If hiking, take sufficient food. Next, start to think about the weight and number of trail meals. How many extra meals might you need, worst case? Overnight? Enough for a thunderstorm to clear? Or snowstorm?

Now, are you backpacking, yet? If you plan for overnight, a weekend, or more, you are a backpacker.

What food items are carried by backpackers? Here are several web pages to help answer that question.

• The 10 Essentials: Food
• The 10 Essentials: Emergency Food
• Trail Tested Backpacking Food
• Repackage
• Specialized Suppliers
• Backpacking Food from the grocery store
• Backpacking Food Preparation Skills
• Backpacking Food Facts

Successful methods of backpacking food preparation have been developed over many decades of experience by the lightweight and ultralightweight backpacking enthusiasts.

I list things we use: e.g. efficient alcohol stoves made by experienced backpackers, Freezer Bag Cooking, the Caldera Cone Stove System, the Outback Oven Ultralight and the Banks Fry-Bake.

Each involves a different approach.