2025 Philmont Seminar: Food & Cooking

This page includes notes from the Trek food and cooking seminar, supplementing the information on our 2025 Philmont page.

Seminar Resources

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The following is a summary of the notes taken from the meeting.

Crews typically get food every 3-4 days.
Each crew member should plan for the food to take up pack space roughly the size of a basketball.
This year’s menu will be released in early May.
The menu is designed around providing about 3000 calories per day.
Some trail camps have snacks for purchase.
Each camp has a “swap box” for exchanging items as needed.

Check Philmont’s site for last year’s trail menu for an example of what this year’s will look like.
Use meals similar to what will be provided by Philmont on practice hikes.

Again, use last year’s menu as a guide until this year’s info is released.
Every crew member will be asked to submit information on the Special Foods Tools.
- A link will be sent to each crew member
- Please fill this out even if you do not have any dietary restrictions
Information about each item in each meal will be available for review.
Crew members must provide their own meal/item replacements as needed
Instructions on how to pack the items you bring are provided in the Special Foods Tool. Essentially, each meal needs to be packed into a separate bag and labeled. These bags will be delivered to the backcountry camps where they can be picked up with the rest of the crew’s food.

A Philmont Crew Leader will instruct each crew on the “Philmont Cooking Method” during the early portion of their trek.
Cooking is done “Patrol Style”.
Typically 1 person cooks and 1 person cleans for each meal.
Each crew should bring 2 stoves with 2 MSR bottles
Each stove needs to be able to handle a large pot while remaining stable.

Most backcountry camps have water sources.
Other water sources (such as streams) can be used as needed, but the water needs to be purified.
Micropur tablets (provided by Philmont) are the recommended method for purifying water.
Crews can bring water filters if they want, but they are not required.