Pre-made Backpacking Food Ideas

Pre-made Food Ideas

Prepared food items for quick and easy backpacking meals

Cooking a Prepackaged Backpacking Meal

There are many prepackaged food items that are cheap and easy to prepare if you don’t have time to put together recipes for your backpacking meals. Below is list of items that can be taken backpacking and hiking with little or no preparation, most of which can be bought at any grocery store. You may want to repackable the items below in a zip lock bag to get rid of weight and space.

If you are going on a longer trip or want slightly more gourmet meals, you can use Wild Backpacker’s collection of backpacking recipes or bring packaged dehydrated and freeze-dried meals, like Mountain House or Backpacker’s Pantry, from stores such as Wilderness Dining.

Breakfast Foods

  • Cereal or granola (with dehydrated milk)
  • Fruit cocktail in small cups
  • Instant oatmeal (with water or dry)
  • Pop Tarts
  • MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)
  • Fresh fruit
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Lunch & Snack Foods

  • Cream cheese bagels
  • Energy and granola bars
  • Candy bars and other sugary snacks
  • Cheese
  • Chicken pouches
  • Dried fruit
  • Nuts, crackers, or chips
  • GORP (nuts, M&M’s raisins, dried fruit)
  • Beef, turkey, or other preserved meat jerkies
  • Hard boiled eggs
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Dinner Foods

  • Cup of Soup
  • Instant Rice or Noodles
  • MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)
  • Stuffing
  • Couscous
  • Instant Potatoes
  • Canned chili
  • Canned stew
  • Quinoa
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Drinks

  • Hot chocolate
  • Gatorade/Powerade
  • Lemonade or Crystal Lite
    (can also help flavor iodine-treated water)
  • Instant coffee packets
  • Teas
  • Tang
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  • Meryle

    Our meals for a multi-day trip;
    Brealfast: Whole rolled oats, granola, raisins and cinnamon
                  or Oats with raisins or dried apples and cappiccino power 
                  add/substitute peanuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, flax seeds, fried fruit …     
                  as desired.  (save a dinner pouch for preparing oatmeal) 
    Lunch: summer sausage or salami stick, cheese and bagels – dried fruit, nuts, granola bars …
    Dinner: Freeze dried meals; Mountain House, Backpacker’s Pantry, …  

  • juliadevi

    One of the best meals I’ve ever had backpacking was a pouch of curry from Trader Joe’s…  I know not everyone has access to a TJ’s, but if you do, and you’re only going on a short trip, those little pouches of Indian food are great.  Just put the pouch in hot water and let it warm up, then rip it open and you can even eat it straight from the bag – no dishes to wash!  We ate them with some flatbread from TJ’s…  if you get the lentil or chickpea variety, the legume + grain combo = whole protein.

  • Apis

    Do people really take foods that can spoil in a few hours (hard cooked eggs, cream cheese) on backpacking trips? This doesn’t even begin to address the weight issue.

  • Guy

    Meryle So did you use Cream cheese? or other type of cheese. Im trying to figure out what is the best cheese to take BKPKing. I tried a nice goat cheese I think you say it Moncheco??? from spain. It was good. I am just trying to see waht is the best????

  • Moni Liwate

    Hard cooked eggs will last for several days if the shell isnt cracked.
    Cheeses do just fine; dont for get cheese was used as a was to preserve milk before refrigeration came along.

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