Nutritious Backpacking Meal Recipes
These tasty and nutritious backpacking meal recipes are healthier, have more calories and cost less than commercial, freeze dried backpacking meals. Keep it simple — there are enough nutritious backpacking meal recipes here to provide sufficient daily variety to keep meals fun and interesting. But there aren’t so many recipes that I spend too much time buying ingredients and assembling a large inventory of gourmet meals. I’d rather spend my time hiking than fussing with food.
Note: This is a companion piece to my top rated post, Best Backpacking Food – simple and nutritious – veggie and omnivore friendly which has more detailed info on nutrition and backpacking food choices.
Photo: Author eating dinner in the Alaska Range – credit: Andrew Skurka
You make Adventure Alan & Co possible. When purchasing through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Here’s why you can trust us.
| Quick Links to Recipes | ||
|---|---|---|
| Link to Breakfast Recipes | Link to Dinner Recipes | Link to Desserts/Hot Drinks |
Meal Rotation Planner — Nutritious Backpacking Meal Recipes
Keep it simple — I rotate 2 to 3 meal options for each trip. This provides enough food variety on the trail. By limiting meals to 2 to 3 nutritious backpacking meal recipes, I simplify food purchasing and meal prep.
| Backpacking Meal Planner – example of a 3-day rotation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner |
| 1 | None: eat large one off-trail | #1 Wrap+cheese & mustard (fruit #1) | #1 Rice+beans w chips+cheese |
| 2 | #1 Muesli | #2 Bison+sesame stix (dried fruit #2) | #2 Couscous curry |
| 3 | #2 Hot oatmeal/cream-o-wheat | #3 Crackers+almond butter (fruit #3) | #3 Chili mac |
| 4 | #3 Grape-Nuts + strawberries | #1 Wrap+cheese & mustard (fruit #1) | #1 Rice+beans w chips+cheese |
| 5 | #1 Muesli | #2 Bison+sesame stix (dried fruit #2) | #2 Couscous curry |
| 6 | #4 Quick breakfast meal bar | #3 Crackers+almond butter (fruit #3) | None: eat large one off-trail |
If you don’t already have one get an inexpensive kitchen scale that weighs up to 11 pounds (5 Kg). Almost all the ingredients are measured by weight for these recipes.
If you don’t already have one get an inexpensive kitchen scale that weighs up to 11 pounds (5 Kg). Almost all the ingredients are measured by weight for these recipes.
Breakfast Recipes
The following are nutritious and filling breakfasts that should keep a spring in your step until lunch! They have healthy fats and a good amount of protein. Note that the table below is in scrollable window. Please scroll down to see all the recipes Or you can see ALL THE RECIPES full page here, as a Google Sheet
Dinner mid-way up Mt. Olympus, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State.
Dinner Recipes
The following are nutritious backpacking dinner recipes. These are filling meals at around 700-800 calories per serving! They have healthy fats and a good amount of protein. Note that the table below is in scrollable window. Please scroll down to see all the recipes Or you can see ALL THE DINNER RECIPES on a full page here, as a Google Sheet
Rehydrating in a Ziplock bag makes cleanup much easier. Especially nice in “dry” camps. You usually use less fuel as you kill your stove as soon as the water boils. Downside is that the meal does not rehydrate as well as when it’s cooked in the pot, and rehydration can take longer. A long handled spoon pictured here helps reach into deep baggies without getting your fingers covered in food.
Dessert and Hot Drink Recipes
The following are just few ideas for desserts and after dinner drinks. Note that the table below is in scrollable window. Please scroll down to see all the recipes Or you can see ALL THE DINNER RECIPES full page here, as a Google Sheet
Cooking a meal in the pot does a better job of rehydrating a meal. Especially if you let it simmer for a few minutes after a boil. Downside is that the pot is harder to clean, especially with cheese. And food can burn to the pot bottom if you aren’t careful. (photo: Andrew Skurka)
Rice And Beans With Cheese And Tortilla Chips
Use these healthy freeze dried Black Beans & Rice (available at REI) or at Amazon. Open the meal bag and add 2 oz of Just Hot Veggies or any of Just Tomatoes FD veggies.
Then separately package in ziplock snack baggies:
- 3-4 oz cheddar cheese (cubed or shredded)
- 2 oz of lightly salted tortilla chips of your choice (lightly crushed)
Place both the cheese and chip baggies back in the meal bag and reseal it.
Meal Prep Directions
- pour 17 to 18 oz hot water into the meal packet and set aside to re-hydrate
- after about 5 minutes, stir in cheese
- when full hydrated (about 10 min), crumble tortilla chips over the top and enjoy!
Note: eat in packet with long spoons unless you want to be scraping cheese out of your pot and/or bowls for some time.
Dinner in a remote canyon in the Escalante Grand Staircase.
