[at-l] thru-hike question: resupply tactics

[gwright@connix.com (gwright@connix.com)]

I'm planning for a 2002 thru-hike and I've been dutifully reading
at-l (and ATML for a while) as well as the backpacking light group
at Yahoo. I have read several books, lots of web sites and journals
and attended The Gathering in October and went to several workshops
geared towards "Dreamers".

You'd think that I had all the answers by now, but....

I'm hearing what I think are conflicting points of view regarding
resupply via mail-drop and resupply via in-town purchases.

On the one hand, the hiking-light crowd argues for frequent resupplies
so that you aren't carrying 7-10 days of food in your pack.  Others
advise to minimize town time and post office stops, in particular
you don't want to be stuck on a deadline Saturday morning rushing
to get to the PO before it closes.  It seems to me that getting
off the trail every 3-5 days in order to keep down the amount of
food I'm carrying is going to add lots of travel time to and from
the trail and will force me to rely more on store purchases than
mail-drops.  I'm assuming that the vast majority of the food
purchases in this case will have to be made at small convenience
stores.  I've been paying attention to what is available at these
locations and the answer seems to be: not much.  Even purchases at
large supermarkets are tough because it is difficult to find small
quantities appropriate for 3-5 days of hiking.
 
Are my choices limited to a heavy pack with a good variety of food
sent via mail-drop versus a light pack with the same expensive
pop-tart,bagel,mac-n-cheese menu for six months?  Is there a
trick to purchasing small quantities of food while in town?
 
FYI, I'd like to stay away from processed meals like Lipton's or
Kraft Mac-n-cheese.  I'd rather use the NOLS-type ration system
with good basic foods, but the only way I can see to do that is
to rely almost exclusively on prepared mail drops.