6 Backpacking meals for the trail

When you head into the backcountry, sustenance is important. You need high-calorie food to keep up your strength to adventure. Food weight can quickly add up, and lighter is better when carrying everything on your back.

By dehydrating your meals, you'll save fuel by not having to cook, you can rehydrate your food with cold water if necessary (in case you run out of fuel), and you save quite a bit of weight. You can create some tasty meals with a dehydrator.

7 Tips for making your own backpacking meals

1. For a starting point on how long and at what temperature to dehydrate items, invest in a book like the Dehydrator Bible.
2. Buy bulk dehydrated foods online or in-store if you don’t have a dehydrator readily available, or if you don’t have the time to dedicate to the dehydration process. Winco offers a lot of great bulk options.
3. Chicken and other lean proteins can be dehydrated to significantly reduce their weight. I use canned chicken. Make sure to rinse your proteins with hot water and remove any fatty bits before drying.
4. Cooking, cooling, and dehydrating pasta and rice makes for easy carbs in meals with little to no cooking in the backcountry.
5. Dehydrate all your veggies, fruits, grains, and proteins and store them in containers. Once you have all the components, set up an assembly line so you can easily put together each meal.
6. Use a reusable silicone bag for each of your meals. This way, when you’re on the trail you can add hot water directly into the bag to rehydrate everything when hiker hunger kicks in at the end of the day.
7. Buy a food koozie to place your meal in to hold heat as it rehydrates.You can make also one yourself. Here is a DIY tutorial from the Backhacker Babe.

Recipes

1. Thanksgiving dinner

Ingredients:

• Dehydrated mashed potato flakes
• Milk powder
• Stovetop stuffing
• Dehydrated onion
• Dehydrated carrot
• Dehydrated cranberries
• Dehydrated chicken
• Gravy powder

Prepping: Add all of your ingredients to a reusable bag. Seal it with as little air as you can. How much do you need of each? Think about your preferred ratio of Thanksgiving Dinner ingredients and use that info as a reference.

Eating: Heat water on the stove and then add enough to cover your meal. Seal the reusable bag and let sit in a koozie for around 30 minutes until the food is soft and rehydrated.

2. Tuna mac

Ingredients:

• Dehydrated pasta
• Dehydrated peas
• Dehydrated carrots
• Milk powder
• Cheese powder (you can buy boxed macaroni and use the packet, or you can buy bulk cheese powder online or from a bulk store.)
• Tuna packet

Prepping: Add the first four ingredients to your liking in a reusable bag. Add a foil pack of tuna and cheese powder (in a separate bag or packet). Squeeze the bag to remove as much air as possible before sealing it.

Eating: Remove tuna and cheese powder. Heat water on the stove and then add enough to completely cover your meal. Seal and let sit in koozie for around 30 minutes until the food is soft and rehydrated. Add cheese powder and mix well. Add in tuna.

3. Taco rice bowl or burrito

Ingredients

• Dehydrated rice or tortilla
• Dehydrated chicken, chicken packet, or shredded beef packet
• Dehydrated black or pinto beans
• Dehydrated bell peppers
• Dehydrated corn
• Dehydrated jalapenos
• Dehydrated onions
• Dehydrated cheese
• Cumin
• Tapatio, Taco Bell hot sauce, or other hot sauce packets

Prepping: Add all of your ingredients to your liking in a reusable bag. The rice ratio should be different if you want a bowl rather than a burrito. Seal it with as little air as you can. Keep your tortilla in a larger bag to maintain shape.

Eating: Remove tortilla and hot sauce packets. Heat water on the stove and then add enough liquid to cover your meal. Seal and let sit in koozie for around 30 minutes until the food is soft and rehydrated. Add hot sauce. Spoon into a tortilla or eat as-is.

4. Packed ramen

I haven’t tried this, but have heard of a “ramen bomb,” where hikers add instant mashed potatoes to ramen for some extra calories and flavor. Consider packing some extra potato flakes if you want to try it.

Ingredients

• Ramen noodles
• Dehydrated chicken
• Dehydrated bell peppers
• Dehydrated carrots
• Dehydrated mushrooms
• Soy sauce packets
• Sriracha or other hot sauce packets

Prepping: Add all of your ingredients to your liking in a reusable bag. Seal it with as little air as you can.

Eating: Remove soy and hot sauce packets. Heat water on the stove and then add to cover your meal. Seal and let sit in koozie for around 30 minutes until the food is soft and rehydrated. Add desired sauces.

5. Cheesecake on-the-go

There’s nothing like dessert in the backcountry! I take a variety of cheesecakes if I plan to be out hiking for a number of days. I like regular cheesecake with strawberries or chocolate cheesecake with mini Oreos and bananas.

Ingredients

• Boxed vanilla cheesecake or chocolate cheesecake
• Milk powder
• Dehydrated fruits: strawberries, blueberries, bananas, etc.
• Graham cracker crumbs
• Cookie pack: Mini Oreos or other cookies

Prepping: Add all of your ingredients to your reusable bag. Seal it with as little air as you can.

Eating: Remove the cookie pack. Add enough cold water to create a pudding consistency. It will not firm up as you cannot chill the mixture. Seal the container and let sit for around 20 minutes to allow the fruit to rehydrate (or let the fruit be crunchy for some added texture). Add in cookies.

6. Trail pudding

Ingredients

• Boxed pudding
• Milk powder
• Dehydrated fruits: strawberries, blueberries, bananas, etc.
• Cookies: mini Oreos, nutter butters, or another

Prepping: Add all of your ingredients to your reusable bag to your liking. Seal it with as little air as you can.

Eating: Add enough cold water to create a pudding consistency. It will not firm up as you cannot chill it. Seal and let sit for around 20 minutes to allow the fruit to rehydrate, or let the fruit be crunchy for some added texture. Add in cookies.