Taste Tests & Theory of Packing Food for Backcountry Trips

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I love eating backpacker meals. They make our time in the backcountry a little extra special because it gives us the opportunity to enjoy them in a beautiful setting! 

Today we’re diving into an introduction to, and the theory of backpacker meals. We made a video that details how we plan food for backcountry travel while also taste testing different major brands of backpacker meals.

We recommend you watch the video below then come back to this blog post. This blog post is a cliff notes version of the video, plus some bonus goodies like some of our favorite backpacker meals that we didn’t test and backcountry cooking gear that we love! Enjoy!

Though this blog post was made in partnership with REI, the opinions are entirely our own.

Please note: The links provided in this blog post are affiliate links. If you end up purchasing some of these pieces of gear we get a small portion of the sales. Thank you as always for supporting us and our life on the road, it gives us the opportunity to share so extensively with you all! <3

There are a few things we take into consideration when packing food for the backcountry:

• Are we headed into bear country? 

• How many people am I cooking for?

• How hard is the trail we’re going to be hiking? 

• How much trash is generated by the meals?

• How many days will I be on trail?

We’ll tackle these one by one.

The presence of bears plays a big role in how I select and pack our food for a trip. In bear country I prefer to pack meals that are cooked in a bag rather than in my own pot. If I have to cook in a pot then I’d have to do dishes that create grey water that could potentially attract bears. It’s not that you can’t do dishes in bear country, it’s just important to dispose of grey water a good distance from your camp. Grey water and even the smallest food scraps can attract an unwanted bear interaction. I’ve found it to be more trouble than it’s worth and I like to air on the safe side. I don’t say any of this to scare you, it’s just a reality that comes with camping in places where bears are present.

In bear country you’ll need bear safe food storage. If you plan to hike into an established camping area you may have access to a locking bear box. If not, you’ll need to safely store your own food. You can do this by hanging your food from a tree, or storing it in a bear can. We prefer the bear can option. Sometimes the presence of trees can be unreliable in alpine or tundra conditions and bear cans give you a safe place to store your food no matter where you are. You’ll need to be sure that ALL of your food and smelly items (ie. soap, deodorant, things of that nature) fit into your bear can. Depending on the length of the trip, each person in your group may need to carry one.

When you get to camp for the night be sure to prepare and eat your food away from your tent as smells can linger long after the meal. You’ll also want to be sure that you stash your food away from your camp when you go to bed at night. We like to leave our pot or Jetboil on top of our bear can to alert us if anything is messing around with our food in the middle of the night.

The number of people I’m cooking for will often help me select the cook device that I’ll bring on a trip. You don’t need to have multiple cook devices, we just so happen to have a few to choose from. If it’s just Owen and I, I will often just bring a Jetboil. Our Jetboil has a two cup capacity which makes it ideal for cooking one meal at a time. Owen and I share our backpacker meals so that doesn’t leave anyone waiting around for food.

However, when we hiked the John Muir Trail with Owen’s mom, we wanted to be sure that everyone was eating together. At the end of a long day on trail, everyone is hungry and exhausted and sometimes waiting even just a few extra minutes can feel unfathomable. I’m sure some of you have been there. In these cases we like to carry an MSR WhisperLite and a pot that can boil water for 2-3 backpacker meals at a time. We also use this setup when we are headed out with friends. I take over cooking (boiling water duty) and others will help carry food, water, etc. 

This is something that I touched on a lot in the video and the reason is that it really changes the way we eat. While we were on the JMT we were doing 16-ish miles a day with multiple thousands of feet of elevation change (the first day we climbed over 6500 feet!). My stomach quickly became sensitive to overly elaborate meals. For instance, one of my favorite backpacker meals is the Pad Thai by Backpacker’s Pantry. However, when the trail was challenging, I had a hard time eating it. The smells were so strong that it was challenging to ingest it. Instead, I found that I couldn’t get enough of the Three Sisters Stew. If you have a stomach that can act up under a lot of physical strain, this is going to be something that you’ll want to think about as you pack food. If you’re not sure, this’ll be something that you’ll have to learn from experience. Start with shorter trips and build up as you begin to understand how your body performs in those kinds of conditions.

No matter what your trip looks like, you always need to keep waste & trash in mind. Everything you pack in, you’ll have to pack out. This could mean taking some time to remove excess packaging before leaving or learning about various recycling programs offered by backpacker meal brands. Terracycle logos can be found on brands that allow you to mail in your recyclable packing. However, this summer I learned that despite Backpacker’s Pantry hosting the Terracycle logo, they currently aren’t participating in the program.

How long you’re on trail will also play a role in the food you pack for your trip. The longer your trail, the more you’ll need to be concerned with calorie intake. If you’re on trail for a day or two, this will be less of a concern. While we were on the JMT ensuring we were getting enough calories everyday was the top priority in our food planning. To give you a quick overview, our goal was to get in at least five 250 calorie snacks over the day after eating a breakfast bar. Then in the evening we shared a two portion backpacker meal and finished with a full candy bar each. This is a big topic, so if it’s something you’re interested in learning more about I’ll direct you to our JMT food blog post where we discuss it all in detail. It’ll also give you a good idea of how to pack food for longer trail adventures.

Reviews

Breakfast

Mountain House Biscuits & Gravy

Price: $8

Servings: 2

Calories: 280

Protein: 11g

Fat: 10g

Carbs: 37g

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5 

Delicious, filling, texturally on point. Wonderful with hot sauce!

Good To-Go Oatmeal

Price: $6.50

Servings: 1

Calories: 490

Protein: 16g

Fat: 14g

Carbs: 76g

Our rating: 3.5 out of 5 

Not overly sweet, plus nice spice flavors. Calorie dense and a lot of food!

Patagonia Provisions Breakfast Grains Tart Apple

Price: $7

Servings: 2

Calories: 200

Protein: 7g

Fat: 3g

Carbs: 40g

Our rating: 2 out of 5 

No flavor, would have to be added in with your choice of toppings. 

Backpacker’s Pantry Breakfast Scramble

Price: $9.95

Servings: 1

Calories: 230

Protein: 17g

Fat: 8g

Carbs: 24g

Our rating: 1.5 out of 5 

Texture was tough to get through. The water that was suggested was far too much. We were unable to finish it.

Dinner

Mountain House Beef Stroganoff

Price: $9.50

Servings: 2

Calories: 280

Protein: 12g

Fat: 12g

Carbs: 32g

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5 

Flavorful without being overly complicated. Feels like a perfected recipe that is reliably yummy!

Mountain House Spicy Southwest Style Skillet

Price: $10

Servings: 2

Calories: 250

Protein: 10g

Fat: 9g

Carbs: 33g

Our rating: 4 out of 5 

Nice spice level with great flavors. Tortilla strips miraculously kept their crunch! Loved the addition of green chiles.

Patagonia Provisions Savory Grains

Price: $7

Servings: 1

Calories: 380

Protein: 16g

Fat: 2.5g

Carbs: 81g

Our rating: 3 out of 5 

Simple. Too simple if enjoyed on it’s own, but great with the salmon or something additional.

Patagonia Provisions Black Bean Soup

Price: $7

Servings: 2

Calories: 280

Protein: 17g

Fat: 1.5g

Carbs: 54g

Our rating: 3 out of 5 

Simple, also needed salt and additional toppings. Less of a soup and more of a dip consistency.

Good To-Go Mushroom Risotto

Price: $7.75

Servings: 1

Calories: 410

Protein: 13g

Fat: 10g

Carbs: 64g

Our rating: 3 out of 5 

Simple, nice gravy. Needed a lot of salt and more mushrooms in our opinion because they were the only thing that brought flavor.

Backpacker’s Pantry Chiang Mai Coconut Beef

Price: $8.95

Servings: 2

Calories: 350

Protein: 13g

Fat: 12g

Carbs: 51g

Our rating: 2 out of 5 

Initial flavor while very hot was good. However, as it cooled it left an odd and artificial flavor in our mouth that was hard to get through.

Mountain House Fettuccine Alfredo

Price: $10

Servings: 2

Calories: 410

Protein: 17g

Fat: 23g

Carbs: 32g

Our rating: 4 out of 5 

Another recipe that felt dialed in. Basic but yummy. Chicken needed more time to rehydrate than the rest of the meal.

Patagonia Provisions Wild sockeye Salmon

Price: $14

Servings: 3

Calories: 90

Protein: 12g

Fat: 4.5g

Carbs: 0g

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5 

Tasted very fresh. Oils and fats in the fish left us feeling replenished. Love the sustainability practices.

Patagonia Provisions Spicy Red Bean Chili

Price: $7

Servings: 2.5

Calories: 220

Protein: 13g

Fat: 2g

Carbs: 40g

Our rating: 3.5 out of 5 

Good spice levels but required a good bit of salt. Would have been best with some additional toppings.

Good To-Go Indian Korma

Price: $14.25

Servings: 2

Calories: 390

Protein: 15g

Fat: 16g

Carbs: 52g

Our rating: 5 out of 5 

Delicious and one of our favorites we tested! Lovely complex flavors. Did need more time than suggested for rehydration. 

Good To-Go Smoked Three Bean Chili

Price: $14.25

Servings: 1

Calories: 340

Protein: 16g

Fat: 5g

Carbs: 64g

Our rating: 3 out of 5 

Nice spice level. Chili isn’t really a go to backpacker meal for us. It was tomato forward as far as chili goes. It needed salt.

Backpacker’s Pantry Three Sisters Stew

Price: $8.95

Servings: 2

Calories: 410

Protein: 14g

Fat: 9g

Carbs: 69g

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5 

Comes with an oil packet which is great for additional calories. Surprisingly flavorful while being simple. We love this one!

Backpacker’s Pantry Cuban Coconut Rice

Price: $8

Servings: 2

Calories: 380

Protein: 14g

Fat: 2g

Carbs: 77g

Our rating: 4.5 out of 5 

We’d never tried anything like this one and expected it to be sweet. It was delightful and comforting to eat!

Dessert

Mountain House freeze dried ice cream sandwich 

Price: $4

Servings: 1

Calories: 140

Protein: 2g

Fat: 5g

Carbs: 23g

Our rating: 2 out of 5 

More of a novelty item. I’d likely opt for a regular candy bar to get more calories in the future. Lots of packaging for what it is.

Backpacker’s Pantry Creme Brulee

Price: $5.99

Servings: 2

Calories: 310

Protein: 6g

Fat: 15g

Carbs: 46g

Our rating: 5 out of 5 

I will go out of my way to find a reason to eat a backpacker’s pantry desert. They are mousse-y and delicious in every way! 

Here are a few meals that we didn’t try for this review, but we love and always enjoy picking up for our trips!

Backpacker’s Pantry Pad Thai

Backpacker’s Pantry Hatch Green Chile Mac & Cheese

(use less water than it calls for)

Mountain House Breakfast skillet

Backpacker's Pantry Kathmandu Curry

As mentioned a few times in the video & blog post we like to spice up our backpacker meals with salt and pepper and/or hot sauce. Here are a few things we recommend to do just that!

Backpacking Salt and Pepper Shaker

Yellowbird Hot Sauce Mini & Full size

Thanks so much everyone for reading yet another long winded blog post of mine. I just enjoy the process of preparing and packing for trips into the backcountry. And who doesn’t love to eat well in a beautiful place?! Talk soon! - MAK