I'm thinking about next year and what I did wrong this year. I did a possible 5 day tour, but my health turned it into a 3 day your. I packed WAY too much food, mostly being enough snacks to keep me fueled through the day.
So how much food do people pack for road tours that will pass by enough stores to be able to purchase along the way? I realize this is a very open ended quetions but I am trying to see what other people find sucessfull.
Thanks,
Scott

If stores are available along the route, I only carry a day's worth of meals and snacks. In addition, I also carry one emergency dehydrated backpacking meal in the event my plans change.

Ditto. Why carry more. It just makes you work harder for every mile you ride. Generally I carry a 6 pack of bagels and two bananas which is what I typically eat in a given day while on the road. More than that, on a road trip, is purely foolish. Granted if you start to smell trouble brewing, aka political/environmental/weather trouble, I would carry a heck of a lot more just in case hits the fan.

I always have 3 or 4 dehydrated meals, 6 or 8 instant oat meals, jerky, coffee, Gels and nutrition bars, I'll carry the dehydrated meals all the way thru my trip, they're there in case I end up holed up in my tent because of injury or inclimate weather.

I generally always carry one Mountain House dehydrated meal and a couple energy bars in the bottom of one pannier for emergency only. Other than that which I rarely touch, I usually carry one, but no more than two days food depending on how far the distances between being able to restock. Because I generally like to eat one meal a day at a local diner, I don't weigh myself down with a lot of food.

A bag of rolled oats, a bag of nuts, a bag of raisins, a stack of tortillas, a block of cheese is about all I ever carry. The size of the bags depends on how long to the next resupply and what kind of bulk quantity I can buy. Often I carry little more than two meals worth.

I love European Deli's..

Ohhhh Yeah, and if you're careful what you select, grab something for dinner that evening.

When I did the Pacific Coast, we (there were two of us) went past several Safeways and other large stores. Generally we bought food every other day, occasionally three days worth. Also carried one extra day of dehydrated food in the bottom of a pannier just in case we did not find a grocery store when we thought we would. While daily shopping results in lighter weight, it is much more time consuming to stop at a store every single day, especially if it is very far off of your route. Thus, every two or three days worked out best for us.

It is pretty easy to look at the map and figure out what communities you will be riding through over the next two to three days and which of those communities probably have a big enough store close to your route to make it worth it to stop there.

Some things you carry a multi-week supply of just because it is light weight or hard to buy small quantities, such as coffee (I settle for instant), tea bags, olive oil, spices, etc.

Restaurants, we often stopped for a meal, but rarely did we plan on a particular location for eating out. It was more of a situation where you are riding past and suddenly realize you are hungry.

On the Pacific Coast trip I described above, I brought some Ramen as part of our emergency supply and one evening we threw a pack of Ramen into our one pot meal for extra calories. By the end of the trip, almost every day we had an extra packet of Ramen in each pot because it was an easy way to add calories.

That said, some trips are not so convenient. On my last tour I was traveling solo and at one time had nearly two weeks of food which I learned later was too much because the longest I went between grocery stores was only eight days. I probably would have been better off with a maximum of 10 days instead of 14.

It is not just enough food, but also try to make sure you are getting some protein too. I often had a protein bar at the end of my daily ride.

The emergency can of Chef Boyaredee Mini Ravioli usually gets eaten by the end of the day. I buy a new emergency can daily.

Its tricky to shop for one person, for a couple of days with fairly limited storage and no refrigeration. You can just take a spoon and a p-38, eat out of cans. I have never done that personally, but I have seen people who do it. Like some others here I keep an emergency stash, usually some couscous as it packs dense. Just enough to fill me up once or twice. Also, I carry a light tupperware container for leftovers from restaurants or what I cook.
A lot for me depends on what kind of stove I have decided to bring on the trip. If its an light weight alcohol stove with one small pot, I will pick up ramen packs, Knorr side dish stuff(needs to be cooked longer, but if you use a pot cozy method it can work). Usually buy some packs of tuna, chicken, or other protein to mix in with whatever one pot meal I have. On light trips I pick up a few candy bars(payday mostly)at gas stations or the like.
Bread, usually an uncut loaf, whether its a light weight trip or not.
When traveling with a full load of four panniers, with a gas stove, larger pot and a cheap light teflon skillet, my larder gets bigger, but what I have depends on the temperatures. A packet of mixed veggies from the salad aisle, cheese, sausage. enough for a couple of days. Recently I have started carrying eggs, just use the carton they are sold in, with a cardboard box for support. A couple of packs of spam singles so I can have spam and eggs in the morning(Personally dislike oatmeal and the like). Even baked biscuits using the canned stuff purchased the night before.
One thing I like to take is olive oil. Started buying it in the spray can since there is little chance of it leaking. stir fry veggies with noodles is fast to make.

things I might buy at a store to eat in a day or so. not all at once, but just in general.
Bell peppers, a small onion and sausage
A bag of salad mix and croutons.
can of corn beef hash and stock up on eggs.
block of cheese, and loaf of french bread, small packet of olives(if its in a bag, I try to avoid jars)
Hot dogs(they will keep longer than you think if kept fairly cool and in a clean container)and sauerkraut or can of beans.

If there is no where to shop but dollar generals, I will pick up pop tarts, instant cups of soup, crackers and Vienna sausages. If there is nothing but gas stations, then if they have a fried food counter stock up on chicken strips and whatnot.

Eating well also depends on your metabolism. I like to eat well, but can operate on nothing but ramen or peanut butter for days, and have enough fat reserves to go hungry for a night without dying. everyone is different, so its a personal thing based on experience and physical needs.

Came back to edit, I always take hot sauce. Whatever is the hottest that I can find. Usually take a brand with me simply called "pain". a little goes a long way.

See my post here: https://www.bikeforums.net/19228805-post6.html


That post shows some of the specifics, but the short answer is ... roughly one day's worth, plus a tiny bit extra.

On such a short trip... let your hair down a bit and eat the easy-to-eat stuff from stores along the way. Even stop in at cafes and restaurants. The issue here is that you need calories to keep riding. Your body doesn't really care where the calories come from. The demonised foods, after all, are demonised because they are calorie-dense.

On longer tours, sure, it's important to keep the good food on tap -- fresh fruit and vegetables and proteins -- but usually I reserve those for the evening meal when I can spend a bit of time preparing them. Otherwise, for me, it's a free-for-all on what many regard as junk food.

This question is entirely dependant on where you ride...


I can think of huge differences,

I have ridden in places when carrying 1 days worth of food and water doesn't in the least effect your safety/survival...

There was a town every 20 Km...

Then there were places where if you didn't have 10 days worth of water and food... Well, you were rolling the dice... Research where you are going and plan for specific "differences".

If there's stores along the way, less than 50 miles apart, I just carry a few energy bars. 2 or 3.

As someone else said, why carry more than you need?

I like the option to ride for a day, a night (spent sleeping), and a good part of the next day as far away from civilization I can go on mostly good roads without resupplying anything. I almost always carry a quality ceramic water purifier.

Ten days! Where do you tour that you need to carry ten days of food and water? That is quite a load. Personally I avoid going anywhere that I need to carry more than a couple days of water, but even in the desert south west I have seldom needed to go much over 24 hours between resupply. Sometimes I have avoided carrying a lot by doing an extra long day rather than carry another day of stuff. For off road touring I am willing to carry a bit more in places where water isn't available, but at some point it is no longer worth the load to me.

For me, I seldom am more than 24 hours between resupply points. So I carry only what I need to get to the next store with a little extra just in case. I do buy some things in boxes that are enough for several days so something like instant oatmeal is usually on hand.

FWIW, I really prefer to not use freeze dried meals as my backup food. I just eat whatever I have on those rare occasions that I get caught out longer than expected. In that fairly infrequent situation I really don't mind if I have to eat oatmeal or granola bars for dinner.

Hot sauce can make even a pair of muddy shoes edible!

I have never been on a bike tour. I'm a total greenhorn. I do however have a lifetime of backpacking and foraging experience. My plan is to carry an MRE or two. Perhaps one in the bottom of each pannier. This too may be overkill, but will be my backup plan in case I get no local store available. I like the idea of carrying a couple food bars to fill in between stops.

Money is much lighter than food. So, given the premise that there are stores along the way, I wouldn't pack any food at all. I've never bothered packing food beyond some fresh or dried fruit or other light snack when riding in the USA.

The exception is on camping tours, where I pack condiments as a normal part of my cook kit, and might accumulate some uncooked leftovers like pasta or rice.

BTW - I've come to the conclusion that cooking, beyond the bare minimum like AM coffee, isn't worth the bother on solo camping tours. So I'll eat dinner near the camp site, and have a light, simple breakfast as I break camp.

I generally try and carry an extra day of food so that I can comfortably hole-up anytime for whatever reason. So most of the time I stop for the night I have food for at least a day and a half.

Thank you for all the wonderful reply's. I was worried that people would read this and say its too general and skip it. I kinda figured out that I packed too much food and keeping a one day "emergency" meal was the way to go. I come from a backpacking background (AT 2002 NOBO) so my tendency was to pack for the trip, but quickly discovered the fault in this. I recently did a bikepacking trip off the mt bike and am now considering just how small I can go with.
Thanks,
Scott

Just made up the number as an extreme example... The most I have gone is 7 days between places where I could get supplies 515Km between towns (there was one place in-between and it was open, but what if it wasn't)?

I owe my life to that emergency meal that I always keep with me (not in the manner you likely think). A few years ago I was heading up a small group of tourers down in southern Illinois/western Kentucky where services can be rather sparse. Towards the end of a long hot day, I told the others about this little diner/grocery store that would be available to us about 6 miles before camp and so we counted on that. Well we get down there and the old couple had just closed the place after 30 years. I tell the natives as they're getting restless, no problem, I know the campground along the Ohio River has a little camp store that we can get something to eat and restock. Well we get down there and now it's closed as well. Now the natives are shouting "Off with his head" and my life was only spared when I was able to produce a couple Mountain House meals for their dinner. I was forced to eat crow that night.

You'll learn a lot while out on tour. I packed way too much my first tour. Learned pretty quick I didn't need it. Have had locals offer me food several times while on tour. Rarely needed it so often refused. This summer while riding through the high desert of Eastern Washington (in 105*F heat) I was stopped by a few LEO's and one WSDOT vehicle to offer me water, which I gladly took. Without them I'd still made where I was going that day but would have been much harder. I had water but doesn't take long for the water to go from cold to really warm in that heat.

I see that you are in Canada. I suspect that there are probably more places there that are a long way between restock points than in the US where I have toured.

Just me, but if I had to carry 7 days of water on any given route, I'd tour somewhere else. I don't mind knocking out big miles to get across big gaps in services, but I am a wimp about hauling a heavy load. So knocking out a 100 mile or longer day is okay now and then, but hauling much more than two days water is a show stopper for me. I generally find that, unless going off road, the places with long distances between restock points are the ones where I am likely to knock out long days, so 515 km would probably be 3 days if the roads were paved. I have done as much as 145 mile day to avoid carrying two days of water.

Also I generally find that I am typically never anywhere that there aren't at least a few cars every day, so in an emergency I'd resort to bumming a ride. I have never needed to do that for a lack of supplies, but I have been with folks who needed to because of a mechanical problem or injury and they never had a problem getting a ride. The more remote the area the more likely that most folks will stop.