Choosing the right camping food for your trip is a skill that you can hone through experience. The type of camping or activity you’re doing will play a major role in many of your nutritional decisions. If you’re camping with a vehicle, then you can bring a two-burner stove and all the favorites from home. In contrast, you want to pack the calories you need with the least possible weight for a stint in the backcountry or a fast and light camp-to-climb mission
Backpacker meals offer quick and convenient calories in a self-contained pouch. Just add boiling water, wait a few minutes, and then you can enjoy a delicious meal right out of the bag. A plethora of pre-made meals are available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and most are either dehydrated or freeze dried.
The dehydration process applies low heat to food to remove the moisture content. Freeze drying removes the water from the food without using heat, which retains more nutrients in the food. Both options allow the meal to be reconstituted by adding hot water.
If you have access to a dehydrator, then making meals yourself and dehydrating them can be a really fun way to engage with your food planning process. Buying lots of pre-made backpacker meals can be expensive for longer trips, so making your own can significantly reduce your costs.
When recreating in the outdoors, you want to make sure you are eating regularly. This means having nutrition bars and healthy snacks around to refuel when your tank starts getting low. Make sure that you have easy access to snacks between meals, like nuts, seeds, fruit, and other foods packed with nutrients and protein.
The general rule is about 1.5 to 2.5 lbs of food per person per day. This equates to about 2,500 calories per person. You also want to make sure to add a healthy portion of protein into every meal. Protein helps your body perform essential functions and keeps you in peak physical condition for outdoor activities.
Before going on your overnight adventure, it helps to make a plan of what you’re going to eat each day. This way you can calculate things like caloric intake and create a well-balanced meal plan that will keep you energized on your trip.
Another thing to consider is bringing some fresh foods that won’t spoil before you can finish them. It’s nice to eat some fresh foods when possible, but you also don’t want food to go bad before you’re able to eat it. If you are camping with a cooler, then you can disregard this one. But, for most camping there is limited supply of refrigeration and fresh items that you can plan into your meals.
Packing for the outdoors can feel daunting, but just remember the main takeaway is to pack simple, delicious, and nutrient-rich meals that you will want to eat. Avoid complicated recipes with demanding preparation or a long list of ingredients when cooking in the backcountry.
When in doubt, consider the foods that make you feel good in your everyday home life, and create a plan for the outdoors that makes sense. You want delicious and filling meals loaded with healthy protein, fats, and calories to give you energy that keeps you going throughout your day.