Camping Food Planner Calculator

Meal planning and food weight from trip duration and calories.

Group size

Trip duration (days)

Base daily calories

Activity Level

Cold Weather

Tab to move between fields

Daily calories/person

3,200

Total trip calories19,200

Total food weight (lb)9.6

Food lb/person/day1.6

Breakfast (cal)640

Lunch & snacks (cal)960

Dinner (cal)1,600

How to Use This Calculator

Enter number of people, trip duration (days), and activity level (easy, moderate, strenuous).
Enter target calories per person per day (typically 2,500-4,000 for backpacking).
Read total food weight (lbs/kg), calories per day, and macro breakdown.
Review ounces per person per day — aim for 1.5-2 oz/100 calories for lightweight planning.
Cross-reference with your water source plan since dehydrated food requires extra cooking water.

How the result changes with Base daily calories

Group size: Number of people eating.
Trip duration (days): Number of days on the trip.
Base daily calories: Normal daily calorie intake at rest (before activity adjustment).
Activity Level: Physical intensity of the trip.
Cold Weather: Winter or cold conditions add 10% to calorie needs.

Daily calories/person: Adjusted daily calorie target per person.
Total trip calories: Grand total calories for the entire group and trip.
Total food weight (lb): Estimated total food weight at ~125 cal/oz average.
Food lb/person/day: Daily food weight per person. Typical range: 1.5–2.5 lb.
Breakfast (cal): Suggested breakfast calories (~20% of daily).
Lunch & snacks (cal): Suggested lunch and snack calories (~30% of daily).
Dinner (cal): Suggested dinner calories (~50% of daily).

Identify Input Parameters
4 parameters
Group size = 2, Trip duration (days) = 3, Base daily calories = 2000, Activity Level = 2 = 5 input(s) provided
Calculate Daily calories/person
Daily calories/person = baseCalories * activityMultiplier * coldMultiplier
3200 = 3200
Calculate Total trip calories
Total trip calories = dailyCaloriesPerPerson * tripDays * groupSize
19200 = 19200
Calculate Total food weight
Total food weight = totalFoodOz / 16
9.6 = 9.6