FeatherSticks · Cooking
Trail Food Planning: Calories, Grams per Day and Sample Meal Plans
Most people carry too much food – or the wrong food. Plan it in grams.
Quick facts
- Time
- 30–60 min planning + 1 h repacking
- Difficulty
- Easy with a kitchen scale
- Best for
- Overnighters, multi-day hikes, canoe and bushcraft trips
- You need
- Scale, zip bags, marker, calorie planner
What you need
- Kitchen scale for portioning
- Freezer-grade zip bags and a permanent marker
- Food bag or dry bag
- Stove, gas canister and windscreen
- Pot with lid and an insulated cozy
- Long-handled spoon
- Small bottle of olive oil
- Hand sanitiser
Step by step
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1 Estimate calories per day
Base metabolism times activity, plus a surcharge for cold nights. A hiking day for an average adult is roughly 2,500–3,300 kcal.
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2 Convert calories into grams
Divide daily calories by the energy density of your food. At about 4 kcal per gram, 3,000 kcal weigh around 750 g.
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3 Build a daily menu
Breakfast, a grazing lunch, snacks and a hot dinner. Aim for roughly half the energy from carbs, a third from fat and 15 % from protein.
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4 Repack into day bags
Remove boxes, weigh portions into zip bags and label each with the day, the meal and the water it needs.
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5 Plan water and fuel
Count cooking water per meal, about 0.4–1.2 L per person and day, and the gas or wood to boil it.
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6 Pack, store and eat safely
Eat perishables first, keep food dry and away from animals, wash hands and carry one reserve meal or day.
Common mistakes
- Planning in meals instead of calories and grams – and ending up with a pack full of heavy, watery food.
- Taking new foods on a trip without testing them at home.
- Forgetting that dry food needs water – and camping far from a source.
- Underestimating fuel for cold weather, wind or melting snow.
- Keeping cooked leftovers overnight in warm weather.
- Carrying no reserve on trips longer than three days.