When it comes to backpacking it can be rather difficult trying to figure out how to best carry your food. Many people like to use bear canisters, or bear bags otherwise known as “stuff sacks”.
But there are many different options available, as well as different techniques that can be employed. Anything from a simple plastic bag with a twist tie wrapped around the top, two strapping a bear canister on the back of your pack…
You can go simple and lightweight, or very complex but very organized. Me personally I prefer to stick with simplicity, but I also like to have a hint of organization.
So the big question is, How do you carry food when you’re backpacking? Well the simple answer is:
You can carry food by simply strapping it to your backpack, placing it inside your pack or having a friend or partner carry your food as you carry their clothing and/or other items. However, all of these concepts will require some sort of container in order to hold your food. Such as a Bear canister or Stuff Sack.
Below we will be going into many of the different options you have for holding your food along with options that will allow you to employ some rather unique techniques.
Safety when Carrying food
Quickly before we dive deep into the topic of food carry on the trail. I think it’s a good idea but you keep in mind the animals that will be in the area that you will be hiking and camping. As the carrying device, you choose for your food chain greatly impact whether or not you keep your food.
For example: If you are headed off into Bear Country it is a good idea to take a food carry container that will either be able to withstand a curious bear. Or take the equipment required in order to hang your food in a tree horse somewhere High.
Now that’s not to say that other small Critters are not to be worried about. Actually, they can most likely become the biggest past you have to deal with on the trail. As they are able to weasel their way into small holes or tears, and able to climb rather challenging looking objects.
Before you pick a food carry option for your upcoming trip, know what kind of animal is he will be dealing with. As you also need to keep in mind tactics and techniques in order to keep them out of your food.
For more information on the subjects of keeping your food away from Wildlife check out these articles on how to hang a bear bag, and how to place a bear canister for the night
Oh, and when it comes to camping in bear country, some state parks require the use of specifically tested bear canisters, and do not allow other carry options even such as the Ursack listed below that is said to be bear resistant. Make sure you know the food carry restrictions of your chosen trip location before you go. So you say out of trouble, and have a great experience on the trail.
How Backpackers Typically Carry Food
Below is a list of many different options, and ideas they can be used for carrying your food on the trail. But do keep in mind depending upon your chosen backpacking destination it may be ideal to opt for one carry option over the other… But I will specify which is preferred in each situation.
Bear Canister
The bear canister, this one offers great protection when headed into Bear Country, also it is quite simple and easy to use. However, the only downside to using a bear canister is the weight. Bear canisters typically tend to way around 2 lb.
Which may not sound like a whole lot, hiking for 5 days straight you will likely feel the difference of a 2 lb canister, versus a 0.03 lb bag. However, that’s not to say that, that extra 1.97 pound’s isn’t worth carrying.
Rather bear canisters can become quite handy in many different situations. First off, they are much simpler to deal with in terms of keeping your food from the wildlife.
A bear canister you can simply place on the ground in a hole, or rocky like area. Whereas a bear bag or stuff sack needs to be hung in a tree or something alike in order to keep away from the wildlife
Along with that, a bear canister can be used as a small stool to sit on. As well as a great water bucket to put out the campfire, or pick up some water that you planned to filter.
Not to mention the fact that bear canisters are rigid, which means if you plan on taking any food that will easily be smashed or crumbled. A bear canister provides the ability to protect your food from such harsh environments…
Ursack
I’m sure if you have never heard of this before you are likely saying to yourself “What in this green world is an Ursack!?”. However, if you have heard of this you likely know exactly what this is.
In simple terms, the ursack is a bear-resistant bag designed to withstand pressure a bear is likely to put it through. Kind of like the bear canister. However, this is not rigid which allows for much easier carrying as it can be stuffed inside your pack or tied to the outside.
As well can be folded down to take up less space when it is not filled to the top with food and other items. However, it does need to be hung in a tree. And given that the Ursack is not rigid like the bear canister, once a bear gets hold of it your food inside will likely be smashed.
Nonetheless, the producers of the Ursack have included (In some options) an aluminum capsule like lining that your food can be placed inside of in order to protect your food from getting squished or crumbled.
The main features that allow the Ursack to shine, is the fact that it is made of bulletproof fabric in order to make it extremely endurable and able to withstand a Hungry Bear, depending on the version Of Ursack you choose.
Different types of Ursacks
- The Ursack Minor (Critter Bag)
- The Ursack Major (Bear-Resistant Bag)
- The Ursack Major XL (Bear-Resistant Bag)
- The Ursack AllMitey (Bear-Resistant Bag)
The Ursack Minor critter bag is designed to hold up against small Critters that may get hold of the bag. Which is more likely to happen than a bear getting hold of it. And it’s a great defense up against these small animals. However, if you are headed into Bear Country it is ideal that you get a bag that is certified. If you’re not, the Ursack Minor will likely be a great option for you. As it Weights in at about 5 oz and is about 650 cubic inches. Which is equivalent to enough space for about 5 days worth of food. Oh, and it is made of Kevlar. A great option for those looking for a simple food carry bag that will also keep out the critters.
The Ursack Major Bear-Resistant Bag is designed to withstand the pressure a bear is likely to put it through. It is 650 cubic inches and is made of a material called Spectra. It weighs in at about 8 Oz. And has passed the IGBC test and Obtained a place on its Bear-Resistant Products list.
The Ursack Major XL Bear-Resistant Bag is 925 cubic inches and weighs in at 8.7 oz. Like the above Ursack, it has passed the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) Test and has been placed on their Bear-Resistant products list, and it is also made of Spectra. The Major XL is Ursacks preferred bag when out of all 4, as the XL typically is listed cheaper, and is the perfect size for most backpackers headed out for about a week 6-7 days…
The Ursack AllMitey, like the other above 2, It has been tested by the IGBC and passed. The AllMitey is made by laminating ballistic-weave fabric (Spectra) with Kevlar. Making this basically the ultimate Ursack to go up against Bears, and smaller critters looking to take your food. It is 650 Cubic Inches, and weighs in at about 13 oz. By laminating ballistic-weave fabric with Kevlar®, Ursack has made a soft-sided container that will thwart entry attempts from bears, mice, raccoons, squirrels and others
Me personally, I prefer the Minor as I don’t do a lot of backpacking in Bear Country. However, If your only going to get one I think the Major XL is likely going to give you the best bang for your buck, as I have seen it priced the same as the Minor, and you get an extra 275 Cubic inches of food storage space!
Nylon Stuff Sack
Probably the simplest of all the options, as well as the cheapest. A simple stuff sack kind of like the stuff sack you put your sleeping bag in. These can work great for carrying food. As well they are very lightweight.
Ideally, search for one that is waterproof. Otherwise when you hang in a tree for the night if the weather turns South you may end up with what food in the morning…
It’s not a problem if you don’t have one that is waterproof as you can simply place all your food in a separate plastic bag, then place your food inside the plastic bag in your stuff sack. So basically you have a double bagged bag. This way the plastic bag will act as a waterproof liner.
However, the main downside to these simple stuff sacks is the fact that they aren’t bear resistant or Critter resistant which can become an issue. But as long as you hang it right for the night it should be just fine. For more information on the topic, check other content “What Is A Bear Bag & How To Us It”
Drawstring Backpack
This is more of just an idea that I came up with on the Fly. I have never actually tested this. However, if you haven’t got the money to spend on any of the other options. Yet you have a drawstring backpack laying around that would probably work just fine.
As that is basically what a stuff sack is. The only difference between the two is that a stuff sack weighs a lot less. Well, and a stuff sack doesn’t have drawstrings that can go over your shoulders.
But a simple cheap option if you’re looking to stay on the cheap side and you have a drawstring backpack readily available.
Cuben Fiber Stuff Sack
This was a hot Trend a while back as Cuben fiber is a lightweight, yet fairly strong material that many people prefer to use when it comes to backpacking food Cary. Given the fact that it is so lightweight and durable.
And they’re quite cheap and easy to make if you’d like to DIY it. There’s many on YouTube demonstrating the process as to how to make one of these yourself.
Overall a cuben fiber stuff sack is basically the same thing as a regular nylon stuff sack the only difference really is the material as the material tends to be quite lightweight which is ideal for backpacking.
Hyperlite Mountain Gear manufactures these and they look like great products. I haven’t personally tried these. However, I think they are definitely worth mentioning here. But you could also try DIYing a Cuben stuff sack yourself. Below will be more information on that.
DIY Cuben Fiber Stuff Sack
For all you DIYers out there who love to do things yourself be sure check out the video below.
I personally would prefer to just simply buy one pre-made. As they don’t Cost much. However, the beauty of making your own is you can create it however you’d like! Size is as large as your imagination is here!!
Pack Pods
Okay pack pods, now this is absolutely brilliant. Simple, but brilliant as it will make carrying your food or any other objects you may desire much easier. You see the main problem that Backpackers run into in terms of carrying their food is the overall shape of the container which houses their food.
Most of them are shaped like a cylinder, which doesn’t really fit inside of a backpack very well. It mounts on the outside of a backpack okay. But trying to stuff a cylinder shaped object inside of a backpack can be quite difficult.
If you are looking to place your food inside of your backpack be sure to check out this product. It is a pouch that is shaped to fit inside your pack.
Decide that goes up against your back is flat, has the other side rounds. Creating a sort of half moon like shape when looking from directly above. The top half Zips open and the lid flips up. Kind of like a toilet seat… Haha, sorry to get gross…
And this too is also made of cuben fiber which again is said to be very lightweight yet very durable. The only company I know of that manufactures these is Hyperlite Mountain Gear here’s a link to their pack pod.
Me personally, I think a pack pod is probably the best option for carrying food if you plan to carry your food inside your pack, as well as if you are not going to be hiking in Bear Country.
However, the only problem here with these pack pods is when it comes time to go to bed and you need to hang your food in order to keep Critters and other wildlife out of your food you will likely need to bring a separate sack that you can place it in. Because I don’t believe these come with an external Carabiner attachment where you could tie off a line.
But I’m sure you could come up with something creative to make this idea work. But I think it will work very well for those who want to carry their food inside their pack. As it will keep things organized well.
Check out the video below. As Backpackinglightseshows the “Pack Pod” made by Hyperlite Mountain Gear
Backpackinglightse
Oder-proof plastic bags
This idea employs just a simple overproof plastic bag for keeping all your food from spilling and falling all over inside your backpack. The reason you want an odor proof bag is that some foods will give off oders that will be absorbed by your clothing. Making all your clean clothes that are needed for the duration of your trip smell like the food you plan to eat…
Which can be quite a problem, especially in bear country. As this could likely attract a bear to you tent at some point during the night if all your clothes smell like food…
Now you may be asking, “But what do I do with my food for the night”. Well as it is never a good idea to sleep with your food in your tent. Ideally, with this idea, you would want to hang your food in order to keep it out of reach of any small critters or bear that may come wandering through in search of the attractive smell… However, many plastic bags may not be able to withstand the weight of your food or the potential sneaky critter that makes its way down the bear line to your food.
Inorder to solve these problems, simply placing you bag of food in your empty sleeping bag stuff sack before hanging it could likely be enough. However, if weight isn’t a big deal to you, and you’d prefer to bring a separate stuff sack for your food that works fine to! Just be sure your food isn’t making you clothing smell.
Unique Ways To Carry Your Food Backpacking
Place Food In Pack During Carry
Many people that use bear canisters typically like to pull their food out of the bear canister and place it inside their pack when they are on the trail. Once they get to camp and are setting up for the night they will then pull their food from their pack. And place it back in the bear canister.
By doing this you can adjust your pack weight, by placing the overall weight closer to your body which will, in turn, make hiking much easier for an extended period of time.
Now you may be wondering, “But what do I do with the bear canister in this scenario?”. He will simply strap the empty bear canister to the outside of your pack. Again, the main idea here is to adjust your overall pack weight leverage points.
By having your bear canister strapped to the outside of your pack it can cause a strange fulcrum like effect and put strain on your back in the process. Which is something every Backpacker tries to avoid.
Now is your food going to make that big of a difference? Probably not, but if you already have a lot of gear strapped to the outside of your pack and the overall weight feels too far from your body. Then this option likely will be a good idea but this is all assuming that you are using a bear canister. As typically they are quite tough to stuff in a backpack given their cylinder-like shape.
But if you’re using a stuff sack or something similar obviously you can just place it inside your pack. Given that it is a little more flexible so to say.
Divvy It up (Group Concept)
Now, this is more of a group method as it will require multiple backpackers in a group in order to accomplish this. Basically, the overall idea is to have one guy carry everybody’s food supply, while the other hikers in the group carry an equal amount of the hiker’s gear who is carrying the food.
So for example: Say theoretically we have a group of five backpackers. One of them will be carrying the food supply for the entire group and themselves. The other four in the group will then take portions of that Backpackers gear and supplies who is carrying the group’s food supply.
This makes it so that the overall group can just take a large bear-proof, or not, food storage container. Instead of having to carry individual food supply containers.
But this all depends kind of on your group, and how will you trust them. Plus this can also be an easy way to save some money on bear canisters, as if everybody is taking their own individual food supply container it will cost the overall group more money in food containment.
This idea can also be applied between couples, as one could carry the gear and other supplies while the other carries a small amount of gear along with the overall food supply for each.
This idea could apply to many different situations, it all just depends upon whether or not you trust those in your group.
Meal Isolation
Some like to place each meal they will be having in a separate bag inside the main bag that houses all their food for the trip. Obviously, there are many ways to do this as you could separate each meal, so separate Breakfast, Lunch, and dinner meals into separate bags, or you could separate based on food items to be eaten at a specific period of time.
Really just whatever is easiest for you. A big part of it is simply just planning ahead. For example, A situation where separating your meals into Breakfast, Lunch and dinner bags would come in handy doing so is by simply placing say you Breakfast bag closer to the top of your pack as you will be needing it sooner in the day, Next to your lunch bag and so on…
The idea is to avoid having to dig through your pack in order to get your food, or other items you may need at the moment. But this isn’t the only reason for separating your food. As you could also do so in order to keep order in your pack. Simply throwing all your meals in your pack could result in mixed up meal plans and such…
Use Compression Sacks
Handy Bags to have to help reduce the amount of space your food takes up. However, you won’t want to put anything in it that will smash, or crumble. As these Compression sacks are made to act kinda like a vaccum back. However, the difference here is, these bags don’t need a vaccum. Rather they have one way valves built into them so you can push out all the air inside the bag.
I’d Prefer to use these for separating meals, and use a Nylon Stuff sack, Ursack, or a Bear Canister to house all my food. This way I am able to use as much space as possible. Or if you plan to put your sack of food inside you pack you could place your stuff sack inside a compression sack to get all the air out and save space. But again, if you’re going to do this obviously you don’t want to have anything in it you don’t want to be smashed…
Yes this is more meant for compressing clothing and such, but could definitely be used with you food. Obviously you likely won’t want to do this with all your food. But by using it for some you could save some space that could be used for other gear or food…
And it will provide you with a waterproof barrier so your food doesn’t get wet if caught in a rain storm or other…
Backpacker Food Carry Tips For Best Results
Below are a few different tips and just general ideas that you may not think of until the moment comes when you go to pack your bag and come to realize that there is food you purchased that you cannot take.
Consider it more of a reminder, to try and avoid certain food types, along with some ideas I can be used in order to save space while packing your food. Because as we all know, backpacking doesn’t allow unlimited space for gear.
Space Is Limited, Save It with these few Ideas
When it comes to backpacking space is always a big deal. You typically can’t carry along things that aren’t worth their weight in space. As a Backpacker, you should always be looking to save space and save weight.
When it comes to carrying food on the trail probably the biggest way you can save space along with some weight is by repackaging your food into plastic Ziploc bags or something similar.
By doing this you can save loads of usable space that would otherwise be taken up by empty space… Cardboard boxes, cans, and typically rigid containers always take up a lot of space. Same with items such as chips, as these typically need to be surrounded by are otherwise they end up smashed and crumbled. Hence the reasoning why when you buy a bag of chips from the store it typically is filled with air.
I simply repackaging these items you can save a lot of otherwise useless space. But also another way to reduce the amount of space taken up by food is to purchase the right foods that will not require a lot of space.
Like the scenario above with the chips. Obviously, unless you want smashed up crumbs for chips on the trail, chips probably won’t be a good idea to take. Rather opt for something more along the lines of peanuts for a snack as peanuts won’t crumble. Same goes for crackers.
Take Food That Doesn’t Squish or Crumble
We kind of hit on this a little bit above but I think it’s worth mentioning twice. Unless you have a way to protect your food that can easily be crumbled, or smashed. I would personally recommend avoiding such food items, well unless you don’t mind eating a smashed sandwich, or bag of smashed up chips.
I got to admit it, chips are probably one of my favorite snacks to have, especially out camping and on the trail. So I typically find a way to make it work by simply placing my bag of chips around some of my clothes or on top of everything at the top of my back. Typically I can avoid a crunched up mess.
So I’m not saying to not take food that can crumble or be smashed, I’m just simply saying try to avoid it but if you need to take it / really want to then try to find a way that you can protect it.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a “Solve all my problems, and be simple”, and you need it to be IGBC compliant then an IGBC compliant bear canister will probably be the best way to go. And Many of them can be strapped to the outside of your pack. Making access to your food easily, and freeing up space inside your pack for other items you will likely need when out on the trail.
Nonetheless if your looking for a simple, cheap option that will get the job done so to say… That being “Allow you to carry your food with ease” Just a simple stuff sack will work great!
Other Helpful Resources That Will Help You Further
Check out my post “Bear bag Vs Bear Canister, Which is Best” For a bear bag and bear canister comparison.
Otherwise check out my post “What is a bear canister & How to use it” to learn more about bear canisters, or “What is a bear bag & is it Necessary?” to learn more about bear bags!