Backpacking Recipes

Here are my favorite backpacking meals. Unlike just-add-water freeze dried meals, these dishes require the effort of real cooking. However, the extra labor is well worth the rewards it yields, because you won’t be left yearning for a meal of city food.

Detailed nutritional information is provided with each recipe. The ideal to strive for in backpacking menus is 30% of calories from fat, 50–55% from carbohydrates, and 15–20% from protein. Fat provides 9 calories per gram and carbohydrates and protein provide 4 calories per gram.

The carbohydrate count on nutritional labels and in the USDA nutritional database includes fiber and fiber has no calories. Therefore, before calculating carbohydrate calories the fiber content has to be subtracted from the total carbohydrates. You should get about 15 grams of fiber for every 1000 calories you eat, and you should eat at least 3000 calories per day while backpacking. Between 2 people I recommend a total of about 1000 calories for breakfast, 1800 calories for lunch, 2400 calories for dinner, and 400 calories in snacks.

In formulating these recipes, I have made all of these nutritional calculations for you. Each recipe comes with a downloadable Excel spreadsheet in case you want to adjust the proportions or make substitutions. In order for you to get enough calories and a balanced diet recipes are presented as complete meals, rather than as la carte items. High fat main courses have been matched to low fat desserts and vice versa. The same goes for carbohydrate and protein balance.

1. An Explosively High-Energy Breakfast
   

   Buckwheat, Pecans, and Pure Maple Syrup taste wonderful together. Add 1 scoop of protein powder between 2 people, and this breakfast provides close to the optimum backpacker’ ratio of fat, carbohydrates, and protein, with just a little extra fat for those chilly mountain mornings. When I eat this meal I get a wholesome energy rush that puts a double cafe latte to shame.

2. Apple Walnut Coffee Cake

   This breakfast has enough calories, but from a backpacking nutrition standpoint, it’s a little low in fat. Be that as it may, fresh hot baked goods are always a treat for anyone who isn’t allergic to their ingredients. This recipe requires the Outback Oven.

3. Apricot Almond Coffee Cake

   This coffee cake has a nearly identical nutritional balance to the one above, but since it’s a little higher in calories you may wind up eating the last of it at lunchtime.

4. Beef Stew with Biscuits and Chocolate Pudding
   

   The main course of this dinner is high in fat, so I’ve added a fairly low fat dessert to balance things out. The biscuits require the Outback Oven, which is so fuel efficient that it’s worth its weight in fuel savings.

5. Chicken Biryani and Mango with Coconut Milk
   

   Biryani is a rice dish from India. It requires less prep work in camp than most of the dishes in my repertoire. It’s also incredibly tasty. The dessert is also simple to prepare. And to top it all off, this menu has the optimum backpacker’s ratio of fat, carbohydrates, and protein.

6. Chicken Cacciatore and Cookies
   

   Freeze dried chicken breast with home dried tomato sauce, home dried mushrooms, and oil cured olives. Serve over pasta or rice.

7. Chicken Gumbo with Cornbread and Cheesecake
   

   Dry your own okra, peppers, and tomatoes at home and be delighted in camp. This meal is a little on the large size: 2749 calories, when 2400 would probably do the trick. The extra calories are equivalent to 1.2 Snickers bars or 58% of a quarter pound cheeseburger. The cornbread requires the Outback Oven.

8. A Discussion of Chocolate Cake
   

   There’s no cut and dried recipe here. Instead you’ll find guidelines for using cake mix and other ingredients to build the cake of your dreams.

9. Lamb Couscous Pilaf
   

   Home dried ground lamb with spiced couscous, dried fruit, and roasted nuts. The lamb requires an hour of soaking and 30 minutes of simmering, but this dinner is well worth the wait. Dried Figs are served for dessert.

10. Thai Red Curry
    

    After 12 days in the backcountry, I was hit with a craving for Thai food. Then I remembered that I had some with me. Dinner was supremely satisfying that night.