Backpacking Food Bags
When you lay out your gear for an upcoming backpacking trip, you’ll likely find yourself with a sizable food stash. This is normal. It takes a lot of food to fuel a backpacker! When you start to pack up, you have the option to just throw all that grub into your pack all willy nilly… Or you can use a backpacking food bag.
Backpacking food bags serve several purposes. Below, we’ll explain those purposes and the benefits of having a bag designated to storing and protecting your food. We’ll also give you our recommendations for the best backpacking food bags the internet has to offer!
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What Are Backpacking Food Bags?
Backpacking food bags are separate sacks or containers within your backpack in which you keep all your food. While a few, somewhat chaotic hikers may choose to let their food items float freely inside their backpack, most will have some sort of bag. There are a few benefits to doing so:
Separation
Separating your food from the rest of your gear is a wise idea. For one, it allows for easy access to your snacks and meals. This makes refueling easy during a short break. This separation also helps contain spills. If a granola bar or dry food bag rips open in your backpack, you don’t want those crumbs infesting the rest of your pack. It’s messy and can make your gear attractive to bugs and animals.
Smell Reduction
When you store your food in a bag, you reduce the chances that the scent will spread to the rest of your gear. You won’t want your sleeping clothes smelling like food if you’re camping out in bear territory. Aside from safety, it is also more pleasant to limit food odors. I don’t think anyone wishes their sleeping pad smelled like trail mix.
Animal Safe Storage
When you’re at camp, you can use the food bag to hang in a tree for safe storage as you sleep. This will keep animals like racoons, mice, and bears from stealing your snack in the middle of the night. Some backpacking food bags are designed to keep animals out, while others simply contain your food in one space so you can store them out of animal’s reach.
Space Saving
If you’re looking to reduce some of the bulk in your pack, a food bag can help you condense your food stash. If you use a stuff sack, you can squeeze some of the air out of it to reduce the size of your food supply. This might crush your crackers, though.
Do You Need a Backpacking Food Bag?
For a beginner backpacker, an official, designated food bag isn’t an essential piece of gear. Most can get away with using a thick grocery bag or garbage bag during the day and a drawstring bag for night storage. Keep in mind this is easily accessible for animals.
As you get more experienced with backpacking and start investing in more gear, you’ll find these are well worth the small investment.
What to Look For In a Backpacking Food Bag
When looking for a backpacking food bag, you can find they fall into one of the following categories – bear bags, bear canisters, or dry sacks.
- Bear Canisters – These are solid tubs made of tough plastic or metal with a tight lid that animals are unable to get into. You can leave these on the ground outside of your campsite for safe keeping. Any animal that finds it will have a hard time getting into it. They are pretty effective, so some parks in bear country even require backpackers to carry them! Read more about bear canisters here.
- Bear/Animal Bags – These are “bear proof” bags made from sturdy, high density material that is difficult for animals to rip into. Unlike bear canisters, these are flexible and lightweight, so they are more backpacker friendly. Unfortunately, bear proof bags aren’t always truly bear proof. If the bears can’t get into it, bears still might carry your whole food stash away!
- Dry Sacks – A dry sack is a waterproof bag that can be used for many things. It can keep gear inside your pack dry on a rainy day, keep stinky used clothes from soiling the rest of your pack, or keep your food contained.These are perfect for people who carry liquids in their food bag! Dry sacks will contain any spills or leaks. They are easy to clean, versatile, and lightweight.
Size
Size is important to consider when choosing a backpacking food bag. The perfect size food bag will depend a lot on the length of your trip and the type of food you’re carrying.
You’ll obviously want the sack to be large enough to fit all your food supply. Typically, a bag that is 8 to 12 Liters is a good range for a 4-7 day hiker.
If you need help figuring out how much food you need for your trip, read this!
Material
If you’re opting for a food bag over a bear canister, below are a few of the more popular materials to choose from.
- Stainless Steel Mesh – For animal-proof bags, steel mesh is a popular choice. It is tough and tightly woven to keep pests out of your grub. It’s very effective at keeping animals out of your food, but it can damage neighboring gear.
- UHMWP Fabric – Another material for animal proof sacks are UHMWP, or ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, fabrics. These fabrics have incredible strength and durability. In fact, it is one of the world’s strongest and lightest fibers. Some popular brands are Dyneema and Spectra.
- Nylon – For dry sacks, nylon is a popular and trusted material. It is durable, lightweight, and waterproof. Another perk of nylon is that it’s easy to clean and resists wear even with heavy usage.
Best Backpacking Food Bags
Odor Resistant Bag
Loksak Opsak
- Use: Stores portions of food and reduces scent
- Pros: Reusable, waterproof
- Cons: Not very durable, easily torn
These bags are great for storing your stinky snacks! They limit odors so animals aren’t as attracted to the scent of your food stash. They are reusable, but you will realistically only get 3-5 uses out of them. Keep in mind that if an animal finds your food, they can easily tear through these bags.
Dry Sacks
Sea to Summit Ultra SIL Dry Sack
- Use: Lightweight, waterproof bag for food or gear storage
- Pros: Transparent, waterproof, variety of sizes
- Cons: Heavier than other options
This dry sack is unbeatable when it comes to durability and water protection. It is double stitched and has reinforced seams to keep everything inside safe from moisture. However, that extra protection adds to the weight of the sack. It isn’t the lightest dry sack on the market, but it is certainly one you can trust.
Wise Owl Outfitters Waterproof Dry Bag
- Use: Lightweight, waterproof bag for food or gear storage
- Pros: Durable, waterproof, affordable
- Cons: Only 3 sizes
You can use this dry bag as more than just a backpacking food bag. It can be trusted to keep your valuables dry no matter what activity you are taking on. Their clip comes with a D ring, which is great for fastening a rope or carabiner to the bag for hanging.
Unfortunately these bags only come in 3 sizes, which can be a bit limiting. A handful of customers have reported experienced some issues with receiving poor quality bags. While this is rare, we do recommend testing the bags prior to use to check for leaks. Wise Owl Outfitters has excellent customer service and will replace any lemon product you might receive.
Animal Proof
*Many national parks and forests do not recognize animal proof bags as bear canister alternatives. Remember to check ranger guidelines if you are traveling to a park where bear canisters are required.
Ursack Major
- Use: Heavy duty, bear proof bag for backcountry food and garbage storage
- Pros: Durable, “bear proof”, comes with integrated cord
- Cons: Absorbs water, not rodent resistant
Tired of lugging around a bulky canister? The Ursack Majors are excellent alternatives if you want to protect your food from bears. These bags are more lightweight and easier to stuff into your pack.
They are designed to withstand the blunt force bears typically use to access food. However, they are not made to prevent small mammals from biting through. These are not mouse or racoon proof. Also keep in mind that a bear can still get into these if they have enough time alone with it. They are not guaranteed to keep your food safe, but they are a good deterrent.
The integrated cord makes it easy to hang the bag in a tree for safe keeping overnight. This is an added feature that often goes overlooked, but adds a lot in terms of convenience.
Ursack AllMitey
- Use: Heavy duty, small animal and bear proof bag for food and garbage storage
- Pros: Durable, “animal proof”, comes with integrated cord
- Cons: Absorbs water, not as strong as the Ursack Major
This sack is similar to the Ursack Major we have listed above, but it is designed to withstand the gnawing of small animals. These bags are great for keeping mice and racoons away from your food, but be wary of using it to protect against bears. This backpacking food bag seems to be less durable against bear destruction than the Ursack Major is.
That being said, it is a great option for a hiker who is traveling in an area with a sparse black bear population and a large small mammal population. It will give you a decent level of protection against both.
Ratsack
- Use: A hardcore small animal resistant bag for food and garbage storage
- Pros: Durable, small animal resistant, easy to hang
- Cons: Can be difficult to open
This sack is made from tightly woven stainless steel mesh that makes chewing through it impossible. This makes it perfect for storage where squirrels and mice might get to it. The top closure uses a sturdy hook-and-loop closure that is difficult for animals and humans to open. So be prepared to use a bit of effort to get back into these sacks after you seal them!
In addition, this bundle we linked below comes with odor proof bags to make the set up even more effective. You’ll also receive a 50 foot utility cord and a 8 mm carabiner so you have a full set up for hanging your food in a tree.
Conclusion
Keeping your food safe and neatly contained is important for backpacking. There’s no better way to do that than with backpacking food bags! The type of food bag you need will depend a lot of what kind of pests you might encounter and what your biggest food storage concerns are. We recommend having a variety of options in your backpacking gear stash so you have them all at your disposal. That way, you’ll always have the perfect bag for your next destination!
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
