Backpacking

Backpacking food for a weekend

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Although my plans for this weekend have been changed by the weather – I had already packed my backpacking food for the trip.

The original plan was to have lunch in Coniston and then walk up the Old Man of Coniston and find somewhere to camp out for the night. We would be back in Coniston for lunch on Sunday.

Backpacking food for a weekend - packed

Backpacking Food

This menu is for a short weekend and suits my appetite – you should consider your food needs and the terrain you are travelling through when planning your menus.

Trail snacks
Food for during the day. We were planning to stop and make a hot drink on the way up at Low Water.

  • Dried cranberries
  • High cocoa chocolate
  • Boiled sweets
  • 2 in 1 coffee sachet

Evening meal
It takes just over a litre of water to make up all the components of the backpacking food in the evening meal.

  • Cup a soup with crackers
  • Tin of tuna with tomato sauce and crackers (if I was hungry I can eat these on the trail)
  • Mug noodles with spiced seed sprinkles
  • Chinese hot sesame dessert
  • Cappuccino

Breakfast
Tea and biscuits in bed first.

  • Breakfast biscuits and jam
  • Crackers and marmalade
  • Dried fruit
  • Fresh ground coffee (this is not shown in the photo – I carry it in a small Nalgene pot)

Extras

  • Black coffee sachet
  • Hot chocolate sachet
  • Sugar packets
  • Chrysanthemum honey tea – can be drunk hot or cold
  • Packet of tissue, hand wipe and rubbish bag
  • Backpacking brew kit – tea for the weekend

Backpacking food for a weekend - packed

backpacking food packed – the brew kit is not in this bag – the cranberries go in my pocket

Water
I was planning to carry my Travel Tap bottle and a 1l roll up Platypus bottle. At the start of the walk I would have about 300ml in the Platypus – and the plan was to fill all my bottles using the Travel Tap at Low Water before continuing up to the summit. This should be enough water for the wild camp. On the way down I would collect some more water if required.

Wild camping water

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Camping next week

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It has been a wet day here in Lincolnshire so that put a stop to a planned walk. I also had some work to catch up on.

However I am planning a camping trip for next weekend, so I have taken some time today to sort through my gear.

As part of my ongoing project to keep my camping gear lightweight I have changed my sleeping mat for a much lighter and smaller Alpkit Numo air mattress. The photo shows the difference in size and the weight saving is about 500g.

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You can download a spread sheet that lists the weight of my backpacking gear from the free download page.

My backpacking pages

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Backpacking Cooking Equipment

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Lightweight backpacking cooking equipment

Today’s photo, of my backpacking cooking equipment,  is an illustration for a booklet I am writing about backpacking food. This is my lightweight backpacking cooking equipment I use regularly when backpacking and lightweight camping. I often carry it when I head out to work on a Friday, where I think I will have time in the afternoon when I am finished to go out in the countryside somewhere for a walk and a mug of tea.

lightweight backpacking cooking equipment

It is based around a titanium mug with a lid that I use both as a mug and a cooking pot and a multi-fuel titanium stove. Most of the items will pack in a small stuff sack.

When backpacking the kit goes in an outside rucksack pocket so it is easy to get to for using on the trail.

For a full description if this kit, including the latest updates I have made – backpacking cooking gear.

This article and kit has been updated several times since I wrote this. Must most up to date lightweight backpacking cookset can be found here, with the weights spreadsheet here.

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Sleeping Bag

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Yesterday one of the outdoor shops in Inverness was having a sale – and I found a sleeping bag to replace the rubbish sleeping bag I bought last year.

In the shop, I was able to get into the bag to try it for size and comfort.

It is filled with down, weighs just less than 1kg and is warm to about zero centigrade – it will reduce weight and space in my rucksack for backpacking.

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Robens Down Lite 500

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packed and compressed

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The specification looks to be just what I was looking for. I hope it is made well enough to keep the down inside the bag and that it is warm. The real test will be during my next camping trip.

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Travel Tap – Micro Purification Water Filter Bottle

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Jeremy bought me this bottle for Christmas – the specs are here.

This is a really simple, lightweight, way to produce safe drinking water whilst I am backpacking or wild camping. No moving parts, batteries or pumps – drink straight from the bottle or use it to fill another water container or pot. When I wild camped in the Lakes last year I carried 3l or 3kg of water, my pack without the water weighed less than 9kgs – in the future I can top up along the way and save weight.

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