The Best Backpacking Food

Perhaps your favorite backpacking food is a freeze-dried steak dinner. That's okay. There's no "best" food for backpacking. Different foods have different advantages, though, so here are ten foods, and the reasons you might want to consider them.

1. Mixed nuts. Calorie-packed foods mean less weight to carry. A pound of nuts will power your body twice as far as a pound dried fruit. With protein and other nutritonal benefits, nuts are one of the best backpacking foods.

2. Oil. Add a little olive oil to your soups or dip bread in it. You can also eat it before sleeping, to stay warm, because fats generate heat when digested.

3. Trail mix. Any mixes with dried fruit and nuts is great for backpacking. Vitamins, minerals, protein, calories and convenience.

4. Corn products. Tortilla chips or corn chips are convenient, and not as likely to cause the tiredness that potato chips and other simple carbohydrates can cause.

5. Instant soup mixes. For a hot meal fast, there isn't much that's better.

6. Coffee. This is a necessity for caffeine addicts, and it's good to have a stimulant available for emergencies.

7. Wild berries. Learn to identify some coomon ones, and you'll have a nutritious excuse for a break along the trail.

8. Powdered sports drinks. Put a little in your water bottle and shake it up. Electrolyte replacement doesn't get more convenient.

9. Instant refried beans. For sustained energy, eat beans - and the instant ones are convenient too.

10. Your favorite foods. Having your favorites can salvage a rainy backpacking trip spent in the tent.

Consider the nature of the trip when you are choosing your backpacking food. Hot meals are more important in cold climates. If you want to make miles, convenience is king. Even a bottle of shnapps might even be appropriate, for a trip wih friends.