How do you pack your food?

[Beastmode]

Do you pack your food per day in its own individual pouch or do you pack all your food for your whole trip together?

 

[tradair1980]

I personally pack each day. For me it really helps to get over the 4th day meltdown I sometimes used to get and wanted to steal all the good/ favorite stuff first.. Its amazing how separate packing some stuff me look as day rations alot easier ..Thats just what has worked for.me over trail and serious error

 

[Yukondog]

I divide my food up into individual bags for each day. Each bag then goes into a Kifaru meat baggy that is easy to hang in a tree. It is easy to take out one bag per day and know I will get enough calories.

Matt

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Usually food for one day goes in one bag, then all bags get packed however the trip dictates.

 

[RUTTIN]

I pack everything for one day in a gallon ziploc, then first thing in the morning I can grab one bag and know I have everything food wise for a day.

 

[Craig4791]

Same as the others I use gallon ziploc bags for each day with everything I will need.

 

[ohhiitznik]

I pack all my food for the day into gallon zip locs, then I put all those into a compression sack and stuff in the pack. When I get to camp or what not I'll leave it or hang it.

 

[Becca]

I guess I am in the minority, I pack all the breakfast food into one (or more) gallon ziplocks, all the snacks into others, and leave the dinner entree pouches loose. Once camp is set up, I unpack all the food and organize it along the edges of the tent. Each day we eat breakfast and I pack a bag of snacks for the day...I usually overpack this bag, which is nice in a bivy out situation or just a late night because it means we have at least some extra food along. We typically return to camp for dinner (sometimes late, like midnight haha) and choose a dinner entree based on what sounds good, and also how hard we worked (I have an idea of which pouches have more calories and which have less). Since we stayed away from camp several times last season, I have taken to carrying at least one high calorie entree (MH Mac and cheese rings in at 900 cal per pouch!!) in the bottom of my pack just in case


I have found I don't always know what I will be in the mood for later, and so having a "day snack" bag with some variety means I can choose salty/sweet/savory etc later in the day depending on how I am feeling...Luke pretty much eats whatever I hand him, whenever I hand it to him

 

[Jager]

Interesting concept Becca, might have to look into it.

I usually pack my days food off a night into an outside pouch on my pack, a carry over from soldiering days I guess, some of these old habits need ditching however, and I need to enjoy the experience more rather than acting tactically.

 

[Yellowknife]

I guess I am in the minority, I pack all the breakfast food into one (or more) gallon ziplocks, all the snacks into others, and leave the dinner entree pouches loose. Once camp is set up, I unpack all the food and organize it along the edges of the tent. Each day we eat breakfast and I pack a bag of snacks for the day...I usually overpack this bag, which is nice in a bivy out situation or just a late night because it means we have at least some extra food along. We typically return to camp for dinner (sometimes late, like midnight haha) and choose a dinner entree based on what sounds good, and also how hard we worked (I have an idea of which pouches have more calories and which have less). Since we stayed away from camp several times last season, I have taken to carrying at least one high calorie entree (MH Mac and cheese rings in at 900 cal per pouch!!) in the bottom of my pack just in case

This is exactly how I do it. Except maybe the organizing along the edge of the tent part. Usually, it's more of a loose pile.

When packing for longer trips, I'll tape 3-4 MH together (alternating fat and skinny ends), just to keep the pile getting too out of control.

Yk

 

[Becca]

This is exactly how I do it. Except maybe the organizing along the edge of the tent part. Usually, it's more of a loose pile.

When packing for longer trips, I'll tape 3-4 MH together (alternating fat and skinny ends), just to keep the pile getting too out of control.

Yk

That's a great idea!! Since I usually bring two of each type of entree (since I pack for the two of us) I could just tape the same of each entree together fat and skinny end to keep the packages more compact. Excellent!

Sometimes ours is more loose pile, less organized too Funny thing is, I find it's actually easier to organize stuff if one edge of the tipi is slightly uphill...keeps things from falling over or sliding out from underneath.

 

[Becca]

Not the greatest pictures, but this shows a little better how I organize food for trips ahead of time. I actually had food organized for 3 different week long backpack hunts by mid July this year.

18 days of food for two people (Dall sheep hunt)

Similar organization for a shorter trip:

Our food packing station stays up from May thru October:

 

[luke moffat]

This is exactly how I do it. Except maybe the organizing along the edge of the tent part. Usually, it's more of a loose pile.

Oh don't let her fool ya, here is our meals/food for the first night on an 8 day sheep hunt (organized along the edges of the tent)

 

[G Posik]

I pack all my food for the day into gallon zip locs, then I put all those into a compression sack and stuff in the pack. When I get to camp or what not I'll leave it or hang it.

This is how I do it. Works great and takes the guess work out of getting what you need for the day.

Glenn

 

[shaun]

Oh don't let her fool ya, here is our meals/food for the first night on an 8 day sheep hunt (organized along the edges of the tent)

Haha!!! Did she make you sleep on couch for showing that

 

[justinspicher]

I am just starting to get into this backcountry hunting, so I don't have a way I pack chow yet, just theories I think will work. Now I have better ideas how to go about this. I am glad I came across this thread, I am tired of MRE's.

 

[Yellowknife]

Oh don't let her fool ya, here is our meals/food for the first night on an 8 day sheep hunt (organized along the edges of the tent)

Ah yes, that looks about right. Our food packing methodologies are highly similar. I do know a number of guides that prefer the 1 bag = 1 day method. I can see that keeping things simple with back to back clients.

I do remember the days of having a resupply pile during the summers. We did a lot of backcountry canoe trips, and so resupply consisted most of restocking the wanigan (food box). Wife got off work earlier than I did, so I usually came home on Friday night to find the Jeep loaded and ready to roll. One of the perks of the endless light of northern summers. No need to wait till morning to get the adventure started! That was before we decided to build a log house and fill it with kids. Good times those were.

Yk

 

[fillthefreezer]

i pack everything into one gal ziplocks, i dont really eat breakfast so i snack til lunch. i also pack all the dinners to make the wifes pack lighter. we usually end up rummaging for whatever MH she fancies that night

 

[Wrongside]

Good thread. Neat to see what some of you guys and girls are doing for food.

Most of my food gets separated into large Ziploc freezer bags by category, and then thrown into my hangable 'food bag'. Breakfast, lunch, dinners, snacks.

Breakfasts are usually oatmeal with nuts, trail mix and protein powder added and then bagged in med freezer bags for cooking. Sometimes a MH egg 'thing'...

Lunches are generally cold or 'snacky'. Jerky, bars, trail mix, etc. Not usually broken into servings, just kinda bulk packed. Sometimes I'll have a Cup-o-Soup, but usually lunch is cold and on the go.

Suppers are often MH entrees. ( Both 'servings'. ) I usually add some freeze dried veggies to make them taste better and re-bag at least half of them in Ziplocs to save weight/space. The other MH pouches get rinsed and reused at least once for cooking the re-bagged meals.

If going out for the day, in a spike camp situation, I'll just pull out what I want for the day+ at breakfast.

 

[cali_hornhunter]

Great thread I've been trying to figure out a good method to pack food and this has definitely helped