Food

This is going to be the only time I'll tell you that weight dosent matter. Food and water are expendable. If you pack too much food you can just eat your weight down. Non-perishable foods are prefered, but there have been many times where I have hiked out hotdogs to roast over the open fire. Sometimes we would bring out pancake mix and take syrup packets from McDonalds and have a nice little breakfast 25 miles from the closest civilization, thats a pretty neat experience.

Most of the time I ate honeybuns and snickers bars for breakfast and lunch, and dinner I would eat instant mashed potatoes. Chances are, no matter what you pack your gonna end up running a calorie deficit. Thats what all you can eat buffets are for.

I would plan my meals out weekly so that the morning of the last day I would have breakfast and thats it. I never carried an emergency ramen noodle or anything; I was always confident in my abilities. On my way into town, or the road I would hitch-hike into town I would dump out the rest of my water. Without food and water my pack would weigh less than fifteen pounds, and I would haul ass into town for Mt. Dew and fast food.

It's always better to carry more than less food. I didnt start carrying the bare minimum untill about 500 miles into my hike. By that point I knew exactly what I wanted.