Bringing the exact amount of food needed for the West Coast Trail can be tricky because it’s difficult to know beforehand how much food you’ll eat and if you’ll find it exciting enough to eat it on the trail. The snacks and meals need to keep a hiker satisfied without dedicating your entire pack weight to food. Here is a breakdown of the meals and snacks we brought and items we’d leave behind next time.
Table of Contents
West Coast Trail Food we Thought we’d Bring
Kris and I laid out our food on our kitchen table to see what we had for our meals and snacks for six nights and seven days for the two of us. The first picture is what Kris planned on bringing and the second picture is my food.
Food Kris Planned on Bringing
Items Kris Planned on Bringing (first picture) | Reason Why |
muffins | Kris likes muffins for breakfast but unfortunately, he didn’t stay full very long. They got squished quickly. Normally I wouldn’t recommend bringing them backpacking but Kris doesn’t like oatmeal and unfortunately has a sensitive stomach to eat much else for breakfast. He went with something that would sit well with him. Tip: Eat what works for you, even though it might not be the recommended go-to food item. |
2 hot chocolate packages | in case he needed to warm up in the rain |
5 chocolate covered granola bars | his preferred granola bar |
2 chocolate chip CLIF bars | keeps him full for a long time |
7 Honey Stinger organic chews | provides energy quickly |
1 Aero chocolate bar | a treat |
1 big package of beef jerky | to eat for lunch |
1 small package of beef jerky | in case he ran out from the large package |
1 bag of Crispers | to eat with his beef jerky |
3 pre-packaged meals for supper | easy to prepare after a long day |
My Planned Food
Items I planned on bringing (second picture) | Reason Why |
14 packages of oatmeal | I eat two packages a day to keep me fuelled until lunch. Even though it’s heavy, it will be consumed by the end of the trip. It’s very satisfying. |
4 packages of hot chocolate and 4 cup-a-soup | to keep me warm on cold mornings or when we needed to warm up quickly in the rain |
2 fish cracker packages | nice salty treat on the trail |
20 sour candies | nice treat on the trail to change things up |
1 pro granola bar | different bar to change things up |
6 CLIF bars | fuels the body quickly |
1 flavoured drink enhancer | makes our water more flavourful |
3 chocolate bars | treat |
wraps + tuna package + pumpkin seeds + seaweed for lunch | filling and exciting West Coast Trail food |
1 tube of tomato paste | to put on our wraps with cheese (makes a pizza) |
7 Honey Stinger Organic Chews | provides energy quickly |
1 hummus package | flavourful with crackers for lunch |
1 package Rice Crackers | needed for lunch |
1 pudding package | exciting West Coast Trail food |
3 homemade meals | I find tastier than pre-packaged meals |
1 pre-packaged meal | We needed one backup easy meal |
1 bag beef jerky | add to the crackers for lunch |
1 small bag dried fruit | tasty on the trail |
4 small bags nut mixes | snack variety |
1 small bag of almonds | filling to add to lunches |
1 bag of Babybel cheese 1 small bag of fresh peas | keeps well in the plastic and it’s filling, Kris will eat some juicy on the trail, Kris will eat some |
West Coast Trail Food we Didn’t Bring
When I gathered all my West Cost Trail food plus gear and put it in my pack, it weighed forty-six pounds! To give you a mental picture, I put on my pack in the living room of our house and was already falling backwards. That didn’t bode well for the strenuous West Coast Trail trip. It was time to trim some items. My plan to bring all the items I selected would have to be revised. The items listed below in red are the eliminated items I left at home. I explained why they weren’t required for the trip. The items that don’t have an explanation were brought on the trail.
Items I Brought (second picture) | Reason Why I Didn’t Bring the Food |
14 packages of oatmeal | |
3 packages (instead of 4) of hot chocolate and 4 cup-a-soup | lighten the load |
2 fish cracker packages (eliminated) | it crumbled as I packed it |
20 sour candies | |
1 pro granola bar | |
6 CLIF bars | |
1 flavoured drink enhancer (eliminated) | not necessary |
3 chocolate bars (reduced to 1) | lighten the load |
wraps + tuna package + pumpkin seed + seaweed for lunch | |
1 tube of tomato paste (eliminated) | too heavy |
7 Honey Stinger Organic Chews | provides energy quickly |
1 hummus package | |
1 package Rice Crackers | |
1 pudding package (eliminated) | not necessary/too heavy |
3 homemade meals | |
1 pre-packaged meal | |
1 bag jerky | |
1 small bag dried fruit (eliminated) | too heavy |
4 small bags nut mixes | |
1 small bag of almonds | |
1 bag of baby bel cheese 1 small bag of peas |
Kris brought all the food he had initially planned.
West Coast Trail Food for Snacks
Kris’ Snacks
Kris and I ate one Honey Stinger organic chew per day to keep us energized. We both thought it would be rewarding to bring a chocolate bar and eat it on one of our most difficult days. I completely forget about it then and ended up eating one on a random day to get rid of the weight, so it didn’t quite work out as planned. Kris ended up eating his when we finished the trail. He ran out of granola bars and ended up picking some from my parent’s stash (they were happy to get rid of some weight)!
Tip: Keep the chocolate bar for the end of the trail as a reward for when you’re done backpacking.
Chelsea’s Snacks
The red thumbs up in the second picture along with the backwards red L on the bottom right, are the snacks I brought. As mentioned above, I reduced my three chocolate bars to one to reduce the load and I didn’t think I would eat that many on the trail. Sour candy was recommended to try as a backpacking snack to keep things interesting. It was nice to have a different taste on the trail but I could have brought five of them and that would have been sufficient instead of a whole bag when I also had the Organic Chews that provided me with more energy. I thought if I brought different mixtures of nuts, that would keep my palate interested in my snacks. I never had enough appetite to eat all my nut mixtures.
Tip: One or two nut mixtures are sufficient for a one-week backpacking trip as you won’t eat many and they are heavy to carry.
Easy Breakfast
The Clif bars were extremely useful when we had to wake up at 5 a.m. and be out of the campsite by 7 a.m. It provided a quick breakfast without wasting time preparing an oatmeal breakfast and cleaning up. I ate all my bars and didn’t need to ask my parents for more.
Lunch
I thought bringing almonds would be filling and satisfying and add additional protein for my lunch but I never ate many of them and they just added extra weight. I wouldn’t bring them next time.
West Coast Trail Food for Suppers
First Supper
Our first meal (featured on the first picture) was dehydrated chicken, corn, green beans and peas with lemon spinach couscous (spices integrated in the mix). It was a delicious easy option. Put the dehydrated items in the water and bring to a boil. Add the couscous once it’s boiled and let it sit for five minutes until the couscous is fluffy. Mix and serve.
I had brought my water bottle to rehydrate my food while backpacking. It worked like a charm but the bottle itself and the water added a lot of weight to my already heavy pack.
Tip: Cooking supper is enough time to rehydrate dehydrated veggies and chicken. I don’t recommend to rehydrate in a bottle while you’re backpacking.
Second, Fourth and Fifth Suppers
We had a pre-packaged meal these nights. Boil the recommended water amount for each package, add it to the package, wait twenty minutes, mix the ingredients and serve. We used these packages when we didn’t want to spend a lot of time cooking and we were hungry immediately. I didn’t find the meals super exciting and tasty but they did their job and filled us up.
Tip: Sometimes you’ll need to wait longer than twenty minutes to ensure your rice isn’t crunchy.
Third Supper
Our third supper was one that Scott, my brother and Catherne prepared us as a Christmas gift. It was an excellent, practical and delicious gift. It’s called Polenta Cheese Stew. We had to add parmesan cheese to the mixture to make it nice and cheesy. It took longer to cook but felt well deserved after a ten-hour day of backpacking. The third picture shows the dehydrated meal and the fourth picture shows it cooked.
Tip: When you have a cheese meal, make sure to consistently mix the ingredients in the pot, otherwise it will stick to the bottom (as we found out)!
Lunch (Day 5)
In the sixth picture, you see a piece of halibut, margarine, and a baked potato. It cost us $37 each. We stopped at the Crab Shack on Day 5 to eat this delicious meal. The fish is freshly caught and the meal is cooked upon arrival. They have crab available for $40. The prices are expensive but they cater to West Coast Trail backpackers and when you’re in the middle of nowhere and someone is willing to cook food for you, the vast majority of people stop to eat this treat. They also have chips, pop, water, Gatorade, and banana bread, amongst other things. We spent $88 on our meal and snacks but it was totally worth it! Dwayne and Carl, who run the place are very friendly and chatty. We talked to them while waiting for our food.
Tip #1: Bring lots of cash for a meal and snacks.
Tips #2: We spent two hours at the Crab Shack including waiting for our food to be ready and eating it. The staff started cooking when enough people arrived. Plan accordingly to give yourself enough time to eat and finish the hike in a reasonable amount of time.
Sixth Supper
Uncle Ben’s rice (spices included in the mixture) makes an easy grain to eat. We added dehydrated chicken, carrots, green beans and corn to make a healthy easy meal to cook. We boiled the water and rice. Once it was boiling, reduced the heat and cooked the meal with the dehydrated ingredients for twenty minutes stirring occasionally until everything was rehydrated. We mixed everything and served it in bowls. The eighth picture shows the dehydrated ingredients with Uncle Ben’s package underneath and the ninth picture shows what it looked like when cooked.
Seventh Supper
We brought an additional supper (tenth picture) in case we were slower at hiking one day and camped an extra night and required an extra supper. On the West Coast Trail, you don’t want to miss out on food! It’s better to bring an extra one as emergency than run out and be in trouble.
West Coast Trail Food We Should NOT Have Brought
After we backpacked the trail, we had a better idea of additional items we should have left at home.
Items I Brought | Reason Why I Should Not Have Brought It |
14 packages of oatmeal | |
2 packages of hot chocolate and 4 packages of cup-a-soup | I should have left 2 cup-a-soup packages at home to lighten the load |
2 fish cracker packages (eliminated) | |
20 sour candies | I should only have brought a couple (organic chews gave me energy) |
1 pro granola bar | |
6 CLIF bars | |
1 flavoured drink syrup (eliminated) | |
3 chocolate bars (reduced to 1) | |
wraps + tuna package + pumpkin seed + seaweed for lunch | Seaweed – got oily after a while, not pleasant to eat |
1 tube of tomato paste (eliminated) | |
7 Honey Stinger Organic Chews | |
1 Hummus package | I didn’t eat it |
1 package Rice Crackers | |
1 pudding package (eliminated) | |
3 homemade meals | |
1 pre-packaged meal | |
1 bag jerky | |
1 small bag dried fruit (eliminated) | |
4 small bags nut mixes | I should only have brought half (2 bags) |
1 small bag of almonds | Not necessary, I didn’t eat many |
1 bag of Babybel cheese 1 small bag of fresh peas | I should have brought half of them (6 only). Kris only ate one. |
Items Kris Brought
Items Kris Brought | Reason Why He Should Not Have Brought It |
muffins | |
2 hot chocolate packages | Not necessary, he never drank them |
5 chocolate covered granola bars | He needed to bring more, he ran out (he took some extra from my parents) |
2 chocolate chip CLIF bars | He ran out (he took some extra from my parents) |
7 Honey Stinger organic chews | |
1 Aero chocolate bar | Not necessary, he didn’t eat it until he was finished the trail |
1 big package of beef jerky | The jerky started to go bad before he could eat it all. It’s only supposed to be open to the air for three days. |
1 small package of beef jerky | He suggested two of these instead. The jerky will last longer unopened. |
1 bag of Crispers | |
3 pre-packaged meals for supper |
West Coast Trail Food That Was Fantastic to Bring
- Clif bars: These made for a quick breakfast when we had an early 7 a.m. start and didn’t want to cook.
- Fresh peas: Juicy and nice to have fresh veggies on the trail
Final Thoughts
This West Coast Trail Exciting Food guide gives you an overview of what we thought we’d bring. We then changed our minds and revised the food. We updated it again once we had completed the trail to know for next time. It’s acceptable to constantly amend your food plan. We learn by trying over and over again. I find it’s easier to revise your food menu after you’re done the trip than try to remember before you’re next trip what you didn’t need.
The home prepared meals we brought were fantastic. I personally would have preferred more home cooked meals but it made Kris happy so we compromised to both be content. It also takes time to make home cooked meals, Kris didn’t have the time to prep them. Sometimes you need to do what works for you. I would suggest being careful to not bring too many snacks. Often you won’t be as hungry as you think. Fewer nuts and more bars. Bring the essentials and have fun!
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