Heading to the backcountry but don’t know what to eat? I got you covered, here are a few of our favorite backpacking meals.
One of the most asked questions we receive about backpacking is what kind of food should be packed and how much food should be packed.
Having the right amount of calories is super important in completing a backpacking trip safely, so I totally understand why this is such a popular question.
So I’m sharing some of our favorite simple and lightweight meals, snacks and drinks for backpacking.
One of our biggest tips is picking snacks and meals you already like or recipes you have already tested at home.
Nothing is worse than having a bad meal on trail. Even though food usually tastes so much better in the backcountry, it’s better not to leave it up to chance.
This post is all about Backpacking Meals You’ll Actually Want to Eat.
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Backpacking Breakfast Ideas
Start your morning off right, don’t skip breakfast. We are guilty of this and we know it’s tempting to pack everything up first thing, especially on hike out days, but it’s important to fuel your body.
We definitely always regret it.
Our go to breakfast meals
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Bagel Sandwich
- Our Favorite Granola with Powdered Milk & Freeze Dried Fruits
I like to pick a granola with nuts and then add some freeze dried fruit from Trader Joe’s.
- Homemade Oatmeal (Recipe Below)
- Pop Tarts
Something about pop tarts in the backcountry with your morning coffee that just hits different. I literally never eat them at home but in the backcountry they are so good!
- Energy Bars/Breakfast Bars
- Dehydrated Meals
- Coffee
- Matcha Green Tea Packets
I like to make our own oatmeal packets. They’re so yummy, easy to make and I love being able to control what ingredients goes inside.
Backpacking Oatmeal Recipe
-3/4 Cup Oats
-1 tbsp Chia Seeds
-1 tbsp Hemp Seeds
-2 tbsp Powdered Milk
-1 tsp Coconut Sugar
-1 tbsp Collagen Peptides
For Anything with Berries I Also Add:
1 tbsp of Vanilla Protein Powder
1/4 cup of Freeze Dried Berries (the ones from Trader Joe’s are my favorite)
For Banana Bread Recipe I Add:
A dash of cinnamon
1/4 cup of Freeze Dried Bananas (from Trader Joe’s)
1/4 cup of Walnuts
I toss all ingredients in a Lunchskins Paper Sandwich Bag and when you’re ready to eat just mix with hot water to your liking!
Now for the important stuff! Coffee. I’ve tried over 10 different instant coffees to find the best ones.
Best Instant Coffee for Backpacking
Best Pour Over Coffee for Backpacking
For quick backpacking trips like 2 days or less I like to bring my own coffee grounds and use this Coffee Press.
Backpacking Lunch Ideas
We like quick and easy lunches because it’s usually enjoyed mid trail. We try and avoid opening our backpacks, so we never pack lunches that would need a cooking system.
Our go to lunch meals
- Salami, Hard Cheese, Pita or Bagel with Sun Dried Tomatoes
- Bagel with Cream Cheese
- Crackers with Hard Cheese, Salami & Olives
- Tuna, Salmon or Chicken Packets with Crackers
Our favorite Tuna Packet Brand is Safe Catch, they are the only brand to mercury test every single tuna and salmon. They offer the lowest mercury of any brand and their tuna and salmon is sustainably caught.
Backpacking Dinner Ideas
Our go to for dinner is dehydrated packable meals, we are currently obsessed with Gastro Gnome, we love that they offer so many gluten free options and honestly their meals are so delicious.
Eventually, maybe one day, we will start dehydrating our own meals and of course I’ll share our recipes when we do : )
Our go to Dinner Meals
- Dehydrated/Freeze Dried Meals
- Instant Ramen/Top Ramen with Dehydrated Vegetables
- Instant Mac & Cheese with Salami and Dried Broccoli Florets
I get the dried broccoli florets from Trader Joe’s.
- Instant Mashed Potatoes with Epic Uncured Bacon Bits
The Best Dehydrated Meal Brands for Backpacking
I’m obsessed with the Spicy Red Chicken Pozole and Thai Green Chicken Curry.
Green Chile Mac & Cheese and Thai Carrot Slaw is so good
Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits with Herbed Sausage Gravy and Chipotle Beef Burrito Bowl with Corn and Cilantro Lime Rice are delicious
If you purchase the Chipotle Beef Burrito Bowl bring a flour tortilla and make yourself yummy burrito out of it!
Las Pollos Hermanas and Wild Boar Bacon Bean Stew are Mathew’s Favorite.
Tip: Try to pack food that’s lightweight, non-perishable, calorie dense, and easy to cook.
Backpacking Snack Ideas
SNACKS, SNACKS, snacks! I make sure to always have a variety of flavors and textures.
Our go to Snacks
- Beef Sticks/Beef Jerky/Any-type of Jerky
- Just a Handful of Olives Packets from Trader Joe’s
- Marinated Artichokes On The Go Packets from Trader Joe’s
- Frooze Balls
- Kates’ Real Food Bars
- Hard Candy/ Gummies
- Mix Nuts & Seeds
- Soley Dried Fruit
- Soley Fruit Gummies
- Noka Superfood Smoothie
- Cuties
- Nut Packets
- Hu Cookies
- Corn Nuts
- Pork Rinds
- Parm Crisps
- Peanut Butter Pretzels
- Rhythm Organic Carrot Sticks, Kale Chips & Cauliflower Bites
Tip: Pack a variety of flavors; salty, sweet, spicy, sour and textures; soft, crunchy, crumbly, crispy and of course a good balance of proteins, fats and carbs.
Backpacking Extras
- LMNT Electrolyte Packets
- Condiments (mayo/mustard/hot sauce) I put these in Leakproof Squeeze Bottles
- Favorite Spices
- Powdered Milk/ Powdered Oat Milk Creamer
- Coconut Sugar Packets/Sugar Packets
- Tea Bags
- Honey Packets
- Instant Hot Chocolate
Tip: make sure to write down your meal plan on paper or a spreadsheet, it helps visualize how much food you’ll actually need and it’s also great to bring along when grocery shopping.
How Much Food to Bring Backpacking
So of course this is highly dependent on the intensity of the hike, your size and weight and of course the length of the hike.
There is no definitive answer but as a rule of thumb you can figure on eating 1½ to 2½ lbs of food (or 2,500 to 4,500 calories) per person per day.
Remember to always pack a little extra just in case of an emergency. This is part of the 10 Essentials!
Example: For a 2 night 3 day backpacking trip I would personally plan for 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners and enough snacks for 3 days. I would eat breakfast before hitting the trail on day 1 and head to a restaurant for lunch on day 3. Again this is what works for us.
Once you get a couple backpacking trips under your belt you will get a better understanding of your nutritional needs.
Backpacking Kitchen Essentials
Here are our favorite kitchen supplies for the backcountry. We use these products ourselves and really do recommend them.
- JetBoil This Jetboil is AMAZING, it boils water in under a minute!
- Fuel We travel with the 100 gram can because it fits perfectly inside the Jetboil cooking cup. We’ve never needed more than one for the two of us with our longest adventure being 5 days.
- Spork We love this Spork because it’s the perfect length for some of those taller dehydrated meal packets. Keeping our hands and fingers nice and clean. Plus it’s crazy lightweight.
- Coffee Mugs These are super lightweight, has a lid and keeps are coffee and tea nice and warm.
- Water Filter This water filter is easy to use and can filter 3L of water in about a minute in a half.
- REI Co-op Multi Towel Mini– We like using a mini towel to dry our dishes before packing them away.
I know what you’re thinking, what about a bowl or plate? Since it’s just the two of us we use the Jetboil cooking cup and bottom cover as bowls. Efficient right?!
Food Storage for Backpacking
There’s a couple ways to safely store your food. The biggest thing is to do research on your hike, you need to know what wildlife you may encounter on trail.
Food Storage Options:
Flip canisters upside-down, place canister in an open area 100 feet from your campsite.
Ideally, a non bear proof bag/sack should hang 6 feet away from the trunk and 15 feet above the ground and be at least 100 feet from your campsite.
If you have a Ursack which is bear proof, find a sturdy trunk or tree branch that is at least 100 feet away from camp. Wrap your strings around it, and tie a figure 8 knot. The Ursack is said to work best when combined with an Opsak.
Most importantly PACK ALL YOUR TRASH OUT PLEASE! I can not emphasize this enough. Wild animals develop a dependency on food when people fail to clean up their campsites and because of that become aggressive. Resulting in unnecessary euthanasia of animals and fatal backpacking trips.
PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT!
That concludes this post, Backpacking Meals You’ll Actually Want to Eat.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE:
- Backpacking Essentials That You Actually Need
- A Complete Backpacking Guide For Beginners
- Havasupai Falls Backpacking Guide: Everything You Need to Know
Travel Resources
Here you can find all the travel site links that we personally use and recommend.
CAMPSITES/CAMPGROUNDS We like to use a couple apps for last minute campsite bookings. Our favorites are HipCamp, The Dyrt and Campendium.
ACCOMMODATION: We find the best deals with BOOKING.COM. The more you book the better the perks like free breakfast with your stay, room upgrades and even higher discounted room rates.
CAR RENTALS: We have always used RentalCars.com and find them to have the best deals, customer service and selection of locations.
FLIGHTS: Our go to for looking up flights is SKYSCANNER, but we try to always book directly with the airline.
TOURS/EXCURSIONS: GET YOUR GUIDE and VIATOR are two very reputable sites with easy and hassle free bookings.
TRAVEL INSURANCE: It’s so important to travel with insurance and for this we use SafetyWing. We are currently using them for our 1 year trip.
TRANSPORTATION: For all our bus, ferry and train transfer needs in Asia we use 12go.asia.
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