Food for the West Coast Trail
Q: What food do you pack for 6 days on the west coast trail?
A: Good food.
Read on for my full menu.
I spent the day buying food, weighing it out, re-packaging it into ready-to-eat bags etc.
Here’s is what we are taking (to see numbers, click on picture to enlarge it)
1. Freeze Dried Entrees
2. Desert (Cookies and Cheesecake)
3. Trail Mix
4. Dried Fruit
5. Beef Jerky
6. Aged Cheeses
7. Dark Choclate
8. Salami
9. Hummus Mix
10. Energy Bars
11. Alpen / Granola Cereal
12. Crackers
13. Coffee, Emergen-C, Nuun, Candy
14. Moose Goo & Tortillas
For the exact weight/menu breakdown, see below:
Note this is for 2 people to share, weights are in oz.
Day1:
Lunch:
1/2 choclate 1.6
2 balance bar 4.2
Dried Mango 3.3
Dinner
Mountain House - Beef Stew 4.3
1/2 choclate 1.6
Day2:
Breakfast:
Granola, Dried Milk 8.5
Lunch:
Nutty Trail Mix 8.0
1/2 choclate 1.6
powerbar 2.6
powervar 2.5
cheese 4.8
crackers 2.7
salami 1.7
Dried Mango 3.9
Dinner
Chicken Terriyaki 5.4
cheesecake 4.2
Day3
Breakfast
Alpen, Dried Milk 8.1
Lunch:
Asian Trail Mix & Wassabi Peas 8.0
1/2 choclate 1.6
powerbar 2.3
powerbar 2.3
Moose Goo 6.4
Tortilla (3 medium) 5.4
Beef Jerky 2.8
Dinner
Hawaiian Chicken 6.3
cookies 2.8
Day 4
Breakfast :
Alpren, Milk 8.5
Lunch:
Trail Mix 8.1
choclaty balance bar 1.6
choclaty balance bar 1.6
cheese 5.0
crackers 2.8
salami 1.5
dried fruit 3.9
Dinner :
Mountain House - Beef Stew (1 Pack) 4.3
cookies 2.8
Day 5
Breakfast:
Granola, Dried Milk 8.3
Lunch:
Wasabi, Asian Trail Mix 8.0
1/2 choclat 1.6
trail bar 1.7
trail bar 2.4
humus & olive oil 3.8
tortilla 5.4
dried fruit 3.9
beef jerky 2.8
Dinner:
Chili & Beans 6.9
1/2 choclat 1.6
Day 6
Breakfast
Alpen, Dried Milk 8.6
Lunch:
Trail Mix 7.9
1/2 choclate 1.6
powerbar 2.3
powerbar 2.3
crackers 2.8
hard cheese 5.0
salami 1.5
Misc Food
java drops 1.3
extra 2 trail bars 3.2
Nuun Tabs 1.7
Emergen-C 1.4
Coffee 1.6
Final Weight Total (lbs) 14.8
9 Responses to “Food for the West Coast Trail”
September 16th, 2007 at 10:56 pm
What brand/type of Salami do you bring on the trail?
September 17th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Bryan - for the Salami - I bought some sliced from the deli at Whole Foods - they have some great stuff that is of small diameter - perfect size for crackers. After they sliced it, I simply repacked it in a vacuum seal bag using a “Food Saver” sealer.
September 18th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Hey Brett. If I were to use sliced deli salami and package it in a regular ziplock, how long do you think it would last? I’m going away on a 3 day trip (with temps from 60’s-30’s) and I really don’t wanna pay almost double for the Dry Salami Stick. Thanks!
September 20th, 2007 at 7:55 am
we ate it on day 5 of temps in the (50-65 range) and it was excellent. no worries on a 3-day trip.
October 26th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Brett,
Just came across your site today and I will be back. Couple of questions. Have you looked at
the Freezer Bag Cooking website? My wife and I used it this summer on Isle Royale and loved it.
We use a pocket rocket and have added the windscreen from BPL by Dr Ryan. It cut our fuel at least in half. What did you use for a wind screen?
Dave
October 26th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
I have seen the site - it’s really cool - although I haven’t tried any of the recipes yet.
In general it felt to me that the site prioritizes good food/nutrition & simple packaging/cleanup over weight. As food tends to be a large part of my weight allowance, I generally go for the store-bought freeze dried meals instead - they seems like they would be lighter and they sure take a lot less time at home to prepare
I really like the site though, and I would love to experiment more with home-cooked meals.
Currently we use the snowpeak stove with it’s windshield. However, at 2oz - I’m sure there are much better home-made options.
November 6th, 2007 at 5:15 am
Brett,
For our Isle Royale trip our food weight with packaging was aprx 16#. We used a windscreen that
I found at BPL which has a bottom cut out of a pie plate and aluminum foil to wrap around the pot.
The pot was a SUL 1100. Our trip was 7 days.
Dave
July 6th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Have you tried Sammi’s Best Whey & Rice drink powder (2.2.oz per quart water)?
Available from http://www.bestlifeint.com in Clarkston, WA.
We’ve been using it for years as a dried milk substitute and like the flavor
July 6th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Hi Michael,
I haven’t heard of it - I’ll keep my eye open for some to try. At the moment I’m using dried coconut milk as it has an incredible 19g of fat content per serving. Perfect for those early morning starts
-Brett