how much food to bring

[horngobbler]

going on a eight day backpack hunt. Thinking of mt house about 12 meals. Is that going to be enough. Need some thoughts. Thanks

 

[ohhiitznik]

What snack food are you going to bring? ARe you just going to boil and eat mountain house? Thatll get old quick....

 

[dotman]

Here is what I take per day:

1 - mountain house for dinner
2 - instant oatmeals for breakfast
1 - cliff bar for lunch
2 - snack baggies of trail mix 3oz each
2 - coffees

So times this by 8 for 8 days of food.

 

[horngobbler]

granola bars and also m&m s with oatmeal in the morning not a big dried fruit fan

 

[horngobbler]

thanks dotman

 

[ohhiitznik]

Here's what I bring, and I go heavy on food.

1 Dehydrated meal (mtn house, FBC , alpine aire)
1 Stinger waffle
1 Shot block
2 trail mix baggies
2 Archer farms fruit leather packets
1 clif builder bar
1 tuna packet/salmon packet/idahoan potatoes/ramen noodles (have one of these items in each food pack)
2 oatmeal packets mixed with protein powder to be eaten cold for breakfast

I also carry a couple of snickers and paydays...

I carry 2 lbs of food per day.

 

[broncoformudv]

Here's what I bring, and I go heavy on food.

1 Dehydrated meal (mtn house, FBC , alpine aire)
1 Stinger waffle
1 Shot block
2 trail mix baggies
2 Archer farms fruit leather packets
1 clif builder bar
1 tuna packet/salmon packet/idahoan potatoes/ramen noodles (have one of these items in each food pack)
2 oatmeal packets mixed with protein powder to be eaten cold for breakfast

I also carry a couple of snickers and paydays...

I carry 2 lbs of food per day.

That is real close to what I have been carrying, good list!

It seems like 1.5 to 2 lbs of food per day is just about right. That pack of ramen for lunch really seems to help fill my stomach up and provide me with some additional warmth during the mid day when I am sitting still glassing on the mountain. I like your idea of varying it with tuna/salmon or potatoes. Might have to give that a try next year.

 

[gobbler1662]

Okay all my hunting is backpack hunting so I do this all the time. This year I will be out for 21 days straight my longest archery elk backcountry hunt yet. The amount of food you take depends on body size and individual consumption. There are six guys I hunt with and we all vary slightly because of body size and weight. So use this as a base.

Basically I take either instant oatmeal or bagels or pop tarts for breakfast, then I eat 4 energy bars per day then I split up the mountain house meals in half and put them into sandwich size bags. I keep one or two mountain house bags to dump the baggies back into and to reconstitute the meal. This saves a ton of space. So lunch and dinner is mountain house. Remember these mealse are sized for two so splitting them up into individual size is no problem. You can substitute breakfasts ivy switching up instant oatmeal for bagels or pop tarts kind of nice to mix them up a bit. Also I take some of the Ora Ida instant potatoes I pack one pack for every 4 days to use if I get hungry there filling and taste real good my favorite is the fully loaded and 4 cheese. All the guys in my group do the same thing with slight variations due to body size, some take two instant oatmeals for breakfast some take just one.

 

[ohhiitznik]

I also have backpackers pantry cheesecake and chocolate mousse pie, I carry 4 for the 10 day trip to have some desserts

 

[sk1]

+1 on the stinger waffles......I just tried the honey one the other day, absolutely delicious, the chocolate one was just ok....i ordered a 16 pack off amazon for like $15, they are probably all going with lol. talk about tastey and a quick 160 calories

other good sources of high calories

mountain man trail mix great value brand from walmart - cheapest and delicious like $5 for 28oz pack
raisins are surprisingly high in calories
peanut butter - packets can be ordered on amazon

 

[Curtis C]

Eating 12 MH meals is 8 days would be very difficult for me. Some are tasty especially after hunting all day but they do get old real quick.

I would suggest 1 MH dinner for each evening. Another option is the instant taters doctored up with real bacon pieces.

Then breakfast for each day(oatmeal, poptarts, granola cereal w/powdered milk).

For lunch I look at shelf stable meats like tuna, dry salami, peperoni, spam. or peanut butter on a tort with real bacon pieces. I like the tuna packages but they only have about 40cal per oz of weight so I only plan to take a couple of those.

food bars, trail mix, jerky, goos, stinger waffles etc for snacks

Try to take differen foods so you have some variety so you can continue to eat what you packed in.

Heres one day

Breakfast
Prepacked oats with brown sugar, butter buds, dry milk, dry blueberries & coffee

Snack
Raw food bar, jerky

Lunch
PB and bacon pieces on a tort, stinger waffle

Snack
Kind bar, goo or block, trail mix

Dinner
Mountain House

 

[broncoformudv]

I also have backpackers pantry cheesecake and chocolate mousse pie, I carry 4 for the 10 day trip to have some desserts

Good call and good choice, I carry the same!

 

[tstowater]

Have you ever thought about shooting one earlier in the hunt?

 

[HellsCanyon]

Good call and good choice, I carry the same!

The mountain house smores is much tastier than the cheesecake from BP in my opinion. Give it a try next time! Hard for me to eat a whole desert by myself as they are quite rich! Though oh so tasty!

Mike

 

[Lawnboi]

I have to say BP cheesecake and chocolate cheesecake is the best tasting desert, and the best thing is its loaded with calories.

Ill have to try the smores

 

[Rick Seymour]

"2 oatmeal packets mixed with protein powder to be eaten cold for breakfast"
Is this the conventional ones I put in the microwave/add hot water to ?? If so I will have to try at the homestead before trying that in the field.

 

[a3dhunter]

breakfast- pop tart and special k fruit crisp
snack- peanut butter crackers
lunch- flat bread PBJ candwich
snack- chips ahoy,nutter butter or oreo cookies- prepackaged has 4 cookies
other snacks- small package of peanuts, one lemonade drink additive per day, cheese crackers, hard candy
dinner- mashed potato packages (can add MH meal as needed)

My meals come up to 2400 calories at 1.4 lbs

 

[Mike7]

I make a lot of my own meals from bulk foods now and break down MH meals like Gobleer1662 does. WinCo in this area for instance is a supermarket with all kinds of bulk foods that you can make into your own personalized meals and snacks really easily with just a little experimentation.

For those that like to put in more effort than that, you can do what my friend does. He is an animal and has hiked the Pacific Crest once and the Apalachian trail twice and he made gormet meals at home for good portions of his trip by blending up a portion of each of his nightly meals at home months in advance, dehydrating them, freezing them, and then having them shipped to him along the trail apparently. I haven't tried anything like that yet.

I generally pack an average of 1 1/2 lbs of food/day (more wt if taking fewer dried items) and keep my food down by my water bladder surrounded by clothes and it seems to stay cool. Heavier more perishable luxury items generally get eaten earlier on. I now want to try making my own granola/sports bars maybe as some have suggested here (thanks for the recipe) and am always looking to tweak things. Some things don't work for everyone. For instance, I love the smoked salmon and also like onions, but if I eat either of those, I seem to smell like that food for at least 24 hrs.

For me options which have worked out well include:

Breakfast: Hot meal -Quick oats in sandwhich baggies mixed with sliced almonds, cranberries, and raisins (I add chocolate milk mix when preparing for the kids).
Cold meal or snack - granola/dried fruit with powdered milk.

Dinner: MH meal the first night and save the bag for cooking other meals. Minute rice or Polenta with bulk dried refried beans (add your own cumin, cayenne pepper, and garlic salt to taste if you get the non-spiced dried refried beans variety). Couscous with dried vegetables and spices soup mix (add other spices to taste). Idaho potatoes. Fine pasta (like buckwheat ramen noodles) with parmesan cheese, spices (like Trader Joes mixed seasoning bottle), olive oil, and dried garlic pieces.

Lunch/snacks: individually wrapped Tillamook cheese packets with or without crackers, dried fruit, Justin's Nut Butter packets, bagel/cream cheese packet/carrot sandwhiches (keep items separate until eaten unless eating during the first couple of days), homemade trailmix(raw sunflower seeds, roasted salted peanuts, tamari almonds, dark chocolate chips, little Reese's chips, raisins, dried cranberries, etc.), jerky, mix almond butter or peanut butter with honey and then roll into tortillas as sandwhiches, Honey Stinger Chews and Waffles, Balance & Laura Bars, salted cashews, Backpacker's pantry packaged deserts.

Drinks: Wilderness Athlete Hydrate and Recover, hot cider packets, hot chocolate, herbal tea. I've heard that the GU Recovery Brews are good (the ingredients certainly seem pretty good) but haven't tried them yet myself, and I think these are similar to some of the Wilderness Athlete products.

 

[ohhiitznik]

"2 oatmeal packets mixed with protein powder to be eaten cold for breakfast"
Is this the conventional ones I put in the microwave/add hot water to ?? If so I will have to try at the homestead before trying that in the field.

Yes rick it is, I don't even chew them. I drink them out of the baggie like a protein shake in the morning. They are oats mixed with my chocolate protein.

 

[ohhiitznik]

breakfast- pop tart and special k fruit crisp
snack- peanut butter crackers
lunch- flat bread PBJ candwich
snack- chips ahoy,nutter butter or oreo cookies- prepackaged has 4 cookies
other snacks- small package of peanuts, one lemonade drink additive per day, cheese crackers, hard candy
dinner- mashed potato packages (can add MH meal as needed)

My meals come up to 2400 calories at 1.4 lbs

A big boy like you and this is all you're eating?! I need 3000-3200 calories a day without hunting just to maintain... damn A3D quit starving yourself!