How much food do I take for a kid's backpack trip?

[sargent]

I'm planning a four day, three night backpacking trip with my wife and three kids (ages 5,7,9). I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for how much and what kinds of food to take for the kids. I've done a lot of backpacking and generally carry 3,000-3,500 calories per day, but I'm not sure I have to carry that much for the kids. I also don't want them to be hungry the whole trip. Any advice or shared experiences would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[Tod osier]

As you know kids can eat a lot one day and not so much the next. Before the trip we always test out some of the meals to get an idea, but you never really know until the day. Bring your best guess and a snack bag of moderately desirable snacks so you can supplement when they need more. Dont want favorite snacks because they will eat them and not eat dinner.

For our son we found it useful to warn him several times before the trip he needs to eat because there are days he just wants to snack and that may not work with the food plan.

 

[Gorp2007]

I'd definitely test drive some meals before you're out on the trail and don't be afraid to pack a little heavy and make sure they've got food they'll actually eat. I know my kids probably wouldn't go too crazy for most of the mountain house stuff, but there's never a bad time for PB&J or Kraft mac & cheese.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Pack lots of decent snacks...they get hungry frequently when hiking.

 

[twall13]

I've found my kids would generally share a mountain house and even then, depending on the flavor, didn't always finish it between 2 of them. They liked the mac and cheese and spaghetti ok but overall I've had better luck with Peak Refuel for them. I typically do freeze dried dinner, oatmeal breakfast or a pop tart, and PB & J for lunches for them. Get the little jams from IHOP or somewhere similar. They also like just a bag of dry cereal to eat for breakfast on occasion.

When I do it, I pack all the meals and let them pack a snack bag they have to carry. I give them some options to choose from but ultimately they pack snacks they want to eat and have to take responsibility for it if they don't like them on the trail. It's a great learning experience for them. Doing a few practice hikes with their loaded pack helps them prioritize snacks. Make sure they have snacks easily accessible while hiking and take breaks to keep them enjoying it. Once their snacks are gone they don't have much choice but to eat the meals you brought or the fish you catch, but I always have enough so there's no risk of them starving.

Another thing I've done that seems to work well is to let them choose a Gatorade or Powerade to drink on the initial hike. Then use that bottle for their water bottle for the rest of the trip. I pack propel packets or hi c packets for them to add to their water and it keeps them drinking so they stay hydrated and they really like adding the packets to the water, especially if it changes color.

Plan on packing a lot of weight yourself to keep their packs light. I think of those trips as weighted pack training for packing elk out later in the fall and typically have my pack loaded with 65-75 lbs. of gear so I can keep the kids happy and comfortable.

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[Ridge Ghost]

About 20# of fruit snacks ought to do it

 

[Randle]

Their weight x2 should do it if they eat like my grandkids

 

[sargent]

Thanks for the advice guys. Hopefully I can keep them well fed and in high spirits.

 

[mlgc20]

I do a lot of backpacking and hunting with my two daughters (11& 14). When they were your kids ages, i would typically bring about 1,500 calories each per day. That was always more than enough. Breakfast was usually Stinger waffles. Lunch would be Kind bars, fresh fruit, fruit leather, or GORP. For dinner they would split a Mountain House type meal. Now that they’re older, we Bring them about 2K calories.

 

[mtnrunner260]

3 days and 2 nights for myself and 3 boys.
Fruit snacks, trail mix, jerky and mini candy bars were the favorites.

 

[sargent]

The food's all packed. Here's the kids' menu: Breakfast: cereal with powdered milk Lunch: PB and J tortillas Dinner: Ramen or Mac and cheese (honey buns for desert) Snacks: fruit leathers, fruit snacks, pepperoni sticks, almonds, cashews, trail mix, protein bars, starbursts. The trip starts Monday. Thanks guys.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Good luck. if it ain’t too late, pick up some extra candy. I will o to old use.

 

[twall13]

The food's all packed. Here's the kids' menu: Breakfast: cereal with powdered milk Lunch: PB and J tortillas Dinner: Ramen or Mac and cheese (honey buns for desert) Snacks: fruit leathers, fruit snacks, pepperoni sticks, almonds, cashews, trail mix, protein bars, starbursts. The trip starts Monday. Thanks guys.

Nice, a couple of my kids preferred the ramen uncooked. Just crush it and add seasoning. Made for easy cleanup. They also did the dry cereal without milk just as a snack. Sounds like you have a good plan put together have fun!

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[Lowg08]

Maybe it’s just my son be almost ate 4 days of food the first day and a half

 

[sargent]

All your suggestions were spot on. We started out with around 22# of food and came out with about 4.5#. A combination of tired kiddos and inclement weather caused us to cut the trip about a half day short, so the food was about perfect. Thanks again.

 

[nodakian]

This is an interesting discussion, and OP sounds like he has it figured out.

On the other hand, I don’t. I just did a 3.5 day/3 night trip with 6 Boy Scouts ages 12-14. Everyone had 3 daily meal bags with 2500-3000 calories each, but all came back with a day’s worth of food left over. I suspect their habit of eating certain foods at regular times overrode the need to eat different foods more often, i.e. protein bars and jerky rather than a fresh sandwich. I was somewhat concerned, yet didn’t observe any attitude or performance problems I could attribute to low calorie intake, so maybe they just need to be pushed harder next time.

Any insights on this situation?

 

[sargent]

I don't think I'd say I have it figured out, just got lucky this time. I accidentally left the tortillas and jelly I was keeping in the fridge until the last minute at home. I was a little worried, but found that we had plenty of food for the kids by giving them 100-300 calorie snacks everyone hour or two. This is similar to how I generally eat on backpack trips, but I thought that "lunch" might be more important for them (it wasn't.) Also, quite a bit of the food I had leftover was breakfasts and a pack of ramen that I didn't cook based on how much they were eating. My takeaway is that having high calorie, tasty snacks for them is more important than offering three square meals a day like you might at home.

 

[sextonds]

If it was my 9 year old, I’d have to take a horse with saddle bags to keep him fed for 4 days.

 

[Moserkr]

Some good insight here. Thanks! My kid is too young to go but I cant wait. Been paying attention for when its time.