Food

Good food on a tur matters a great deal for the experience. The body needs fuel to function, but a meal is more than fuel — it is a pause, company, and one of the few things on a tur that you almost always remember afterwards. A soft ice cream on the summit, bilberry pancakes over the fire, or just a cup of lukewarm cocoa in the mist.

On a tur the kitchen is different from at home. Fewer pans, more planning, and food that can sit a week in your pack without going off.

What the body needs

On a tur you burn +50 % more calories than at home — typically 3,000–4,000 kcal a day for an active day, up towards 6,000 with intense activity (a long ski tour, climbing, a winter tur). The breakdown:

• Carbohydrate for quick energy on the move (crispbread, energy bars, chocolate, raisins)
• Fat for long-lasting energy and warmth (peanut butter, cheese, butter, nuts, dates)
• Protein for muscle recovery (dried meat, cheese, freeze-dried meals, beans)
• Water — 0.5–1 litre per hour in a moderate climate, more in the heat. Water bottle →

More on food and nutrients →

Weight to energy

You want to carry as little as possible for as much energy as possible. A comparison:

• Oil, butter: ~900 kcal/100 g
• Chocolate, peanut butter: 500–600 kcal/100 g
• Nuts, seeds, dried fruit: 400–600 kcal/100 g
• Freeze-dried meal: 350–500 kcal/100 g (once prepared)
• Bread, pasta, rice: 300–400 kcal/100 g (dry weight)
• Fruit, vegetables: 50–100 kcal/100 g — too heavy on a longer tur
• Tinned food: 200–400 kcal/100 g, but heavy packaging

For a long tur, fat-dense food is the standard choice.

Trip provisions — packed per day →

Classic Norwegian turmat

Niste (sandwiches, crispbread, polarbrød with cheese/liver paste/cod roe) is still the most common thing on a day trip. On a mountain tur and longer trips you also see:

• Chocolate and Kvikk Lunsj — the classic
• Dried fruit and nuts — energy that holds up in the cold
• Dried meat (Big Horn style) — salty, compact, high in energy
• Freeze-dried for the main meal on a long tur
• Nettle soup, bilberries, chanterelles — whatever you find

Food from nature — wild plants → · Food from nature — mushrooms →

Cooking outdoors

Three main ways to prepare food:

1. Freeze-dried — boil water, pour it over, wait 5–10 min. Light, quick, little washing up. Cookware →
2. Your own bag meals — pasta, couscous, rice with a dried sauce sachet. More work, cheaper, more varied
3. Campfire food — a frying pan over the embers. Takes more time and a surplus of warmth, but gives the best experience

Cooking on a tur → · Food over the fire →

Dry your own food

On longer trips, and for those who want to be self-sufficient with their food calibration, dehydrating at home is a good skill. You can dry meat, stews, soups, fruit — and save half or more of the price of freeze-dried.

Dry your own turmat →

Food from nature

The Norwegian right to roam (allemannsrett) gives you the right to pick berries, mushrooms and some plants in utmark — as long as it is for your own use and you take care:

• Berries: bilberry, lingonberry, cloudberry, crowberry, wild raspberry, wild strawberry
• Mushrooms: chanterelle, penny bun, winter chanterelle, autumn penny bun, yellow swamp brittlegill (learn one at a time)
• Wild plants: stinging nettle, wild garlic, sorrel, mountain sorrel, hazelnut, wood anemone leaves (with care)
• Shellfish and fish: with a fishing permit/rules — periwinkles, blue mussels, freshwater fish

The right to roam does not apply to:

• Cones, lichen, moss
• Berries on innmark (e.g. cultivated berry plantations)
• Wood (dead or living timber)
• Shrimp and lobster (their own rules)

For mushrooms: learn one at a time, and use an app or a mushroom consultant when in doubt. Confusing them with poisonous species (fly agaric, destroying angel, among others) is deadly.

More on food from nature → · The historical use of useful plants →

Recipes

We have a collection of tur recipes under the food category — from classic pancake batter to chanterelle stew, nettle soup, mushroom sauce, tortilla flatbreads and more. Use them as a starting point and adapt to what you find.

Learn more

• Food and nutrients
• Planning turmat
• Cooking on a tur
• Dry your own turmat
• Food from nature — wild plants
• Food from nature — mushrooms
• Food over the fire
• The historical use of useful plants

Related equipment: Cookware → · Cutlery → · Heat sources for cooking →

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Tekst: Gina Wigestrand, Snuitide (2021), bearbeidet 2026.

Sentrale ressurser: Helsedirektoratet — kostholdsråd · Mattilsynet — sopp og bær · Norges sopp- og nyttevekstforbund