8 Cheap, Easy, & Tasty Backpacking Dinner Ideas! (Perfect For Thru-Hikers Too!) 

Peanut powder, coconut milk powder, sesame oil, True Lime dehydrated lime powder, dried garlic or garlic powder, dried ginger root nuggets or ginger powder, dried soy powder and cumin makes ramen noodles (quick cook) or your favorite wheat or rice noodles into a pretty tasty pad Thai. All of the weird powdered foods are on Amazon and not very expensive. It's good enough that I eat this at home.

Replace the ramen noodles with capellini (thin spaghetti). No hydrogenated oils and cooks just as fast. Falafel mix made into a patty and fried is quick and spicy and filling.

1:14 Knorrs rice sides 3:19 Knorrs pasta sides 4:01 Mashed potatoes 5:08 Mac & cheese 6:34 Couscous 7:43 Pasta 9:00 Ramen noodles 10:25 Home made pad thai

Instead of taking butter, ghee is a great shelf stable option. It is just clarified butter. Because it is cooked down it has a slightly nuttier flavour.

I recently discovered shelf stable chorizo sausages (dry aged) which I slice and mix with mashed potatoes. I re-hydrate the potatoes (you can add a spoon of milk powder if you want) and then add the sliced chorizo. The paprika in the chorizo will give a nice colour to the mash, the fat in the chorizo will give it a great taste. This is the camping version of the Hungarian dish - Paprikás krumpli. Enjoy.

I recommend exploring ghee butter. It is shelf stable, so you don't have to worry about it going rancid in couple of days and I really like the flavor.

Taking butter with you take a step and make it into Ghee. It's butter with the milk solids removed and easy to make. Melt some butter and pour it into a V shaped ( wider at the top then the bottom ) container , set aside for a little while till a white foam is on the top. Put it in the frig to cool. When cooled take it out and warm the sides of the container so the butter will slide out. Now take a warm knife and cut off the white foamy top leaving the yellow solid section. You have your Ghee and it will last longer then butter with the milk solids still in it. I use a small Nalgene container and double bag it in zip lock freezer bags.

I'm delighted to see you recommend the Knorr's sides. After watching your video in the MSR Pocket Rocket, today I made a Knorr's Alfredo pasta for my first "little old lady strolling up a hill" trail meal.

My favorite trail meal is a Moroccan "tagine" make some couscous, set it aside. put dried fruit (apricot is common but dates, raisins, cranberries, etc are all good) some chicken or other protein, some North African spices (coriander, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, onion powder, salt and pepper), a bit of honey and a little water in the pot and simmer briefly. dump over the couscous and top with chopped or slivered almonds. a shower of fresh scallions, parsley and/or cilantro at the end is a bonus and all pack well on the trail.

Great video. I am an old dog when i comes to hiking food but learned a few things ! Thankyou for making this video.

Always bring some spices. A small amount of curry make any totally blend meal a gourmet one! and spices add variety during long trek. For Knorr rice, you can cook them directly in the package, just add 1.5 cup of water instead of 2.

Sometimes I pack out those 40-50 cent Tina’s bean and cheese burritos with some Taco Bell fire sauce packets. They are usually thawed by the time you get where you are going and can be wrapped in foil and warmed by a campfire or in the sun. Cheap and easy!

Pro tip lol. For butter... you can pre cut the butter and then freeze it. Same goes if you want to make a compound butter with herbs, garlic etc. It will last a bit longer in you pack.

Ramen noodle idea that my friends and I absolutely love: - 1 pack of Nongshim shin spicy ramen(520 calories/$1.29) - 1 pack of peanut butter(190 calories/$0.69) - 1 pack of Starkist premium white chicken(80 calories/$1.49) Total ends up being: 790 calories for $3.37(this is Target prices). It sounds weird, but it’s absolutely delicious, tastes like an Asian fusion spicy Thai chicken noodles. By far one of my favorite meals since I discovered it a year ago. I crave it off the trail, and it eat it at home regularly with fresh broccoli and chicken!

Ive been making my own dehydrated meals…and they taste amazing! Like real good and pretty much just organic. The only thing is that they have like half the calories than freeze dried ones on the shelf. They are lighter weight so maybe I can double the size but still, that gets me full quikcly

I've used a simpler bare bones version with Chile lime or picante beef ramen paired with crushed up honey roasted peanuts. Pretty tasty/filling for a sub dollar meal.

My favorite is Frito Pie: 1/3 Cup Dehydrated Refried Beans, 1/3 Cup Minute Rice, 1/4 Cup Cheese Powder, 1/2 Tbsp Tomato Bullion, 1/2 Tbsp Taco Seasoning. Add 1 cup boiling water, let sit 8 minutes. Add some Fritos

I eat ramen bombs off trail on occasion. It's kind of a guilty pleasure meal for me at this point. I use an Idahoan packet with the creamy chicken ramen and usually a packet of tomato basil tuna/salmon.

Ghee>salted butter>unsalted butter for longevity! For early days on the trail I'll go a bit heavy with things like salami/hard cheese AND prebaked sliced sweet potatoes/arugula/medium boiled eggs (w/salt&pepper). Brats can last quite a few days and are sooo satisfying after a big day. I also often bring a plastic jar of peanut butter along, it's heavy but calorie dense and is easy to add to many meals or just eat on it's own. Love all your suggestions for lighter weight and longer lasting meals. Thanks!

Great video. I love and use all these! Stuffing is a great option on trail to. I add it to the mashed potatoes and a gravy packet. One of my favorite meals on trail is "Everything but the kitchen sink pasta salad". Hoping to have a video soon on this.

Don't forget freeze dried powdered butter is available - safer than regular butter

one of our favorites is chili flavored ramen with a thai chili tuna pack...little spicy but lots of flavor...we love mixing the flavored tuna packs with ramen but the thai chili is our favorite!

get tuna in a pouch instead of a can and and it to mac and cheese. soooooo good

I take a 2lb piece of pork belly. I always camp in the winter so I don’t need to refrigerate it. I just rotisserie a chunk and cut strips off to eat whenever. It’s like eating bacon. Probably as healthy as bacon too, but whatever. It’s good and no need to season if cooking over a fire. It’s good plain.

Give Stove Top stuffing a try. Combine with instant gravy.

Hiker on a budget...the two go hand in hand😊. Butter y’all 😋, Olive oil and hard cheeses can last for a couple days on the trail if conditions are right 👍🏼 another good one Bailey.

I carry dehydrated vegetables to add to Ramen and other stuff

I always bring a wide thermos .to save fuel.anytime rice or pasta meals say to bring to a boil then simmer . Just bring them to a boil then pour the food in to the thermos. It also frees up your stove if you want to cook something to go with your pasta. Also I have found that most knorse meals are to big for one person so I only cook half and save the rest in a ziplock for later

I love Ghee, shelf stable and good calories. Spread it on crackers, in pasta and rice. Gives your skin a lovely sheen when you sweat.

I buy Ghee and transfer a trip's amount to a tupperware container and carry in a silicon bag to prevent leaks.

This is great! In town,, have bought just regular noodles of various sorts (spaghetti, linguini, capellini, etc) instead of ramen, since I don't like the preservatives in most ramen packs). Smash them into small pieces and bag them in baggies. They stay perfectly fresh until you use them. Even sent them to myself in a supply box, without any issues. Definitely agree about the Twisted sides. They are very tasty! Getting harder to find, unfortunately...

Cut / fry spam and add to noodles, rice, or reman meals. If you fish, barbeque trout and make trout helper.🤤

Canadian here i wish we had the selection of knorr rice sides that you do , i add dehyrdated meat and veggies to mine

I would appreciate your comments on my recipes and "ky-gear guy" My thing is home cooking with very few items and cheap in the time of freeze dried . Glad to see you use butter, it seems that people think it will make them sick? Regards

Whey Protein Isolate is a good Protein powder you can try on the trail. I can't eat a lot of sugar or carbs so I lean on Protein more and those shakes are solid snacks 👌

All these foods are absolutely horrible for your health. Preservatives, salt, chemicals…etc. No thanks. I’d rather spend the money on a dehydrator or freeze dryer, and make my own food.

Bake store-bought biscuits (homemade may work, but might crumble too much) Cut 4 biscuits into small squares and dehydrate in low oven. Place in baggie with one cup biscuit gravy mix (if you get a two cup packet- use half) Optionally, add some shredded jerky, beef stick, etc. Add 1/2 cup hot water. (gravy packet will call for one cup water, but is made to thicken as it boils - so use half the water)

I use the Knorr's sides and Idahoan potatoes a lot on the trail. I enjoy supplementing my meals with what I can forage or catch from nature, depending on the season and what is legal to harvest. Fish, frogs and berries have all been on the menu. Using pasta is also dependent on the availability of potable water, whether you are packing it in or treating water from the trail.

Outstanding ..

Knorr's is $1.65 here in northern IN, and that's "on sale." Prices must've gone up in the last 3 years (shocking, I know)

Thanksgiving dinner , one part mash one part stuffing , powdered turkey gravy or brown gravy dried cranberries pecans if u have them and some of that package chicken .thank me later hahaha

Quinoa is also a great option & a complete protein. 🥾❤️

Stove top stuffing and Idahoan mashed potatoes.

On short hikes or kayaking, I enjoy Ramon and I add beef jerky to it as the Ramon is cooking. Thanks for your list of quick meals. 👍

Serious question about mountain house here. How does ANYONE think those are sustainable when there is only 1/4 of the calories you need (on a regular day not hiking) in a pack? You'd have to eat 4-5 of those a day on a hike to sustain, at $10 a piece that's $50/day for food alone. You may as well order Uber Eats to the trail at that price haha. Those are just a luxury, a treat after a cold day, but hardly a meal unless you eat snacks all day.

Angel Hair Pasta cooks very quickly

I get dehydrated chicken. Rehydrate.... Add taco mix. Put in wrap. Eat

Baked potatoes! With salt and pepper and garlic powder and BUTTER

OMG! you do not know the difference of a side dish from a meal!

Zaterains jumbolia with either a one person serving pack of chicken or some dehydrated chicken

Here's an idea for you. I take my own dehydrated vegetables, Lipton chicken or vegetable soup packets, and La Moderna Fideo noodles or something similar and I have have a very hearty and filling soup in individual servings. Start with rehydrating the veggies then add the soup package, and the noodles if using the chicken flavor. If using the packaged vegetable soup add the noodles near the end of the cook to give the veggies time to rehydrate properly. You can even add dehydrated or canned meats if you like. A bowl of this, a few slices of canned brown bread sprinkled with some butter powder or ghee, and you won't go hungry.

These are all great and am fairly new to backpacking. I struggle with the idea of draining and cleaning my pot (have been using an MSR windburner). Not so much on how to do it but trying to follow LNT…would really love to hear ideas on how you or your other viewers handle this. Appreciate the help!

Great video

When we include the mac-n-cheese... we get the "deluxe" version - - which has a sauce packet.. adds some weight - so terrible for a through hike, but the cheese needs no milk or butter and is creamy and really satisfying, especially if it is cold and wet out .Another thing we always include, is some packets of Taco Bell Fire sauce

In the process of trying to make low carb dehydrated meals for diabetics and those who are on low carb/keto/paleo. ATM I'm using spaghetti squash with butter and chicken bullion seasoning. now I'll add some PB and worshire sauce to it as well.

Instead of taking butter, use a small amount of powdered milk with the mac and cheese.

For Ramen I add ova easy eggs, powdered cheese, freeze dried veggies, a bit of powdered butter, and freeze dried mountain house chopped chicken. You can add extra powdered bullion for more flavor if you want. And if you REALLY need more calories you can put it in a tortillas and make it a burrito.

Exactly what I was looking for lol. I gotta let the wife know. The apple smoked bacon is pretty gross 😝 but I love the garlic mashed potatoes. Were at the (recipe building stage)….putting her gear together now so she can get on the AT in Feb. She’s getting pretty excited and I’m so happy for her. #lifechanging. Great vid! 👍

good video! Oh, yes, the brand Knorr ("with a twist" - in Swedish ) is pronounced with a hard k, like c in coca-cola

Couscous IS pasta.

Kraft mac and cheese pretty much consists of elbow macaroni and a cheese pouch. No butter or milk. Also, you can just eat the package of cheese and use the macaroni later in another way.

I am new to backpacking and cooking on trail. I do not see anyone mentioning Quinoa as an option. I thought this would be a common item. Any thoughts out there?

Stove top stuffing, just add water, eat it right out of the bag

Butter will last on refrigerated for a good good while you can also pack in ghee which needs no refrigeration as far as milk you can also go with powdered milk. Usually with mac and cheese on the quick I just do it with water boil it with water and throw in the powdered cheese packet. But then again if you want to flavor it up a bit you can these two items.

Chilli Mac!!

Why drain the water - just eat the noodles/rice/couscous and drink the soup left? Surely some nutrient is lost if you drain?

At 9m 23 you say RaMen only has one hundred , two hundred calories, up the packet you show has 370 written on it, the same as the Knorr pasta and rice at the start. Did I misunderstand?

Mine is Tyson pre cooked chicken, Idahoan roasted garlic mashed potatoes, cooked together to make a chicken mashed potato bowl.

i just wanted to hear her say "cold soak". 😅😅

I just found out that you can buy dehydrated refried beans which are easy to cold soak Which would be great to add to your rice sides and make burritos to carry with you

Use pre packed butter packets you get free at restaurants.

Great list of options.... keep the tricks and tips coming!!!

That Twistd rice packet had 76 grams of carbs which your body turns into sugar right away.

Some good tips - sadly it seems nearly all the YT hiker folx are US-based, so for instance we can't get the Knorr rice packets in the UK, or mac and cheese, instant rice etc. Even Nido milk powder is hard to find (but we have Marvel which is almost just as good, just skimmed) Actually it seems those kind (the dehydrated ones rather than microwaveable heavy ones) are getting rare here - when I see dehydrated rissoto - one of my staples - as a special in ALDI I buy loads. We can get some packet rice or pasta or Pot Noodles here but usually has stuff I ca't eat in it - I am gluten intolerant which makes all these meals a lot harder, and I have to take a lot of GF stuff with me, or as I have been doing now, making and dehydrating my own meals. Also my own jerky - and mushrooms - you can dehydrate mushrooms or more expensively get those porcini packets - and then throw them into meals, or made a mushroom powder to add to anything by blending some in a coffee grinder! My advice re: pasta is carry olive oil - which can also double up as for risotto or even a butter replacement if you use extra virgin - even as cooking oil, although extra virgin isn't great for that, it will work. I use it in sandwiches cos otherwise they are a bit dry. And also doesn't go off, unlike butter (even with UK's fabled bad weather, cheese and butter goes off really fast in the summer). And also carry some parmesan shavings, or hard cheese powder....the latter lasts ages, parmesan doesn't really go off, it can go dry or maybe mouldy if very damp, but it's pretty stable especially grated. It makes really bland pasta and risotto amazing! Those hard cheese powder packets taste foul if you eat it directly, like wood shavings, but if you mix it in with olive oil, it's really nice. Dol Mio in the UK do these small plastic tubs of pasta sauce - no heavy bottles - those are great. Also beef/bacon/meat jerky is great for cooking - add it at the start of your pasta if you're cooking from scratch, or I guess pre-soak it...and it adds extra flavour, even to pre-made stuff. Seconded about taking spices - I did that at first and didn't use them, so narrowed it down to salt and pepper, and use those a lot.

nuts hit my stomach real hard i dont ear them

Don't remember prices like that...

Ramen has close to four hundred calories per package.

Add a pouch of vacuum-sealed chicken or other protein to either Knorr or Ramen to kick them up a notch. Makes for a tasty, filling meal.

I really do love those Near East brand couscous mixes. They offer a lot of good flavors, the downside is that particularly windy days can blow tge couscous right off your spoon!

Chili mac!!!!

You can buy dehydrated veggies in bulk to meal prep a bunch of Pad Tai for even cheaper. Skip the plastic bowls.

These are all grain or simple carb sides, not actually "dinner ideas."

Good food for the trail. Take care.

The problem with the Knorr bags is the bags are NOT waterproof. I find they leak when I add hot water so I bring a silicon bag. I can put the knorr meal and the instructions only in the silicon bag to reduce weight and waste. Plus, I can add whatever I want to the knorr-in-my-silicon-bag.

Lots of stuff can be made at home for penny on the head . Made BBQ rice ,gravy hamburger rice and noodles. Wild rice and meat with sauce. chili mac your own instant rice chicken beef whatever you can cook on your stove and keep low-fat or no-fat you can dry it out. Made dry spaghetti several different dishes. A simple rummage sale $3 dehydrator is your best friend. Just remember no fat no oil it will store for years. Did dear meat 3 years plus ago is still good now as it was the day I put in the jar.

My favorite home dried meal is seven layer casserole. Lots of recipes on line. Its very filling and satisfyingly edible.

1/2 package Idahoan taters,dehydrated mixed veggies, I pack Sunkist chicken 1/2 pack chicken gravy. And blackpepper. Mmmm good

Excellent post with clever ideas, matched with great comments...am looking for low sodium ideas since we're more campers and not hikers or backpackers...as a kid Our Mum used to make "Hobo Stew" on the campfire: diced potatoes & carrots, uncooked rice, ground beef and some cans of vegetable beef soup with a bunch of water. Yummy!

Instead of Knorrs rice sides get the kind that's already cooked in the pouch.

Couple of hints that work for me: powdered milk (skim or preferably whole) to add to your dishes or drinks; dried mixed veggies (to keep you regular) and add variety to your dinners.

I hope you take a multi vitamin.

Hi, I take anything with carbs (pasta, ramen, couscous etc) and then make a liquid to hydrate it in that contains peanut butter and lentils. It costs nothing but is a fantastic flavoured boost and weight / calories trade off.

I had all of these on my '19 PCT thru. Rice sides mostly.

Know way I'm eating mnt house for breakfast and lunch , to much $ for me unless I really really need to save weight in bag

Back country satay, soy sauce flavoured ramen, peanut butter, coconut milk powder and a hot sauce sachet, for extra crunch add salted peanuts and for extra protein add a pouch of cooked chicken

Get Mac Yourself cheddar cheese sauce mix. Add to couscous, instant grits or potatoes. Cheese it up.

So, all carbs. lol

Subscribed!!! Stumbled across your channel. Glad I did!!

Powdered butter and milk make the creamiest Mac and cheese! Powdered butter added to the knor is also super good 👍

For breakfast I love dehydrated apple and instant oat meal with sugar and cinnamon