Hiking Food kg per Day

Food planning for trekking and backpacking

Most long-distance hikers and mountaineers budget dry food at 0.5–0.8 kg/person/day and aim for 3,000–4,000 kcal/day when the effort on the trail runs all day. What really decides things is caloric density. Foods around 5 kcal/g — nuts, granola, jerky, dehydrated meals, chocolate, olive oil — let you cover your daily burn without your pack getting out of hand.

Compare that with the Brazilian Army MRE (Ração Operacional), which comes in at about 1.2 kg/day — the extra weight is all the moisture in its ready-to-eat components. The FAO figures put an adult woman at moderate activity near 2,500 kcal/day and an adult man near 3,000 kcal/day. Trekking, climbing or camping in winter will push those numbers 30–50% higher without much trouble.

Applications

Thru-hikers, scout (CT escotista) outings, expedition logistics, military planning, ultralight backpacking — they all lean on the same arithmetic. A 7-day trip for two people works out to roughly 7×2×0.7 ≈ 9.8 kg of dry food. Treat that as your starting figure, then adjust it for terrain, altitude and temperature.

FAQ

Why is dry food preferred? Pull the water out and you shed 60–80% of the weight while keeping every calorie. That matters a lot when everything you eat rides on your back.

Do I need to add water weight separately? Yes. Count on 2–4 L/day of drinking water and refill from streams where you can. Hauling the whole trip's water at once almost never works.

How do I avoid running out of energy? Spread your calories over small snacks every 1–2 h instead of three large meals. Save the fast carbs (dried fruit) for climbs, and lean on fats and protein (nuts, jerky) when you need energy that lasts.