Easy Hiking Recipes: Simple Meal Ideas for Day Hikes and Other Outdoor Adventures

Regarding powdered cold drinks — another reason to bring them along is for energy in case you get sick.

I tried hiking out 8 miles without eating breakfast and darn near passed out. I then ate something: Someone pointed out to me later that a sugary drink like Tang or Koolaid would have at least given me some calories to hike on…. Man, that sounds really tough! Glad you were able to make it out. That must have been scary. I just discovered your website — you have some great stuff here! I love this article.

Also, I love that you included Maxim coffee in there!! I love this article! My sister who blogs with me and I grew up on a Girl Scout Camp — our parents ran it — and it reminds me so much of the camp food we would eat over fires. Definitely will be back here for tips!! Great tips on backpacking foods! A few of my own: Cuts through those salty meals and goes great with a snickers! For added taste and a little extra protein I put some powdered milk into the oatmeal- makes it richer and creamier. Looking forward to reading through all of your website!!

Thanks for those awesome tips Julie! I really like the idea of the milk in the oatmeal. And the lemonade sounds great too. Always nice to have a little sweet treat. As far as Mountain House I liked the spaghetti and stroganoff too. The only candy I brought were PayDay candy bars. I just came back from an epic mountain bike where I set a record for riding to Everest Base Camp at 18, plus feet in elevation. Thanks for the tips Patrick. And I just checked out your video. Also, hot jello the gelatin has protein totally hits the spot.

Will have to give that one a try. Thanks for sharing your tips! Thanks for this list! We live in AK now and my 13 yr old and husband have been doing longer and longer hikes every year!

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We recently got a JetBoil, so this is perfect! Let me know how you like the jetboil! So, I saw that you mentioned tortillas. Could I send tortillas in my resupply? Also, the Babybels cheeses, could those go in resupplies too? Chris — I sent both Mission brand tortillas and babybel cheese in my resupply boxes and they were all fine…no mold and perfectly good to eat.

My husband and I are planning a few backpacking trips this fall and love this site. I purchased bobo boars, Maxim coffee, and powdered humus to try on amazon prime for our next trip. Thanks for the ideas! I hope you like everything you bought! Definitely come back and let me know what you think. Thanks so much Elaine!

Maybe you should venture out with your sons on a quick weekend excursion sometime! Thanks for stopping by. Hey Kirsten, Great tips!

Can you tell me what the start weight of just your food was without the bear container? I am planning a JMT hike the last week in Aug and I am trying to determine the ever important pack weight. Congrats on making the decision to hike the JMT. My guess 7 days worth probably weighed about 15 pounds. With 7 days of food and 3 liters of water I was at about 43 pounds total.

If you have any other questions, just let me know! I am so thankful to have found your blog! Just started planning my JMT hike and feeling very overwhelmed. So much to think about and to prepare. Thank you for this detailed site. I will be referring to it lots!. Have a look around and if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch!

Thanks for the great ideas! I am getting ready to hike the Ozark Trail in MO next year and need a few starter ideas on food instead of packing the heavy military MREs. Just skimming through the article I saw Tapatio so I knew that I had to read the whole article. Glad you liked it Ryan. If you have any other questions, feel free to get in touch and have fun on your trip! Would love to see some pictures when you finish! Love this article and love your blog!

Our founder, Heather Kelly, uses her nutrition background to craft every meal for nutrient density and flavor.

Simple Lightweight Backpacking Food Ideas – Top Picks from the John Muir Trail

Hey Kayleen — Sounds tasty! Would love to give it a try. Feel free to shoot me an email at kristen bearfoottheory. I just found your site as we are prepping for our southern Utah trip. Thanks to your essential hiking guides we decided to swap backpacking the narrows and hit Paria instead, your Paria canyon post looked so awesome! As we are gearing up I am always looking for awesome backpacking food tips. As a vegetarian though I was hoping for a bit more variation in your post!

I wanted to add a few of my favorites in the comments for those other veggies out there! Sundried tomatoes, cheese, dehydrated hummus on tortilla 3. Thai pnut cous cous or rice noodles 4. Dehydrated beans and rice burritos 5. Pesto pasta with veggies While bringing fresh veggies can add a lot of extra weight, I feel they add so much flavor at the end of a long day! Onions, beets, carrots, and cauliflower can hold up well for a few days.

I totally appreciate these suggestions. I should definitely do a post on vegetarian backpacking food…I bet a ton of people would be interested. Thanks for following along on my site! Sometimes I just use oz less water than prescribed, or you can use the instant mashed potatoes to thicken it up. This especially works well with the chili mac or spaghetti. All my friends were bringing Mountain House meals on our last camping trip and I was quite skeptical.

I had a taste of the Beef Stroganoff and was pleasantly surprised.

I ended up going the cheap easy route with a package of ramen, added dehydrated veggies and chunks of ham. Loving the couscous idea and all your other suggestions. Some good, easy ideas for your first backpacking trip! I thru-hiked the JMT in , and made many similar meal choices, though, heading NOBO and without any stove, all the meals were cold for the first miles as I was above tree line and out of the region where one can gather firewood.

My first hot meal, after descending the golden staircase, linguine and diced salami, was heaven-sent! Given the time in between trips, my memory seems to have faded a bit on the particulars of what I did last time. Your suggestions are excellent! Great site and thanks for the good suggestions. And yea, I rehydrate the food right in a freezer ziplock to avoid any mess.

Have fun and come back and tell me how it goes!

Hi Kristen, Thanks a lot for this wonderful post. Quick question related to the Mountain House dry-freezer food. Did you have any ways around to bring all those food in a more compact way and minimize the trash? Yes, I repackaged all of my mountain house meals in freezer ziplock bags. Then I push all the air out and pack away. Then you can rehydrate with boiling water right in the ziplock, and I usually stick that in a beanie or a jacket so it stays more insulated.

Just wanted to check one more time on the torillas. Did you ship these ahead of time to the last drop point? How long did you have them from ship date to when you finished eating them? Sorry, one last question, what time of year was it? I did ship these ahead of time and it was probably a month that they were in the bin before we eat them.

You can put on pitas, tortillas, or just eat plain. After so much relatively dry food, it tastes great. Just toss the pouch in boiling water for a bit and eat straight out of the pouch. Thanks for stopping by! So many great suggestions here! My go-to cold drink is Emergen-C. But lemonade sounds pretty darn awesome too. Doing the JMT is on my bucket list. What a treasure trove of information! Thanks for all your blogs. We are doing havasupai next month and hopefully some of your other destinations in the near future as we are retiring this year.

You can usually find it in the grocery store near the tuna. Or you can buy in bulk on Amazon: Thanks for a great blog. I keep coming back to this and other posts, and finding new helpful stuff. My problem is that I hate tuna, so the Sunkist stuff gives me the creep. Any alternatives you can suggest with similar nutritional values? Great to hear the blog is helpful for you Herb. Have you thought about trying beef or turkey jerky instead?

There is also Spam or canned chicken—have you tried those yet? Jerky is definitely a go for me. RAMEN is a favorite base of mine for meals. Add 8 oz container of chicken bone stock or veggie if you swing that way and let the RAMEN cook in that rather than pure water.

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I burn the cardboard in the fire if we can have one, or pack it out. As for what I add. Wonderful on cold nights. Many campsites do not have a fire place - they have a year-round fire-ban. Also most sachets these days are foil or plastic lined. These either won't burn or produce carcinogens which you and fellow hikers will then breathe in. Remember most people are out on the Track to get away from pollution. Do not burn plastics or polystyrenes.

Please do not try and burn tins. If you bring them in then do the right thing and carry them out. Our maintenance volunteers really appreciate you helping them reduce the amount of rubbish they have to carry out. Everything tastes good out on the Track. You can make sandwiches for the first day or pack some of the ingredients below and make them in the bush. The variety of food you can cook on your trek is endless - if you know how. There are many prepared packet meals, either rice or noodle based, available at supermarkets. When cooked simply and quickly, they make a filling and mostly tasty dinner.

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Add to these any extras you like — cheese, salami, tuna, dehydrated or fresh vegetables etc. Freeze-dri meals are lightweight, convenient and quick to prepare and tend to have better ingredients than the supermarket variety. Alternatively dehydrate your own meals or ingredients before you go, prepare meal-sized sachets snap lock bags of protein and add-in flavouring ingredients, then simply add noodles, couscous or rice on the walk. Hire a dehydrator from the Foundation.

Powdered milk, hot chocolate, tea, coffee, sugar, malt powder. Just some of the foods you can dehydrate. Many walkers enjoy the benefits of drying their own food. The food lasts longer, is far lighter and is better for you. Almost anything can be dehydrated from broccoli to lamb stew to mangos. Ezidri Dehydrators have generously supplied the Foundation with two food dehydrators at a reduced cost so that they can be hired out to members.

We thank them for their support. Visit our hire page to hire a dehydrator. They have a wide range of meat and vegetarian options including some great desserts. Added bonus is — no washing up! For a gourmet experience - try the brand-new range from The Outdoor Gourmet Company. Food Preparing the right kind of food for an overnight or extended walk on the Bibbulmun Track is one of the most important considerations walkers need to make.

Cooking out on the Track is not only fun but a bit of a ritual.

10 best meals to prepare for your outdoor adventures | An Adventurers Journal

Tips for your food preparation As with other gear, weight is very important when considering which food items to pack. On a longer hiking trip say three days or more , aim to pack about grams - 1kg per person per day. A balanced hiking diet includes more fat and sugar than a normal diet. Buddy-up and share as much as you can - you don't need more than one container of coffee, etc. Better still, avoid buying heavily packaged items in the first place.

Shop to Leave No Trace! Label the snap lock bags eg Lunch day 1. Canned food is too heavy, bottles and glass jars are heavy and may break and you have to carry out the empties. Do you really need a bowl? Can you eat from your pot? Do you really need a fork and a spoon? Some high energy and dehydrated foods, which may seem like luxuries, are actually very sensible on a walk eg sun dried tomatoes, fruit leather, chocolate.