How important is hiking nutrition?  You need all the energy you can get for the trail apart from your regular conditioning.  There are so many ways to prepare your food checklist for hiking.  Backpacking food choices can be different among hikers so I’m just going to share my idea of what to bring in a long distance hike.  In time, you will get more familiar and be able to experiment on different ways to prepare food that works for you.  Read on and see if my food menu works for you too.

Essential Hiking Nutrition And Food Checklist For Long Distance Hikes

You can’t rely solely on your own physical fitness when going out on the trail.  Particularly for long hikes, you gotta be able to systematically organize your own hiking nutrition for you to sustain the grueling activity as you go farther into the hike.  In the meantime, I’ll show you how I usually prepare my camp food.  I seldom change my food checklist because this has worked for me for a very long time now.  You may find this useful but I trust you’ll have your own list anytime soon.  Here’s how my long distance food checklist looks like.

1. Quaker Instant Oats

Two packets of instant oatmeal is good enough to fill your tummy and begin your day.  Make sure to get yourself fueled for the day’s most important meal.  It’s going to be a long day ahead of you.

2. Taster’s Choice Instant Coffee

It’s not the best coffee in the world but it doesn’t taste bad either.  It wakes me up for me to start my day fresh and plan the hike ahead.

3. Peanut M&M’s

Peanut M&Ms are good to snack on throughout the day.  These are a bit heavy but high in energy and calories to get you going on the trail.  They’re tasty and just what you need for the strenuous hike.

4. Tuna Creations

This is typically good for lunch.  You can get this at a fairly cheap price in Target, Walmart, or in any grocery stores.  115 Calories per packet should freshen up your energy after this tasty meal.

5. Gatorade Powder

You might want to get some electrolyte replacement with the Gatorade G2.  It’s low calorie but sometimes you need something other than water especially when you’re walking through high elevation.

6. Mountain House Freeze Dried Meal

These come in a variety of flavor that’s great for dinner.  My favorite is Lasagna with meat sauce that finds its way into my backpack in probably all of my camping trips.

7. Nissin Top Ramen

This is very easy to cook that I sometimes substitute with Tuna Creations for lunch.  Nissin top ramen will also give you a boost of electrolytes.  It’s a tasty outdoor treat and very easy to prepare.

8. Jif To Go Peanut Butter

Peanut butter has a ton of calories and this is just right for shorter hikes.  You can have peanut butter for breakfast or snacks for a sweet tasting boost of energy.

9. Chocolate Covered Craisins

Chocolate covered craisins are pretty good and hard to melt.  You gotta be careful though bringing these on a hot weather hike.  It’s eventually going to melt and might make a mess in your backpack.

10. Odwalla Superfood Bars

There’s a lot of different types of bars you can get.  It’s lightweight and has a lot of vitamins and minerals.  You can experiment with other bars but this for sure I can recommend.

 

Watch this video of a protein-packed trail mix by brettcap.

Just like all backpackers, you’re always free to try out your own food checklist.  I have shown you my lightweight camping menu and see if this works when you’re going on a long distance hike.  All you need to do is pack up an ample amount that you can consume and not overload your rucksack.

Click here for guidelines to extreme hiking.

Feature Image Via – pdxmonthly