The Volumetric Calorie Density of Backpacking Food 

Your videos are in a league of their own. Excellent research, considerations and commentary. Thank you!

I got into ultralight hiking about an year and a half ago. I've been a casual hiker for some years now and after consuming content from different youtubers on hiking, NOTHING comes even close to your coverage on the topics you did. I'm literally speechless you have provided all this info for free, and I feel so lucky to live in a reality someone like you exists and go all the way to do this sort of material. I hope you cover more topics in the future, and get more recognition or even a monetary return for your work. I would 1000% buy a book containing all this information summarized to recommend it to friends who might need something more digested but still informative. Thank you, thank you and thank you again. I RARELY comment on videos but oh my god I found your channel just about a couple days ago and just wow. Never before a channel blew me away like this. I'm already a fan and love your sense of humour man, I'll be subbed waiting patiently for whatever comes next from you.

I'm glad you aren't done! Your previous series was so comprehensive, and the break was so long, that I wondered if you had finished. You produce the most informative videos in backpacking, and I really look forward to any topic you choose to cover. Plus, I'm a fan of the This Old Tony school of RU-vid presentation

Only channel on RU-vid that I have to save the video and replay it, sometimes a few times. No way I’m taking in that much information in a one done. 🤯👊

This channel is criminally under-rated and under-viewed... Great stuff.

I'm just starting out in the hiking world and I mostly lucked out on finding your youtube channel in a reddit comment. in the course of a couple days i can already tell you've saved me hundreds of dollars, countless hours of trial and error, weeks of hungry nights with a sore back and sour attitude, and possibly my life. thank you so much!

Your words are so articulate, it also has the same cadence and smoothness as Carl Sagan's work. Only you talk a little faster. You're a great speaker and teacher.

Excellent video, thanks! When it's gonna be cold outside one can melt dark chocolate and mix in M&Ms as it cools to fill all the empty volume between the M&Ms Maybe one will have to work out a way to mold the warm mixture into "bars" or something though. But this is almost like making your own Snickers bars. :) Also adding small particulates and powders (Nido, protein powder, flax meal) to oatmeal and granola simply fills in the air gaps in oatmeal and granola bits so can add calories with no added increase in volume. There is coconut MCT oil powder, too.

Your videos are incredible! I've watched almost every one, and some multiple times. I thru hiked the AT in 2018 and I wish I had this resource then. I am doing Rae Lakes Loop in the Sierras in June (bear can required) and I am hugely thankful for discovering your channel. I think you could apply your level of research, reasoning, and attention to detail to many other aspects of backpacking and other topics as well. Can't wait to see the future of your channel!

I appreciate the thoroughness of your videos. The science and numbers, and then the reality and applicability.

Thank you ThisOldTony, glad to see what's been keeping you busy recently.

Great to see another video from you! Excited to watch this one. Thanks a bunch from Australia :))

Congratulations on going down this massive rabbit hole, absolutely loved this ❤. Learned so much, thanks for sharing and doing the work!!

Another super informative video, Mr. Skeptic. Thank you for going to all that effort and then sharing it with us. Much appreciated!

Happy to see another video 🤘

these are the absolute best videos, was so excited to see a new one pop up in my feed

I love the charts! Keep them coming!

Another great addition to what should be considered required viewing for distance hikers. Thanks again, Mr Sceptic, for all your hard work !

Great video! Always happy to see new content from you

Been waiting a long time for this video and loved it!

this was the most hilarious one yet, thank you so much for not taking all this too seriously.

Thank you for all your work. It’s awesome!!!!

Your videos continue to impress. As others have said, you’re in a league of your own in terms of quality. I love diving deep into the dad. Looking forward to the next one

My brain is so excited. Thank you!!!

Hot damn this answered my questions from like 4 years ago and I'm ecstatic! Thank you for the work!

Good to have you back. You make really great videos

As always, your presentation is super -awesome and incredibly informative. And, your facts make total sense which tells me I'm on the right track for selecting my food for trail. Thanks so much!

Holy shit this video is incredible, this whole series is!! Unrivaled knowledge and thoroughness. Gear Skeptic is way beyond any other source on this topic.

Top tier study investigation. Backed up with data and practicality. Cheers mate🍻

Again, hitting it out of the ballpark! Excellent.

It's cool to see you continuing on your quest of "all things backpacking food". I did an approx 500-mile PCT section hike last year and ended up going off-trail because of some health issues that came up. I'm guessing at least some of that was due to not paying enough attention to what I brought for food. This year I'm planning on doing another 500+ miles this year on even harder sections. So I will be watching - and rewatching - your vids a lot. It's truly remarkable what you've created. Thanks for taking the time to share your expertise and your incredible attention to details.

Thank you for making this, I work for an outdoor outfitter and recommend your videos to so many new to thru hiking, dropping the weight while getting great nutrition and saving space really is a big part of getting people on trail who normally wouldn’t be able to. Thanks for doing what you do.

I wish I had the ability to give you a thousand thumbs up for each of your videos. I nerded out about caloric density and volume in a much less precise way before my hike of the JMT, but it allowed me to get 7 days + into my bear can. Too bad I had altitude induced anorexia and had to force feed myself calories much of the time! You can only plan so much, but it was still the best time ever! Thanks for all your hard work!!!

I applaud your efforts, sir! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I was STOKED when I saw you released a new video! . I had been thinking about volume as well, but hadn't thought of a good way to measure it. This video is gold! Thank you! So many gems in this video. "a gross amount of candy bars..." 🤣

I actually thought after seeing the series, nothing more could be added. Boy was I wrong and thank you for all the hard and smart work you put into these videos. Heading for the Sierra mid August so very appreciated!

You’re so helpful thank you so much for all the work you’ve done to help people get into it with relative ease. As a dude who’s relatively new to the whole through hiking deal I really really appreciate it !

Thanks for your continued research and teaching. The most important part of UL hiking that always gets ignored, simplified for dolts like me.

Fantastic Explanation- great resources from your research!! Thanks a lot.

Once again, amazingly helpful information.

Like always, a great time to information value 🤗

Thanks for the new video! Love your work. Recently showed my girlfriend your videos and now we nerd out so hard over backpacking meal planning.

This is insane. In the best way. I'm so here for it.

Yet, another great video! Keep it up, this is great stuff.

Amazing! Been waiting for this video before planning my food for the PCT. I don't see what else can be added to this series. It covers everything!

Love the videos. And spreadsheets well Im known to use them when going on vacation.

I'm so glad that i found this chanel! Your videos are awesome as someone pointed "in a league of their own"...i hope this chanel grows cause you deserve considering how much effort you put in theese videos! Just keep them comming! Best wishes from a cross the world🇲🇰

Yay! Thank you for this!

Great job on this video!

Hooray, another video! This one is very helpful for bikepackers -- bikepacking bags are even more space-constrained than backpacks...

I'm new sub. I'm finding it hard to believe u don't have more... you sir are awesome

This is superb and extremely helpful as I’m planning out provisions for an AT through hike.

Well done, sir. Your videos are very helpful. My thinking about trail food preparation is on a whole other level now.

I just found your channel. That's a lot of info to digest and I just watched this one video. Going to watch the others on this subject. That you for sharing your details.

I was so Excited to see you mad a New Video 🤩 Thank You my food planning gets better and better 🍽

I feel like I just took a college course in hiking food in this series. This was so helpful. Thank you!

Praise be to the Algorithm. Very well presented and information dense. Kudos.

Best channel on RU-vid for sure.

You videos are fantastic! Please continue. It is incredibly informative while actually being entertaining. I would really enjoy you continuing the series to not just covering hiking foods. A real, full, in depth study of camp stoves and methods of cooking for example. Anyway…. Well done!

amazing video! going to try your method out this summer for Yosemite and the Wonderland Trail. thank you!

Was recommended this channel from another vid. Loved it. SO DENSE. Will now binge the rest of your vids. Subscribed -Northern Ontario Canoeist(s)

Thanks for the new video!

A new GearSkeptic video?! And with a snazzy new intro animation?? I'm excited!

Thank you for this video 🌱

Great video, loving the series! As one of those "large active dudes" mentioned I can report that I only finished maybe 3-4 of those gruel breakfasts the whole JMT, 10 years ago when my metabolism was a lot faster.

Thank you for this video, this is exactly what I need for the up coming JMT hike! If you have a Patreon page, I'd love to donate for all the effort you put into making this amazing series.

Excellent information Thank you

I love this man.

Great video as always!

Excellent information

Thank you sir! And, a very happy and productive new year to you. Great presentation.

👍👍Great presentation loved it ☮

That's where I'm at; repackaging and vacuum sealing the items that are essentially over packaged for esthetics & marketing. Vacuum sealing is a great way to save space.

You are so SO good! Dang, man. One thing I'd like to see tested is the effect of placement of heavy items *within* a hiking pack. People say to put the heavy stuff (food, typically) near the middle of the pack and close to your back. However, everyone essentially just puts their food in a "ball" (sack) or cylinder (can). It seems like a more ergonomic arrangement would be to *stack* food right up against the back panel (where a water bladder like Camelbak might go). This would keep the weight closest to the body. This would mean that throughout the course of a trip, one would use less energy in hiking (and therefore require fewer calories), as well as be safer. A bear "canister" could even be devised in a sort of rectangular shape (like a briefcase with some curves).

Awesome! Thank you!

Another comment for the algorithm. Great videos man! Keep going.

you, sir, are doing god's work

You are my favourite channel :D

This was super cool, this is the first video I've seen of yours. I feel happy to know there are other spreadsheet geeks out there. Did exactly that to figure out long Sierra resupplies on the PCT and SHR, as well as other trails I did without a bear canister. I try to eat pretty healthy and was happy to be able to justify some of that in the end (did you know kale chips are 160 cal/oz? They still taste good smashed up, add 'em to dinner if texture gets weird for ya)

This has to be one of the most delightfully nerdy conversations on an important topic we’ve all thought about. Thanks for taking the time to do it. One area that hasn’t been addressed in this series is the fact that food packaged together over a prolonged period of time has a tendency to taste and smell like everything else. This is a huge downside for me, because when it starts to shift to everything else, it doesn’t taste good and it is even less welcoming.

He's BACK !!!!

Informative as always, and glad to see the dad/science jokes back 😆

Leaving a comment just so you get the youtube algorithm bump. This content deserves to be seen

@4:00 "I made a scatter plot. That's not weird, right? I mean the data's already in a spreadsheet, to make a graph all you've got to do is push a couple of buttons....Stop looking at me like that." I feel your pain in most of my lectures as I get those looks (or closed eyelids). Now only if mine were as entertaining AND as densely informative as yours, I'd have it made! Thanks for another great video, glad to see you back in action.

I have been backpacking 50 years. I learned more useful backpacking information in these 22 minutes than I have in the last 5 years. Talk about return on density!

Love your videos!! A good analogy would be 3 5 gallon buckets, one filled with fist sized rocks, one with gravel & the third with sand, now weigh them :)

Great stuff. I use an Ursack rather than my BV450 normally and have yet to really get close to the max volume, but stackability can still be an issue. I hate having foil wrappers and stiff food sacks in my food bag/pockets/trash bag, so I basically repackage almost everything at home before a trip. I unwrap bars and cookies and such into ziplock bags and then each morning put together a couple ziplocks that have a variety of stuff I want to eat, that will fit in my pockets. Stackability is still an issue in a bag of gorp (I like my Fritos uncrushed) - I need a physics phd to figure the ideal mixture of different gorp ingredients to minimize interstitial air space! Meal replacement powders that dissolve well in water would probably be the most efficient volumetrically, but those get old fast on the trail imex.

Great Vid and information. Thank you. I have another category you may like to add. High Blood pressure = lower sodium. I am dehydrating my food and making my own vacuum packed meals for my hikes. I choose to use "freeze dried" meats because "dehydrated" meats due to the fat have a higher potential to go rancid. I had purchased Nutristore Sausage Crumbles before watching your video. Now I am focused on reviewing my ingredients. I found that the kcal/g at 260/40=6.5 this is a higher density than any meat listed on the spreadsheet. I have not looked up any other companies product to compare. For example however the Nutristore Diced beef is 100/24=4.16. Again thank you so much and I hope this information helps. Regards. Jiyuu

Top tier spreadsheet

Love your video

Many thanks for your GREAT videos! Considering the special needs of the "prepper" community, whose bug-out bags may be packed and stored long in advance of possible emergency situations, have you done any research that lists the shelf-life of individual products or product groupings such as freeze-dried, dehydrated, smoked, salt-cured, canned, retort, foil-packed, irradiated, etc.? Understandably, product shelf-life can vary under actual storage conditions. Ideally, such long-term prepper-packs should be stored in environmental conditions that protect the nutrition and safety of food products, and such packs should also be examined on a regular basis, then updated as needed. Thanks again for your dedicated, detailed research!

Great to have another Gear Skeptic video! I have a few observations. First, Costco in California carries the organic Paleo Bars which are quite inexpensive, calorically dense by weight (230 cal in 38g =172 cal/oz) and volume (230 cal/44.7 cubic cm = 5.1 cal/cm). They are made by El Camino Real Bakery and distributed by Best Express Foods in Stockton, CA. These bars are very tasty and a lot healthier than commercial wafer bars, I believe. Second, a strategy to pack calorically dense energy bars into a bear can is to bake one large circular pie-shaped energy bar with the diameter of your bear can. I've heard of people doing that with their best simulation of a Clif Bar, but if one is skilled in baking a giant, more calorically dense (by weight) energy bar could be made. This is theoretical for me personally; I haven't done it yet myself. But if you do, just wrap the thing in plastic somehow and break off a chunk to eat what you want. This solves the stackability problem. Third, if you're going to all that trouble, a Bearikade is going to be a significantly lighter option than a Bear Vault if you're willing to shell out the extra funds. The regular cylindrical shape of the Bearikade is also advantageous for packing compared to the Bear Vault.

Could you go over a coffee/cream video? Like great powered creamers, instant coffee vs diff brew methods? I have a big trip coming up in a few months and just found your videos. They are incredibly helpful (prob the most helpful I’ve found). All with lightweight, taste, and ease in the field in mind. For example, I can’t have dairy (damn you lactose) and I love coffee. But every hiker suggests “the best coffee system”. It’s all very confusing. Thanks for your time and love these videos

This is something I've done with food for my dogs as well. I have an idea of how many calories they need per day for a trip (800-1200, depending on the dog) and how much space I have in my bear canister (440 cubic in). I work backward from there to see the minimum calories per cup I need out of a dry food (most bags in the US give kcal per kg and kcal per cup).

Another factor to consider: the survivability of the food when crushed and or heated/cooled: if the ramen is crushed it doesn't matter because it will taste just as good. A crushed snickers? Close enough. Now add heat: the snickers is a melted mess and once it cools down again (returns to a solid state) the taste will have changed. The ramen? Unaffected by both crushing, heating and cooling ;)

If it were possible to make peanut butter solid at ambient temperature, you could use to fill gaps created by things like peanut M&Ms. Could mold them into 'pucks' that fit the circumference of the bear canister.

I always crack up with your hand acting! Looking forward to this video😅

12:10 My dude carried a Platypus bladder full of olive oil. Respect.

Big AhHah moment that I wanted to share with you, is that I used an empty honey stinger drink packet as a container for honey, and then sealed it with heat. First I did with a hot butter knife, which worked okay, but then remembered the seal function on my vacuum sealer (which worked well). I hadn't considered reusing packets before, but this is a cheaper way to pack maple syrup and such, as those are 2 bucks a packet steep.

Enjoy your videos. I am looking at stocking a storm shelter, and a 72 hour go bag, FEMA should use your videos, thanks again. If you are open to ideas a vid on the physiological boosts or moral boosts also has extreme value in survival and camping and hiking! Like candy, Bacon, Butter, Almonds and coffee and what ever food does it for a person even a koolaid type mix like tang.. its good enough MRE's use the like nothing like sugar water LOL you could have a Phyc index of food Satiety on this track.