Nine Day Sierra Trip Food
Planning Guide
On a
nine day trip, without carefully planning and measuring, a
backpacker’s food sack could weigh well over 20 pounds. To keep the
food weight substantially less than 20 pounds requires selecting food
that is as light as possible, and food with the most calories per
ounce.
Hiking
in the Sierras consumes your body’s fuel. A backpacker will be burning
thousands of calories every day. While it is not a hard and fast
rule, we can calculate our daily basic (sedentary minimum) calorie
requirements by taking our weight and multiplying by 14. For example
a 140-pound person would have a basic daily requirement of
approximately 2000 calories. This figure would vary with body type,
metabolic rate, and environmental factors. Under conditions of
steady and protracted activity, such as backpacking, your body will
require 20% to 50% more calories.
We have
set a general target of 2400 to 3000 calories a day as a basis to
plan menus. To maintain this level of calorie consumption (with even
the lightest food) will mean that each person should plan to carry
1-1/2 to 2 pounds of food for each day. Cutting back on calories to make
your pack lighter is not a sound idea.
The
following table lists general calorie and weight targets for one
person for one day.
|
Meal |
Calories |
Weight |
|
Breakfast |
400 - 500 |
4.0 – 5.0 oz. |
|
Lunch |
800 - 1000 |
9.0 – 10.0oz. |
|
Dinner |
1000 - 1200 |
10.0 – 12.0 oz |
|
Snacks
(2) |
200 - 300 |
2.0 – 3.0 oz. |
|
Total |
2400 - 3000 |
1.6 – 1.9 Pounds |
To
aid in planning your meals we have provided recipes and food lists
with their weights and calories. In the Breakfast section we
have listed typical hot and cold cereals, the Lunch section,
has an outline for meeting the calorie target for lunches, snacks
and beverages, and the
Main Course section covers an assortment hearty recipes to please a wide range of tastes. We have additional
sections covering soups, appetizers and desserts to help create a
gourmet wilderness dining experience.
We hope that the
information provided is comprehensive enough to meet all your food
planning needs. However, this “guide” is only the beginning to
making a high calorie, light weight meal plan. Feel free to make
suggestions and/or modification to our lists to match your food
discoveries and personal preferences.
"To
eat is human. To digest divine."
Mark Twain
(Samuel Langhorne
Clemens)
(1835-1910)
|
