Backpacking Food Calculator | Weight & Calories

Choosing the right food for a backpacking trip can be hard. Fresh meat barely lasts more than one day. A good fix is dried broth cubes bought online that one can mix with noodles, mac and cheese, crushed potatoes or anything from Mountain House.

Many brands are on Amazon and there are also special websites only for backpacking food for instance Packit Gourmet.

Easy Food for Backpacking Trips

For the first night on the trail though, fresh food is fully possible. Roast steak on a solid rocky surface and eat it as dinner that first evening makes a fun habit. Mix it with whole peppers wrap both in foil and toss on the fire.

Also cutting the steak in hot stew with a packet of stew spice works well.

Freeze-dried foods weigh little, cook fast and have long shelf life. Many brands of freeze-dried foods save on meat so there are many veggie options. Brands like Backpacker’s Pantry, Alpine Air and Peak Refuel truly taste good, or at least they seem good after a whole day of hiking.

Keeping such meals to one each day makes sense. They can be very filling which does not always help during a long day of hiking. After some days eating mostly freeze-dried food stomach problems can happen.

Itacate is a brand founded by Martha Y. Díaz, who was inspired by the lack of Latin American options in backpacking food. The range includes Campsite Lentejas, Sunset Caldo and Charge-Up Chilaquiles.

Tortillas truly are useful on the trail. One adds cheese, dried meat, dried onions and peppers, and one has a fast meal even warmable on a stone heated by campfire. Couscous with Delicious Bites of Indian food in packets makes another simple warm meal.

Thin packets with tortillas work well, but they do not add a lot of calories. Even so, those meals with added water, like rice and beans, provide a solid calorie boost and taste quite good.

Snacks also matter a lot. Keeping them in pockets near the hip area makes things easier during hiking. During warm weather, avoid foods that melt like chocolate-covered grains in strips, thats a good idea.

Stores like Trader Joe and cheap groceries like Grocery Outlet often have cheap tasty options. Trail mix with dried and freeze-dried fruits, like bananas, apricots, raspberries and apples, stays a classic choice. Crushed potato in cups makes another heavy and handy option that one mixes with cheese, meat or spices.

Having a food dryer opens many options. Homemade dried foods usually taste better than most store-bought ones. Dried carbs, powdered fat and dried vegetables all weigh little and workfor the trail.

Small cans of sardines, tuna or smoked oyster also make fast and simple trail snacks.