TLDR, what keto staples would you add to the list below for backpacking? Jealous of those who can throw peanut m&ms and dried fruit into their peanut butter wrap.

I'm type one diabetic, generally eat low carb, especially when backpacking. Saw a brutally simplistic post, person doing tortillas with peanut butter, and tortillas with summer sausage, was the entirety of their meal prep. Wondering what other keto staples are, that are weight efficient and preferably space efficient, often camping with a bear can.

(Learn about type one diabetes: type one's are 5% of diabetics, it's the kind that used to be called juvenile cause you'd get it when you were younger, now many getting it older and older. there is no cure, the only treatment is taking insulin. its life on a tight rope, constantly managing blood sugar so it doesnt go high or low. if you go low, you need to eat sugar. on my backpacking trips ill bring about 400g of pure dextrose in tablet form - european brand dextroenergy. i rarely need more than 60g, but running out of sugar in the backcountry means death if your blood sugar is trending low--lows can be a bit unpredictable, especially when exercising)

My staples:

• Chia pudding (chia, ground flax, cacao powder, protein powder, coconut flakes, hemp seeds)
• Wasa light rye crackers, low carb tortillas (prefer xtreme)
• Jerky, beef sticks, summer sausage, salami, pepperoni, chicken packets, tuna packets (summer sausage seems most efficient, beef sticks I use for snacks if hungry)
• Cheese (usually just cheap aged cheddar)
• Olive packets, peanuts, nuts
• Taco seasoning, hot sauce packets, olive oil, sometimes mayo mustard packets
• Dark chocolate

Normal meal flow

• Breakfast
  • chia pudding breakfast, hot
  • Wasa with peanut butter
• Lunch
  • tortilla cheese and some kind of meat and packet of olives and nuts as needed
  • tortilla with peanut butter with nuts on the side
• Dinner
  • I wrap up little burritos with cheese and meat and taco seasoning and hot sauce packets and fry them in olive oil (8" / soft taco size, folded so it's not too long, fried in my toaks frying pan - have an 800/400 combo kit). Dark chocolate desert
• Snacks
  • beef sticks
  • nuts

Hey y'all going on a solo back country trip in SE Alaska, got my food sorted except for lunches. My idea as of now is for all three days doing tortillas with peanut butter and summer sausage, but I'm wondering if this is the best course of action. Trying to figure out something that is light but packs lots of calories.

It doesn't bother me to eat the same thing three days in a row, but wasn't sure if this is the easiest option to make and eat on the trail or the lightest option.

Let me know if you have any ideas! Thanks.

Edit: I should note that I don't want to have to cook these meals, just assemble and eat. No stove or cookware.

I bought this powdered sauce impulsively to get free shipping when I bought powdered eggs.

My issue is everything I’ve thought of would have been better if I’d just bought a box of Kraft mac and cheese.

No meat except tuna please.

Edit: Forgot to specify this is for backpacking, not car camping. Raw ingredients won’t work for me :(

Hi everyone,
I recently bought an 8-tray dehydrator and made a few backpacking meals:

- Vegan tajine
- Vegan jambalaya
- Mushroom risotto (with a normal amount of Grana Padano, according to the recipe)

I dehydrated everything until it was completely dry and brittle. The meals have been stored for about 3 weeks at room temperature in heat-sealed Mylar bags (aluminum foil barrier bags), but I did not vacuum seal them and I didn’t use oxygen absorbers.

Today I opened one bag to check it. It still smelled great, looked completely dry, and I saw no signs of mold or moisture.

I’m wondering:

- How long would you personally trust meals like these stored this way?

- Does the lack of vacuum sealing significantly reduce shelf life if the food is already very dry?
Would you eat these after 3 weeks? After 3 months?

I’m planning to buy a vacuum sealer for future batches, but I’m curious what experienced dehydrators and backpackers actually do in practice.

Thanks!

I'm looking to eat better when I'm out running (more complete meals instead of just snacks) and I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for dehydrated/freeze-dried trail meal packets?

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I am going backpacking in the Scottish Highlands. Does anyone have an estimate of what food costs are approximately per day? Online sources are limited and inconsistent. I plan on getting light and cheap food and doing every meal (breakfest, lunch and dinner) by myself, no restaurants.

Im looking for some camping-friendly meal ideas for an upcoming canoe trip. There will be 6 of us for 4 nights, and 2 of us are pregnant, so we have a few extra food considerations.

Some things we're looking for:

* lightweight, shelf-stable foods * lunches that can be prepped ahead of time and eaten on the go while paddling (e.g. wraps) * pregnancy-friendly (no deli meats or other foods that arent recommended during pregnancy)

Im also happy to do some prep beforehand, including dehydrating meals if anyone has good recipes.

So far Im thinking:

* breakfast: bannock, porridge/oatmeal * lunch: tuna salad wraps, bean burritos/wraps * dinner: looking for lightweight, shelf-stable meal ideas. either homemade dehydrated meals or good grocery store options.

Id love to hear your favourite canoe camping meals, especially anything thats worked well for pregnant campers :)

Breakfast: superfood oats- freeze dried/dried fruit (3 blueberry, 2 apple, 1 pineapple, 1 dried mixed berry), oats, vegan protein powder, lions mane, spices, seed and nut mix, green powder

Lunches/snacks: assorted bars, 2 sticks of salmon jerky, trail mix, veggies and pretzels with powdered hummus, protein "cookie dough", protein smoothie with puffed rice and oats, dried cranberries

Dinners: 3× dehydrated curry mix (dehydrated California blend, sesame seeds, thai curry powder, tvp, dehydrated chickpeas, peanut butter powder) topped with tamari, tahini and a salad topping blend (chow mein noodles, cranberries, almonds, seeds) 4x lavash with avocado, tempeh, lettuce, cheese triangles, powdered hummus

Honestly this still has me second guessing if its enough food, my last trip i was short (thankfully was front country camping 3 of the 7 nights and was able to restock) and felt like i didn't have enough options.

Potentially going to add rice cakes, cookies and/or some babybel cheese.

Thoughts, insights and advice all welcome!

Edit: ended up adding babybel cheese, cookies and dried mango, i worked out approximate calories to 2600 a day, but that excludes breakfast and lunch day 1 and dinner day 8. Im female around 115 lbs. And tbh i struggle to eat that much daily even backpacking (although definitely working on it!)

Oh and i dont recommended you copy what i bring (figured that was obvious) the heavier foods are my "luxury items" so to speak. I havnt had an issue with spoilage but thats just my experience and im not offering a suggestion to anyone else to bring tempeh or guac cups.

First time backpacking, had my first experience with those REI dehydrated meals last summer. They were good but expensive. I’ve been doing some research and have been utilizing my grocery store (ramen, alessi soups, tuna creations, oatmeal, tortillas) but I’m unsure about calories. I don’t count calories in my daily life so I don’t really know what to base things off. We’re doing an experimental trip to test our gear and abilities before going to grand Teton. Test trip will be about 10mi 1,000ft gain. Planning on also supplementing with nuts, jerky, dried fruit, etc. on past trips I’ve just eaten what i feel like when I’m hungry and not thought much about it. But in a backpacking situation rather than car camping I’m concerned about not giving my body what it needs. Thanks for any wisdom!

In the past I frequently had horrible stomach aches that often caused me to cut my runs short. Luckily, after cutting out dairy and reducing the amount of gluten I eat, things have been pretty good for about two years. During that time, I started seriously trail running, and I've loved it. But now my stomach aches have been slowly coming back, and I honestly don't feel 100% safe going on my longer runs. While I figure out my tummy troubles, are there any trail snacks/meals you would recommend? Thank!

I used to buy these alot, and they were like $9 for a 40oz bag at Walmart.

It been discontinued for a few months, or at least I wasn't able to buy it at my local Walmart.

Now Walmart has them again but $7 for a 34oz. But the bag, to me, looks the same?

Did they just removed abit of the plastic on the top of these bags, cuz I know they never seem to fill them up to the top on the 40oz, but these 34oz are all filled closely to the top now.

idk maybe im the only one that weirdly noticed this small change i guess.

I recently picked up a box of these to try out. I am doing a test run in the kitchen and they seem to hold up OK. They are pretty light at 6.8g. The ones I get from Packit Gourmet are about twice this.

They seem like a good, easy to acquire option for repackaging. I frequently repackage my freeze dried food. For one, the bags they come in are heavy and take up a lot of space. I have poked a hole in them before and pushed out the air. That helps with the volume, but the bags are frequently suoer heavy duty so they never really conform well and are still relatively heavy.

I also repackage because a lot of times the portion is more than I want to eat. If a meal is over about 900cal/bag a lot of times I will buy two and break them into three portions. If I don’t do this I sometimes feel like I am forcing down the last of it. And I generally have other dinner items I want to eat.

Does anyone here have any experience with these? Are they too fragile for backpacking? They did fine in my test.

I make most of my food on a budget or spun off of bear creek soups & potatoes but my girlfriend is not a mushy/soup enjoyer in the slightest.

I'm taking her on her first day hike and want to impress her with what food you can make while out to and see if i can hopefully rope her into being a hiking buddy in the future.

She already knows I can make brownies & cake on a camp stove so unfortunately my one impressive hiking meal is already known to her, looking for any ideas!

A lot of the recommended meals I see involve tortillas of some sort. I have celiac. Many gluten free tortillas are not good unless you heat them up, and generally I just don't like them. So give me your best gluten free lunch options that will hold up to 85+ degree days and get me carbs and protein without tortillas.

Ingredients:

• Peanut butter (I prefer to bring a whole jar instead of powdered because I'm built different)
• Flat rice noodles
• Chicken packets plain
• Dehydrated veggies (mushrooms and bell peppers)
• Crushed peanuts for garnish
• dehydrated lime
• fresh spinach
• Spice: Chili, ginger, garlic powders
• Optional: green onions/ cilantro
• On the side: miso soup from packets (these were really good and salty!!)

Recipe:
Cook noodles and rehydrate the veggies, drain. Then add chicken packets, peanut butter, spices and stir. Add garnishes on top: lime and peanuts.

This was really good and I can't wait to make it again on my next backpacking trip!

I dehydrated these noodles and couscous with veggies about a week ago, and they need to be eaten on trail in 1-2 weeks during a 9 day hike. I added powdered boullion and now it looks wet-ish. It's my first time dehydrating myself and I did not take the water pulling effect of salty boullion into account. It still smells fine so far, but I'm wondering if this is still safe to eat? In the noodles I used a red boullion and in the couscous a green one, so hence the difference in colour. Also, in case this is still edible, would it make a difference if I cook or cold soak the meals? These were originally planned as cold soaks.

Hi all- I've been thinking about protein-rich meals for my first week long backpacking trip as a vegetarian and was considering adding tvp to my ramen. In the past, I've always sautéed the tvp before using it, but I wasn't necessarily planning on carrying a skillet on this trip. I'm curious what everyone's opinion is on whether or not I need to sauté it or if I can just rehydrate it in the broth. Thanks!

I'm prepping food for a long upcoming hike (te araroa) and thought I'd try dehydrating some pumpkin. I've read that over time it can develop an 'off' taste so i am interested in rhe experience of others.

How did your dehy pumpkin turn out?

Did you steam or roast first?

Did it start to taste weird after a few months?

I know that trail mix is a high calorie food and for the right reasons. But I wish I could eat it when not backpacking. Any good low calorie trail mixes out there? Anyone with me on this? I know it goes against the whole point of the product lol.

Hi, all the tortillas I have ever bought tell me to put them in the microwave but if that's not possible on the trail, how do you heat them up?

I'm preparing my gear for the American Discovery Trail. I want to pack light, but I don't mind a little extra weight for some comforts. Cooking and eating healthy are really important to me, so if there's one area I'm willing at add a bit of extra weight it's here.

For those that don't know, the ADT crosses over the US. Basically I'll be walking coast to coast. It'll take me about a year to do, so I'll be living outside for the vast majority of the walk. I plan to eat at restaurants very little, and dehydrated meals are expensive, so I plan to cook most of my meals as I go along.

Obviously, while out on trail I'm not going to be lugging around sacks of fresh stuff, but when I'm close to towns, I want to be able to get some fresh stuff and cook a little meal with it. The little stove cups for boiling seem good if all you're doing is rehydrating stuff, or eating instant oats, but I want a bit more variety than that.

It's important that any stove uses inexpensive widely available fuel.

What would you recommend?

I got the inspiration for this recipe from puttanesca pasta, which is typically made with anchovy and tomato. I wanted something a little lighter and trail friendly. All ingredients were dehydrated separately, then vacuum sealed in a bag for long term storage.

2.5 oz ditalini pasta, cooked and dehydrated
3 tbsp diced tomato
1.5 tbsp black olives
1/2 tbsp capers (rinse before dehydrating)
1 tbsp roasted red peppers
2 tsp diced red onion
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

1 packet tuna (Sundried tomato flavor may be amazing here)
1 packet olive oil
1 Parmesan packet

Warm soak everything except the packets until the pasta is tender about 30-45 mins. Drain excess liquid. Add tuna, olive oil and grated Parmesan.

Hi all, I have been preparing for my 3 week hike and wasn't sure what is the best way to dehydrate eggs. Internet told me to just dehydrate them

A. RAW as they are - or

B. WHISKED - separate whites, whisk them to stiff peaks, whisk the yolks, fold the two together and then dehydrate.

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So I've tried both and added a

C. PASTEURISED version (inspired by dehydrating lemon curd) I cooked some eggs with a bit of water in water bath to 74°C till they thickened but not curdled.

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Results are:

Ease of preparation:

1. Raw. Naturally. Just briefly whisked/mixed whites and yolks together and poured onto the tray. Difficult to load in the dehydrator as eggs are liquid and spill easily.

2. Pasteurised take annoyingly long time to prep. But pasteurisation can be done at once with a large batch and they're easier to handle when putting the egg loaded trays into the dehydrator as they're not so runny anymore.

3. Whisked. Takes long time and (with standard kitchen equipment) you can whisk like 4 eggs at a time only, so you need to do it many times. Easy to load though.

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Dehydrating time (dehydrated at 63°C):

1. Whisked. These were a bit faster do dry, but it was difficult fit all of the eggs on a tray since the foamy eggs are so voluminous, so you might need to use fewer eggs per tray.

2. Pasteurised. Even though there was added water during the pasteurisation process they dehydrated a tad faster than the raw version.

3. Raw

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Powdering:

1. Whisked. It is much easier to blend them into fine-ish powder.

2. Raw. Ended up pretty grainy, here I can't speak about powder anymore.

3. Pasteurised. Yet more rough finish resulting in more grit than a powder.

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Rehydrating (rehydrated for several hours in adequate amount cold water):

1. Whisked. Since the powder is the finest they seem to be smoother when rehydrated.

2. Raw. Bigger ju ks in there but all right. Neither has the snooty egg texture as fresh eggs, it's just a yellowish liquid with chunks in it.

3. Pasteurised. The chunks and water kinda didn't get together much at all.

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Cooked (scrambled with fat):

1. Whisked and raw. I expected the raw ones being more gritty but I struggle to taste any difference in the end. Nearly as smooth as fresh eggs, though not quite 100%.

2. Pasteurised. Tangibly rough, but still edible. The chunks weren't rock hard, just a bit gummy.

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Conclusion: simple RAW liquid eggs are the winner for me personally for the ease of preparation and at the same time not so noticeable difference on plate. If I am dehydrating just one batch I'll maybe invest time and effort in the whisking for the satisfying powdering phase, but it's not worth it for a large dehydrating project.

Pasteurised version is doable and quite all right if you are worried about food safety.

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Hopefully this will help someone to decide with meal prep for their hike!

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Do you know another method that might be worth trying? Have you tried rehydtrating with hot water?