What to Eat for a Power Day of Food when Camping
If you live in the US, Memorial Day is the traditional kick off to the camping season. It usually rains, last year we had snow, but every so often we have a nice weekend. Regardless of the weather, the point is it’s the start of camping. Chris and I travel all over the world camping and it is our preferred method of accommodation. I was recently quoted, along with a bunch of other outdoor professionals, about our favorite food when camping. When travelling and camping, what you eat directly corresponds to how you feel. Diet is as much a safety concern as making sure you don’t swim in waters inhabiting salt water crocodiles. So make a meal plan!
When hiking you face all the elements and cold weather can cause you to burn more calories thus being hungrier.
If you are looking to have energy for a full day of hiking and camping, here is a breakdown of all the food we would normally eat.
My Power Day of Food when Camping:
Breakfast Already mixed and pre-portioned (makes it easier to control portions and uses less containers or baggies) servings of oatmeal, brown sugar, raisins, cranberries and nuts. Instant coffee with sugar and powder milk (no tea bag to have to pack out -score!) I like to ration two cookies a day with my breakfast.
Snack Gorp – my favorite will have almonds, cranberries, chocolate chips and dried fruit.
Lunch Crackers and cheese (pepperoni if you eat meat) TIP: cheese does not have to refrigerated. Unless you are in temperatures pushing 100 degrees F for multiple days and your food bag will be exposed to sun, your cheese should be just fine. It will sweat and that’s ok. You will learn to love sweaty cheese when camping! Apple – you can eat almost the entire apple and some hikers even eat the whole core when on the trail.
Don’t Miss: This post contains our favorite gear including stoves, pots and other cooking and camping supplies to have safe and comfortable time out there.
Chris making our last lunch while waiting for a boat to take us away from Fraiser Island, Australia.
Snack Chocolate! I love an afternoon chocolate pick me up.
Dinner Dry soup packet mix with pasta to bulk it up. I know I will want a high carbohydrate meal after a big day and I want my end of the day meal to taste good and be light weight. Dry soup packets are great because they are economical, taste good, are easy, you can bulk them up with pasta and then you don’t have to carry a heavy jar or packet of pasta sauce. TIP: I like to use fresh carrots and onions if I can. Before leaving for the trip, I will cut the ends of carrots off, in doing so I don’t have to pack out any excess garbage. I will usually pre-cut onions for the first night and beyond that I will leave onions whole. Onions and carrots are good veggies to take camping as they can with stand a bit of roughness.
Dessert Tea or hot coco and either more chocolate or two cookies.
Other favorite backpacking dinner food: cheesy mashed potatoes. Use instant potatoes, powered milk, dehydrated vegetables or fresh onions/carrots, gravy packet and enjoy! This is a super lightweight meal. TIP: get better results using powdered milk by whisking it up really well in a separate cup with your fork.
Getting your food portions down and figuring out your favorite camping foods will come to you over time. When you are starting out, put yourself in situations where you can handle some screw ups. Don’t plan an eight day trip for your first experience. Go for two or three nights.
You don’t want to be like sad Tiff Backpacking. I wasn’t really sad, I posed for this picture, but if you don’t have enough food, or you’re carrying way too much food, you will be sad.
Planning a trip for a short two or three overnights will give you a comfortable learning curve when figuring out the best food when camping. You can figure where you might have been carrying too much weight or realize a few small items you will never want to forget again. Hopefully you will only need to learn the lesson once not to leave you food bag on the ground to attract hundreds of ants – or – bring fruit cups, have them break in your bag and everything becomes a sticky mess; not to mention carrying liquids is heavier.
Research, talk to those around you with more experience and get out there. Whether it’s camping or any other life activity, doing the work is the surest way to figure out what you like and what you don’t. With a bit of practice, you’ll be on your way to safe, fun and well prepared camping trips. Enjoy.
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Doing a little more planning?
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Nice camping tips. I like the one about the carrots and onions.
Carrots and onions are great. Never bring pears! They smush way too easily. Broccoli can be a good veggie to eat night one as well and it’s relatively light weight.
Nice tips… I like getting into the swing of things with a professional camper/ backpacker… What about beans? Like green beans? They seem like they would be hearty.
Green beans aren’t a bad choice for one or two nights. They look hardy, but in hot weather, it does not take much for them to get gross or start molding. If it’s cooler temps, I would take green beans for my first night’s meal.
Very nice tips! I wonder how many calories a backpacker needs a day? I would be interested in what a diabetic could pack since it seems the carbs would be excessive for a diabetic. I was surprised that you cant leave an apple core on the trail, it seems the animals would like a tasty treat!:)
Good questions. Diabetics would need, just as any with food restrictions, to make sure they bring appropriate amounts of foods that fuel them and plan a hike that will set them up for success and enjoyment. Proper planning is one of the most important aspects of safe and fun outdoor experiences.
A lot of people think they can throw their apple cores or banana peels into the woods and it’s fine. They’re biodegrade, it’s a tasty treat they think. If you look at http://www.lnt.com (Leave No Trace), this behavior does not follow no impact ethics. Are banana trees native to North America? Are apple trees everywhere? No. So animals eating those foods may not be accustomed to them and could potentially get sick. Back country campers should be digging sumps ( a whole in the ground about 6-8 inches deep) to dump their grey water into after cooking pasta. With more and more people camping, following the these principles and packing out everything we bring with us are proactive ways to keep wildlife wild. Bear problems are becoming more and more of an issue for these reasons.
Great points/questions. Thanks for bringing up more discussion!
PS I loved the pictures especially Tiff with a sad face:(