Pounds per person per day (PPPPD) is an acronym used when determining how much food to pack on multi-day backpacking trips. By utilizing a digital scale and packing calorie-dense foods, after a little practice one can simply multiply their personal PPPPD by the number of days a trip will last, while also of course ensuring that requirements for each meal of the day are met. Usually after assembling food for a trip and weighing the lot, the PPPPD number helps save weight in your pack by making sure you’re not overpacking food (though a little extra is of course a great idea).

The Ursack food bag is one way to pack your backpacking food (alternatively you could use a PCT style / method food bag hang.

Generally, starting with 2lbs of food PPPPD is a good starting point, going up or down a bit from there after testing on a trip or two and taking extra until you have your own calculation all worked out. Thus, if you’ve determined that 2 PPPPD is a good number without too much food left over after a trip, but with enough of a buffer and without going hungry, and you’re now packing for a 7 day trip, your food bag with 14lbs of food will be just about right. As previously mentioned, I like to utilize a digital scale to weigh out my backpacking food and in particular, the Feedback Sports Alpine hanging scale (use with food in grocery bags) works very well.

Further Reading on Packing Backpacking Food

For more reading, check out our article on How to Pack Food for a Backpacking Trip as well as The Backpacking Food Bag: An Ultralight Approach and our article on The Healthy Food Bag.

Editor's Note: This jargon installment originally appeared in Issue 35 of TrailGroove Magazine. You can read the original article here.