How do you carry your food?

Hi,I'm a first time poster.
Will be doing the West Coast trail this Aug and was wondering how everyone carries/stores food in their packs? Is it all in one bag inside your pack labeled for each days meals? I guess the advantage of one bag would be to hang it in the trees overnight for bear proofing. What type of water proof bag are you using?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I plan out the next few months.

I tend to lump it all together when I can and dole it out a little at a time. If I have to take bear canisters, it all goes in the canister. If not, I will group them into days and put into separate zip locks. I like to minimize the odor potential as much as possible.

My food is pre-prepared in individual servings in freezer (if hot) or sandwich (if cold) bags. I add water to the bag (hot or cold, depending on food), let it sit (in a cozy if hot food) and eat out of the bag. This is the freezer bag "cooking" method on www.trailcooking.com, "Sarbar's" website.

Yes, all your food should be kept together in your food bag or bear canister; just keep out your snacks/lunch for the day.

Some prefer to take bulk ingredients and do their cooking in camp. IMHO, this takes longer, requires more fuel and involves pot scrubbing. I hate washing dishes! This method, of course, uses less plastic bags.

Your Mileage May Vary!

Up until this spring, I had always carried my food in a stuff sack (with my small pot and stove in there, too, if there was room.) My logic was that all I had to do was grab one bag when I was ready to cook. I'd put the freeze-dried entrees in by themselves, and tend to group small items (granola bars, oatmeal packets, tea bags, etc.) in ziploc bags; those ziploc bags then became garbage bags to haul trash out.

Lately, I've taken to carrying my stove inside the pot, which in turn goes inside a small stuff sack. Each day's food (meals and snacks) goes in its own gallon ziploc bag. Each morning, I take the day's bag out to fix breakfast, and take the day's snacks (usually a couple of granola bars) and lunch (often a Bear Valley Pemmican bar) to put into a pack pocket for the day's walk. Trash then goes into that day's bag. I'm finding that I can pack more efficiently, placing food bags where I need to for a balance load rather than finding a spot for the big sausage-shaped stuff sack I used to use.

One big thing to remember: I'm usually not hiking in bear country, and don't need to hang my food. We get squirrels, mice, and raccoons that will nibble if they get a chance, but they aren't even a real nuisance if I'm in the tent with the food. If I think they might be, I simply hang my pack. Obviously, when I do go into bear country, I'm back to taking a separate stuff sack for food and for hanging food at night.

Food is one of your most concentrated weight items. If I do not need a bear cannister, I pack food in Eagle Creek zip rectangular "cubes". This way I can keep the heavy food closer to my center of gravity. Food cube goes in the upper part of the pack, closest to my back and lighter items on the "outside" side. If I use a bear can, I pack it so that heavier food items are in one vertical half and lighter items the other, and place the side with the heavier items next to my back. Also, if you plan on cooking on a fire at all, be sure to put pots in a plastic bag so everything does not get sooty. I pretty much get rid of all original packaging and re-pack in snack or sandwich zip-locks then organize by meal type-breakfast stuff in one gallon freezer bag, lunch stuff in another, dinner in another and condiments-drinks in another. Every time I pre-plan a day's food, when I am out I change my mind and want something else! So the pack-by-day method does not work well for me.

Thanks!
I really appreciate your comments......

Hi Chuck

If you are doing West Coast Trail, yes you can bear bag, and you can also use an ursack

However, I've done this trail a lot,and all the campsites on it have very good bear boxes. The campsites at Michigan, Darling, Tscowais, Tsusiat, Cribs, Carmannah, Walbran, Camper, and Thrasher all have a big aluminum bear locker near the composting toilet - that's the place to keep your food.

The only reason you would need to hang or use an ursack is if you plan to random camp (and if you do, don't do it on one of the many indian reservations on the trail). As you probably don't want to do that anyway, My sugesstion is you'll be fine with your food in a light nylon bag. Have a length of line in case you get stuck and have to hang it, but that's pretty hard to do there, there are lots of campsites, and in august access to the trail is restricted per day so it won't be overrun.

and to answer your original questions - I normally keep my food in one big bag in my pack, most often that's an ursack (bear resistant sack) but I take an extra medium ziploc. Every day at breakfast I pull out my day's allotment of snacks and put them in the ziploc which stays accessible in the top of my pack. My dinners and breakfasts just stay in the bag (until I take them out to make and eat them).

the big bag then gets appropriately stowed (hung, tied or bear lockered) to make sure it is bear safe at night, along with other smellibles.

When I travelling, I always pack my home made foods in paper boxes or in plastic boxes. My first preference is to pack the food in disposable paper boxes because they are light and easy to carry and in these boxes food remain with its original taste.