Ditch the hard lunch box on the trail

If you’re trying to maximize space for a hiking or camping trip, stop using a rigid lunch box and use a soft cooler or stuff sack instead.

Hard lunch boxes are the problem. They have fixed shapes, useless corners, and a big air pocket at the top the moment you pack anything irregular. A soft cooler or a roll-top dry bag conforms to the leftovers in your backpack and squishes down as you eat. There’s no wasted air in there.

Once you’re using a flexible container, pack like a game of Tetris. Repackage anything with excess packaging, squeeze the air out of chip bags, and break down boxes. Dense stuff (nuts, hard cheese, apples) goes at the bottom so it doesn’t crush things. Soft stuff (bread, tortillas, cookies) stays on top. Fill every gap — stuff a banana between the water bottle and the jar of peanut butter. And yes, that means stepping on your bag of chips before you leave; flat chips are a feature, not a bug.

Also reconsider the meal itself. Flat foods beat bulky ones. Tortillas over bread, summer sausage over sandwich rolls, dehydrated soup over canned anything. Same calories, half the volume.

Your backpack is not a fridge — but with a soft bag and some common sense, it can hold more than you think.