Meal planning in your subsequent backpacking journey? We’ve compiled our favourite backpacking meals, substances, and meal concepts that will help you get began. Discover out what meals is greatest for mountain climbing, uncover new substances, and get impressed by a few of our scrumptious DIY backpacking meals.
Backpacking is a good way to unplug, immerse your self in nature, and problem your self each bodily and mentally. Whereas there’s a number of pure magnificence to absorb, skilled backpackers know that irrespective of how spectacular the surroundings is, a lot of the day is spent occupied with the following meal!
However determining what meals to pack can a be problem all by itself! Because you’ll be carrying all of it in your again, backpacking meals must strike the correct stability between diet, weight, and ease of preparation.
On this put up, we share our favourite backpacking meals concepts from lots of of miles hiked over the previous few years. From freeze-dried choices to selfmade meals, you’ll discover all types of filling and light-weight path meals to assist preserve your vitality up and your style buds happy.
Backpacking breakfast concepts
A superb day on the path begins with a strong breakfast. If you wish to get by means of the morning with out working out of steam, it’s greatest to start out with some energy within the tank.
Seasoned backpackers might be aware of the tried-and-true prompt oat pouches, however fortunately there are much more choices to check out!
Listed here are some nice backpacking breakfasts to take a look at.
Freeze-Dried or Dehydrated Meals
While you want a considerable meal to start out the day, it doesn’t get any simpler than including boiling water to a meal pouch. Listed here are a few of our favourite freeze-dried and dehydrated breakfasts:
OvaEasy Eggs
In case you don’t thoughts cooking within the morning, OvaEasy’s powdered egg crystals are surprisingly near the actual factor! Get pleasure from scrambled eggs on their very own, with dehydrated hash browns, or as a veggie scramble.
DIY Yogurt Parfait
This straightforward DIY meal makes use of freeze-dried “yogurt melts” (you’ll be able to often discover them within the child meals aisle), granola, and dried fruit. Get our recipe right here!
Dehydrated Quinoa Porridge
Loaded with protein and filled with energy, our Quinoa Porridge dehydrator recipes are an incredible choice if in case you have entry to a meals dehydrator. Begin with considered one of these or customise it with your personal favourite flavors!
Prompt oatmeal
Prompt oatmeal is fast, straightforward, low-cost, and completely customizable. Simply add scorching water. Professional Tip: Use the packet as your bowl. Simply tear off the highest, pour the water in, and stir. The bag will get scorching, however received’t leak. Up the energy by including coconut or complete milk powder, or stirring in a packet of nut butter.
Bobo’s Oat Bars
A no-cook “breakfast” bar is a superb grab-and-go choice for anybody who desires to streamline their morning routine. It will also be good for individuals who don’t get up hungry and wish to get just a little mountain climbing finished earlier than consuming. We notably like Bobo’s Oat Bars for breakfast, which pack 340+ energy right into a 3oz bar.
Prompt Espresso
There was an enormous enchancment within the QUALITY of prompt espresso in recent times. Our prime go-to favorites are Mt. Hagen and Alpine Begin.
Prompt Tea
Want tea over espresso? No worries. Try Prompt Tea from Cusa, with flavors like English Breakfast, Chai, and quite a lot of natural teas. These tea packets dissolve completely into the water, so there’s no soggy tea bag to pack out with you.
Backpacking lunches, snacks, and bars
When backpacking, the aim is to eat a relentless stream of energy all through the day. This gradual drip provides your physique a constant and steady gasoline supply, stopping your blood sugar from taking a nosedive (i.e. bonking).
So we like to think about mountain climbing as one lengthy, moveable feast. Plenty of little backpacking snacks right here and there, an enormous snack in the course of the day (in any other case known as lunch), after which extra snacking all through the afternoon. The important thing to creating this work is selection. Don’t get burnt out consuming the identical factor time and again.
Listed here are a number of the greatest backpacking snacks and lunch concepts to pack in your journey!
Greenbelly meal bars
Greenbelly meal bars boast 650 energy per serving and are available in a bunch of flavors. They’re principally a full meal that requires zero cooking—good for lunch on the path!
No-cook meals
There are a number of no-cook meal choices accessible, reminiscent of Outside Herbivore’s Waldorf Salad and Lazy Lentil Salad, and Packit Gourmand’s Curry Mango or Cajun Ranch Hen Salads.
DIY Chilly Soak Meals
If in case you have entry to a meals dehydrator, strive making your personal cold-soak meals utilizing quite a lot of pasta, beans, and veggies. Try these recipes to start out: Pasta Salad or Cowboy Caviar.
Hen, tuna, or SPAM packets
These won’t be probably the most weight-efficient gadgets in your bear canister, however they do an incredible job of offering protein. Purchase them plain and physician them up with condiments, or purchase a number of the many taste choices.
Our favorites have been Buffalo Hen, Hen Salad, Deli Model Tuna Salad, and Lemon Pepper Tuna.
These wild-caught tuna packets are packed in oil for additional energy.
If salmon is extra your velocity, Patagonia Provisions has some superior choices.
SPAM additionally is available in a foil packet and could be a good change of tempo from seafood. We have been hesitant about this one, however it’s truly very tasty.
NB: Be sure you’re shopping for the foil packets, not cans!
Packaroons
These macaroons pack in 170 energy per ounce, in order that they positively pull their weight (pun supposed) in your pack. They arrive in a number of flavors together with Amaretto, Blueberry Almond, and Candy Coconut.
Vitality Bars
Our greatest recommendation when packing bars is to go for VARIETY. Don’t simply load up in your favourite bar for a multi-day hike. As a result of after your journey, it received’t be your favourite anymore. There are extra vitality bar firms on the market than we are able to preserve observe of, however listed below are a number of the prime manufacturers that we’ve tried: Bobo, RX Bars, Munkpack Nut & Seeds, Kate’s Actual Meals bars, GoMacro, Lara Bar, Bearded Brothers, and Aloha.
Peak Refuel Cookie Dough Bites
I used to be skeptical about these however I’m sort of obsessive about them now! They’ve each Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites and Fudge Brownie Bites.
Nut butter
On a tortilla or straight from the packet, nut butter is a superb addition to path lunches. Our favourite on the JMT was RX Vanilla Almond Butter. Justin’s and TrailButter are different good choices.
Jerky and meat bars
Jerky and meat bars are typically just a little low on energy, however excessive in protein — which is essential for muscle restore. We like Epic Provisions and Wild Zora. On longer multi-day hikes, these are good to eat in the direction of the tip of the day to assist your physique restore. Primal Spirit Meals and Louisville Vegan Jerky Co are good vegan choices to strive.
If in case you have just a little little bit of expertise utilizing a dehydrator, strive your hand at making your personal jerky! The flavour combos are infinite! Right here’s our primary beef jerky recipe, and one for teriyaki beef jerky.
Honey Stinger Waffles
A fast hit of vitality, Honey Stingers Waffles are an incredible little upkeep snack. Excellent for whenever you’re feeling just a little low-energy and want just a little additional zip to get you up the following hill. They’ve quite a lot of flavors to select from, and a few also have a little bit of caffeine for an additional little increase.
Vitality Gummies
The strong, chewy type of a gel, there are a selection of vitality gummies like Honey Stinger Chews, Clif Shot Bloks, GU Vitality Chews, and Scratch Lab Chews These are nice to have available for those who ever begin to really feel your self bonking. We consider these as a “Break Glass If In Want of Energy” sort of emergency snack.
Tailwind Vitamin
In case you’d choose to drink your energy, Tailwind Vitamin is a good way to do it. One serving holds 200 energy together with 50g of carbohydrates, giving your physique some fast vitality to make use of (nice for those who really feel your self beginning to hit the wall!).
Peanut Butter Crammed Pretzels
We love peanut butter-filled pretzels! What mad hatter got here up with the loopy concept, we don’t know. However they’re wonderful. Quinn has quite a lot of flavors value testing like Maple Almond Butter and traditional peanut butter.
Olives
We completely love olives when backpacking. Not solely are they loaded with energy, however they provide a momentary burst of savory refinement that’s exhausting to match. Prompt morale booster. We’re large followers of Oloves packable olives, or on shorter journeys we’ll pack some in small zip-top luggage.
Cheese
Arduous cheese and cheeses which can be individually packaged are nice choices. We additionally LOVE the Dealer Joe’s Baked Cheese Bites in addition to Parmesan or Cheddar Whisps (the latter are a bit much less sturdy although).
Path combine, nuts, and dried fruit
Packing an assortment of path combine, nuts, and dried fruits is a good way to have some calorie boosts available to eat whereas mountain climbing (there’s a cause GORP has been handed down by means of the generations!). Our favourite locations for nuts and dried fruit in bulk are Nuts.com and Dealer Joe’s. You will discover a few of our favourite path combine recipes right here.
Drying your personal fruit is a good way to chop prices and reap the benefits of seasonal produce when it’s on sale. We love dried apples, dehydrated bananas, pineapple, and kiwis!
Sweet
The snack we didn’t pack sufficient of for the JMT however we want we did: Sweet! We’re not sweet folks usually, however the calorie and mid-day sugar increase would have been superior. Black Forest Gummy Bears, Swedish Fish, or Jelly Stomach’s “Sports activities Beans” are all good picks. No matter you decide, be certain it received’t be too melty.
Backpacking dinners
After a protracted day on the path, top-of-the-line issues is taking off your pack, discovering a cushty cease to take a seat, and having fun with a scorching dinner! This is the reason it’s so vital to discover a meal that may finish your day on a cheerful and satisfying word.
Whereas there are extra backpacking dinner choices to select from than ever earlier than, our suggestion is to stay to your pre-existing meals preferences. If a meal sounds good to you now, you’ll seemingly find it irresistible after a protracted day of mountain climbing. However for those who’re not an adventurous eater at residence, then you definately’re seemingly not going to magically turn into one on the path.
Right here’s a listing of a number of the greatest backpacking meals manufacturers together with a number of of their top-rated entrees:
Backpacker’s Pantry
Backpacker’s Pantry makes considered one of our favourite freeze-dried backpacking meals of all time (Hen Pad Thai), and their manufacturing line runs 100% on photo voltaic vitality, which is fairly cool. Listed here are a number of favourite meals:
Farm to Summit
Farm to Summit makes dehydrated backpacking meals with low-impact packaging and seasonal farm-fresh produce. Meals to take a look at:
Good-To-Go
Producing dehydrated meals from high quality substances, Good To-Go has actually expanded its lineup prior to now few years. We’ll be sincere, in our private expertise, we’ve had some winner and loser meals from them. Nothing was unhealthy, we simply discovered a number of meals to be tragically undersalted. Meals to take a look at:
Heather’s Alternative
Based mostly in Anchorage, Alaska, Heather’s Alternative makes use of high-quality, complete meals substances to create packable, dehydrated provisions. We now have not personally tried these meals but, however they get good critiques on-line. They’re gluten and dairy-free and have a various vary of flavors. Meals to take a look at:
Mountain Home
The OG of backpacking meals, Mountain Home has been making freeze-dried meals for the reason that Nineteen Seventies. Over time they’ve developed some absolute traditional meals that stay a few of our favorites:
Nomad Vitamin
Based mostly in British Columbia, Canada, Nomad Vitamin provides a wholly plant-based line of dehydrated backpacking meals. Whether or not you’re a vegan, vegetarian, or simply seeking to scale down your meat consumption on the path, it is a nice firm to look into. Meals to take a look at:
Peak ReFuel
Regardless that they’re comparatively new to the area, Peak ReFuel feels prefer it’s been round for some time. That is perhaps as a result of their founder spent practically a decade within the freeze-dried world earlier than branching out to launch Peak ReFuel. They provide a number of consolation meals classics which can be certain to hit the spot. Meals to take a look at:
Gastro Gnome
Based by a formally skilled chef, Gastro Gnome boasts a menu of legit freeze-dried meals like Indian Yogurt Braised Hen, Mushroom Ragu Farfalle, Hen Pozole, and Montana Beef Shepherd’s Pie.
Outside Herbivore
Vegetarian and vegan hikers will discover tons of choices at Outside Herbivore. The Basil Walnut Penne and Switchback Burrito Stuffer sound nice.
Packit Gourmand
It is a small firm out of Texas that focuses on dehydrated fare. We’re trying ahead to attempting the Texas State Honest Chili, Tortilla Soup, or the Fajita Hen Burrito on our subsequent journey!
Wild Zora
Based mostly in Colorado, Wild Zora focuses on low-sugar, high-protein, gluten-free, and Paleo backpacking meals. Additionally they supply a line of AIP (autoimmune protocol) meals. If in case you have any dietary restrictions, it is a nice firm to take a look at. We’ve heard nice issues concerning the Bedrock Beef Chili.
Avoid wasting money! In case you purchase 8 or extra backpacking meals at a time from REI, you’ll robotically get a ten% low cost on all of them!
DIY Backpacking Meals
The sky’s the restrict for those who’re as much as making your personal selfmade meals. Whereas we’ve developed a number of completely different backpacking recipes over there years, we’ll provide you with a shortlist of our a few of our favorites meals (ssh, don’t inform the others!):
Dehydrator Recipes:
No Dehydrator Required:
Extra DIY Backcountry Meal Assets:
Grocery retailer backpacking meals concepts
Whether or not you’re making your personal customized meals or searching for a technique to stretch a freeze-dried meal, there are a bunch of store-bought substances you’ll be able to pack alongside.
Desserts
When creating your backpacking meal plan, desserts completely have a spot! As a particular deal with to mark a notable day, a morale booster after an actual doozy, or only a technique to pad out your dinner’s calorie depend, backpacking desserts are an incredible trick to have within the backside of your bear barrel.
Freeze-dried desserts
There are a selection of freeze-dried dessert choices available on the market, whether or not you favor one thing homey like Cinnamon Apple Crisp or Blueberry Peach Crisp, one thing fancy like Creme Brulee, or one thing completely space-age like this Neapolitan Ice Cream.
Treehouse Consuming Chocolate
In case you don’t essentially wish to eat dessert, think about ingesting it! This ingesting chocolate (AKA completely indulgent scorching chocolate) is a completely beautiful technique to wind down at camp.
Nutella
This chocolate hazelnut unfold is filled with energy which can be derived largely from fat, making it properly definitely worth the weight. A scoop right here and there’ll give your physique loads of long-lasting gasoline to burn. Plus, it’s freaking scrumptious!
Stroopwafels
A scrumptious Dutch deal with, stroopwafels are tender, toasted waffles full of caramel. They’re loaded with energy and fairly sturdy. Attempt spreading just a little Nutella between two of them and make your self an “ice cream” sandwich.
These are a few of our favourite extras so as to add both energy or taste to our meals.
Backpacking Meals Technique
On this part, we’ll dive into every little thing you might want to learn about making a backpacking meal plan—what to search for when selecting meals, packing the correct quantity of meals you want, suggestions for planning and packing, and some gear options.
What makes for good backpacking meals?
There are a number of elements to bear in mind to find out the kinds of meals which can be good for backpacking: shelf-stable, weight, calorie density, and prepare dinner velocity.
Shelf-Secure: It’s vital that the meals may be saved at room temperature. You will get away with bringing some issues like cheese or salami for those who eat them within the first few days, however for probably the most half, you wish to skip something perishable.
Light-weight: Since it’s important to carry it each step of the best way, backpacking meals ought to be as light-weight as doable. Dehydrated and freeze-dried meals are typically lightest, although there are many on a regular basis grocery retailer gadgets that match the invoice as properly!
Calorie Dense: Backpacking takes a number of vitality, so that you want meals that may correctly refuel you. Once we plan our backpacking meals, we attempt to common 125+ energy per ounce to maintain the load down.
Cooking Time: Take into account how a lot persistence it’s important to prepare dinner your meals and the way a lot gasoline you can be bringing. We extremely suggest quick-cooking meals which can be straightforward to organize
How a lot meals must you pack for backpacking?
Backpacker journal means that backpackers who plan to hike lengthy days with a heavier pack ought to intention for 25-30 energy per pound of physique weight, per day.
In case you’re going to do shorter days (lower than 2 hours of mountain climbing) or will cowl much less strenuous terrain, you’ll be able to scale it all the way down to 21-25 energy per pound of physique weight, per day.
As an alternative of consuming simply three meals per day as you may at residence, intention to eat snacks all through the day and eat 30-60 grams of carbohydrates per hour (supply) to maintain your vitality excessive and forestall you from hitting the proverbial wall.
These, after all, are simply a place to begin and it’s best to regulate based mostly by yourself expertise.
How you can plan meals for backpacking journeys
Meal planning for backpacking journeys is considered one of our favourite issues to do! It’s additionally tremendous vital.
Creating an in depth meal plan not solely ensures you convey sufficient meals in your journey however means that you can see how all of your meals will work collectively. It’s an incredible alternative to construct in selection and double-check that you just’ll be hitting your calorie depend day by day.
Listed here are the steps that go into our meal-planning technique:
1.) Determine what number of days your journey might be and what number of meals you will want on the path.
2.) Decide what number of energy per day you might want to pack (see the earlier part).
3.) Select your breakfast and dinner for every day. Pay attention to what number of energy are in every of those.
4.) Subtract the energy of your breakfast and dinner out of your whole calorie quantity. These are the remaining energy that you just’ll must pack in the best way of snacks, lunch, drink mixes, or dessert. Plan for quite a lot of snacks, protecting in thoughts that to keep away from dropping steam through the day, you’ll wish to eat 30-60 grams of carbohydrates per hour as you hike.
Greatest backpacking meal suggestions
Packing & meals storage suggestions
Favourite backpacking cooking gear
We now have complete posts devoted to backpacking cooking gear and backpacking stoves, however listed below are a few of our favourite gear gadgets to organize your backcountry meals on the path.
Searching for extra backpacking meals sources? Try our guides to vegan backpacking meals, gluten-free backpacking meals, these light-weight backpacking recipes, and our final information to dehydrating meals for backpacking!
This put up was first printed on November 9, 2017, and was up to date in 2024. There are a ton of latest backpacking meals merchandise that we included!
