What kind of dog food is best for backpacking?

A food that is light, keeps without a cooler, and is a complete meal on its own. Freeze-dried raw fits all three. AlphaPak is a 16 oz bag that holds about nine cups, stays sealed in the pack, and becomes a full meal when you add warm water at camp.

Do I need to add water to freeze-dried dog food on the trail?

Yes, add warm water. For every cup of food, add up to an equal amount of fresh warm water, stir, and wait 30 to 60 seconds. The food can be served right away, but a short soak brings back the texture and smell. New buyers miss this step more than any other.

Can my dog carry their own food on a backpacking trip?

Most fit adult dogs can. A day of AlphaPak for a 25 lb dog is only about 80 grams, so a few days of food is a light load in a saddlebag. Keep both sides even, start with a light pack, and ask your vet what your dog should carry.

How much freeze-dried food should I pack per day?

Use the chart on the bag as your base. A 19 to 25 lb dog eats about 1½ cups a day, which is about 80 grams. A dog over 25 lb eats about 3 cups, or about 155 grams. On a big-mile day, add a little more and watch how your dog looks and feels.

Gear & Trail

The Best Dog Food for Backpacking (No Cooler Needed)

AlphaPak · Reviewed by our veterinary and formulation team · Updated October 13, 2026

The best dog food for backpacking is light, shelf-stable, and a complete meal on its own. Freeze-dried raw checks every box: a 16 oz bag holds about nine cups, needs no cooler or freezer, and turns back into a real meal with warm water. Measure from the bag's chart, add warm water, wait a minute, and feed.

What is the best dog food for backpacking?

The best food for the trail is the one that keeps without a cooler, weighs almost nothing, and is still a real meal when your dog is tired and hungry. That is a short list, and freeze-dried raw sits at the top of it. AlphaPak is whole meat, organ, and produce with the water taken out. It rides sealed in a pack for days. At camp, you add warm water and it comes back to life.

What a trail food has to do

A backpacking trip asks more of a dog food than a kitchen does. Here is the checklist we use:

Light. A 16 oz bag of AlphaPak holds about nine cups. Most of the weight of fresh food is water, and freeze-drying takes that out. You add it back at camp.
No cold chain. No cooler, no ice, no freezer. The bag stays sealed in the pack until mealtime.
A complete meal. On a multi-day trip, this is the whole diet, so it has to be built for that. AlphaPak Freeze-Dried Dog Food is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO nutritional profiles for all dog life stages, including growth and development of large size dogs (70 lbs or more as adult dogs).
Your dog eats it. A tired dog does not want to be talked into dinner. Whole meat smells like dinner.
Easy prep. Measure, add warm water, wait a minute. No stove needed if you carry warm water in a bottle.

Research on working dogs shows why the meal matters so much out there. Energy needs climb with distance, cold, and hours on the move (Hill, 1998). A dog who is burning more needs every bite to count. In feeding studies, raw and lightly cooked diets were highly digestible and well tolerated by healthy adult dogs (Algya et al., 2018).

How to feed it on the trail

Add warm water. That is the whole trick, and it is the step new buyers miss most. Dry, the food is dense and crumbly. With water, it is a bowl of real food again.

The routine at camp:

Measure the dry food from the bag's chart.
Add up to an equal amount of warm water and stir. Water from your stove or an insulated bottle works. Filtered creek water warmed on the stove works too.
Wait 30 to 60 seconds.
Feed. After rehydrating, remove and discard any leftovers after 2 hours. Pack them out.

Feed the big meal at camp, after the day's miles, not right before you set off. Keep fresh water in reach all day.

How much to pack

Use the bag's chart as the base, then pack a little extra for big days. A 19 to 25 lb dog eats about 1½ cups a day, which is about 80 grams in the pack. A dog over 25 lb eats about 3 cups, or about 155 grams. The full weight math is here, and the trail feeding card puts it all on one page you can print.

One more trail bonus: in a 2024 study, dogs fed freeze-dried raw had firmer stools and less of it than dogs fed kibble (Geary et al., 2024). That is less to pack out.

Let your dog carry it

A few days of freeze-dried food is a light load, and most fit adult dogs can carry their own. Split it evenly between the two saddlebags of a well-fitted pack, and keep the daily portions in sealed bags so nothing spills. The Kobuk bladder that comes with our packs carries the water for the soak. Start light, build up over a few hikes, and read how much weight a dog can carry before you load up.

Try it at home first

Never switch foods the night before a trip. Feed AlphaPak at home for a week or two first, mixed in slowly, so your dog's stomach is settled before the miles start. Our transition guide walks through it day by day. Once your dog is happily eating it at the kitchen bowl, the trail is just a change of scenery.

AlphaPak is a food, not a medicine, and nothing here replaces your vet's advice. Not sure which recipe to pack? Find your recipe takes about a minute, and we are happy to help you plan the trip.

Common questions

What kind of dog food is best for backpacking?: A food that is light, keeps without a cooler, and is a complete meal on its own. Freeze-dried raw fits all three. AlphaPak is a 16 oz bag that holds about nine cups, stays sealed in the pack, and becomes a full meal when you add warm water at camp.
Do I need to add water to freeze-dried dog food on the trail?: Yes, add warm water. For every cup of food, add up to an equal amount of fresh warm water, stir, and wait 30 to 60 seconds. The food can be served right away, but a short soak brings back the texture and smell. New buyers miss this step more than any other.
Can my dog carry their own food on a backpacking trip?: Most fit adult dogs can. A day of AlphaPak for a 25 lb dog is only about 80 grams, so a few days of food is a light load in a saddlebag. Keep both sides even, start with a light pack, and ask your vet what your dog should carry.
How much freeze-dried food should I pack per day?: Use the chart on the bag as your base. A 19 to 25 lb dog eats about 1½ cups a day, which is about 80 grams. A dog over 25 lb eats about 3 cups, or about 155 grams. On a big-mile day, add a little more and watch how your dog looks and feels.

Shop AlphaPak Beef Find your recipe Dog backpacks & fit guide Trail feeding card The weight math for backpacking

Sources

Hill, R. C. (1998). The nutritional requirements of exercising dogs. The Journal of Nutrition. DOI: 10.1093/jn/128.12.2686S
Algya, K. M., Cross, T.-W. L., Leuck, K. N., Kastner, M. E., Baba, T., Lye, L., de Godoy, M. R. C., & Swanson, K. S. (2018). Apparent total-tract macronutrient digestibility, serum chemistry, urinalysis, and fecal characteristics, metabolites and microbiota of adult dogs fed extruded, mildly cooked, and raw diets. Journal of Animal Science. DOI: 10.1093/jas/sky235
Geary, E. L., Oba, P. M., Templeman, J. R., & Swanson, K. S. (2024). Apparent total tract nutrient digestibility of frozen raw, freeze-dried raw, fresh, and extruded dog foods and their effects on serum metabolites and fecal characteristics, metabolites, and microbiota of healthy adult dogs. Translational Animal Science. DOI: 10.1093/tas/txae163

AlphaPak is a food, not a medicine. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Statements about nutrition describe the role of whole-food ingredients in supporting normal health and are not a substitute for veterinary care. Individual results vary.