestructible |
| Cheese (lunch serving) | 2 | 2.5 | 5.0 | 115 | eat with crackers |
| TJ’s whole wheat tortillas | 2 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 80 | |
| Dry salami (without nitrates) | 2 | 2.5 | 5.0 | 105 | eat with tortillas |
| Mustard packets | n/a | to eat with cheese or salami | |||
| Bison Jerkey (3.5 oz bag) | 3.5 | 60 | online, or TJs and Whole Foods | ||
| Turkey Jerky | 4.0 | 90 | online, or TJs and Whole Foods | ||
| Primal Strips Meatless Vegan Jerkey (teriyaki) | 1.0 | 100 | vegan protein option – up to 11g prot. | ||
| Stonewall’s Jerquee (soy based) | 1.5 | 110 | veggie protein option – up to 14g prot. | ||
| Dinners (6 nights) | qty | oz | tot | c/oz | Comments |
| Black Beans & Rice w Cheese & Corn Chips (yum!) | 2 | 5.5 | 11.0 | 115 | see Recipe Page |
| Chili Mac Dinner | 2 | 5.5 | 11.0 | 120 | see Recipe Page |
| Curry Cous Cous Dinner | 2 | 6.0 | 12.0 | 135 | see Recipe Page |
| Desserts (6 nights) | qty | oz | tot | c/oz | Comments |
| Snickers Bar or MilkyWay Midnight | 2 | 2.1 | 4.2 | 135 | daytime snack or dessert |
| Chocolate (dark) | 4 | 2.0 | 8.0 | 153 | great when eaten with dried fruit |
| Cocoa Nibs | 1.0 | 150 | tasty when added to dark chocolate | ||
| Snakwell Cookie Packet | 2 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 123 | great with hot chocolate |
| Hot Chocolate (make your own with Nido) | 2 | 2.2 | 4.4 | 130 | see Dessert recipe Page |
| Snack Bars (for ~7 days) | qty | oz | tot | c/oz | Comments |
| Kind Bars | 4 | 1.4 | 5.6 | 150 | |
| Lara Bar | 1.8 | 130 | |||
| Pro Bar Meal Bar | 2 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 125 | healthy, easy to eat |
| ProBar’s Base Protein Bars | 2 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 114 | adds 20g of soy protein |
| Cliff Builder’s Protein Bar | 2 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 115 | adds 20g of soy protein |
| Snacks (for ~7 days) | qty | oz | tot | c/oz | Comments |
| Gorp (50% walnuts, 50% dried fruit – raisins?) | 7 | 2.0 | 14.0 | 150 | usually mix my own |
| Honey sesame sticks | 7 | 1.8 | 12.6 | 150 | online or at Whole Foods |
| Candied nuts (TJs has a ton of varieties) | 3 | 1.5 | 4.5 | 150 | |
| Almonds, raw | 4 | 2.0 | 8.0 | 165 | |
| Walnuts, raw | 185 | ||||
| Dried mango un-sweetened/sulfered | 3 | 2.0 | 6.0 | 90 | also great dessert with dark chocolate! |
| Apricots (dried, un-sweetened, un-sulfered) | 4 | 1.5 | 6.0 | 87 | also great dessert with dark chocolate! |
| Papaya (dried, un-sweetened, un-sulfered) | 100 | at Whole Foods | |||
| Raisins, organic (Thompson, TJs) | 95 | ||||
| Generic dried fruit | 85 | ||||
| Jelly Bellies | 93 | ||||
| Tic-Tacs | 0 | mindless fun to eat on trail | |||
| Pringles | 150 | tasty, high in calories | |||
| Totals | |||||
| Lb of food for trip | 11.5 | ||||
| Lb food per day | 1.7 | ||||
| Calories/day | 3,530 | ||||
| Calories/oz of food | 127 |
Just used your guide to plan and book our trip – thank you, this is incredible work!
Our pleasure Chris! So glad it worked out for you. Wishing you a great trek. Warmest, -alan & alison
Typically cured meat that advertises that it was processed without nitrates means that they used celery salt instead. Which naturally contains lots of nitrates.
Just found your site Alan, Your generous commitment to helping others makes this world a better place. I can’t wait to read your full content. As a hunter in New Zealand I am very curious how I can make the trip as light as possible before the heavy carry of my game. Bless you brother.
You’re welcome. Good hunting! -a
Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into this post and your site! My husband and I are hiking/backcountry camping for a few days on one of the Channel Islands in a few weeks. Packing enough food while keeping the weight down has been a huge issue for us. This post and your others on nutritious meals are such a treasure!
Thanks, Emily. Have a great trip. -a
Thank you so much for this great site, Alan! I am preparing our first backpacking-trip with our 12 month old son, hence for the first time we really need to pack down. This is the most helpful advice I have ever found, thank you for all the work you put into this!
Judith, so glad it helped. May this only be the first of many backpacking trips with your son. I backpacked with my mother into her 50’s. Best, -a
Alan, Thank you so much for sharing all the helpful info. Planning a similar 7-day menu. Happen to know if your food list above would fit into a BearVault 450?
Good Q. There’s a fighting chance that with all the compact & “moldable” foods (they mold/conform to fit in tight spaces), e.g. dinners, breakfasts, gorp, nuts, etc., that you will be close. Especially after you’ve eaten your first days’s worth of lunch, snack food and dinner and are ready to set out the canister for the night. Trick is to keep your food as moldable as possible. BUT with all the individual variances on packaging, amounts, and food choices… there is only one way to find out for sure! So best to figure this one out at home before your trip :-)
Wishing you a great trip, -alan
Nutritious Backpacking Meal Recipes Have Posted
https://www.adventurealan.com/nutritious-backpacking-meal-recipes/
These tasty and nutritious backpacking meal recipes are healthier, have more calories and cost less than commercial, freeze dried backpacking meals. Keep it simple — there are enough nutritious backpacking meal recipes here to provide sufficient daily variety to keep meals fun and interesting. But there aren’t so many recipes that I spend too much time buying ingredients and assembling a large inventory of gourmet meals. I’d rather spend my time hiking than fussing with food.
Hi Alan, love your site too! Wondering if you can fwd me the recipe email as well. Set to do the west coast trail in June. Thanks!
Brenda,
Apologies for the late reply. I was in the backcountry when you posted your comment. Yesterday, I sent you via PM enough info to make your own breakfasts and dinners for your trip. Hope you have a great hike. All the best, -alan
Hi Alan! I am a new backpacker and am taking my first 5 day trip with my husband and boys in June in the Trinity Alps here in California. I am wanting to make as many of the “dinner” meals from scratch if possible. Do you have a link to your evening meal recipes? We have been enjoying this website and your advice so much! Thank you!!
Hilary, thanks for the kind comments about the food info on my site. And I have been sadly negligent on getting my recipes up. My somewhat lame excuse is that I’ve spent a lot of time backpacking and not enough time writing this year. While not ready to publish on the site, I am going to contact you via PM and get you enough info to make your own breakfasts and dinners for your trip. Hoping it is a good one for you. Warmest, -alan
Hey Alan, I’m in a similar situation – would love to try out some of your recipes before an upcoming trip. Any chance you could send me the same info too? I don’t care if it’s disorganized/rough/whatever. I have relied on a lot of the freeze dried meals in the past but have always worried about the crazy sodium levels, so I’m trying to come up with a new meal plan I like and want to use your food list as a starting point – it looks great!
Also, just wanted to say thanks for this site. I stumbled across it while looking for ways to reduce pack weight (thanks for that – I got rid of several pounds w/o sacrificing comfort, not to mention the increased comfort of a lighter pack), but basically this whole site has proven super useful. Thank you!
Dave,
Apologies for the late reply. I was in the backcountry when you posted your comment. I sent you via PM enough info to make your own breakfasts and dinners for your trip. Hope you have a great hike. All the best, -alan
Without this site and others like it–as forums have become nightmarish quagmires of childish routines and crass remarks–I wouldn’t be able to discover the vast vault of information shared by people all over the world as a result of their experiences. Thank you, Alan. Let me try and save everyone a few grams of sense with my two cents, or not…
I bought the Starbucks Via; sitting right beside it was the Nescafe Taster’s Choice, so I bought that too. At my local wallyworld, the Starbucks Via set me back $6 for 8 packs…that’s a hefty price for a week of one-cup-a-day instant coffee. The price of the Nescafe Taster’s Choice? $3 for 20. Nearly three weeks of coffee for half the price. An additional benefit to the Nescafe Taster’s Choice is its lighter weight at 0.07 oz(2 grams[crystallized]) per pack compared to Starbuck Via’s 0.11 oz(3.3 grams[powder]) per pack. A petty difference in weight I know, and I’m not sure whether or not the Nescafe has far less caffeine for you caffeine lovers, so let’s get to the truth…
Taste Test Time. First off, let me say that my palate is the most picky I’ve ever seen in action. Many people say ‘I have a picky palate’, so to put things into perspective I don’t eat steaks at steakhouses because those steaks are disgusting; I spit the first bite out while the rest of the table drools over their ‘Delicious steaks’. Nor could I ever drink dad’s instant coffee in my life, because that too is disgusting. That being said, when you take your first sip of Starbucks Via, you don’t think you’re drinking instant coffee. The flavor is rich and bold–I even dare say slightly nutty–and has other intrinsic qualities of that familiar brew made at home. The Nescafe Taster’s Choice has a decent taste to it, but it kinda behaves like crystallized eggs to be honest – a hybrid that isn’t as good as the real thing, but you can still taste the mixed hints of ‘Instant’ and ‘Quality Brew’.
Verdict: Coffee aficionados on the trail will have their prepped beans along with their brass or silver screens; I’ll have the Nescafe Taster’s Choice(okay, and maybe one 8-pack of Starbucks Via every other month for a week of the rich and the bold).
Alan! I love this site! I especially love the emphasis on efficient and healthy eating. The usual backpacker diet is not good for endurance or your tummy. I am doing the AT in 2017 and your info has really helped me pare down my shopping list. I did a section of the Bruce trail in ontario with a $30 tent, an old comforter, and garbage bags for rain gear so I think I can tough it out going UL. Thanks so much!!!!!!
Thanks for the kind words Chelsea. Have a great thru hike on the AT!
And apologies for the the late posting and reply to your email.(I am just out from doing the Torres deal Paine Circuit in Chile).
Could you direct me to a discussion on how much fuel per day alcohol and canister option ?
Thanks for sharing so much of your knowledge
Good Q Luke. Take a look at Best Backpacking Stove System – Trail Designs Caldera vs. JetBoil. Go down to the bottom “Options for the Trail Designs Caldera” where I talk about the Zelph “StarLyte Burner only with lid.”
The quick answer is about 1/2 fluid ounce (15 ml) alcohol to boil a pint of water in an efficient stove system like the Trail Designs Caldera. Other alcohol stoves, e.g. the “catfood stove,” are less efficient and can use up to a fluid ounce (30 ml) of fuel to boil a pint, especially if it’s cold and/or windy. I highly recommend using a good windscreen with this type of stove.
Oh, and the easiest way to figure this out for sure is to do a few tests at home. Not that hard! Regards, -alan
Wow! Just returned to your site after a few months… the new design looks great! Surprised that all my bookmarks still work with the new design – that must have taken some careful preparation on your part, so kudos and thank you for the effort!
Can’t wait until you start posting some recipes… I have my ‘big 3’ weight down to under 4 pounds and I’m trying to get into making my own food to save space. I have a dehydrator and have experimented with some family recipes that I love – chili mac, some hearty soups, etc. with varying degrees of success. These require either access to water sources at camp locations or that I carry my own water in (heavy!). But after reading your article, I am finding myself being persuaded to carrying more food that requires no prep at all. I still enjoy hot meals, but perhaps I could save a few pounds and not need to plan around water sources on-trail.
Sites like yours are so helpful and I really appreciate all the time and effort you put into it. Don’t stop! :) Thank you!
Thanks for the ideas and calorie listings. They led me to a lot of great products on Amazon.
You are welcome. -a
Alan, the remodeled site is great! I have followed you for several years, usually through BPL; your work here is clear, clean, and right to the point. Thanks for sharing your labor of love!
Glad you like it. This is only the beginning. Stay tuned. I have a lot of great new content in the pipeline. -a
Great information, thank you. I tried clicking on the recipes, but the link doesn’t work.
Sorry about that. We just launched a completely redesigned site on Sunday. Huge project. We haven’t even formally announced the new site yet.
Still tracking down some bits and ends after remodeling. And not all content has been transferred over. Thanks for your patience. -alan