Food & Cooking for Ultralight Backpacking & Hiking

Food & Cooking

Lightweight Nourishment for Adventures

2019 Best Backpacking Food – simple and nutritious

September 26, 2019/67 Comments/by Alan Dixon

Keep it simple, nutritious and save weight: I take inexpensive trail foods which are both tasty and nutritious. Specifically, foods that give you calories, protein, good fats, vitamins and other micro nutrients. This keeps you healthy and cruising along the trail with a spring in your step. Just as important…

The Best Hydration – Drink When Thirsty

April 27, 2017/47 Comments/by Alan Dixon

Drink When Thirsty debunks the many myths about hydration and dehydration like “If you are thirsty, it’s already too late” and “If your urine is yellow, you are dehydrated.” This article suggests that Drink When Thirsty is the best and healthiest strategy for hydration during exercise.

Cooking & Food

Trail Designs Kojin Ultralight Alcohol Stove Review

Cooking & Stoves

Based on extensive field and lab testing, I believe that the Trail Designs Kojin Ultralight Alcohol Stove is the best alcohol stove system for ultralight backpacking (when paired with a Caldera or TriTi Cone). The new Kojin stove is incredibly…

Nutritious Backpacking Meal Recipes

Backpacking Food, Beginners, How To

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 meal inventory.

Best Backpacking Stove System – Trail Designs Caldera vs. JetBoil

Cooking & Stoves, Recommended Gear

Best Backpacking Stoves: Trail Designs Caldera, the best alcohol stove system, and JetBoil, the best canister stove system. What makes these systems “best” is that they are fuel efficient, wind-resistant, stable and stow into a small package. Which is the best for you?...

Quick ways to reduce backpack weight

Backpacking Food, Backpacks, Beginners, Sleeping Bags & Quilts, Tents, Tarps & Shelters, Hydration & Water Purification

Want to shed backpack weight with the minimum of effort? The following are quick ways to reduce backpack weight. A few may surprise you...

Backpacking Food List – Simple and Nutritious for 7 days

Backpacking Food, Beginners

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…

Cooking and Lightweight Backpacking Stoves

Backpacking Food

[fusion_text]Most ultralight backpackers take stoves. Just small light ones. When I hike with others, I take a stove and do civilized stuff like make coffee & tea and hot dinners. Sometimes, especially when I solo, I go ultra simple with…

How much food should I take? The detailed answer

Backpacking Food, Beginners

There is no exact answer to this question. In my "The Best Backpacking Food - simple and nutritious", I threw out the best guess of 1.4 to 1.7 lb of food per day. But how but much food you need depends on who you are and what you do. 2015…

Backcountry Tea – loose leaf, connoisseur style

Backpacking Food

Most hikers are used to caffeine in the morning. Interrupting that habit makes for grumpy hikers who are not the best trail company. Caffeine pills help, but do not provide the same emotional (some would say spiritual) comfort of wrapping your…