[pct-l] Cali's economy: Food prices (Ryan Hasty)

[Erik The Black]

I live in Southern California and I have noticed that my food bill has been
steadily increasing over the past several years. I now spend about $100 a
week on food for one person (and one dog). Five years ago it was around $60
per week. 

But, I eat a lot of quality fresh foods at home and I believe that those are
the areas where most of the price increases have been. (Fruits, vegetables,
fish, meat, cheese, etc.)

Dry foods and junk foods are still very affordable because they remain cheap
to produce and are a staple of the diets of most poor people. You can still
get macaroni and cheese, ramen noodles, twinkies, cookies, and other high
calorie hiking foods for cheap. 

The price of specialty items like granola, energy bars, beef jerky and nuts
has always been high and now it's even higher. Last time I checked a 5 ounce
can of almonds or a 4 ounce bag of beef jerkey was in the range of $5 to $7.

If you are going to resupply out of small markets and convenience stores
along the way, as opposed to large grocery stores in bigger towns and
cities, the price of food will be higher depending on how remote they are.

I would budget a minimum of $10 per day for trail food and $50 per day for
town food (and drink). Assuming you hike for 150 days and stop in 20 towns,
that would be around $2,500 for food for a thru-hike. 

Of course, there are ways to spend less. You can spend less time in towns
and buy inexpensive foods in bulk like pasta, rice, peanuts, raisons, etc.
You could probably hike the whole trail and spend as little as $1,000 for
food if you had to. 

But for me personally, eating is one of the great pleasures of hiking, and I
would not want to skimp in that department.

-Erik the Black
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Message: 5
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:11:07 -0500
From: Ryan Hasty <rjhasty at gmail.com>
Subject: [pct-l] Cali's economy: Food prices
To: Pct-l at backcountry.net
Message-ID:
	<22e150980911170711p5969c71dr81f857166d2c7c03 at mail.gmail.com>
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How are food prices out west these days?  I've heard, in general, that food
is more expensive there than it is here in the southeast US, but with
California's waning economy, will the cost of a thru-hike increase by much?

Ryan


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