Buying Food:

There are lots of pre-dehydrated or freeze dried backpacking meals available for purchase, however these can be really expensive. Here are some cheaper options for foods that are easy to make in the backcountry with not a lot of preparation:

  • Oatmeal packets
  • Just add water pancake mix
  • Canned soups
  • Ramen Noodles
  • Spaghetti/pastas
  • Mac and cheese
  • Hot dogs/Veggie dogs (easily made over a fire)

Making Food

There is a large variety of meals you can make in the backcountry, any dehydrated foods you can make by just boiling in water, such as rice and pasta, can be easy go-tos for backcountry meals and you can add any veggies and sauces and other add ins. Many camping foods can be made by taste and estimating ingredient amounts, however here’s a good resource for a lot of good recipes that can be made in the backcountry:

https://www.trail.recipes/recipe-collection/one-pot/ 

recipes

What to Include in your cooking kit

  • Camp stove
  • Fuel
  • Cutting Board
  • Knife
  • Pot and pot lid
  • Pan
  • Utensil kit
    • Spatula, spoon, pot scraper, potholder, knife, lighter/matches, soap, strainer

How to make a spice kit

To make your meals more interesting you can bring extra spices to add to your food. You can either purchase small containers of spices or put spices into labeled bags. Some popular spices you may consider bringing are:

  • Olive Oil (not a spice but this can be good to keep in your kit)
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic Powder
  • Onion Powder
  • Ginger
  • Cumin
  • Curry
  • Cayenne
  • Chili Powder
  • Cinnamon
  • Siracha (also not a spice but helps add flavor)