Tramping Food

Having the right food can make all the difference to a tramping trip.  It can be difficult to what food to take and how much of it, especially when you're starting out.  Generally you'll want your tramping food to be high energy, long lasting, and easy to prepare.  This article will help you to understand what food will be appropriate for tramping as well as giving some more specific suggestions.

High Energy 

High energy food is important because it allows you to get enough calories to meet your needs without weighing too much.  This becomes more important when you are walking further or there are large hills involved.  On tramps over 5 days long you really have to make sure your food has a lot of energy for its weight otherwise your pack will soon become ridiculously heavy.  Even on shorter tramps a lighter pack can make things a lot easier and more enjoyable.

Identifying foods with high energy for their weight is usually quite easy if there is nutritional information printed on the packet.  Just look for cal per 100g or kJ per 100g - the higher this number the better.  If this information is not on the packet you should be able to find similar information on the internet using websites such as The Calorie Counter.  Generally you'll find dried foods, beans, nuts and chocolate to be very high in energy.

Long Lasting

Make sure the food you're taking will last up until the time you want to eat it, sounds obvious but in warm conditions food can quite quickly go rotten or become unappealing.  It's also likely that it will take a bit of a beating in your pack so try to avoid fragile foods. 

Easy To Prepare

This all depends on and how tired you're likely to feel at the end of the day on your tramp.  If you're likely to turn up at the hut or campground exhausted then you should make sure your meals are quick and easy to prepare. Meals with low cooking time also conserve fuel if you're cooking with gas. 

You can just take food that doesn't require cooking. This does limit your options but it can be good when you don't have to cook at the end of a long day. Of course if you're not going to be cooking then you don't need to bring gas, cooker, or pot (bring a light plate instead), so there is a bit of weight saved.

Orzo pasta is great for dinner as it cooks quite quickly and doesn't take up much room in a pack.

Include Enough Protein

Dried meat is a great protein source although lot of people don't like dried meat because of the price or the taste/texture.  This is fine, but for some people meat is one of their main protein sources.  If this sounds like you pay extra attention to including other sources of protein.  Nuts, beans, lentils, milk powder and peanut butter all have quite high protein content. Cheese and salami are two good protein sources that keep quite well. 

Snacking

During the day while you're walking it often works out better to have lot's of small snacks regularly through the day rather than stick to set meal times.  This avoid's the energy low's that you get if you wait a long time before meals.  You will also have less problems with digesting the food, if you eat too much at once it tends to sit around in your stomach for a while which can be unpleasant if you have to walk up a big hill right away.

Water 

While technically not food, water is so important I thought I'd mention it here.  Make sure you plan your trips so you'll have enough water you'll probably need 250-750 ml per hour.