Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting cold back country camp, what food to bring?

On our elk hunt this year we plan to spend 3 nights in a spike camp up on the mountain. We've always stayed in an old mil-surplus canvas tent with a stove and full set of camp gear. I'm wondering what we should take for food, since I'm expecting everything we take to freeze solid during the day while we're out hunting. We're going to backpack and sled everything in,something around 4-5 miles in,so lighter is better.
Any advice you guys can give is appreciated.

Steve

Mtn.House, instant oatmeal, dried apples, raw almonds, raisins, dried cranberries, Starbucks VIA, Crystal Light lemonade mix.

2 packs of instant oatmeal w/dried apples and/or cranberries thrown in & two cups of VIA for breakfast. Almonds, cranberries, raisins to snack on during the day. Mtn House at night with a lemonade.

That's relatively light and simple & will get you by for a few days. It works for me. Now if I could just stick to that list...but I start throwing in some cheese, maybe some salami, tortillas and before I know it I've added several unneeded pounds.

Lots more experience on here than me. I have a tendency to overdo it on food.

I always take too much. When I'm hunting, I find that I just don't eat that much. I just don't feel hungry for some reason. A midday candy bar is always good. I'll second the mountain house meals for the before bed meal. As soon as I get back to the truck I'm starving for some reason. Dunno. PM sent.

Snubbie, good list but I have to take a few of the small Snickers bars.

I know weight is important, but there is just something about hot food that tastes like home that makes you feel better even on the worst days.

We went igloo camping a week and a half ago, which was a couple miles by snowshoe. It rained on Saturday, turned into snow and the wind kicked up and temps dropped after nightfall. Sunday morning was pretty cold and snowy, typical Montana weather.

Lunch and snacks on Saturday was lunch meat wraps, beef jerky, a nut and fruit mix. Dinner was crock pot stew that I warmed back up in the Trangia.

Breakfast Sunday morning was scrambled eggs and sausage.

The jerky and nut and fruit mix both come from Costco, the stew I made here at home from scratch.

Packing too much food is a GOOD thing. A lot better than not having enough. I have come out eating my last granola bar when I was 5 miles from the trailhead. I said I would never do that again and now always pack an extra days worth of food. I don't like cutting it that close when things can happen and you could be out unplanned an extra day or two.

Diyelker, your probably not hungary because of elevation and exertion. I know when I was up around 8,500 ft(thats high for me)this fall I did not eat barely anything. Got back down to the trailhead after 5 days and hit the all you can eat pizza place on the way home!

We do very similar. 2 packs of oatmeal for bkfast and some additives. All dried.

granola, cliff bars and we do carry a block of cheese and our dry sausage or summer sausage since the wife needs to snack every few hours due to her metabolism. Toss in some mini snickers as noted.

Generally we split a mountainhouse for 2 at night. We then eat part of a hershey big bar to sleep on.

I tend to take mountainhouse for each for every night so I have some backup. It doesn't weigh enough to really matter much.

And then we carry 6-12 power gels/cliff bars for an emergency backup.

Generally end up eating one of the MH each night plus an extra about every 2 days so we end up bringing back about 2-3 extra meals.

IMHO we don't carry that much extra weight and we have generally always had enough to knock out a few weathered in days.

Drink wise we do take hot choc mix. And something like flavored water mix so we can more easily force ourselves to drink enough fluids. And an emergen C packet thats vitamins etc... for each breakfast or mid morning.

PS we've moved from a hunk of cheese to the string cheese packets too...

Yeah, I think your right. I still pack too much though. I always plan for an extra day or so of food, but when I get back to the truck I always have well more than a days worth of food left. I just eat less than planned generally. That may not hold true for everybody though. I really need to repackage my mountain house meals. I barely eat half of those, and the last few bites I'm just forcing down my throat because I feel like I should be eating. I'm still learning about backcountry hunting, but I've learned what I will and won't eat while hunting and also how much of it. Probably a good practice to slightly overpack on food, but bringing 3 days of food back out isn't that fun either. Each guy needs to evaluate the area, conditions, and personal hunger level and pack accordingly.

Forget all that sugar. In the cold you need fat and protein. More than at home so that means some meat like elk, moose, or bison and carbos to back it up instant spuds, rice, noodles. Add some vegetables to stay healthy.

I just finished a winter canoe trip in the low desert. We had heavy frost at night and worked during the day. Lasagne, fajitas, corned beef and cabbage, chicken with verde sauce and beans, were all good made from scratch but streamlined. Hunting can be exhausting, but freeze-dried food is still crummy. I would rather cook something simple like bacon and eggs and bread for dinner than eat out of a foil envelope. A sled is a great idea, so bring some real food.

maybe 3 mountainhouse packs, extra, not 3 days of food. Though I'd have to weigh it out, might be as well to bring that much weight in instant oatmeal.

Whats a MH weigh typically? 8 ounces? If 1.5 pounds is too much, I'd have to train more then... grins.

My backpacking standards include the following items that are all light weight, nonperishable, easy to prepare and easy to cleanup;

Mountain House "pro Pack" freeze-dried entre
Cup-O-Noodles
Folgers Coffee Singles
Instant Cocoa
Instant Oatmeal, Quaker Fruit & Cream
Beef Jerky (chopped and formed)

You need to be able to eat lunch on-the-go without a stove. Here are some suggestions.

LUNCH (no cook)
Summer Sausage
Cheese (parafine wrapper)
Sandwich Crackers
Beef Jerky
Salted Nut Roll
Candy Bars
Cheese Crackers
Fresh Fruit
Granola Bars
Lunchables
Sardines
Tang/Kool Aid

Here are some items that I take when weight and bulk are not as important. None require refrigeration but some items (like cheese, margarine and hot dogs) will keep for only a few days in cool weather. Preparation of some of these items require a frying pan with non-stick surface and/or a stove top toaster.

BREAKFASTS
Bisquits & Gravey & Sausage
Bisquits or Bread Rolls
Summer Sausage
Instant Gravey Mix

Pancakes
Bisquik Shake & Pour
Syrup
Margarine

English Muffins
Margarine & Jelly

Potatoe Pancakes & Sausage
Summer Sausage
Panni Dehydrated Potatoe Pancake Mix
Margarine

Eggs & Hashbrowns
Freeze-dried Eggs (Mountain House with red & green chiles)
Salt & Pepper & Taco Sauce
Dehydrated Hash Brown Potatoes

DINNERS
Hot Dogs & Beans
Hot Dogs
Hot Dog Buns
Ketchup, Mustard, Relish
Boston Baked Beans (2 cans)

Burritos
Mexicali Rose Refried Beans
Minute Rice (boil-in-bag)
Tortillas
Salsa (plastic bottle)

Chicken Casserole
Lypton or Knorr Chicken Casserole
Chunk Chicken (foil pouch)
Margarine
Canned Vegetables (2 big cans)

Beef Stew
Dinty Moore beef stew (boil-in-bag)
Bread or Rolls

Mac & Cheese
Velveeta Shells & Cheese
Ham, canned or Summer Sausage
Mixed Vegetables, canned

Tuna Casserole
Tuna Helper
Tuna, canned
Margarine
Canned Peas

You know a tenderising hammer, some Montreal Steak Seasoning, and some instant brown gravey mix can make even the toughest steak taste like it was cooked by a master chef.

KC

I like instant oatmeal w/ dried fruit and coffee for breakfast and either an RME or a Mountain House dinner for two as my dinner.
But the real trick is to keep your energy level up by eating on the trail. I've found that a combination of Cliff Bars and any of the complex carb heavy trail bars work really well. Say three of each per day. E

Hunting is a sport, a hobby, and a pleasant pastime. Why reduce the fun of a hunt by skimping on the food and being miserable?

Rock Chuck:

I think we all look at those kind of things differently. When I go hunting, I want to hunt. Anything that takes time away from that pursuit is an obstacle. When I eat all I'm doing is refueling. I want to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible so I can get back to hunting. I don't cook gourmet meals. But I do want food that tastes good and a lot of it. I want it to be nonperishable, light weight, easy to prepare and easy to clean up.

When I go on summer backpacking, fishing and scouting trips, I take time to lounge around and smell the flowers. Then I may cook some more complicated meals. But not when I'm hunting.

KC

My favorite no cook lunch, can of deviled ham spread over two sandwich rounds. Sure wish they would pack it in the foil bags like tuna, but the can is really not too heavy. I am at 2 pounds per day for food, and it is a pretty decent amount, though I still seem hungry come bedtime. See if I can remember my daily load, and I pretty much eat the same thing everyday, just change the flavor of the Mtn House meals.

Breakfast - Mtn House, pack of Via
Snacks - Honey Stingers (2), cheese/PB crackers, 2-4 jerky sticks, trail mix, 2-4 pepperoni sticks, the small ones, about the diameter of a pencil
Lunch - deviled ham on sandwich rounds or PB on the sandwich rounds
Dinner - Mtn House dinner, the big 2 serving one

I will eat some of the snack items with the lunch and dinner, typically. All of this goes in gallon ziplock, makes for great organization, keeps you from eating more than you maybe should for the day. I may have forgot an item or two, but think I got it all. I was pretty pleased with this food plan last year. I think 2 pounds per day is pretty good. Would have to confirm that weight, but pretty darn sure that was the number, my goal.

yep, we get all year long to have fun and relax. Seasons are too short.
Prefer to hunt hard and get by during seasons.

Got the rest of the year to relax then.

When I go out, even for a day hike or hunt, I almost always carry an "emergency" ziplock that has a teabag, pack of instant oatmeal, hot chocolate and a couple of cup-o-soups. And of course a stainless cup and one of these in titanium:
http://www.emberlit.com/

I figure this would get me through an unplanned night out or other.

I rarely take multi-day trips, mostly 1-2 days. A backpack hunt in Idaho last October was an exception. I had to force myself to eat during the day, I just wasn't hungry. When I say I "overdo it" on food, I'm talking about the "luxuries" like cheese, little wine boxes, salami or summer sausage, tortillas...these are heavy compared to freeze dried or dehydrated and the weight adds up fast. Just have to decide priorities.

Oh, and a Starbucks VIA and pack of instant Hot Chocolate mixed makes a great "Backwoods Mocha" and a pretty good energy boost.

I need some llamas to pack me in! At least some pack goats maybe!

I keep trying to convince Mrs Snubbie we need some pack goats. So far, I'm having no luck.

when it is cold, i like to stomp a hole in the snow and throw a fuel bar down to heat soup or coffee. warms the spirit up and lets me stay out and hunt late.

Between PowerBars, Mtn Home, MREs, Via packs and water I have it covered. I am switching to fewer MREs and more Mtn home next year for weight savings, but I do like the heat packs in the MREs. Makes for a quick easy hot meal.