6/7 days worth of food in a 50 Lt backpack.

We had a thread a while back on how many packs people had and it was a real eye opener how many options people had given themselves. There is a school of thought that says if you have a pack on the small side e.g. 50L, it encourages you to think hard about what you're putting in it so you end up carrying less unnecessary gear. Of course safety is paramount. One piece of advice I can't go with is when people say to take note of what you didn't use and leave it out next time. Goodness me! There's no way I'm not taking the waterproof shell, first aid and repair kit on all my trips. If there's no rain forecast, I take a 200g Go-Lite shell instead of a better jacket but I still take a raincoat of some form. It is possible to buy packs secondhand. That's how I ended up with my first Osprey and have never looked back. They weren't so common then.

I find it hard to believe you're struggling to fit all your gear and 6 days worth of food into a 65L pack. Can you provide a more detailed list of all the gear yiure intending to take along with maybe the brands/models and weights? And maybe a picture as well so see why things are so bulky. That pot seems pretty excessive for one person. Surely a 650ml would do. That should be large enough to boil water for a drink and dehy meal. In fact if you have that size cup that was titanium or aluminium then you could use it as a cup, cook pot and bowl. You should be able to fit the a small cannister and your small cooker within the pot. You don't have to worry about packing gaiters because you'll be wearing them. So you should also split out the gear you plan on wearing on a normal day and the gear you plan on carrying. 700g/900g of food sounds like quite a lot to me. I hope you're not planning on taking 6 apples and 6 bananas and half a dozen eggs with you.

join a club and see how they pack. depends on the exact gear you have decades ago there wasnt much difference in gear, most people were using similar gear and similar sized packs, now gear bulk varies massively. people can have vastly differently designed gear. i've got rainshells that vary in bulk that are between 180gm and 660gm. and insulated jackets that can be 300% different in bulk but i'm usually taking mid range gear leaning toward lightweight unless i'm expecting particularly bad weather. if i'm pushed for space i have wet weather gear and some food and water bottle in external sleeves or pockets.

I have the Cascade 75L... great pack.... I don't think I have been on any longer than a three-day trip with it. :-/