Five Recipes for DIY Backpacking Meals

By Kieran Dunch

When planning an overnight excursion, one of the most important things to consider is meal planning. Often times, we are so focused on the gear and the route that we forget to plan out our meals. There are lots of general tips to follow for creating your own backpacking meals (check out my article on this topic), but here are five recipes to get you started.

A bowl of oatmeal with dehydrated fruit in it!

Easy Protein Packed Breakfasts

The first meal of the day is often the most important. You need to have something that is easy to prepare, but still contains the proper amount of nutrients to get you through the day. Here are two recipes that are easy to make and will keep you full of energy until lunch.

Oatmeal and Craisins

Although simple, oatmeal packs a lot of punch while being easy to prepare. It also has a lot of room for customization. You can add in dried fruit, nuts, or even a little bit of honey to sweeten it up. It is light to carry in with you, and serves as a great hot meal to begin your day. Here is a basic recipe to get you started.

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal and Craisins

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of instant maple brown sugar oatmeal
  • 1/4 cup of craisins

Instructions:

  1. Boil water in your camping setup.
  2. Add craisins to bowl of dry oatmeal and stir.
  3. Add boiling water to oatmeal and stir.
  4. Let sit for 5 minutes and enjoy!

Hash browns with Sponions

This recipe comes to us from our lovely hiking partners Olivia and Jacob, and does require a dehydrator. The reward of this prepreparation is a delicious and filling breakfast that is easy to prepare at the campsite. The recipe stats with the hash brown cartons from Costco, and then adds in dehydrated onions and spinach. Here is the recipe:

Hash browns with ‘Sponions’

Ingredients:

  • 1 container of Costco Golden Grill Hashbrown Potatoes
  • 1 onion
  • A bunch of spinach
  • Optional: garlic, peppers, vegan cheese

Instructions:

  1. Precook the onion and spinach together (make sure to cut the onion super small)
  2. Throw in other vegetables or herbs to your liking
  3. Dehydrate the mixture in a dehydrator, and pack it in a ziplock bag.
  4. At the campsite, rehydrate the hashbrowns in their box with boiling water.
  5. Rehydrate the sponions in your jetboil.
  6. Combine everything in your jetboil pot and enjoy!

Tips from Olivia and Jacob

  • “cutting [the vegetables] smaller dehydrates better” - Jacob
  • “We also use vegan cheese sometimes but [because] that’s so oily you wouldn’t want to do that unless you’re dehydrating right before your trip” - Olivia

Thank you Olivia and Jacob for sharing your recipe with us!

A platter of really fancy looking smoked salmon!

Simple but delicious dinners.

Dinner is the meal that you will be looking forward to all day. It is the time to relax and enjoy a hot meal after a long day of hiking. You are also able to put in a bit more time and effort to make this meal spectacular, so I like to add in some (relatively) gourmet details! Here are three recipes that are easy to prepare and will leave you feeling satisfied.

Smoked Salmon Alfredo

When Jasmine (my hiking partner) and I go hiking together, we always set aside some of our food and space budget to bring this meal along. It does require bringing in uncooked pasta and a package of smoke salmon with you, but the result is so worth it. Make sure to try making this recipe for your first night out on a trail and not after, you want to salmon to stay as fresh as possible.

Smoked Salmon Alfredo

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of smoked salmon
  • 1 package of alfredo dry alfredo sauce mix
  • powdered milk (or water, depending on the recipe and your preference)
  • 1 package of pasta

Instructions:

  1. Boil water in your camping setup.
  2. Add pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente.
  3. Drain pasta and add in powdered milk and alfredo sauce mix (follow instructions on sauce packet).
  4. Stir in smoked salmon and enjoy!

Pesto Pasta (requires a dehydrator)

This pesto pasta recipe speeds up the cooking process on the trail by dehydrating the pesto sauce and cooking the pasta in advance. All you need to do on the trail is mix everything together into a bag and enjoy!

Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of pasta
  • 1 jar of pesto sauce
  • mixed vegetables (you could use bell peppers, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes)
  • Optional: sun-dried tomatoes, pine nuts, or parmesan cheese

Instructions:

  1. Cook pasta according to package instructions.
  2. Drain pasta and add in pesto sauce and mixed vegetables.
  3. Dehydrate the pasta and vegetables in a dehydrator.
  4. At the campsite, boil some water and add it to the pasta and vegetables.
  5. Let sit for 5 minutes and enjoy!

Lentil Chili (requires a dehydrator)

This lentil chili recipe is another one of our mainstays. The ingredients in the chili make it an excellent meal for backpacking, as it is thick with veggies and lentils. It also dehydrates well and packs light, so it is easy to bring in and out. Check out the recipe we use when we backpack at Fresh off the Grid .

Final Tips!

  • Keep it simple! some of the best backpacking meals are simple, light and require little prep!
  • Keep it light! You will be carrying all of your food with you, so make sure to keep it light and easy to pack.
  • Dehydrators are your friend! They are a great way to prepare meals in advance and make them easy to cook on the trail.
  • Precook your meals! Precooking your meals at home and then dehydrating them is a great way to save time and energy on the trail.

I hope these recipes help you get started on your backpacking meal planning journey. If you want, check out my article if you’re looking for more tips! If you have any recipes that you would like to share, please leave them in the comments below!

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