Food & Calories Planner
Plan how many calories your group burns, how much food you must carry, and how to split it across breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks on the trail.
Plan your trail food
Use 2500–3500 kcal per person per day as a starting point; add more for heavy packs and big climbing days.
Results
Total food weight
—
Total calories
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Whole trip, all people
Per person / day
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Food weight
Cooking water
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One hot meal / person / day
| Meal | kcal / person / day | grams / person / day |
|---|
Shopping list (typical foods)
How is this calculated?
Total energy = days × people × kcal per person per day. Food weight = total kcal ÷ energy density (kcal per 100 g). The meal split turns your daily kcal into breakfast / lunch / dinner / snacks portions. Cooking water assumes one rehydrated hot meal per person per day, needing ~0.5 L.
food_g = days × people × kcal / density × 100
Sources: USDA food energy-density tables; long-distance trail literature (Walker, Andrew Skurka). Add 10–15% buffer — appetite on trail is unpredictable.
Trail tip
Pack 10–15% extra calories for bad-weather days and big climbs. Favour foods you already eat at home — the trail is a bad place to discover a new flavour.