Backcountry nutrition

[sagehunter]

I love backcountry hunting and this year I would like to shave some weight off my pack and really dial in my nutritional needs. How do you pack food for the a 5 day outing? What is the average daily calorie requirement? Any good meal suggestions? I also do not want to bring my stove if im only going for 5 days. I plan on making a spread sheet to help me shop and organize. Any insight is appreciated.

[ntspdy]

I'm right there with ya. I love backpacking and hunting. The past few years I've started doing some backcountry hunts. Growing up I did a lot of backpacking but my dad always took care of the planning (ahh youth, gotta love it). I'm in the middle of planning my meals for a six day outing right now. I on the other hand do plan on taking my stove. Here's what I did last year.

Breakfast: Two packs of single serve instant oatmeal and/or pop tart (mix and match) and apple cider.
Lunch: Mountain House lunch for two (split with hunting partner), pudding, a couple cookies, and a tortilla with butter.
Dinner: Mountain House dinner for two, freeze dried fruit, and Swiss Miss hot chocolate pack.

I pack each days meals in a large ziploc bag which works great as a trash bag at the end of the day. I'll throw in three of the Gatoraide single packs to add to my water bottle throughout the day and two cliff bars or trail mix for snacks. To make the pudding I buy the dry ingredient and powdered milk then mix accordingly in a small ziploc bag. When ready to make just add the correct amount of water for the powdered milk and eat out of the ziploc. It takes some trial and error to get the right amount so you don't carry too much or too little. Target carries a nice variety of freeze dried fruit for a decent price. I buy the big bag and separate into small ziploc bags for each meal. Basically, I keep whoever makes ziploc's in business but lucky for me the thin snack bags don't weigh much. For one or two of the lunches I'll skip the Mountain House and add some extra trail mix, pop tart or extra bar then snack all morning. Helps keep the cost down and relieve the freeze dried boredom.

Give me a few weeks and I'll get you an exact weight for all of my meals and what's in them. I'm always looking for suggestions and other items to give me more of a variety. I'm sure BOHNTR and the other experienced backcountry hunters on this forum would have a lot to add to this conversation.

[TahoeRy]

I am going to be heading into the backcountry as well this year. I do the same mountain house meals for my dinners and typically just eat the nature valley and cliff bars in the morning. Its gets old, but they don't weigh much and they are full of calories. I do add beef jerky, nuts and odd snacks to my pack as well to keep me going through the day. I also have to carry some of those Starbuck's instant coffee packs. I don't really like Starbuck's coffee, but the little packs are so nice to have early in the mornings.

I am also interested to see what other guys are doing when packing deep into the backcountry. I love the instant oatmeal idea, that would be a great supplement with my bars. What kind of water purifiers or treatments are you guys using?

Another topic that we should talk about is bear safety with all of this food we are all packing into their domain? Where I hunt, bears are all over the place and rather large. I have been considering buying one of those bear proof food containers to pack my food in but never do. Already had a close call one night while camping this year so i'm interested to see what everybody else is doing with this food at night besides just leaving your pack away from your tent.

[sagehunter]

Thanks guys. I think ive figured out my plan. Instant oatmeal for breakfast. PBJ and salami cheese on bagels for lunch. MREs for dinner. Nuts, fruit, and bars for snacks. I can post the weight of this in a couple days and I wont have to pack my stove. For water I have iodine tablets and a pump. Last year I took my tablets to save weight but there was kind of a funky taste, slightly dirty water, and I had to wait 30 mins to drink it which really sucked. I was thinking I would take my pump this year but I might end up with the tablets again. I have been really lucky here in Colorado with bears. I just keep my food away from me and have never had any problems.

[sagehunter]

Alright so I got all my food packed and weighed for 5 days. I went with instant oatmeal for breakfast, pbj sandwich for lunch, salami cheese sandwich for dinner, and bars, nuts, dried fruit, and cheese crackers for snacks. It all totaled just over 3500 calories per day and weighs 2.25 lbs per day. So ive got it at 11.25 lbs of food for 5 days and no stove. I think thats pretty good but im not really sure. I guess ill figure out if this works for me after the first outing.

[TahoeRy]

Doesn't sound to bad and you saved weight by not brining your stove and fuel. I find comfort in warm drinks and food but you could still do that by using the camp fire if you felt like you needed it. Nice choices on food as well.

[Springville Shooter]

Mountain House Rasberry Crumble is a MUST if I am living off the old back for a few days. Also, my friends and I have developed a little friendly competition for tenderloin spice kits. We have a tradition that each hunter brings his own spice kit and prepares the tenderloin from his take for the entire camp. Then we critique the goods while we enjoy a morsel of fresh venison that is very welcome after a few days of dehydrated. -------------SS

[Tonoonyi]

Alright so I got all my food packed and weighed for 5 days. I went with instant oatmeal for breakfast, pbj sandwich for lunch, salami cheese sandwich for dinner, and bars, nuts, dried fruit, and cheese crackers for snacks. It all totaled just over 3500 calories per day and weighs 2.25 lbs per day. So ive got it at 11.25 lbs of food for 5 days and no stove. I think thats pretty good but im not really sure. I guess ill figure out if this works for me after the first outing.

That should be more than enough, I usually try to stay over 2,000 calories per day and have a real hard time eating it all when I am hunting. I think that an MRE if you eat everything in it is around 1,250 calories on average. That plus some snack bars will keep you running pretty hard for 24 hours.

[sagehunter]

It turns out it was a little too much. I still packed a days worth of food out even after trying to eat as much as possible. It also only weighed just over 8 pounds because I ate most of the first days food on the drive to the trail head. All and all it turned out really good and I think I really have it dialed in for myself now. I can probably go for 5 days at around 6 pounds.

[sagehunter]

Thanks for all your insight guys.