>>96281>What food is most practical to bring when hiking?>What food is most practical to bring when hiking?It's important to point out that these are completely different questions. When going on a day hike, I would take a couple sandwiches. It's a day hike--just put something yummy in the bag and go.
For camping, if you'll be near the car, bring any-old-food you want that fits in an ice box and can be cooked on your stove/camp fire.
For backpacking, I personally take dehydrated food such as stews and noodles, along with power-bar like snacks.
For survival... hardtack and peanutbutter seem like a theoretically good choice. A jar of peanut butter has ~3,000 calories, and a square of hardtack has a couple hundred, depending on size. If you were expecting to survive on it, you would very-quickly become vitamin c deficient, so you'd need some supplements. Hardtack has a shelf-life around 50 years, if properly stored. Peanut butter is good for up to 1 year after the "best by" date, if unopened (regardless of refrigeration). Vitamin supplements are usually good for a few years. So there's your cheap, stock-pile food.
>>96326>If hiking for more than a day or two in an area where water is easily available, carry as little water as possible.This is absolutely terrible advice. Carry no less than 2 litres of water. Carry double that if you have a vague idea that there is water in the area. Carry 2 if you know the area well and will never be more than an hour from water you can filter. And if you are planning to clean water by boiling it all, carry at least 4 litres because you will not drink enough water if you are stopping to boil more every time your 2 litres runs out.
