Backpacking Menu

Kacy here, we’ve put off the food planning until the very end but it’s got to be done and I’ve done most of the prep for both of us to start out. There is a re-supply store 4 days into the hike so we’re only planning for five-ish days worth of food. Below are all of my meals packed up, there are 4 days of planned meals, an extra 7 oz of salami, some electrolytes, hot chocolate, extra fish pouches, and granola bars. I’ve duplicated breakfasts and dinners for Paul, he’s on his own for lunches and snacks. Below I’ll go through the recipes, calories, and weights for everything I’m bringing along.

Breakfast

Breakfasts are the same all week, an instant oatmeal packet. I enjoy having something warm in the mornings, it helps motivate me to get out of the sleeping bag on cold mornings. I’m sure Paul will get lazier about breakfast after I leave, but to start we’re getting fancy. Pre-packaged instant oatmeal is a fine option, but I made my own packets that have a few more calories are more personalized to what we like.

Blueberry Oatmeal – 275 cal, 3 oz

• 1 min oats – 1/3 cup
• chia seeds – 1 tsp
• flax seed – 1 tsp
• brown sugar (or other sweetener) – 1 tsp
• protein powder (or powdered milk) – 2 tsp
• sliced almonds – 5 grams
• dried blue berries – 2 tbsp
• cinnamon – a dash
• salt – a pinch

Set up an assembly line of ziplock snack bags, they’ll keep meals organized and serve as the container to eat out of. Once the oats are in the bags they stand well on their own and the whole process took ~20 min. You can take out the blueberries and sub in any other dried fruits for other flavor combinations.

Second Breakfast

I’m sure that sometime around mid-morning I’m going to want more food without the hassle of stopping for lunch. For that scenario I’m packing the trusty cliff bars. At 2.4 oz for 250 calories I enjoy the taste and texture and know it’ll keep me going for a while.

Lunch

My lunches are salami and a kind bar, I’m a little worried it’s not enough, but it’s 550 calories for 5 oz which should be enough. If I change anything, I might add a tortilla and peanut butter to my meals, but that’s more weight and space. Lunches wont be long but I do enjoy the chance to sit down for 20-30 min and relax.

Snacks

It just doesn’t feel right to not pack a few more snacks, either to have while walking or to enjoy while setting up camp. I’ve assembled some trail mix (almonds, raisins, cashews, M&Ms) for something a little sweet and salty. The trail mix is 220 calories at 1.5 oz. As a treat we are also taking a few servings of hot chocolate, tastier than coffee with the same warm beverage coziness. The hot chocolate adds 4.2 oz for 6 servings at 80 calories each, though we’re not taking it for nutritional value. Lastly in the miscellaneous snack category, a stash of whiskey. It’s St. Patrick’s day two days after we start the trail and I have too many freckles not to celebrate.

Dinner

Dinner is where we get a bit fancier, varying the menu for each night. The general theme is a quick cook carb, dehydrated vegetables, and a tuna or salmon packet for protein. The first four nights will be home-made dinners, a little healthier and creative than what we can pick up on the trail. After we hit the re-supply I expect dinners to be mac n cheese and other pre-packaged dinners that also just require adding boiling water.

I put together two couscous based dishes, one Thai noodle dish, and one quinoa dish. The first couscous dish adds dehydrated vegetables. The second adds apricots and cashews. The Thai noodles are rice noodles with miso soup and cashews. The quinoa is also combined with dehydrated vegetables. For all, simply combine all the dry ingredients to a zip lock bag. When ready to cook, add 1-1/2 cups boiling water and let soak for 5-10 min. I’m also adding a package of flavored tuna to each meal, adding 70 calories and protein. I’ll include the fish after finished soaking the grains.

Tuna Couscous – 431 cal, 5.7 oz

• couscous – 1/3 cup
• chia seeds or flaxseed – 1 tsp
• freeze dried vegetables – 1 cup
• onion powder – 1 tsp
• boullion powder – 1-1/2 tsp
• thyme – 1/4 tsp
• parsley – 1/4 tsp
• garlic powder – 1/4 tsp
• turmeric – 1/4 tsp
• salt & pepper – a dash (more to taste)
• tuna – 1 pouch (added after cooking)

Apricot Couscous – 640 cal, 7 oz

• couscous – 1/3 cup
• chia seeds or flaxseed – 1 tsp
• dried apricots – 1/3 cup
• chopped cashews – 1/3 cup
• onion powder – 1 tsp
• boullion powder – 1-1/2 tsp
• thyme – 1/4 tsp
• garlic powder – 1/4 tsp
• salt & pepper – a dash (more to taste)
• tuna – 1 pouch

Thai Noodle – 600 cal, 6.9 oz

• flat rice noodle – 2 oz
• miso soup mix – 3 packages
• cashews – 1/3 cup
• tuna – 1 pouch

Quinoa and Vegetables – 400 cal, 6.4 oz

• quick cook quinoa – XX
• freeze dried vegetables – 1 cup
• chia seeds or flaxseed – 1 tsp
• boullion powder – 1-1/2 tsp
• onion powder – 1 tsp
• thyme – 1/4 tsp
• parsley – 1/4 tsp
• garlic powder – 1/4 tsp
• salt & pepper – a dash (more to taste)
• tuna – 1 pouch (added after cooking)

I’ve got one more bag of an extra oatmeal, cliff bar, and two fish packets. I’m also packing along an extra 7 oz of salami and some electrolytes. In total I’ve got just under 6 lb of food. Overall, I’m quite happy with 1.5 lb of food per day.

After we hit the resupply shop, we’ll repackage any boxed food we pick up into the now empty zip locks from the meals earlier in the week. This will help save volume overall, we won’t be able to re-weigh everything so we’ll have to do our best guessing.

If you have any questions or want more details about these recipes, feel free to reach out. This is my first time meal prepping for a camping trip and I’m excited to see how it goes. In the past I’ve relied on pre-packaged meals from REI, those are pretty tasty but they’re also fairly expensive.

As this post goes public, Paul and I are two days into the hike. We probably won’t be able to get a post up next Sunday but I’ll get an update published as soon as possible when I get back.

Cheers,
Kacy