Escape the waste?

When shopping I try to consider the packaging waste from the products I buy.  For the things I purchase regularly I tend to buy in bulk and reuse my own bags and containers.  The last few day's I've been biking around town picking up stuff we need for our annual backpacking trip.  Nothing big, mostly food and replacement items for the first aid kit.  We packed our bags up last night and I was shocked by the amount of waste we had produced from such a small number of things.  I had always thought of backpacking as a "green" vacation.  Spending a week fueling ourselves instead of our cars, living simply finding joy in the quite.  Not necessarily a zero impact vacation, but much better that spending it running an ATV around the dunes or camping in an luxury RV complete with air-conditioning and satellite television.  But this waste concerns me, I'm going to have to think through what products we choose before the next trip.