People always ask how and what I eat when backcountry camping. There are tons of options! Here are some of the solutions I use when backcountry camping when looking for simple and easy meals. 

Breakfast

For breakfast instant oatmeal is an easy option. You can either purchase instant oatmeal packets in whatever flavour you want or prepare homemade options where you can add nuts, seeds, cinnamon, chocolate or whatever other toppings you enjoy! If I am using instant oatmeal packets we normally have 2 each so we are full for the full day of hiking ahead. If I made a homemade option I make sure that it’s filling enough to get us through the first part of the hike. 

We also pack coffee for our breakfasts. We normally bring Starbucks instant coffee but have tried out other instant coffee brands as well. I find instant coffee is the easiest because it’s light, small and only requires you to boil water which we already do for the oatmeal. I do know some people have other ways of making coffee backcountry and I would love to know what other people do for their morning coffee while backcountry! 

To prepare this meal we use water that we previously filtered with our gravity filter and boil it in a 1.8 L pot that we bring with us. This pot holds our bowls, sporks and scraper so everything stacks together nicely. We use a small low cost canister stove for all of our cooking.

Lunch 

We normally eat lunch during breaks on the hike. We find that eating 2 protein bars while hiking to the next site allows us to space out the food nicely and keeps us satisfied before dinner. We find that Cliff Builder Bars, Cliff Bars and Luna Bars have been some of our favourite but I keep trying out new ones. If we are planning to hike longer than usual we normally plan to have some snacks listed below.

Dinner

Dehydrated meals are easy, quick and normally have lots of calories and protein. We like picking out some of our favourite dehydrated meals each trip and trying some new ones. Some of our favourites include chili, mac and cheese, pasta and rice dishes. We normally split one large package between two people. We normally boil filtered water then pour it into the bag the food comes in until the food has been rehydrated. I have also been experimenting with dehydrating my own meals but sometimes you don’t have the time to make them before a trip so being able to purchase some is convenient.

Snacks 

Some of our favourite snacks include nuts, seeds, dried fruit and vegan jerky. These are easy to eat while hiking and don’t require any preparation. 

I also like to pack electrolyte drink tabs that we will use once a day by mixing with water. They taste delicious and they help keep you hydrated.

If I have more time I normally put together more homemade meals to take along but these solutions are easy to get and easy to prepare so they are good go tos. I would love to hear about how others prepare super easy and quick meals for backcountry camping.