What food should you take on a mountain hike?
Food in the mountains, as on any longer trip, is really important. On a demanding hike your need for energy and calories goes up a lot. The right food keeps you in good shape and gives you the strength and energy to keep going. When your stomach is rumbling, even the most beautiful views won’t impress you much. Your thoughts will inevitably keep drifting back to food.
In this article I will focus more on what food to take with you into the mountains than on how to find it once you are there. But if you are more interested in the question “how do you find food in the mountains”, let me know in the comments. I am planning a big article on that topic.
On my trips I have tried out all sorts of foods and meals, and I would like to share what I have learnt. I will try to answer the question: what food should you take with you on a mountain hike?
Choosing the right food matters quite a lot, which is why one of the most important questions to ask yourself is: how long is your trip going to be? The answer largely decides what kind of food you should pack. Some food works better on a short day hike, and some on a week-long outing.
Fun fact: centuries ago, when the indigenous peoples of North America set off on a longer journey, they took with them something called pemmican. It was an energy mix made mainly of dried, pounded meat mixed with fat, sometimes with dried fruit added, and it provided the energy needed for travelling and hunting. You can make it yourself, but this kind of trail food is not to everyone’s taste, so for most people who are not after culinary adventures it is safer to take some good, proven energy bars.
Food for the mountains
To start with, a fairly important general rule about food in the mountains: don’t take more food than you can actually eat. More than once I have caught myself unpacking half of the food I never ate after a trip. Space in your rucksack is not unlimited, and there is no need to carry extra, pointless weight. Over time you will get better at judging how much food to take.
1. Food to take on a day hike
The best food for a day hike is the most calorie-dense energy bombs you can find. Food you can eat without heating, straight from your rucksack or pocket, is the best choice here. On a short trip it usually isn’t worth taking cooking gear, because it is heavy and takes up a lot of room.
While walking you need plenty of energy, which comes from carbohydrates and fats (the two work as a team; as the saying goes, fats burn in the flame of carbohydrates). That is why you should take foods containing sugar, sweet drinks included:
- chocolate
- snack bars
- dried fruit
- nuts
- sweets
- sweet coffee or tea
My personal favourite is home-made sandwiches with peanut butter and honey. Any other generously filled sandwiches will also be a good choice. They give you plenty of much-needed energy, and you can make them exactly the way you like.
While walking I also like to have some sweets in an easy-to-reach pocket, boiled sweets for example. That way I can get the calories I need without stopping.
You probably don’t need to worry that eating all these energy bombs will make you put on weight. The number of calories you burn while walking, if you are really walking and not slacking, will almost certainly be higher than the calories in the food you eat.
You can also be tempted by fruit and other treats you find along the trail (just remember that in Poland, picking wild plants and mushrooms in national parks and nature reserves is prohibited, except in places designated for it). Here, though, you must be absolutely sure the fruit is edible and won’t poison you.
2. Food to take on trips with an overnight stay
On a trip lasting several days, a hot meal will lift your spirits and give you much-needed energy. The simplest thing is to take a few links of sausage and cook them over the campfire (only light a fire in a place designated for it, such as a campsite or a shelter with a fire pit: in Poland, lighting a fire in a forest, within 100 m of a forest or in a national park is prohibited outside such places). Sausage roasted on a campfire is delicious, as probably every Pole knows (grilling kiełbasa over a fire is practically a national pastime here) 😉
Another “dish” I sometimes make is a single potato wrapped in aluminium foil. Before wrapping the potato in foil, I add a spoonful of butter, a piece of onion, a bit of salt and sometimes some meat, bacon for instance. I throw this “bomb” straight into the embers, and 30 to 60 minutes later (you need some practice to judge it) I have a delicious, steaming potato.
For various reasons, though, you can’t light a fire everywhere. Sometimes the rules don’t allow it, sometimes it is simply too wet or there is no suitable fuel. That is why it is worth thinking about taking a camping gas stove. They come in a huge range of types and sizes, from very small, almost pocket-sized ones to huge, complicated sets that a restaurant kitchen wouldn’t be ashamed of.
Of course, on mountain trips and other hikes you should try to find a setup that is both practical and efficient.
An important note here: make sure you have enough fuel to heat up and cook the food you have brought. If the tin of beans says it needs heating for half an hour and you only have fuel for 15 minutes, you will have to make do with undercooked food or go hungry. This applies especially to small camping stoves, which carry relatively little fuel.
3. Hot meals without cooking
Cooking outdoors can be great fun, but you don’t always have the time for it. What can you do if you fancy a hot meal but don’t feel like cooking? Well, for thousands of years food supply has been one of the biggest logistical problems of every army. Even the best-armed soldier won’t fight well on an empty stomach. There is even a saying that an army marches on its stomach. Modern armies have ration packs refined almost to perfection (in the US Army they are called MREs Amazon store, affiliate link, short for Meal, Ready-to-Eat). You can buy similar ready meals in a huge number of flavours and varieties.
There is a wide range of meals on the market, so you are sure to find something for yourself. Many packs also come with a special chemical heater (use it according to the instructions, outdoors or in a well-ventilated place, never inside a closed tent: it gets very hot during the reaction and gives off flammable hydrogen). You just pour in a little water, wait a moment, and you have a delicious, ready-to-eat hot soup, spaghetti or even coffee.
These rations are designed to keep calories and nutritional value high while staying relatively small and light. They are fairly expensive, though, so it is worth weighing up whether your wallet can take it or whether you would rather prepare your food yourself.
Another option for ready meals is freeze-dried food. It is tasty and nutritious, and it differs from ordinary food only in that almost all the water has been removed (usually about 98%). The water is removed by freeze-drying: the food is frozen and the ice is turned straight into vapour in a vacuum, so the food keeps its nutritional value and flavour.
It is not the cheapest option: one such meal costs several dozen złoty (Polish currency). You can look at it from another angle, though: a good freeze-dried meal costs about the same as a meal in a restaurant. So eating one is a bit like going out for dinner.
Another important factor is the air temperature you will be walking in. A few times the cheese sandwiches I had lovingly made at home turned into a melted, greasy ball after a few hours in the heat. Believe me, eating a sandwich like that is no pleasure.
If you are travelling somewhere hot, taking fresh fruit may be a good idea. Fruit such as apples not only quenches your thirst but also provides nutrients and fructose, which is important for keeping your energy up.
I mentioned sweet coffee earlier. I love coffee, but I think that for hiking, especially in the mountains, yerba mate is a better fit. I don’t know if it’s just me, but after drinking yerba mate I get such a “kick” that I can walk for several hours, even over rough ground, without a break. It is not popular everywhere, but these days you can buy anything online. Not everyone likes the taste of yerba mate either, so if you have never tried it, test it before your trip.
You can also take typical energy drinks such as Red Bull, but remember they have a bad reputation when it comes to their effect on your health. The choice is yours.
Important: if you plan to cook outdoors, don’t forget your favourite spices. They take up little room in your rucksack, and a pinch of salt or pepper can transform the taste of many dishes.
5. Staying properly hydrated
On any trip lasting more than a few hours, you MUST take water or another drink that quenches thirst. A person can survive surprisingly long without food, but only about 3 days without water (and even less in the heat and during hard physical effort). I wrote about this in the article “Symptoms of dehydration and how to prevent it“.
Water is the first thing to think about. Depending on the weather and on how hard you are walking and working, you should allow from 3 up to as much as 6 litres of water per person per day. That is quite a lot, and space in your rucksack is not unlimited. Even if you manage to fit a dozen or so litres of water somewhere, carrying that weight is no fun.
To get round this, you could consider taking a water filter (a typical hiking filter removes bacteria and protozoa but not viruses or chemicals, so be careful: collect water from flowing streams, not from puddles, and not downstream of fields or roads, and remember to replace a worn-out cartridge).
Even on a gentle walk, your body’s need for fluids rises sharply. Drink regularly, whenever you feel thirsty, and don’t put off drinking until a stop that is hours away. Don’t overdo it, of course – just keep taking a few sips regularly instead of pouring litres into yourself in advance (drinking far more than your thirst tells you can also be risky, because it can cause a dangerous drop in the sodium level in your blood, known as hyponatraemia).
So drink enough not to feel thirsty. The rule seems simple, even obvious, and yet more than once I have caught myself not reaching for water for hours. Suddenly I would realise I was very thirsty, which meant I was dehydrated. Dehydration in turn made me tire faster and feel generally uncomfortable. You can’t always “feel” that discomfort straight away, because it builds up gradually and unnoticed. Only after quenching your thirst and replacing the lost fluids do you realise you had been drinking too little. Suddenly your strength and energy come back.
Water is not the only thing that quenches thirst. Other drinks worth considering are coffee, tea or any other drink containing caffeine. The caffeine will give you an extra boost of energy.
To sum up
I hope this article has taught you the most important things about the best food for mountain trips. The key thing here is staying properly hydrated. On short trips, a good choice is dry food, high-calorie sweets and sweet drinks containing caffeine.
On longer hikes you can take on cooking your own meals. If you decide to do so, plan every aspect of cooking and heating food in the open air carefully.
Good food boosts your morale and lets you fully enjoy your trip. Even the most beautiful views won’t make you happy if you are hungry.
See you on the trail!
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