I'm going elk hunting in September and gonna leave the truck behind. Be on the ATV for almost a week in the Santa Fe National Forest and Pecos Wilderness. I bought a Brunton backpacking stove yesterday while looking to leave the dual fuel twin burner camping stove at home. I also bought a five piece mess kit to use with the stove. I've never had to worry about weight or space while camping cause I've always had my truck there w/ loads of ice chests. Can you give me some ideas on what to take to eat while roughing it in the wilderness? Any other input would also be helpful. Thanks!

 

Way back when I did a lot of backpacking I bought surplus MREs or sometimes I bought the freeze dried stuff designed for backpackers. I think it was called mountain house or something. You could pack a heck of a lot of food with very little weight. I tried bagging and preparing my own stuff but for the most part it just wasn't worth it. The MREs were dirt cheap back then and backpacker stuff was more expensive but cheaper than you could realistically put together yourself. Some stuff you might as well make yourself or buy at the grocery store like granola, nuts, seeds, dehydrated fruit, candy etc. but for full on meals pre-made is hard to beat. Of course if it was just a day or two I just packed a few cans of stuff. The weight doesn't matter so much for an overnighter or couple of days. Chili, spam, canned turkey and chicken and some crackers were more than adequate and not too heavy.

I would advise picking up a selection of whatever you choose and testing it before hand. While some of the stuff is quite tasty some of it is horrid. Try it out before you pack it for real.

Also make sure you check carefully when you're packing. I had hurriedly packed for a short notice backpacking/deer scouting/summer squirrel hunting trip and just tossed a handful of MREs into my pack without checking them carefully. I was stuck with 6 days of tuna casserole. I hate seafood and had sorted through my MRE cases and picked out all of the tuna casserole meals and put them in a separate box so I could give them away. Seems that I pulled all of those MREs from that box when I packed for my trip. You can imagine my disappointment when I went to fix supper.

 

Ya, I saw they had a small section of some of that Mountain stuff at the sporting goods store the other day. Was hesitant to buy buy now I will try to find some more. Better selection maybe. Thanks for the reply!

 

I would think MRE's would be a great way to go, you'll be burning a lot of calories and they have a lot built into them. Check eBay, there should be a good buy on them there. Also remember a few of your "favorite" items i.e. snicker bar, etc.
And good luck!