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What Food To Bring On A Day Hike

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Whether you’re heading out for a hike near your home or adventuring in national parks like Zion, Death Valley or Shenandoah, you’ll need to make sure to bring sufficient fuel for your body. Keeping your energy levels high for the duration of your hike is essential for obvious reasons—it’ll ensure that you actually make it back.

Not that you’ll starve on a day hike, though, but experiencing a drop in your blood sugar while on a strenuous hike in the mountains, for example, can be a serious issue if you don’t have any proper day hike snacks with you.

Luckily, it’s super-easy to keep energized and hydrated on a day hike. You just need to know what to bring.

Lunch break on a hike in New Hampshire

What Food to Bring on a Day Hike

Many of you are have a good sense of what the best snacks for day hikes might be. And yes, they’re pretty obvious. But it’s still important to point them out for those who aren’t really sure what food to bring on a day hike.

I’ve seen people eating candy on hikes, which in my opinion is the worst food ever—in any situation or circumstance. Sugar-heavy “food” like candy causes immediate spikes in your blood sugar levels, followed pretty quickly by an inevitable drop. That’s obviously not what you want.

What you should be looking for is a mix of healthy carbohydrates that offer relatively quick energy and essential vitamins, and fatty foods filled with slow-burning calories. In fact, fatty foods are arguably the best hiking energy source. They pack the most energy of any food source.

A gram of fat contains 9 calories versus 4 calories per gram in carbohydrates and proteins. (This is, by the way, also why the body stores excess energy as fat and not as protein or sugar—it’s simply the most efficient energy source.)

Protein is the third main macronutrient, and should also have a (minor) place on your day hike snacks list. Conveniently, protein is often found abundantly in high-fat foods.

Note: Proteins are your body’s building blocks, critical for the functioning, repair and growth of pretty much all body tissues. Your body usually doesn’t use protein as an energy supply (if enough carbs and fats are available) and it’s not an absolutely essential part of your day hike food.

No need to bring a bunch of protein-packed foods for a day hike, it’s better to focus on energy-providing carbs and fats. Having a protein-rich dinner after your hike should take care of your daily protein needs, and a lot of the best day hike snacks contain proteins anyway.

However, on longer backpacking trips, proteins do become a vital nutrient because they take care of repairs in your body and maintain muscle volume.

Backpacker at Hogcamp Branch, Rose River Hike - Best Day Hikes in Shenandoah National Park

Macronutrients

The following simplified list shows the three main macronutrients and which healthy foods contain them. They’re listed in order from the one that offers the quickest source of energy down to the slowest source of energy.

As said above, it’s important to bring a mix of these things on a hike to ensure that you’re energized all the time.

  • Simple carbohydrates (quickest energy source): fruit and honey
  • Complex carbohydrates (slower energy than simple carbs): whole wheat, beans and root veggies
  • Proteins (slower than carbs, but faster than fats): eggs, grass-fed beef, free-range poultry, seafood, beans and lentils, nuts and seeds, nut butters, spinach, sundried tomatoes
  • Fats (slowest energy source): salmon, sardines and trout, avocados, cheese, dark chocolate, nuts and seeds, coconuts, olive oil, nut butters

Best Day Hike Snacks

Now that we’ve identified what to look for when choosing the best snacks for day hikes, let’s look at the best snack options. Bringing the following day hike snacks ensures that you’ll be energized at all times during your outing into nature.

They are excellent source of carbs, proteins and fats, while also being lightweight as well. The latter is a welcome convenience when hiking.

Trail Mix

Trail Mix - Best Day Hike Snacks to Bring on a Day Hike

Let’s start with the most obvious day hike snack food. Its name saying it all, trail mix is a mix of nuts and dried fruit. There’s an incredible variety of trail mix these days, so you can pick and choose whichever one looks the tastiest to you.

I would suggest, though, to skip the ones with M&Ms in them (candy!) and check the ingredient list to see if there’s any added sugar and salt.

This is a super-convenient snack and a handful every once in a while keeps you powered up. The nuts contain healthy fats and protein while the dried fruit provides quicker energy and vitamins.

Jerky

Jerky - Best Food for Day Hikes

If you’re not a vegetarian or vegan—and why would you be?—jerky is one of the greatest day hike snacks. I think the best type of jerky is beef jerky, but I’ve also had absolutely amazing deer jerky.

Although this is lean meat stripped of most of its fat, it shouldn’t be the main ingredient of your day hike meals. Just because it is low fat and low carb, but high in protein, it’s more of a tasty treat than an energy-providing snack.

The thing is, though, that all other items on this list of day hike snacks already contain plenty of energy, and it’s okay to bring something to chew on on the trail. Beef jerky is my go-to trail treat.

Additionally, jerky is also lightweight and its high-protein content would make it one of the best foods for longer treks.

Canned Sardines

Canned Sardines - Best Day Hike Snacks

Fatty fish is an excellent source of both healthy fatty acids and protein, along with numerous other beneficial nutrients. And I just love canned sardines. They last forever, are easy to carry and eat, and are just super-healthy.

A can of sardines with a couple of slices of fresh, multigrain bread—I can’t imagine a better hiking lunch. If you do bring canned sardines on your hike, don’t forget a fork and a plastic bag to wrap up the empty can when you’re done.

Crackers & Cheese

Crackers and Cheese - Best Food for Day Hiking

A delicious snack at any moment, but certainly also on a day hike, is crackers and cheese. Go for the wholegrain crackers and dry cheese—sharp cheddar or smoked Gouda are my favorites.

I’ve spent a number of lunches at a scenic mountaintop enjoying a well-deserved crackers-and-cheese snack. Doesn’t get much better than that!

You might want to pack the cheese in a smaller cooler, though. You don’t want it to melt and go bad. A good idea is to freeze some fruit juice the night before and use that as your cooling element. It’ll be thawed by the time you’re ready for lunch.

Fresh Fruit

Fresh Fruit - Best Day Hiking Snacks

Nothing beats fresh, organic fruit as a refreshing snack on a day hike. You can bring whatever fruit you like—although watermelons and pineapples might prove it bit bulky and challenging.

I typically go for an apple and a banana. They’re small and easy to eat. But again, oranges, pears, kiwis,… it’s about your own preferences.

Dark Chocolate

Dark Chocolate - Best Day Hike Snacks

A super-high fat content, quite a lot of protein and sugar make dark chocolate arguably the ultimate day hike treat.

I can’t imagine a better and more comforting hiking treat than this. It’s both the perfect dessert and a great little physical (and mental!) boost on tougher sections.

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Peanut Butter Sandwich - What Food to Bring on a Day Hike

The quintessential lunch sandwich (at least in the USA) for young and sometimes even old, even if they don’t admit it, is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It also happens to be highly nutritious and contain all three main nutrients.

However, I prefer to replace the jelly, a processed food with added sugar, with a fresh banana. Wholegrain bread provides slower carbs while the peanut butter has lots of protein and those slow-burning fats. The banana has vitamins and lots of potassium (which prevents cramps) and adds a welcome sweet touch.

I recommend bringing just a couple of slices of bread, a small jar of peanut butter and a banana (or two, if you’d like another one as a random trail snack). I wouldn’t suggest making this at home before leaving; banana doesn’t stay fresh very long after it’s been peeled. Don’t forget a knife and a bag for trash.

BODYARMOR Sports Drink

BODYARMOR Sports Drink - Best Day Hike Snacks

One of the better hydration products to bring on a day hike is a BODYARMOR Sports Drink. Made with coconut water and natural sweeteners, it contains tons of vitamins and potassium-packed electrolytes to keep your body hydrated and feeling it’s best.

It’s gluten-free, has no caffeine and no preservatives. Even better, it comes in a variety of flavors, from pineapple coconut and orange mango to mixed berry and strawberry banana.

In addition, BODYARMOR has also recently released BODYARMOR LYTE Sports Drink, which has the same nutrients as BODYARMOR Sports Drink but contains only 20 calories and only 3 grams of sugar per serving. Just like the full-calorie version, BODYARMOR LYTE contains nothing artificial.

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Best Day Hike Snacks - Best Food for Day Hikes

Do You Have Your Own Favorite Day Hike Snacks? Tell Us In the Comments Below!

Heather Norton

Sunday 22nd of December 2019

When I was a kid we went to the Adirondack Mountains to hike and started at an old fashioned family retreat that my mother's family had gone to for years. We would get up every morning in our cabins and go for a communal breakfast, and then pack our lunch in the kitchen where there were bowls of trail mix ingredients and sandwich makings. I thought I had died and gone to heaven - one of those bowls was of dark chocolate in huge sheets that you would break off (!), another nuts, another fruits, and then there was whole grain bread, peanut butter, and yes, bananas. All these years later I am reading your post and thrilled to learn that we were in good hands even way back then. We're about to go out on a hiking trip so thank you for bringing this memory back and giving me the parameters to put together smart food to have a safe and enjoyable trip!

Bram Reusen

Sunday 22nd of December 2019

Thanks for sharing your story, Heather. Sounds like an amazing way to spend time with family! I'm glad this post was useful to you. Happy hiking :-D

Buecyn

Sunday 18th of November 2018

Nuts and dried fruit are my favorite! Haha actually the MOUNTAIN HOUSE food is a very convenient snack for me in hiking day especially in long journey.

Anna Makridi

Thursday 2nd of August 2018

Nice post! Thanks for sharing!

Bram Reusen

Sunday 5th of August 2018

You're welcome, Anna!

Wesley from Trip Hotspot

Wednesday 1st of August 2018

Such a great tips. Thank you so much!

Bram Reusen

Sunday 5th of August 2018

Glad you found this useful, Wesley.