Cold & Wet · Reference · Basic
Eat for Cold: Calories, Fat and the Bedtime Snack
Cold makes you burn far more than you think. How to ration, what to prioritize, and how to keep food and water usable.
This is for educational purposes only. Not professional medical, electrical, or safety advice.
- 01
Expect to eat much more
Shivering and moving in heavy clothing can add several hundred to well over a thousand calories a day. Rationing hard in cold weather makes people cold, clumsy and slow to think.
- 02
Prioritize fat
Fat is dense and burns slow — the best cold-weather fuel. Keep oil, nut butter, cheese, salami, lard and nuts in front of grains, and cook with more oil than usual.
- 03
Drink warm calories
Hot broth, sweet tea, cocoa and hot milk warm you from the inside and count as hydration. People drink too little in the cold because cold suppresses thirst — that's when judgment goes.
- 04
Eat right before bed
Digestion produces heat for hours. A fat-and-sugar snack at the foot of the sleeping bag keeps you warmer through the coldest part of the night.
- 05
Keep food from freezing
Frozen bars and frozen fruit are nearly inedible. Keep them in an inside pocket or in the bag with you. Water bottles upside down so the top isn't blocked by ice.
- 06
Salt still matters
Cold, dry air and hard work still cost you salt. Keep salt on hand and add it to hot drinks and broths, not just food.