Food And Resupply On The Appalachian Trail (Stoves, Dishes, Post Office, Bounce Box, etc.) 

For our first dinner on the trail many times we triple foil wrapped some small steaks (6 oz) and froze them solid, then put them in a qt. ziplock. They were just about thawed by dinner time.

Splurged and ate Mountainhouse meals every night except for about 4 nights. Added cubed spam, bacon bits and olive oil to bring calories up to about 1000. More expensive at around $10 - $11 each evening. No cleanup!!! Loved Beef Stoganoff and Chix Fettuchini.

Depending on our trail distance, my daughter will always pack a few extra meals. We were canoeing the Canadian bountry waters when 911 happened and our charter beaver did not fly to the rally point (Beaverhouse)We had to wait two extra nights. Those extra meals were critical as we had no outside news or information on what happened.

There is something called shelf-stable milk, pasteurized at very high temperatures and packaged in sterile containers, which does not have to be refrigerated. It can go over a month at room temperature. Hard cheeses like cheddar and processed cheese like American can go weeks or months at room temperature if packaged right - when I was in the Army I routinely took a 1lb. block of cheese when we went on field exercises and it got soft and oily but never spoiled. We're talking Georgia in the summertime.

Cold soaking is also a great way to give yourself a headstart on a cooked meal. Works great in a peanut butter jar. Ramen, rice, even lentils or split peas. Cover with water and tuck deep in your pack then when you get to camp it will be softened enough to reduce cook time then you just need to finish or warm it up. Also if you stock up a couple days at a time...getting less food more often...just in general then you can shop a bit more healthfully and or more like you cook at home, and spend some weight to bring real food, particularly fresh produce. A couple of sweet potatoes, a few carrots (dry full sized carrots) split a small cabbage with someone, a head of broccoli, some citrus. You can even plan a more normal meal with cold foods and cook it the day you buy it. If you only get snacky type stuff it will usually be more processed and always more trash. Bringing things like minced garlic, dehy lemon crystals, bouillon cubes, taco seasoning, ranch mix, etc help with any meal. Coffee has so many options. I always liked the teabag style coffee with a cocoa packet but generates a fair bit of trash. Teabags too. Drink tubes with caffeinated crystal light type drinks may help get you going in the morning. Walmart has a great selection of great value energy drinks. Also trash but no heating. If you are dedicated to coffee then its worth learning to enjoy it black which keeps things simpler. May mean you need a better coffee to start with but maybe not? Depends if you are hoping to enjoy it or choke it down to wake up. Get a small jar of folgers crystals or cafe bustelo, less trash and !ore flexible portioning.

I bought a freeze dryer so now I have an unlimited supply of mountain house style meals. After the initial cost of the equipment, my freeze dried meals are only $1-5 depending on what I'm making. They're also way better than anything commercially available

Mule tape is a type of strong, flat synthetic chordage that's very lightweight. For hardcore ultralighters, there is ultra thin Kevlar thread that will hold upwards of 100 pounds, but it's expensive, mule tape is cheap.

i used to carry barrels of beer, but i found that bottles of whiskey make more sense

I just finished hiking from Mammoth to Tuolumne Meadows on the PCT. One thing I will never go without on a backpack trip is some sort of candy. I was having trouble eating at altitude as my digestion had stopped. Several times on trail I just ran out of energy and just a little sugar would have really helped.

Lol When I go grocery shopping or to the store for things I call it “Re supply “ now. Soon I’ll catch myself telling people, “hey, hike your own hike”.

Great info! Thanks for sharing. Just met someone at the Darlington shelter in PA who mentioned your channel.

Hard candy is a great snack. Lasts forever, doesn't weigh you down, won't melt on you (generally) and gives you the extra carbohydrates and sugars to keep going. There's a reason Chair Force survival kits still include them for their pilots.

Cold breakfast: cocoa and Grape Nuts Hot Breakfast: Grits with m&Ms Fast lunch: Pretzel sticks and PB from the jar.

Miss Mills, Dixie, thanks for your inspiration and instructions. You’re a much appreciated teacher and excellent videographer. I started watching you when you were started on the AT. I watched your entire Triple Crown plus. Your trail knowledge and maturity is pretty cool. I tend to procrastinate way too much; so, listening to you seems like an extraordinary value. The comment section is instructive too. Thanks again. Kentucky

One a multi day winter hike, the temps were way below freezing. Packed several frozen entrees in boil-in-bags. Tasted great!

NOLS claims that most people get sick because they have not cleaned out the soap in their pots. They did not let us take soap either. We cleaned pots with a pine tree branch, still left on the tree. If you feel you must take soap then CLEAN OUT SOAP WITH HOT WATER. Without using soap, before the next meal boil a little water, swish it around and throw that out before cooking food , or pour it on a bandana for a warm face clean. Boiling water will kill bad stuff.

Was just recently on the maine section of the trail and monson had great resupply options although it was expensive. Caratunk has a very small resupply option at the sterling inn but the guy who runs the place gives hikers free laundry,shower and shuttle to the kennebec river crossing.

You are awesome! I've been watching your channel for years. I'm planning to start section hiking with my son and have found your videos extremely helpful. I've been playing around with my small wood stove and have gotten pretty good at using it. When it cools a bit, I'll try to look for fuel after a heavy rain and see how well I can do. If not, I'll go with an MSR.

I Cook everything in freezer zip lock bags just add hot water no pot clean up 😁 thank you for info

Hey! I've been watching all your videos! I'm planning on hiking the AT for my 50th birthday in 2025. Thanks so much for putting all this knowledge out there!

4:38 Verbalizes "breakfast, lunch and dinner" while chomping on a Snickers, the ultimate hiker food 😃

Great video Dixie. I was a little surprised you didn’t mention bear canisters now that the AT Conservatory recommends using canisters as strongly as they can without requiring them (they have no authority to require), but the Nat park service is close to requiring them. Times are changing with the number of hikers out there.

Great info, Dixie!

Great presentation, thanks!

What I pack depends on the type of hike. I never had the time to thru hike, and now my health won’t allow it. Despite Dixie’s advice at the end of her AT video, I have always had people depending on me to keep them housed and fed. Despite that, I can do section hikes, weekenders, and the occasional speed hike. When you get right down to it, thru hiking is just a bunch of section hikes chained together. Nobody I know likes hiking, and most think camping requires an RV, so I am usually solo, or at least as solo as you get on the trails these days (back in the day you could go a week without seeing another hiker). For section hiking, I have taken to dehydrating my own meals, then packing them and an oxygen scavenger in heat sealable mylar bags with a vacuum sealer. When I am ready to cold soak, I remove the oxygen scavenger, add some water, and reseal the ziplock on the mylar bag. When I am ready to eat, I put the mylar bag along with an MRE flameless heater pack (pack of 12 for $11.00 on Amazon) in a 1 gallon ziplock to maintain contact with each other and keep the breeze off and wait 5 minutes. I eat my meal straight out of the mylar bag. When prepping my meals, I use a spreadsheet and nutritional data from the packaging (seriously, one serving of rice is a 1” cube?) to calculate my calories. I shoot for 1500 calories for breakfast and 1500 for dinner. I am slowly creating my own cookbook. I carry life savers in case I need a quick sugar rush, but I don’t eat lunch or snacks. This means my dinner is rarely enough, even though it had plenty of calories. I finish filling my stomach with a pack of ramen with a lot of water. I also carry instant coffee and protein shake mix. The coffee is to keep me from killing something (I don’t do well without my coffee), and the protein shake is to help my muscles recover overnight. In the mornings I take a multivitamin and fish oil tabs along with my meds (blood pressure and beta blocker). I found some small sealable aluminum canisters on caribiners for carrying meds. Just pack your pills with cotton so they don’t get powdered. Even though I suffer from high blood pressure, I pack gatorade powder. At high altitude on hot days, you lose an amazing amount of electrolytes. The benefit of this method is you still get warm meals without a stove or pan. Still need a coffee cup, and I carry a small can of sterno to warm my coffee and/or ramen. I used hanger wire and a soldering iron to make a small stand to hold my cup over the sterno can. My evening mylar will contain 1) my dinner, 2) 1 package ramen, 3) a small plastic bag of coffee, 4) a small plastic bag of protein shake. 5) 1 MRE heater pack, 6) 1 oxygen scavenger. My morning mylar will contain 1) my breakfast, 2) small plastic bag of coffee, 3) small plastic bag with 2 multivitamin and 2 fish oil tabs, 4) small plastic bag of gatorade mix, 5) 1 MRE heater pack, (save for later), 6) 1 oxygen scavenger. My total stove/kitchen equipment is 1) small can of sterno gel, 2) small homemade wire stand to hold cup over sterno, 3) titanium coffee cup. (The weight difference between titanium and stainless in a coffee cup is negligible, but titanium is just cool.), 4) one gallon ziplock for “cooking”, 5) 1 gallon ziplock for trash. 6) bear canister (required almost everywhere I go, but all of my food, trash, and kitchen fit inside, and is not much heavier than the stove and pot I no longer need.), 7) 1 long handled spoon, 8) water filter and bottle (only items not kept in bear canister. I top off my water every chance I get. If I take a sip and water is available, I top it off). I always carry a spare water filter. Or aqua tabs. If I am only weekending, I am only going in a couple of miles, so I pack steak and potatoes for the first night, fresh veggies, deli meats, some kind of sauce, and a collapsible cutting board for the second night, eggs (already cracked and in a jar), spam, and pilsbury biscuits (I smash them down for pancakes) for breakfast. Margarine and syrup packs I grab from Denny’s. In this case I pack a Trangia stove, rain/shade tarp, a chair, a table, and plenty of snivel gear. Years ago I learned a hard lesson about food prep. I tried cooking a meal in my tent and spilled it. While I was (fortunately) away from my tent, a bear shredded it. Now I prep, cook, and eat my meals at least 100 yards from my tent. People frequently think I am antisocial, but if I am in a common campground, and people are cooking, I pitch my tent far away. At night, anything food related (including the life savers) is placed in the bear canister, which I stash way over there. If I am carrying gear that won’t fit in the canister (like on a weekender), I carry some bank line attached to a 3x5 stuff sack on one end, and a much larger stuff sack on the other. I stuff it all into the small stuff sack. When I am ready to stash my food, I fill the large stuff sack with any pots/pans/cutting boards, and my bear canister, containing all food (including the life savers) and utensils in it. I put a rock in the small stuff sack to give me enough weight to get over a tall tree branch. I know bear canisters don’t need to be hung, but why not do it anyway? As a side note, I was in the Navy, so I am very familiar with monkey’s fist knots. I used to carry one for this purpose. Then a ranger informed me they were illegal in California (what isn’t?). He let me go with a warning because he thought it was ridiculous also, but I had to come up with another solution. I occasionally do overnight speed hikes from one trailhead to another. An example is from the Whitney access trailhead above Lone Pine to the Kings River trailhead on the other side of the Sierras. It is about 20 miles, with a 2000 foot climb followed by a 6000 foot drop down Bubb’s creek. In those cases, comfort is not the object of the exercise. I will carry microspikes, a wool blanket that I may not use if I decide not to stop, a couple of candy bars, two lifestraws, and a headlamp for night hiking all in a day pack on those trips. Unless I am on a speed hike, I always pack an extra week of dehydrated meals in case of emergency. I have never needed it, but I have run across hikers who didn’t pack enough, and were going to have a hard time getting to resupply. I was happy to help, and they were happy to be helped. The most important thing is to plan ahead. If you are inexperienced, don’t be afraid to ask. If you are getting in over your head, turn around, or join a group of more experienced hikers. Oh, and keep a notebook on the trail. What worked? What didn’t? What gear was a waste of time and why? What problems could have been solved by having the right gear? Create a checklist from your notes, and modify it after each trip. My most miserable trip I ever had was when I forgot to pack spare lighters and my only one ran out 5 days in. This was back when you could still have campfires. Mountain home wasn’t affordable for a teenager, so I was carrying food that needed cooking. Those guys that start fires by rubbing sticks together have spent years learning how. I hadn’t. If I had had a checklist, I would have had a spare lighter.

31:40 Clipper lighters have replaceable flints and refillable fuel. They're also shaped in such a way on the bottom to be helpful in maybe grinding up some fresh herbs or spices and although they're cylindrical in overall shape, one side of it juts out to allow for a grip and button post and prevents it from rolling or even sliding away. I can't say if they're made "better" than a BIC, but I like their versatility and reusable nature.

Well young lady I believe you are the only person that I know of That's Got most of the answers for the AT. You have put all of this information together beautifully and you should commend yourself for doing such a good job because I'm commending you. I may be a little prejudiced cuz I think you're such a gorgeous young lady but I don't care. I'm at that age that I don't give a shtf about what anybody thinks or says so you keep up the good work young lady. I already know God has blessed you. Keep ye powder dry. PS I know your name is Dixie I just like calling you young lady and I love the way you come on hey y'all. Us Southerners got to stick together

You are informative and inspirational, my bucket list is very short, and the AT is on it.

To avoid dirty cooking pots you can use your pot/cup just for boiling water. Either reuse a backpacker meal bag (my preference) or freezer z-lock combined with a cozy pouch to cook your food in. This also allows you to have your drink without needing another container. 700 ml cup; a piece of heavy duty aluminum (wind screen), and a cozy pouch works great for me.

Parmesian block cheese backpacks very well and is one of my favorites.

Your eating good. I like to hear you talk about this

Great information! Thanks!

I put crushed Banana Nut Crunch, Nido and vanilla protein powder or half a bkfst essential in a baggie. Add water and shake/stir. I put the baggie in my cozie to hold it up.

This series is very timely for me. I'm returning to the AT to thru hike it after succumbing to injury in 2015.

Love the logo placement Aaron :)

I hiked sections of the A.T mostly in PA. years ago.Your food looks good.Im handicaped now but the memories and people meeting are timeless.I didn’t do the thru hike but I would go for days. Theis alot more shelters now than 1999.lol

thank you for sharing it was extremely informative

ur a class act,,, great vid,,,, hows fancy may doing?? her zoomies i the snow with her backpack was one of my favyt moments ever

From engineer to Imagineer .! Dixie, Living her dream,imagin that, a wonderful women with a natural Wisdom to make sense of so much knowledge ... Live your dream folks .! Thank you Dixie , for including me into your experiences of Wonderlust in Wonderland.!.! Thank you .

Take garbanzo beans can of good stewed tomatoes add some roasted red peppers add a little lemon juice salt and pepper and put in a dehydrator till it crumbly just cold soak and serve on flour tortillas

Hi Dixie, love all your helpful videos and the epic movie length trail trips. Recently you must have added something with regards to products on your video which causes your videos to freeze and crash RU-vid on an iPad. Keep on making epic movies of your big walks 😁👍.

🖐❤super knowledgeable, knowledge comes from experience!👍

Very informative

Good work

I thought coId soaking sounded gross up until I tried it recently and it's amazing. It's so good I'm actually cold soaking in everyday life now. I cold soaked some rice and beans at the beach today, in fact. Really highly recommend trying it.

The all in one pancake mix powder that already has powdered milk in it is awesome imo, just add water

I usually carry an alcohol stove with a wood stove as a stand (evernew alcohol stove with a modified BCB dragon fire folding stove, firebox nano2 with boundless voyage alcohol stove/trangia, that kind of setup) ... Much quieter and versatile (wood, alcohol, solid fuel tabs, etc.). However, I can also recommend the MSR pocket rocket pro. Because of the upgraded adjustment, this stove runs "quiet" (well quieter than most). As far as food is concerned, I think dehydrating your own food is a great thing to learn! It's fun to experiment and you can actually create some pretty good stuff (and healthier most of the time).

Rewatching episode 1 of Pct. Aww please redo the trail. Your early vids and the younger you is cool to see. What happened to Perk? I miss him.

I even do that at home when i want a quick bowl of Ramon !!

Pot cozy all the way!!! My favorite piece of gear... made it myself from Dixie's instructional video... my cheapest item of gear that has been the most durable....

I might be crazy, but I like to bring prepared Indian foods that just need to be heated without adding water. Yes, they weigh more, but I never have to worry about getting extra water to cook dinner. They have good ingredients, though they are salty. I remember running out of water and staying at a dry camp during a drought - that sucked!

A small metal coffee or soup can makes a good little woodstove; just punch some holes in it. Or, a small Dakota fire hole. Walmart dehydrated powered milk is👍. Light, cheap & tastes good. Found in baking isle.

Make sure you check the EXPIRATION DATES when you restock from hostels, small shops etc... there are occasions where the majority of their items are expired.

Some helpful tips: First get a real stove. I recommend the Sevea 123 with a built-in brass fuel tank it burns white gas, small powerful and easy to use. The same weight as a canister stove, minus the disposable canisters. If you are using a canister stove make sure you count the weight of the canister attached to the flame tower. The flame tower is not a stove . There are two phases to cook grains and legumes. To save fuel soak your grains and legumes all day in enough of water to cover them so they are soaked through by supper then all you have to do is heat them and they will be fully cooked in a few minutes. Use high temperature black paint on the outside bottom and sides of the pot to absorb heat and saves on fuel. Aluminum pots are not dangerous that was debunked years go.

Boil Water help with cleaning. Food is tricky but I would try and stick with easy stuff. When in town fill up on good clean food.

FYI you are supposed to punch a hole in empty fuel cannisters before throwing them away in common garage cans. There are ways to do this, but it's not the easiest thing to attempt with zero experience. Also, my wood stove is a hole in the ground I dig with my trowel and I dig a key hole or connector hole. It makes a cook fire much safer with other benefits although it takes a bit of work to dig.

I almost alway lose my appetite the first couple of days of a multi day hike. Especially in the hotter weather. I eat but only because I know I need calories. Mostly it's fluids I can't get enough of.

Excellent.

Seems like nite life is a hard life. Hike on hike on. Enjoyed the video. HikeSafe.

You can see through some bic lighters. The ones with the 'flick my bic' or whatever design on them. It's like translucent if rip that plastic off. But I'm learning allot from you. Thanks. I plan to do the AT in 26.

I am trying mail drops they will slow you down also I will put say a rice side in a freezer bag add hot water let sit and it's good in about 10 minutes then throw away the bag or clean it out I don't find me getting tired of what I send myself but I do find getting tired of the food in the stores there is only so much variety

Hey Dixie.... yes a hot meal can be a big moral booster !! Ask any soldier !! 🙂🙃🙂😎

Dixie: Per comment by John Smith three days ago: cooking lentils and rice are a great suggestion for less expensive trail meals, and are easy/ fast cooking. We need to have Dixie actually demonstrate how effective this works on trail for her, with creative options of adding dehydrated or freeze dried low fat mixed veggies along with beneficial spices. That would be a wonderful video to watch. Thanks Dixie and happy/healthy trails going forward.

Dixie ..how do you like your new Topo shoes?..Thanks, Keep up the Great informative video’s

planning on doing some section hikes soon but can/t thru hike yet but maby some day

I still want to see a hiker/camper take some sissors and cut the bag down instead of trying to scoop out the food with a long spoon.

These are very good tips - even for us that car camp.

Ok: just learned another tip: Cooze. Great idea.

The Trangia Spirit Burner can use a simmer ring on a spirit stove. Good Vid :)

For day one things if you wanna take milk in on the trail dollar tree sells shelf stable tetra pack milk in quarts, or you could buy whatever milk alternative in this format. If you have a small group you could easily use that up in a day. Other ideas for day one is taking frozen stuff in. On a recent hike in which the water wasn't drinkable i brought in packs of pre cooked rice and steam heated them and added chicken packets like you always have on you. The chicken packets taste much better than the tuna :P

I use mountain house meals. That way I don’t have to clean a pot , only a spoon.

Dixie, I know the best practice is to not cook close to where you camp but given the number of AT hikers and the number of critters (I.e. mice) along the trail how do you best prevent rodents from eating your gear (backpack, tent, groundsheet…). Stay away from shelters? Tent platforms? Is there some hiker trick I am not aware of? Always enjoy your videos and helpful backpacking related content. By the way, congratulations on your recently getting hitched! We’ve been married 47yrs and it’s been one of the best decisions I have made🙂

I could not find my hanging food bag after dark on a section hike, so I replaced my bear bag line with reflective cord.

Dixie, excuse me if I mention darwinonthetrail, the hungry hiker and even Matthew posa, as good sources on this subject. Love ya!

Ramen and beef jerky chunks mmmm Dixie do you remember the single serve cereal in the box

When asked, what do you eat? I can't help but to smile and say Everything...then count my fingers

37:33 See, that right there is why you would be wrong. Legal name: James Mountain Goat. Nice to meet ya!

Lots of great info Dixie! It is my goal to attempt the AT soon. Just did a section of it in the White Mountains in NH and learned a great deal about what to pack and what not to pack and more importantly physical conditioning for such a trip. Do you have any advice to offer concerning physical conditioning for such a trek? I discovered rather quickly that the things I could do with ease in my 30s and 40s are not so easy or as realistic now that I'm in my 60s, but remain hopeful that with proper training I might be able to significantly improve performance. Thanks in advance for any tips you might be able to offer. Great content as always!

i always carry pepperoni or salami with me. its so salty it doesnt start to walk on its on any time soon. also i eat it real quick lol

A Sterno will work in a wood stove if there’s wet wood on trail! Also, you can pour boiling water right into a Knorr bag and just let it rehydrate like the expensive meals!!

Every time I car camp, I always pack way too much food. I think it’s a holdover from college when I never had enough. The fear of hunger is real.

Dixie,is it possible to work through the AT from Springer to Harper's Ferry?.Wanting to do the trail over time.

Heating up a dehydrated meal is not cooking but it's still a hot meal. Real cooking involves a pot or pan that has to be washed. The best cooking is done over hot coals after the flames of your campfire goes down.

Those big cans of dehydrated ground beef or dices chicken have doubles to tripled in price since COVID started.

The mountain house stroganoff is ok, bacon and eggs inedible

Oh! Pasta sides. Now I get it. I thought you said,"dump and apostatize". I was gonna poop and tell people their theology was wrong.

Love that you had Black Coffee Roasting Co. instant! It’s delicious and made by a local, ethical, and unionized company here in my Missoula, MT! 😊

Are you gearing up for another AT hike?

How you you cook the Knors? Do you boil water and add it to the bag and let in rehydrate? I took them on my last trip but chickened out bc of the cook time.

Hi Dixie! I have a question (sorry if you mentioned this and I missed it!). How would you go about resupply now if you were to thru-hike a long trail like this again? I know you had said something maybe in another video about trying to eat healthier on trail so I was wondering how you would approach it? Thanks!

Nothing like a warm meal. Healthier in the long run and easier to digest. And I need my hot coffee in the morning......But no freeze-dried foods for me.... UGH... i'd rather eat mud and mosquitos

Great series Dixie! I’m planning to do the AT in 2023, so this info is really timely. Question, I’ve heard the ATC has changed policy on bear hanging bags, due to increased bear activity and they have learned to defeat the PCT hang. They now only recommend only approved bear resistant containers. Do you have any info on this? What would you recommend?

Micdonlds God a big Mack 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯😵‍💫

I tried a meal from rei the other day and I couldn’t finish it. I have one more meal from that brand and if they can’t do beef stew then I’ll be done with them lol

mmmmmm tent stake spoon

Must be really rough to resupply in Iceland

😊💖🐶🐶

My friends wondered why I would you camp in the winter but they don’t realize that the world becomes your fridge and you can bring whatever the hell you want with you lol

I had to rewind. You said fuss.... lol

Raymon noodles :)