Food for back country hunting

[Brook.Trout]

Head out on my sheep hunt in a little over three weeks, packs ready to go just gotta finish my food. I always seem to pack too much and be heavy on my food supply for the trip. I’ve always read a good rule of thumb is a pound of food per day, I usually exceed that. What does everyone pack for food during the day, lightweight food and highest calorie possible.

 

[BRTreedogs]

These are for elk not sheep.
But really the calculation should be on calories not weight.
You need what you need. The weight is what it is.

 

[Flydaho]

1 pound of food per day (likely around 2,000 cal/day) will not be enough IMHO. With as much energy as you expend during a sheep hunt, you should be up around 3,000 cal/day or more. Even at that, you may be left wanting for energy depending on your height and weight. My shorter light-weight hunts end up around 1.6 lbs/day, and a more healthy average for grueling extended hunts (8-10 day) is 1.8/1.9 lbs per day (but I also eat a lot at 6'2" and 225 lbs; you may be able to get away with less). I could go lighter, but for me this is a healthy compromise between enjoying the food I bring and getting in the calories/fats/proteins that I need. You don't want to run out of gas when things get hard. Take some items that you know you enjoy (Honey Stinger waffles for me) so you have something to look forward to. An easy way to boost calories and fats (which can be hard to come by in backpacking foods) is to take olive oil or coconut oil to pour over your dinners at night. Here is an example of a 5-night meal plan for me. I'll probably tweak things a bit this year and add an electrolyte drink to the mix. I hope this helps.

 

[hikenhunt]

1 pound of food per day (likely around 2,000 cal/day) will not be enough IMHO. With as much energy as you expend during a sheep hunt, you should be up around 3,000 cal/day or more. Even at that, you may be left wanting for energy depending on your height and weight. My shorter light-weight hunts end up around 1.6 lbs/day, and a more healthy average for grueling extended hunts (8-10 day) is 1.8/1.9 lbs per day (but I also eat a lot at 6'2" and 225 lbs; you may be able to get away with less). I could go lighter, but for me this is a healthy compromise between enjoying the food I bring and getting in the calories/fats/proteins that I need. You don't want to run out of gas when things get hard. Take some items that you know you enjoy (Honey Stinger waffles for me) so you have something to look forward to. An easy way to boost calories and fats (which can be hard to come by in backpacking foods) is to take olive oil or coconut oil to pour over your dinners at night. Here is an example of a 5-night meal plan for me. I'll probably tweak things a bit this year and add an electrolyte drink to the mix. I hope this helps.

View attachment 304669

Pretty detailed plan, is there a reason you don't track carbs?

 

[Flydaho]

reason you don't track carbs?

Good point, I might add that column this year just to see what it comes in at. Most of the higher calorie pre-packaged dinners use either pasta or rice to get high calorie counts, and as a byproduct you get a good amount of carbs. It's more difficult to get high protein and fat in backpacking meals as those two items are more expensive (so producers use less) or they are hard to incorporate (fats don't keep well in pre-packaged items).

 

[Brook.Trout]

1 pound of food per day (likely around 2,000 cal/day) will not be enough IMHO. With as much energy as you expend during a sheep hunt, you should be up around 3,000 cal/day or more. Even at that, you may be left wanting for energy depending on your height and weight. My shorter light-weight hunts end up around 1.6 lbs/day, and a more healthy average for grueling extended hunts (8-10 day) is 1.8/1.9 lbs per day (but I also eat a lot at 6'2" and 225 lbs; you may be able to get away with less). I could go lighter, but for me this is a healthy compromise between enjoying the food I bring and getting in the calories/fats/proteins that I need. You don't want to run out of gas when things get hard. Take some items that you know you enjoy (Honey Stinger waffles for me) so you have something to look forward to. An easy way to boost calories and fats (which can be hard to come by in backpacking foods) is to take olive oil or coconut oil to pour over your dinners at night. Here is an example of a 5-night meal plan for me. I'll probably tweak things a bit this year and add an electrolyte drink to the mix. I hope this helps.

View attachment 304669

I understand 1 pound a day is a hard number to reach. But when I’m usually backpacking for sheep 10-14 days it’s a big difference from 10-14 pounds, to 20-28 pounds. I eat a lot too and understand good fueling, I usually lose at least 15-20 pounds on a trip, I eat heavily as I train in powerlifting and I am 265 lbs. but know I can live without eating that much. I’ve done it on several occasions. The lightest highest calorie foods is what I’m after whether I’m shooting for a dream pack weight I’m not sure but I’d like to try!

 

[JohnB]

I'd get murdered by one of my hunting buddies due to being a complete asshole if I tried to get by on 1 lb of food a day for an extended trip.

I can get a bit hangry. I'm 6'2” 180 FWIW.

 

[Brook.Trout]

I'd get murdered by one of my hunting buddies due to being a complete asshole if I tried to get by on 1 lb of food a day for an extended trip.

I can get a bit hangry. I'm 6'2” 180 FWIW.

Hope they pack a snickers!

 

[tdot]

I've done 1lb a day trips and they are unnecessarily brutal, and they were only 4-5 days. I'm much happier at 1.5lbs, approx 3000 calories. I'm 6' @ 165, and I'm used to fasting, it's my natural eating habit. You can definitely survive on less, but the question is how.much does it affect your mental game, not just your physical. 1 mistake in the mountains due to hunger induced stupidity can result in more energy being burned then the additional pack weight.

I consume 2 tablespoons of oil at every meal. Medium Chain Triglycerides in my porridge in the AM, olive oil in my pasta at lunch and dinner. Its probably the easiest/lightest way to bulk up calories. I have done ski touring trips where I backed off on my food intake for the last portion of the trip and bulked up my oil intake. It's an easy way to split the difference between packing too much and not consuming enough calories.

 

[philintheblank]

I'm at about 12.8 pounds for 7 days (that includes packaging and organization sacks as well) and hitting just shy of 3000 calories per day. Don't think I would want to go lighter. the best part about food weight is it keeps getting lighter. I don't usually have sit down meals during the day as I prefer to snack a little bit here and there so I have lots of bars and trail mix for that. For breakfast I like oatmeal with brown sugar and berries. I am going to try adding olive oil to my suppers this year to see if the added calories is noticeable.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

My rule of thumb for foods to make the cut is it's gotta be over 100 cal/oz. Then I just make sure I have enough calories. Whatever it weighs is what it weighs.

 

[Mudd Foot]

FWIW, the system that has worked for me is to consume @ 30-35% more calories per day in the field. My preference is for add-water meals due to simplicity and weight rather than bars. These are supplemented with dried fruit and jerky.


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[HiMtnHntr]

Some really good, well-planned meal schedules there. One of my favs if you can swing it are flour tortillas with peanut butter and honey spread, with bacon of you can. Not necessarily light, but packs a serious punch. I fold them 2x and put em in a zip lock. They keep a long time. Fairly messy, but a welcome snack.

 

[JFin15]

Anyone have any good recipes/ideas for pre-packaged meals for long-distance lightweight backpacking?
Planning my next thru hike for next spring and I'm honestly quite sick of the same ole mountain house routine.
Planning on doing a 'bulk-prep'if you will and sending myself drop boxes for atleast the first 1000mi. After that, I already know I'll be so sick of anything my brain thought to prep so I'm looking for new ideas.

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[dvstrl]

Others will be able to better advise you on secret dehydrator recipes for your bulk-prep, but I'm happy to share my dirtbag in-town grocery store approach. Are there other things you're mailing yourself along the way besides food? You might be able to forgo the expense of shipping and not tie yourself down to post office hours.

My appetite and taste tends to get a little weird after several hard days. I've been happy with a modular sort of dinner slop rotation to get some variety and flexibility.

If you get in the habit of glancing at the nutrition facts on packaging while you grocery shop now, you'll be able to pick out some calorically dense foods quickly on your town days. Calories per gram is easier for me to ballpark in my head from the packaging- it's already there in the nutrition facts header. 4 cal/g is about equal to that 100cal/oz figure others have mentioned.

Breakfast and lunch are usually one continual no-cook meal eaten while hiking: Cafe Bustelo instant coffee, bars, candy, fritos, cookies, dry fruit, nuts, jerky, corn nuts, etc.

Dinners:
+carb-heavy base (pasta/rice side, quinoa, potato flakes, easy mac, la moderna mini pasta packages)
+ powdered seasoning packets (gravy, chili, pesto, stroganoff, dehydrated refried beans, powdered hummus etc)
+ fat (olive oil, butter in winter)
+Powdered cheese and powdered hot chilis.

I find I can put an oz of oil in anything and not really notice it, but the meal gets a decent calorie boost. It's nice to have a mini HDPE nalgene to repackage the oil to avoid leaks. I'll mostly look to the snacks I eat on the move all day for protein.

It took me awhile to realize it but junk food is your friend; it's usually tasty, calorically dense, easy for your very tired body to digest efficiently, and abundant. Salt, fat, and sugar are exactly what you need. The 3-4x cost savings over mountain house is a nice bonus too! Treat yourself to some fancy bars, a deli sandwich, or scratch whatever weird craving you've had for the last week.

 

[chizelhead]

Lot's of good stuff here. I like the ideas of adding oil. A couple things to add/consider:

• For meat, I've precooked bacon. It lasts, it's calorie dense, it tastes good cold, and who doesn't like bacon.
• Tuna in foil packs added to vegetarian freeze dried meals.
• I always bring garlic powder for freeze dried.

Things I haven't tried but am curious about.

• Bullet proof INSTAMIX Keto Creamer packets to add to my morning Starbucks via. I drink my coffee black, but I think this would be a good calorie dense boost in the morning. I figure if I'm already drinking coffee, I can calorie up at the same time.
• Ghee - shelf stable, concentrated butter

 

[mtwarden]

It's definitely a "thing" that takes some time and trial to dial in well, but once dialed it makes trip planning pretty easy. What works great for one guy, might not work so great for you.

I'm in the ~ 1.5 lb/3000-ish cal/day camp; that works best for me on long/arduous days; still at a significant deficit, but it's enough calories to carry me through- day after day

I pay more attention to protein now than I did in the past-especially for longer trips. Switching to Peak Refuel meals in the evening has solved most of that concern- they also have more calories than most freeze dried meals and they happen to taste pretty good too.

I do add two packets of olive oil to every freeze dried meal- quick and easy calorie boost for very little weight.

^ to the above poster- I was making my own bulletproof coffee by adding powdered butter and powdered coconut oil (real things ). Recently I purchased some prepackaged stuff called Fat Fuel coffee, probably will still add a Via to it, to try out.

 

[orion_]

My experience is more with long distance hiking and backcountry trail work than hunting, but I think modularity is really key. If you can come up with meals you can throw your trail mix/gorp and oil/ghee in, regardless of whether it's breakfast lunch or dinner, it simplifies things while still landing just short of monotony.

Little things I've thought of here and there:
-Ghee is my preference, since olive oil in oatmeal is a little strange.
- I take halva instead of chocolate sometimes, since it has decent ratios of sugars: fats: proteins, and is around 145 calories / oz. I also throw it in oatmeal.
- cold soaking is almost never worth it. Boiling water for cold soakable staples like couscous, instant potatoes, oatmeal etc. is a valuable comfort boost.
- dehydrated smoothies with your protein powder of choice become a weird fruit leather that's an excellent lazy snack
- peanut butter or tahini are excellent additions to ramen, but peanut butter is obviously more versatile
- for first days out, fruit that you can eat whole with no waste like apples or kiwis are worth the brief extra weight

 

[Mosby]

Anyone have any good recipes/ideas for pre-packaged meals for long-distance lightweight backpacking?
Planning my next thru hike for next spring and I'm honestly quite sick of the same ole mountain house routine.
Planning on doing a 'bulk-prep'if you will and sending myself drop boxes for atleast the first 1000mi. After that, I already know I'll be so sick of anything my brain thought to prep so I'm looking for new ideas.

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Google Andrew Skurka. He is big in the ultra light community and he hunts. He guides people on backpacking trips and has some of his recipes on his website he makes from scratch.

 

[dvstrl]

Google Andrew Skurka. He is big in the ultra light community and he hunts. He guides people on backpacking trips and has some of his recipes on his website he makes from scratch.

Oh man, his beans and rice with fritos... 10/10