A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO OUTDOOR FOOD

followzoe
Oct 31, 2016
2 min read

If the idea of freeze-dried egg and sausage scramble for breakfast doesn't sound that appealing, this is the post for you. Whether you're new to camping or just need a break from the old GORP, I'll be discussing the best (both tasty and healthy) foods to pack when you're headed out in search of adventure. Keep in mind that high calorie foods are better for all day excursions like backpacking, while most of these options are a little less calorie dense, so they're best for roadtrips and camping. It'll help keep you organized if you use one larger ziplock labeled with the day to pack the day's meal.

Breakfast

My all time favorite backpacking, camping or whatever breakfast item is oatmeal. It's filling, warm and will stick with you well into lunch time. The easiest thing to do is buy the plain, single serving packages and bring along a few extras if you're feeling fancy. My favorite add in: powdered peanut butter. Its much lighter than normal PB and is a lot easier to pack and mix into your bowl. You can also try bringing dried fruits, slivered nuts and something sweet like honey or brown sugar packs (they give you them when you get the oatmeal at Starbucks, just start saving them). Round it all out with some instant coffee or a cup of warm tea.

Lunch

When it comes to lunch you need to choose if you will be able to stop and cook. If no, continue to the snack section for some ideas of traveling foods. Otherwise, a great lunch option is instant noodle soups. I don't like the bulky, no-nutrition ones like Cup of Noodle, instead I go to more artisan stores like Stehly's Market and pick out some options there. My favorite is a buckwheat ramen noodle with mushroom flavored broth. Another idea is to pick up a few of those mac and cheese cups by Annies and just repack them in smaller ziplocks.

Dinner

Besides breakfast, dinner is my favorite meal. I usually spring for some sort of grain and vegetable like the boil-in-bag brown rice plus some freeze dried vegetables (sold and camping stores like REI). Bringing along instant miso soup packs and adding it to your boiling water kicks up the flavor without making your pack any heavier. If you are all out of veggies and soup packs, I've even enjoyed the brown rice with some of the powdered peanut butter mixed it...sounds very odd, but on a cold night huddled in a little tent it is the greatest meal in the world.

Snacks

When packing snacks keep in mind that you want to get enough protein since most of your main meals are carbs based. This can included protein powder that you mix into your water along with single serving peanut butter cups, jerky and nuts. This is also a great time to break out some fresh carrot packs since they keep well at room temp for a few days. Pro tip-use the carrots to dip in the peanut butter!