Repackage your food into resealable zipper-lock bags before you leave home. This reduces the weight of your pack and the amount of trash you will have to pack out. It helps organize your pack and aids in meal-planning.Leave the original packaging at home.

Get rid of all those boxes, tubes, and jars. They weigh too much and take up too much space in your pack. Especially, get rid of glass -- it shatters. For this reason, it is actually illegal to carry glass containers in some national parks.

The exception to the repackaging rule is crackers. Crackers need to stay in their protective boxes unless you don't mind a lunch of crumbs and cheese instead of crackers and cheese....then repackage in plastic bags.

Zipper-lock bags protect your food from moisture, spills, and dirt. They also prevent a mess if a container of liquid explodes due to changing air pressure when you climb 4,000 feet up a mountain.

In the case of easily confused items like sugar and salt, or Parmesan cheese and powdered milk, label the plastic bags.Don't forget to include recipes and cooking instructions.

As you're repackaging, try to put the ingredients for each meal together, along with any directions. This not only makes finding what-goes-with-what easier in the backcountry, it helps ensure that you won't run out of food.

On long stretches, you can also pack your food supplies in a few small stuff sacks, each containing all the rations for 2 or 3 days. This will help you keep track of your food supplies and resist the temptation to "eat just a little more" from tomorrow's rations.

Backpack: Bear Country: Basics

Backpack: Bear Country: Camping & Food Security

Backpack: Bear Country: Hiking & Bear Encounters

Backpack: Desert: Basics

Backpack: Desert: Camping Considerations

Backpack: Desert: Hazards

Backpack: Desert: Hiking

Backpack: Desert: Water & Food: Dry Camping

Backpack: Desert: Water & Food: Finding & Carrying

Backpack: Desert: Water & Food: Food

Backpack: Finding Water

Backpack: Fitness

Backpack: Food & Water: Plan Meals

Backpack: Fording Rivers

Backpack: Highcountry: Basics

Backpack: Highcountry: Camping Considerations

Backpack: Highcountry: Hazards

Backpack: Highcountry: Hiking on Scree & Talus

Backpack: In Camp: Bathing

Backpack: In Camp: Campfire: Basics

Backpack: In Camp: Campfire: in the Rain

Backpack: In Camp: Campfire: Low-Impact Fires

Backpack: In Camp: Cooking/Camp Kitchen

Backpack: In Camp: Food Storage

Backpack: In Camp: Ideal Campsite

Backpack: In Camp: Making Camp in Adverse Conditions

Backpack: In Camp: Managing Human Waste

Backpack: In Camp: Sleeping Warm

Backpack: In Camp: Tent or Tarp?

Backpack: In Camp: Washing Dishes

Backpack: In Camp: Women's Sanitation Concerns

Backpack: Packing Your Pack

Backpack: Plan Your Trip

Backpack: Putting on Your Pack

Backpack: Staying Found: Emergency Signaling

Backpack: Staying Found: How to Use a Compass

Backpack: Staying Found: Why Carry a Compass?

Backpack: Treating Water

Backpack: What to Bring: Clothes