Mrs X, what did you do for food? Did you use a dehydrator to get everything smaller? I'm doing Perth to Byron and back in September. The idea of free camping is very appealing, but unsure about the volume of food I'd be packing. Advice?

You don't need to pack more than 2 days food. And that would be breakfast and dinner. Lunch can be had on the road. Every 2 days you should be past a shop selling the food you want, or something close to it.

Packing dehydrated food would be at lest 600g / day ... so 11 days would be 6.6 kg ... then add water ... If it is cold you may want 1kg of food / day ... just to keep warm. Common store bought food is going to weigh more .. but you don't need to carry that much of it .. so less weight and space this way. Oh, and then factor in the cost of the dehydrated stuff too.

Hi Micki24nz,
One of my aims was self-sufficiency - I wanted to see what it would be like if I was REALLY far out there and couldn't stock up food easily. So I actually had all my food for one direction (11 days). I'm glad I did - the roadhouses don't really look after 1) health or 2) small packing! Full of grease and very little in the way of small-portion one-person-meal groceries. I checked most roadhouses to see what they had - not many even had 2min noodles or boxes of crackers!

I was also on a VERY tight budget, so buying fried food for every meal or eating in the roadhouses wasn't an option. I was free-camping and don't ride at night unless unavoidable, so I wasn't eating at roadhouses then going off to camp.

I carried a mix of the following & cook decent meals as much as possible.

BREAKFAST - porridge oats or Asian instant noodle soups if cooking, Clif energy bars, nut bars or pureed baby food sachets if not cooking (don't knock them till you try! Just make sure you get at least 450kJ or you'll get hungry quickly).

LUNCH - crackers, small tins of flavoured tuna, processed cheese (Laughing Cow or Kraft - good in heat and over several days). Otherwise nutbars. Box of crackers lasted several days.

DINNER - pasta or rice, freeze-dried veggies, meat was canned chicken or tuna or freeze-dried mince (actually quite good!).
Sauce made from tomato paste sachets (light and compact, 1 per meal).
Also couple of readymade curries in sachets and 2min noodles for quick/I'm-too-tired meals.
I can get 3 meals out of the Backcountry veggies and mince. I carry spices in little bottles (chilli, garlic, mixed herbs, curry powder, salt, pepper). This makes anything taste great :-)
I had no fresh veggies Perth-Adelaide each way, but did from Adelaide-Melb. When it's easier, I generally stock up every day or two with meat and veg.

YES, my food took up a lot of space and weight - no questioning that. At least 5kg that got lighter every day :-) It took up a lot of space in my luggage. But for me camping and travel is also about food and enjoying a good meal.

Full meals of freeze-dried food are easy, less water needed, quick, but expensive. I'm small and still need a 2-person meal to feel full! They weren't an option, but the sides were great (veggies, mince). I've never tried dehydrating food, but you still need a bit of water to rehydrate anything, so factor that in.

I picked up water every day - 6lt water bladder plus 3lt Camelbak. Cooking a full meal can be more costly for water, but I also washed every day & clothes every 2 days, and would go through most of my water each day. Every roadhouse has water, there are a couple spots on the way to collect as well, but not easy.

Happy travels :-)
Tam