The Ultimate Guide to Homemade Backpacking Meals
A lot of backpackers stock up on pre-made, freeze-dried meals for their upcoming trips. Who can blame them? They are convenient, light-weight, and easy to prepare. They’re also easy to come by. You can find a variety at any outdoors shop and you may even spot a section at your local Target or Walmart. However, homemade backpacking meals is becoming an increasingly popular choice among backcountry adventurers.
Despite the ease and availability, more backpackers are taking on meal prep for themselves. They like having more control over what is in their meals when they’re on the trails. It is also easier to adjust these meals to your diet needs and preferences when you make them yourself.
If you’re someone who is considering whipping up backpacking meals yourself, read on – there is quite a bit that you need to consider when it comes to homemade backpacking meals.
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The Pros of Homemade Backpacking Meals
With how convenient store-bought backpacking meals can be, you might wonder why someone would want to make their own. Well, there are many reasons why someone may want to skip the ease of pre- packaged food and bring along their homemade backpacking meals:
- Smaller Trash – The packaging that premade backpacking meals come in are stiff and bulky. While this keeps the cooked food warm and prevents the sacks from developing holes, it makes it hard to pack down. Since you need to pack out your trash, having stiff and thick wrappers makes your garbage bag bulky so you can save space in your pack.
- Larger Variety – If you shop online or have a variety of outdoors stores at your disposal, you may be able to find a decent range of foods to choose from. However, if you’re in a time crunch or there is a run on backpacking meals, you’re stuck with whatever is in stock. Creating your own meals allows you to bring along whatever recipes you love. (So you’re not stuck eating stroganoff and “ice cream sandwiches” for every meal)
- More affordable – The average freeze-dried meal costs around $7 to $12 a pop for a 2 serving bag. Most people will eat a two serving bag as one serving because they need the calories and sustenance. Two or three $9 meals a day for several days…that adds up quick! If money is a concern, you can certainly create meals of your own while sticking to your budget.
- More customizable – Many popular freeze-dried food brands offer a variety of dietary options for customers to choose from. Regardless, if you have a dietary restriction and want to have a little more variety you may want to consider homemade backpacking meals. Someone who has allergies or are gluten free, vegetarian, or vegan can customize their meals to whatever fits their needs.
The Challenges of Making Your Own Backpacking Meals
Prepping homemade backpacking meals isn’t as easy as cooking dinner for a typical weeknight. A lot more goes into it and there are things that you should be aware of before jumping in. Prepare yourself for some minor frustrations:
- Getting the Portions and Proportions Right –Unless you have a recipe or experience working with dehydrated/freeze-dried foods, it can be a challenge getting the meal just right. Pay attention to serving sizes on the label for reference. You may also want to cook up a test meal to see how the portions stack up once it’s hydrated. You don’t want to under eat, but you also don’t want to be wasting any food, either. It’ll take practice to get servings just right!
- Making it Balanced – As tempting as it may be to bring a few boxes of easy mac and instant potatoes in your bag and call it a day, you should probably put more thought into it. When you’re exerting yourself as much as you are while backpacking, you need to be fueling your body properly. Take the time to evaluate the nutritional value of the meals you are building and make sure they have variety so you get a healthy mix of nutrients.
- Finding Freeze-dried or Dehydrated Ingredients – If you are building your meals and you don’t own a dehydrator, it may be frustrating to find the ingredients you need for your meals. If you plan ahead you can find quite a bit of options online and get them shipped to you. However if your trip is last-minute you might have a hard time finding what you need locally. We’ll go over some of our preferred options for ingredients later.
Methods For Making Your Own Meals
If you want to make homemade backpacking meals, there are a few different approaches that you can take. Each come with their pros and cons…we’ll break it down for you below.
Combining Dry, Non-Perishable Foods
If you want, you can make a decent meal out of the things you find at your local grocery store. Things like powdered potatoes, rice, seeds, tuna packets, dried fruits, and other ingredients can be found at most supermarkets.
Though it may be hard to find non-perishable meats, besides jerky, in these stores so make sure you have a different source of protein! Check out our 5 Backpacking Meal Ideas that can all be made from grocery store foods.
Pros:
- Convenient – You go to the grocery store regularly anyway!
- Affordable – Many base ingredients such as rice or pasta will be rather cheap.
Cons:
- Need Creativity – It can be hard to find non-perishable vegetables and meats in the grocery store.
- Less Variety
Assembling Dehydrated or Freeze-Dried Ingredients
There are some distributors of dehydrated and freeze-dried ingredients online where you can buy meat, vegetables, fruits and more in bulk.
This is great if you backpack frequently and typically make your own meals. Combine these dehydrated ingredients along with non-perishable grocery items for faster meal prep!
Pros:
- Fast to Prep – Measure out ingredients, combine and package!
- Convenient – Get the dehydrated ingredients shipped to your home.
Cons:
- More Value When Buying in Bulk – This option is more suiting for the frequent backpacker. The ingredients tend to come in large sizes.
- Planning – You need to plan ahead for your trip to make sure you get the ingredients in enough time.
Cooking and Dehydrating Your Own Meals
If you have a dehydrator, you’re golden. You can make a wide variety of meals for the trail from both perishable and nonperishable items you find at the grocery store. You can whip up your favorite recipes to enjoy on the trail!
Pros:
- Variety – Of all the options, this gives you the most opportunity for variety.
- Affordable – Once you invest in a dehydrator, the meals should cost as much as your typical grocery haul.
Cons:
- Prep Time – This takes a lot of time to plan and prepare your meals.
- Testing – Not everything you make will dehydrate well. You’ll need to do some trial and error!
Where to Find Freeze Dried and Dehydrated Foods
High quality dehydrated and freeze dried ingredients can be hard to come by. It is far easier to find pre-made meals. Don’t let this discourage you! Below you can find a list of brands that offer freeze-dried ingredients in bulk. You may also find these brands on Amazon, along with others.
- Harmony House – This brand offers a variety of high-quality and non-GMO dehydrated foods and meals. They also offer a variety of vegetarian meat substitutes.
- Mountain House – This brand is dear to my heart as it has joined me on almost all my backpacking trips. They offer a variety of dehydrated meats, dehydrated eggs, bulk meals and other ingredients along with their popular pre-portioned meals.
- Augason Farms – Known as a survival food business, Augason has a wide variety of freeze-dried food and ingredients. With their cheese powders, milk substitute powers, and egg powders, you can get really creative with your food.
Best Ingredients From Amazon
Proteins
Veggies
How To Build Balanced Homemade Backpacking Meals
You want to make sure your meals are balanced, nutritious, and filling. Be sure to include each of these categories into every one of your meals to be sure you aren’t depriving your body of anything important.
Carb-y Base
Start out with a starchy, carb base like rice, noodles, potato flakes, oats, ramen noodles, or grits. This will make your meal hearty and fuel you with some much-needed carbs for your upcoming miles.
Vegetable Add-Ins
You can’t skip your veggies! Add some freeze-dried vegetables to your meal to bring color, variety, and texture to your food. You’ll also get some much-needed vitamins and minerals.
Proteins
Add in freeze dried meats, beans, dried eggs, bacon bits, summer sausage, tofu, or packaged tuna for some protein. Nuts and seeds may also work here. It’s important to add these to your meals to help replenish your muscles and keep yourself feeling satiated.
Fats
Add in freeze dried meats, beans, dried eggs, bacon bits, summer sausage, tofu, or packaged tuna for some protein. Nuts and seeds may also work here. It’s important to add these to your meals to help replenish your muscles and keep yourself feeling satiated.
Extras
The fun part about making your own backpacking meals is that you can make them as flavorful as you’d like. Add in your favorite spices, sauces, and bullions to keep it interesting! Life’s too short for bland backpacking food.
Tips for Packing a Homemade Backpacking Meal
- Pack in individual servings – To make sure you have enough food reserved for every day of your trip, portion out your food into single servings. This also makes it more convenient to prepare.
- Keep dry and wet separate – It may seem like a no-brainer, but it is important to remember not to add any oils, fresh ingredients, or sauces to the dry ingredients until you are prepping it for consumption. Getting moisture in the dry food before mealtime may ruin the food.
- Use Mylar bags if possible – Mylar bags are designed for long-term food storage. Using oxygen absorbers with them can help keep your food even fresher! They can withstand a lot of wear, so they can hold up against being smushed in your pack for days.
- Be cautious of sharp foods – Foods like noodles may poke holes in your plastic bag and cause your meal to slowly seep out. Choose noodles that are curvy rather than pointy or double bag your foods to be safe.
Rehydrating Your Meals
Once you’re on the trail, the planning, portioning, and prepping is finished but the work isn’t over. There are things you need to consider when rehydrating your food.
Firstly, bring along a pot or bowl to rehydrate your food in if you used a plastic bag to package it. Some plastic bags claim to hold up against boiling water, but I wouldn’t risk it. Cook your food in something separate.
Also consider the hydration times of your food. Things like uncooked pasta and rice may take longer to cook than your dehydrated and freeze-dried items. There are recommended cook times, but there isn’t really a standard science to getting the right texture. Just check on it every 3 to 5 minutes until you get the right consistency and try to be patient!
Conclusion
You don’t have to depend on pre-made, freeze-dried meals when you’re on the trail. If you want to get creative and whip up some delicious backcountry concoctions of your own, you certainly can! This guide will help set you up for success.
Want to share your secrets to a great backpacking meal? Contact us or reach out to us on social media, we’d love to hear what grub you’re bringing in your pack!
Cover photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
