The avid hiker has to pack a backpack for an extended journey and one of the most important items packed will be trail food.  You won’t find your favorite fast food restaurant on the trail so you have to go prepared. Follow these tips and you won’t be sorry.

It’s all about energy

Did you know a hiker burns up to 500 calories per hour while hiking? So for an 8 hour full day hike you could burn as much as 4000 calories. Just think, considering a pound of body fat contains 3500 calories, you could very well hike yourself to the bone if you don’t eat enough. Wow, it is amazing isn’t it? Now that you know how much energy you could be expanding don’t you think you will need some?

Here’s how to get it. Energy for hiking requires that you eat high calorie foods that deliver the most energy compared to its weight. Here is the breakdown of the three components of food that provide energy:

• Fat- 9 calories per gram
• Protein- 4 calories per gram
• Carbohydrates- 4 calories per gram

So based on this breakdown, you would think we should choose foods that have a high fat content, right? Right. However, you also need protein to repair muscles and carbohydrates for those quick energy bursts so we need to keep these factors in mind when choosing foods to eat.

Nutritionally speaking for multi-day and long distance hiking you should try to plan a balanced menu. Fat carries more calories per ounce but you should still try to get half of your calories from carbohydrates and a little bit of protein to balance it out. Also the above information is only a guide the calorie intake necessary will differ from hiker to hiker.  This can be accomplished in various ways.

What’s on the menu?

The key to the successful trail food menu is to not carry more than you need but yet carry enough to deliver the energy you do. Also trail food should be durable so you don’t end up eating crumbs. Unless you want to break the bank you want to avoid the freeze dried backpacking meals that are typically expensive.

You want to create a menu that can be easily accessible from your local food market so you can find non-perishable foods that won’t cost you a fortune. There are plenty of foods good for hiking that can be picked up right from your grocer

These following suggestions may not meet every hiker’s expectations.  Each hiker is different. You have to gear the menu to your personal taste.

• Good breakfast items would be like harvest oatmeal bars, cliff bars, blueberry or hazelnut quinoa, pop tarts or homemade energy bars that can be prepared at home.

• Snacks that can be devoured with ease are great when you need quick refreshment so things like dried fruit and almonds, fresh apples and cheddar, gorp or even a good old snickers bar.

• For lunch things like pita and dips make great meals. Items like packaged (not canned) tuna, you know the ones that have packets of mayonnaise, relish and crackers, are great as well.

• For dinner you can pick up sufficient amounts of pasta, ramen style noodles and even full meals in foil packages that can be easily prepared.

So that is about it. Always try to eat the heavier items on the menu first. Plan your menu correctly and you will carry the trail food that will deliver what your body needs for the journey.