Ditch the lunch box on the trail

Don’t bring a lunch box on a hike — pack your food in a lightweight stuff sack or dry bag.

Lunch boxes are designed for a desk drawer, not a backpack. They’re rigid, they weigh something, and they take up the same fixed space whether they’re full or empty. A stuff sack weighs almost nothing, collapses as you eat, and squishes into whatever gap is left in your pack. A simple fabric ditty bag or a reusable grocery tote works just as well.

What you pack matters even more. Anything in cans or jars is dead weight — that’s mostly water you’re carrying uphill. Go for tortillas, hard cheese, jerky, trail mix, apples, and peanut butter packets. Then place your food bag in the middle of your pack, close to your spine and between heavier items. That keeps the load stable and stops it from shifting around.

Save the Tupperware for the office.