Backcountry Food

I really like Santa Fe Bean Co refried beans, with Uncle Ben's instant Brown Rice, add some Parmesan cheese, chili powder and a few herbs. Pre-package this at home in ziplocks. Also carry some tortillas to make burritos. If you get the refried types instead of the whole bean they will mix with cold water and be eatable.
I also eat steel cut oats for breakfast. They need to be soaked overnight. A bit of a hassle but not a fan of the other oatmeal.
I'm looking into quinoa for breakfast OR dinner. Jury is still out.
@JackBurns :this bean meals should be gluten free if you choose the right tortillas
 
i was rummaging through the backpacking food bin at home in preparation for last week's trip. I found that my wife had added some "that's it" bars in there. I grabbed two and threw them in my pack, not knowing what to expecet.

I really like the apple + mango flavor. For those of you who believe a short list of ingredients is better than a long list, you'll love these. Each bar is made of 100% fruit, that's it. The apple/mango bar has 2 ingredients: an entire apple, and an entire mango. That's it. Pretty tasty, and good for you.

http://www.thatsitfruit.com/

FWIW, I normally love pears, but i didn't love the apple/pear flavor. It wasn't horrible, but not as good as the mango one. Plus they're GMO free, gluten free, kosher, and almost as magical as dr bronner's soap. ;)
 
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I like spicy food so I picked up a dozen backpackers pantry meals that are going to expire this fall from REI via eBay. I found that letting them sit in my beanie retains the heat better. I tried the DIY stuff but it ended up being heavier. The dried mango from Costco is like crack cocaine. I have a hard time saving it for the trip.
 
pstm13 said:
I like spicy food so I picked up a dozen backpackers pantry meals that are going to expire this fall from REI via eBay. I found that letting them sit in my beanie retains the heat better. I tried the DIY stuff but it ended up being heavier. The dried mango from Costco is like crack cocaine. I have a hard time saving it for the trip.
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I have been wanting to give it a try. If you haven't tried the dried coconut from Costco you should. I'm not usually a big fan of coconut but this stuff is delicious.
 
Oatmeal packets, hot choc for breakfast. Flavored tuna packets for lunch. Repackaged Mountain House or Enertia Foods in freezer bags hot cider for dinners. All I do is boil water, eat out of freezer bags. Nuts, Fiber 1 bars, Honey stingers for snacks. Occaisionally I throw in a couple small can of fruit. No clean up except spoon and cup. I figure I can live for a couple weeks till trip is done.
 
Some people eat to live. In my case I live to eat. I don't under pack on food. There is only one thing I hate more than being hungry and that is the dentist (I mean no disrespect if any of you are dentists):speechless:. I pack normal pack food just a lot of it. One thing I have been packing lately is the jif peanut butter go cups. They are bit heavy but lots of energy in a single cup (250 calories). They come in two flavors regular peanut and chocolate.
 
Jammer said:
I re-pack in ziplocks, but then roll-up and take the original bag with me after trimming off the excessive top and sharp corners. I do this because I enjoy the convenience of eating from the original bag. Other bags get too hot and don't hold their shape and I don't want to clean my pot every meal. Sometimes I will re-use a bag for multiple meals, but usually I prefer dealing with the extra trash than having to thoroughly clean the bag after a meal at the end of a long day.

- Jamal
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Great idea! Thanks for posting
 
I'm a fan of the albacore tuna packets w/tortillas or flat bread...nice and flat for packing (and pringles fit nicely in my side pack pocket).
I also like the biscuit tubes and wrap them around a big stick and cook over the fire w/honey packets from KFC.
 
sixstringsteve said:
i was rummaging through the backpacking food bin at home in preparation for last week's trip. I found that my wife had added some "that's it" bars in there. I grabbed two and threw them in my pack, not knowing what to expecet.

I really like the apple + mango flavor. For those of you who believe a short list of ingredients is better than a long list, you'll love these. Each bar is made of 100% fruit, that's it. The apple/mango bar has 2 ingredients: an entire apple, and an entire mango. That's it. Pretty tasty, and good for you.

http://www.thatsitfruit.com/

FWIW, I normally love pears, but i didn't love the apple/pear flavor. It wasn't horrible, but not as good as the mango one. Plus they're GMO free, gluten free, kosher, and almost as magical as dr bronner's soap. ;)
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Speaking of bars I just tried a new one this week - Probar - it was delicious and satisfying - nearly 400 calories per bar.
When it comes to backcountry food I favor simplicity first, mostly because I'm rarely hungry in the wild, my attention is on other stuff. At home exerting far less and I can't go :30 minutes without thinking where my next meal is coming from.
 
I'm starting to suspect that I also have an issue with gluten. I'm trying to come off of Prilosec and on days that I don't eat gluten my heartburn is usually pretty manageable, but I've had some pretty bad reflux on the days I eat gluten. I'm just starting to figure out what that will look like when I'm out on the trail. You need to double check your labels, but some gluten free options for trail meals include rice, quinoa, oatmeal, Lara bars, sesame snaps, nuts, seeds, nut butter, dried, dehydrated, or raw fruits and veggies, instant potatoes, jerky, pemmican, tuna, beans, shelved pepperoni or salami, and cheese and hard boiled eggs for shorter trips.
 
Miss Buffalo said:
Larabars are awesome, but pricey
I found a nice recipe to bake your own but haven't had the time to try it out.
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I have a recipe as well, but too lazy to make it. I don't think you need to bake my recipe. I think you just thrown dates, cherries, almonds into a food processor.
 
baltocharlie said:
I really like Santa Fe Bean Co refried beans, with Uncle Ben's instant Brown Rice, add some Parmesan cheese, chili powder and a few herbs. Pre-package this at home in ziplocks. Also carry some tortillas to make burritos. If you get the refried types instead of the whole bean they will mix with cold water and be eatable.
I also eat steel cut oats for breakfast. They need to be soaked overnight. A bit of a hassle but not a fan of the other oatmeal.
I'm looking into quinoa for breakfast OR dinner. Jury is still out.
@JackBurns :this bean meals should be gluten free if you choose the right tortillas
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Sorry for the delay in replying.
Of late I have found some oats that are certified gluten free. I have not tried them in the back country yet.
I am not familiar with Santa Fe Bean Co. When we lived in North Carolina there was a refried bean mix that was gluten free, super cheap, and really good. I have not found an alternative here in Utah.
I don't know if this has been covered but how do you feel about carrying cheese on your back pack trips? Down Salt Creek I carried a big chunk of sharp white cheddar that we ate 3 and 5 days out. It separated some oil but tasted just fine.
Jack
 
I love carrying cheese and do it often. If it's a particularly warm trip, I might leave it out or eat it quicker. The harder the better for staying fresh. I usually do a sharp cheddar.
 
I kept it in a ziplock and it was covered in oil. I understand the concept of "cheese cloth" but I worry about it leaking on everything. How do you carry the cheddar?
 
I really recommend purchasing a dehydrator. I bought mine at Costco for $45. Mountain House meals are very expansive and do not taste very good compared to home dried foods. It doesn't take long to prepare food for dehydration, and then package it up after its dry. You can dehydrate large amounts of food in winter, then store it in your freezer. I held off purchasing a dehydrator for years, but now that I have one, I make my own meals for every trip I do.

Here's a good site for recipes. If you like a hot breakfast, I recommend their Sweet Potato Bark Porridge recipe.
http://www.backpackingchef.com/
 
When I started planning for my trip last year food was way down on my list...I would have eaten Ramen every day, every meal...I didn't really care...then I read articles and found a few 'freezer bag' recipes and not really wanting to do dishes...or even take dishes I read even more....I got my dehydrator out of the box it came in 15 years ago, when it did a few banana chips and some venison jerky and started dehydrating....I had found a recipe for 'Unstuffed Peppers' and loving Stuffed Peppers I decided this was going to be my first meal....I dehydrated peppers first...lots of them (2 people, a couple of meals each), then I dehydrated lean ground beef...then I tackled the most important part for me...the sauce. I made the sauce I make at home for my Stuffed Peppers and dehydrated plenty of it into leather. I wrote the instructions on the baggie to make the meal then I put in the minute rice and the green peppers...in a separate snack baggie I put the ground beef and put that in the baggie, then I put a snack baggie with the sauce leather in there too. I took some foil/bubble insulation and duct tape and made a "cozy" to cook my meals in. Since this recipe called for cooking in the pan and then putting pan and all into the cozy for 20 minutes or so I made sure the cozy was large enough for my pot. So far this is the only recipe that necessitates me washing a dish...my pot...which I ate right out of. A meal never tasted so good!! I did another using Suddenly Salad ranch and bacon....cooked it to almost done, drained it and dehydrated it....wrote instructions on the baggie...put the amount of dry mix for the sauce into a snack baggie and threw that in, then put in enough packets of mayo to make the recipe...added 1/2 a packet of chicken to it and another great meal was had. This year I am working on adapting some of my home recipes into freezer bag meals as well and I plan to give my dehydrator quite a workout! Really glad I went this route instead of the expensive pre-packaged meals that I didn't really care for when I tried them or Ramen every day...LOL I took some hot chocolate and Tang for my energy drink...mixed a little pinch of lite salt in for electrolytes and a bunch of trail mix.
 
When we eat oatmeal backpacking, we buy in in 25lb. bags, regular oats. Really cheap that way. Then we mix in dried fruit, cinnamon, brown sugar in a ziplock. Makes the oatmeal better. Another breakfast thing is grits. You mix water:grits at 4:1, so lot of food for little bulk. Add some butter buds, bacon bits, powdered cheddar for flavor. Tried powdered eggs last year, never again.

I've never bought freeze dried stuff, too pricey for me. We usually do the rice/pasta Knorr sides somebody else mentioned for dinner.
 
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