How much food do i need when I'm camping?
Posted: December 28th, 2010 | Author: Mitch | Filed under: Camping Recipes | Tags: bushcraft, camping, dangerous countries, hello everyone, how much money, Scotland | 7 Comments »hello everyone, I love the outdoors, hiking, bushcraft and camping. And at 17 i think I’m old enough to go camping by myself now, I just want to know how much money to spend on a weeks worth of food, and what food i will really need? because I havent got a lot of money and i like to travel light, I just wanna go somewhere close to home like Scotland for now, but as I get older and wiser I want to explore more exciting and dangerous countries
Check out this book by the folks from NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School): Cookery. It give you a basic foundation for planning, packing, and preparing your food for both short and long trips.
It will be a good start for you.
Also, from personal experience, here’s a few things that I carry:
1) Ramen. It’s light, fast, and easy to make. Everything is included except hot water.
2) Couscous. Again, light, fast, and easy. You can add almost anything to couscous and it will turn out great. It increases signficantly in size when hot water is added, and it takes just minutes to cook, using less energy than a lot of other staples.
3) Really any prepacked, freeze dried meal. You don’t have to go to an outdoor store to buy a $10 meal. There are plenty of basic instant pasta and rice meals out there complete with meat and veggies.
Ultimately though, a little experience goes a long way. Try things and see what you like, what you prefer. Good luck and enjoy the outdoors!
Dried foods, such as granola bars, jerkey and trail mixes travel well, need no special preservation and provide a LOT of energy for the weight you have to carry.
Water will be the most difficult as you would be limited on how much you could carry. If you plan to find water as you travel, then invest in a good water purification system. A good sporting goods store, or backpacker’s specialty shop should offer good advice on what form you may need.
I would say breakfast, lunch dinner and snacks for 7 days…
thats up to you..how much do you usually eat a day? in a week? go to walmart or sav-a-lot the food is cheap there
Depends on what type of camping you are doing, how many people will be with you and how much you usually eat. If you are backpack type camping stick with the light dry foods. And if you are I guess what they call Car camping then pack up the cooler with whatever you usually eat at home and just eat it at camp… but, don’t forget the s’more’s..
Some people plan according to calories (say, 2000 calories per day), and some people go by weight (say, 2 pounds of food per day), but I mostly just go by serving suggestions and simply double it for myself. For example, if the box of macaroni is 4 servings, then for that meal I’ll separate 1/2 the box. But that’s because I’m a fairly active and large man, 6’4" 210 lbs., and that’s how much I’d eat at home anyway. It’s rather difficult to say how much your food will cost because you might want fancy cheeses while I get by on plain cheddar and there are sliding scales of fancy. We have dollar stores in the US that sell discontinued food products, which I would never eat, but would save me half as much if I did.
Hi, I would say you need to know what nutritional requirements your body needs first, then organize meals based upon what food groups you need to have. Of course you could take bottle of multivitamins & minerals and eat just about anything else. . but yuck. Food serves two purposes, nutrition and pleasure. Eat things that tastes good!+
For my teenage boys I helped them pack for a week long canoe trip like this:
water purifier
small backpacker stove
freeze-dried meals in pouches for all dinners
dried fruits & nuts
jerky & salami
tuna in foil packets
some fresh fruit that wouldn’t get crushed
granola bars with yogurt in them
instant oatmeal packets
powder gatorade mix
powder tang
hot cocoa mix
freeze dried coffee
sugar
spices
hard cheese
licorice
*you’ll need to carry at least some water
You need to make meal plans for each meal that you’ll be out including snacks and drinks. Then you go to the store and get whatever it is you selected to eat. If you have a small budget, buy off brand products, go to walmart or similar stores. Instead of the expensive freeze-dried meals, get the cheaper versions by Lipton or Knorr. When you choose items, let weight also be a factor in addition to price.
Example if you decided you want coffee every morning and are willing to drink freeze dried stuff, get the Taster’s Choice, its cheap and light but make sure you only bring just what you’ll need, in a baggie, not a jar. Don’t bring a box of granola bars, just bring however many you plan to eat–see your meal plan.
lots jigga boo