Backpacking Meals I Buy at the Grocery Store 

Precooked sausage is like a backpacking cheat code. Makes planning food so easy and it’s super dense protein and calories

Parm cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, Ramen noodles. easy af and better than Ramen seasoning. creamy and cheesy.

I crunch up some Ramen into tiny pieces, but instead of using seasoning packet, I put in 1/2 packet of Pioneer Country Gravy and 1 cup boiling water. Taste just like biscuits and gravy.

I found your video through a youtube ad. Now i want to go backpacking even though i know nothing about it

If you want to avoid the "questionable" part of the instant oatmeal packets, use regular oatmeal and run it through the food processor or blender to make it finer and package it yourself. It will cook up as fast as the instant packets without the "additives"

two of my favorites instant rice mixed with tuna and cup of soup, and Jello Pudding put it in a qt ziploc with enough powdered milk to make the pudding when you get to camp just add cool water close the bag and squeeze mix.

I have a dehydrator, so I make my own beef jerky or salmon jerky. I also dehydrate veggies from the garden. Then I buy Knorr's Sidekicks (or something similar) and add the jerky and the dehydrated veggies to the mix. That's just a couple of dollars for a Sidekick and it makes a complete dinner. Sometimes I add a bit of powdered milk to make it creamier. I never buy backpacking meals, I just bring stuff from the garden or the grocery store.

Eggs keep a couple of days, an onion can be used for a long time, small potatoes baker in foil bake well in a campfire, 1/2 a head of cabbage keeps a long time. Buy a small home dehydrator for tasty powered eggs. Spaghetti and the dried spaghetti sauce packets. A small cucumber for a few days or some pickles in a sip-lock. Hog dogs can be frozen ahead of time and wienie roasted over a camp fire. Small pepperoni stick. Once you get the hang of it, everything you need is a supermarket. Much of just needs to be re-packaged.

I take dried vegetables, dried forest mushrooms, chorizo, noodles, and sometimes quick-cook rice, some bouillon as stock, weighs hardly anything and doesn't take up much space in my pack, will sometimes take dried fish and biltong too, both are delicious sliced and added to rice and noodles.

Thank you! Another option that I have not seen in the comments would be to purchase a food dehydrator to bring your own dehydrated meals from home. Steel-cut oats will cook in twenty minutes and better for you than quicker-cooking oats. As for meats and cheeses, cured meats (salami, chorizo, saucisson sec), they were created for preserving meats prior to the advent of refrigeration. Just slice off the exposed end each time as everything beneath will be safer to eat. Lastly, hard, aged cheeses should be fine unrefrigerated for a few days, even in hot climates.

I have used a food dryer for 50 years. Great way to make a cheap meal at home and package for the trail.. I have grass fed fully cooked beef Polish sausage in my food dryer as I type. The reduced moisture increase the trail life of the meat. The drier the meat the longer it will keep. If you have an Asian market near you take advantage of the foods available that don't require refrigeration and require little fuel to prepare. Indian Paneer cheese is a no melt cheese Costco also carries it. I cut it into cubes and fry the cubes at home to throw into your tail meal. High in fat, protein and calcium. I have long used recipes from the pioneer days of dried ingredients. If you have been to Nebraska you have had a Runza. They are ground meat and Sauer Kraut inside baked bread dough. Lots of info on RU-vid. Make them large or small at home. Fill your pockets with the small sized ones and eat as you hike, bike or canoe. Your near by Dali will have fully cured sausage that is hard and needs a sharp knife to cut, lasts for ever. Hunters sausage is a good trail food used by hunters for hundreds of years, they are about the size of a hotdog, but in a class by their own.

Scout mom here… and by no means am I as good of a chef as our Scoutmaster, but last thru hike I did, I used dehydrated potatoes, a little red pepper, a butter packet I had from one of those meal services (those are fantastic for taking small sizes on seasoning and sauces like sriracha, red paste, Chulola, soy sauce, etc…), some torn up teriyaki beef jerky I got from Costco (did you know that when beef jerky is rehydrated in a little hot water it’s all meaty juicy again?), and some dehydrated veggies I got in bulk at the local store. Was the perfectly satisfying meal.

I’m hooked on the Knorr lineup of pastas and rice, the ones that come in the foil lined bags for a buck apiece. Jetboil up some water, pour it in and fold the top and wait 3 minutes and voila, a meal right out of the bag. I’m taking sriracha and sausage next year! (My stomach just growled...)

Get a larger size bag of corn chips, split down the front, pour in chili, add cheese if desired, bamm.. quick meal, you don't need to dirty a bowl

Some great Ideas here thanks. I like to freeze steak or chicken and even the sausages you have there then I wrap in foil and put in a zip lock and after a day of hiking I will open one and add it to my meal. Thanks for sharing.

Appreciate this vid, reminds me how practical and easy diy meals can be. I've gotten in to easy diy dehydrated meals over the years, especially when shipping resupply packages. Bought a bag of dehydrated chicken , cheese, and veggies from PackItGourment (I'm sure there are similar suppliers) then made up several different types of meals. Different bases of instant potatoes, couscous, or Ramen, then add in the dehydrated mix and season to taste.

We have found that Alpine Aire to be the best dedicated backpacking meals, Idaho potatoes and Lipton Sidekicks to be the best Supermarket offerings..of course the Chunky Soups are always a great stand by...and they have enough heft to do some damage on the forehead of a Yogi..if the need arises.

Thanks for this - I feel way more confident about bringing precooked sausages next trip! My versatile favorite is coconut powder - I add it to oatmeal for breakfast and to curry powder with noodles for dinner. I’m lucky that my local grocery has a huge bulk food section, so I get a lot of dried ingredients (dried green onions & mushrooms are ⚡️) that I can mix & match with basics like ramen & macNcheese.

This was great! Not just all the same old things.

Great video! My number one go to breakfast is Kodiak oatmeal with a scoop of vanilla protein powder and a few chunks of dried fruit. I cold soak and this meal never feels like I am missing out on a warm breakfast. The protein powder really gives me that nutrition boost as well as a great mouth feel like home cooked creamy oatmeal.

I like you have backup nutrition. Never know where you may get trapped or delayed.

Great ideas. Ditching packaging is essential. Nice job.

I like packing mayo packets, adding them to the tuna packs and making a tuna wrap with a tortilla

Hello 👋 Eric, thank you for sharing the backpacking meal tips. I really appreciate it. All the best to you. Stay safe out there. 🤗

Trader Joe's turkey jerky is the lightest, best tasting meat ever. It's tender and can be eaten alone or dropped into a heated meal. Also, a huge bag of crumbled, cooked bacon is $10 at Costco and adds great flavor. Just take a few baggies.

Great ideas! This food selection is a lot more appealing to me than the dehydrated meals/snacks in the other video you made. Except for Beef Jerky, can’t go without that! Lol

Absolute Best Option for backpacking food. Invest in a dehydrator. You can find a used one at second hand stores or purchase one new. You do not need to spend a lot of money on one. Brand new Food dehydrators cost anywhere from $40 on up. A food dehydrator allows you to customize your meals to your taste and dietary needs. From full blown (Mtn. House) style meals, to dehydrated fruits, leathers, & even Beef Jerkey (NITRATE FREE). It is very cost effective compared to buying freeze dried prepacked meals and snacks.

The sausages are a great idea. I love you videos and your shows. Epic to be outside!

Pre-cooked bacon and freeze dried hashbrowns are some of my absolute favs on the trail

Bear creek has terrific soups for one. Ditched the Lipton . Thanks for sharing this video! Trail on!

You might like some of the ramyun you can get at Korean markets (or online) like NongShim Shin or Chappagetti noodles. They are as simple to prep as Top Ramen but are actually good, with a variety of flavors (miso, spicy, etc) and bigger portions. They have different flavor packets and dehydrated veggies included. I like to drop an egg and some other frozen veggies for a spicy soup when I am too wiped to cook a meal. You can get them for 1-3$ per packet.

The bear creek stuff is really good. I like their potato soup as well. Some cheese and bacon bits and you've got loaded baked potato soup. Great ideas for grocery store meals. Very informative and entertaining channel!

Thanks for clarifying about using pre-cooked sausage in the heat. I've seen pre-cooked sausage mentioned on other RU-vid videos, but I wasn't sure how they would do without refrigeration and it wasn't discussed in the video. Sounds like one or two nights should be fine. I'm brand new and still working out my "meal plan". The one thing I found for car camping that I like to add to oatmeal, but you could also put it in Pad Thai is the powdered peanut butter. Found it at Walmart. :)

Beef and deer sticks will hold for a week or more after opening. They will slice up nicely into whatever you're making for dinner.

If you freeze the sausages before you leave then keep it cold in your sleeping bag they stay cool longer .

Knorr sides are also a great addition to backpacking!

two of those quaker oaks packets with a palm ful each of chopped nuts and chopped dried fruit and a bit of brown sugar along with something hot to drinks really makes a nice breakfast for me. I'm pretty hearty my pain threshold is really high - if I had something left over from dinner, it'd get scarfed before bfast the next morning too.

Thank you for the video!

Knorr noodles make a great soup too!

For protein, I’m a fan of the turkey spam. I dry it in oven over night at lowest setting. Break that up into any of the meals you showed and would add the Cajun sausage too. Enjoyed the video, you introduced me to at least 1 new thing I am hoping to try. Thank you!

I've been doing a mint chocolate Clif bar with peanut butter on it for dessert. Perfection.

Fist you need to count calories how much you body need for those hiking/camping days. You can prepare meal at home but consider what gives your right amount of colories and what is good for you. I like to think less of cooking in wilderness and less Cary of half of the kitchen but enjoy nature, so i go for dehydrate meal or my own made dehydrated meals with dry fruits/ trail snacks.

dehydrating your own meals is the way to go. once you familiarize yourself with creating boil and serve meals, you can simply make an extra serving or two every time you cook and add it to your dehydrator. thanks for the info mon.

I like instant rice, Idahoan instant potatoes, and Stove Top instant dressing. I also crush up, to a fine powder, Pringles chips and add some to instant noodles or cup-a-soup.

Cans of sardines. Quality protein that keeps forever and an empty can only weighs 17g (full can 142g). Super cheap!

I like sardines in evoo, great trail snack

All you need is some time to explore , A imagination and basic understanding of meals/ food. Think of you exploration as shopping for backpacking meals from the grocery store. Using the dehydrated , condensed and convenient foods from the grocery. If you like to eat you have the understanding of the food so kick your imagination into gear. Don't know where to start , check out freezer bag cooking. Think of them as home made prepackaged meals. Like combining Stove top stuffing , a foil pack of Sweet Sue chicken chunks and a pack of McCormick dehydrated chicken gravy. When combined a Chicken , stuffing , gravy meal or what I call Chicken Hash. One zip lock with the stuffing and the two packs , chicken and the dehydrated gravy. In camp combine everything in the one bag , add the proper amount of hot water , mix , set aside for 10 minutes and then eat. Cleaning up is licking the spoon and putting the zip lock in the garbage.

A well dried, hard like a rock, sausage that is vacuum sealed can last few days easily. Making something that looks like a soup is awesome.

Those flavored tunas are amazing!! Lemon pepper and Buffalo are my favs 🍴🍴🍴

The bear creek has a lot of other awesome products too, a great find thank you!

Good food choices! Gorp!

Food from a grocery store?!? Madness!

On trips that aren't too hot, I pre-cook steak.with peppers, onions, garlic, zucchini, etc. and freeze it the night before. It thaws out by dinnertime on Day 1 and I reheat it with a little olive oil and it is a gourmet feast. I also freeze scrambled eggs and use leftover steak and peppers for breakfast the next morning. I've used those loaded potato soup mixes with hard sausage. I also love pink salmon in a pouch...a step up from tuna. Last, I pre-cook a baked potato or baked sweet potato and warm it up in my campfire. I carry a blend of spices along with my salt for added flavor too. Good job on the video...

Useful video, thank you.

Really helpful information, thanks!

Stove top stuffing, pkg chicken, dry gravy mix from the grocery. $4 = 2 meals

Spam Singles and flavor packets/liquids for a bit of sugar and flavor for your water

thanks loved the vid keep up the good work

Thank you 😊

Tortillas, pkg tuna or chicken, fast food pks mayo & relish, can of Pringles. $4= 2meals

thank you for your educational videos!

Was waiting for this video, great content as always

Dirty Ramen for Two: Ingredients: 2 or 3 ramen noodles squares (leave home the little packets), 2 or 3 miso packs, jerky of some kind ripped up, hard cheese, pizza pepper/cheese packets, possibly 1 or 1/2 bouillon cube, dried mushrooms, and any extra spices you prefer. Cooking: boil water with jerky pieces and mushroom in water, add the miso and cube when close to boil, crush up and add the ramen noodles, continue to boil, mix, and stir til noodles ready, add extra spices and crumbled cheese when serving.

Because of bears (Alaska)I eat almonds (tons of fat and nutrients) and dry past with a foil stove and fuel solids and a small pot. I also have freeze dried vegan chili. And tuna packets. I carry small trash bags and a smell proof trash bin.

I saw another guy throw muscle milk in with his oatmeal. I thought that was a great idea. I love all your guys videos. Thanks for the info. Mt. Hood here I come. 💪🏽💪🏽

I'm sitting here trying to make a list and do some research on backpacking gear because I really want to get into it this spring/summer. I haven't even thought about food other than basic dehydrated/MRE types... Not only did this make me hungry, it made me realize I'm gonna have to pick up a bigger bag lol. Really informative video though, thank you. I subscribed and EVEN TURNED ON NOTIFICATIONS. I never do that.

pace ready meals!

What about having mashed potatoes that make a good one pot meal, or you could add stuffing and perhaps canned chicken or turkey to make a bigger meal.

There are so many old time foods that are easy to make. Instead of messing with eggs on a trip . Make your own noddle and add extra eggs to the mixture. That is how people stored eggs long term before refrigeration. Homemade noddle's cook up within a few minutes. another fuel saver is using cus cus it come in fine, medium and large. Bring water to a boil throw in the cus cus take the pot off the stove and with minutes it is ready. Open a package of flavored tuna and place on top the cus cus and you have supper. I always try to have one piece of fresh fruit or vegetable in supper meal. It might be a slice of onion, an apple, etc ,. Something new in just that last few months are squeeze tubes of herbs, garlic, roasted garlic. Adds a lot of tasty fresh flavor. For desert pull out a coupled of figs or a fig bar or two or three dates. Pour hot water into your cup and add a powered instant Latte or Ginger honey drink. Very little clean up if you make a quart pot of hot water for the meal, the drink and cleanup.

Spam! My favorite but it does get expensive when purchasing the SPAM Singles. Worth it if you like it

For those that aren't into Tuna you can also get different flavors of chicken in those individual one-serving packages. A few things that I am a fan of are instant mashed potatoes as a side or drop some hot dogs or sausages into for a 1 pot meal. I also almost always take a pack of slim jims for a quick snack while traveling. You could to the same with individually wrapped string cheese. (I have found that I don't care for the cheese that comes in the combo packs with the beef sticks so I supplement the slim jims with string cheese) And of course I always have at least 2 packs of the cheap ramen. It's one of my horrible guilty pleasures. I have found that some of the more expensive import ramen, ~$3 a pack, is actually really good Especially "Paldo Lee Yeonbok Jjajang Myun". And still less than half the price of a Mountain House meal.

Great video 💪🏽🇺🇸

Try Knoors sides like Alfredo. They are only $1.00 and you get at least two meals from each pouch. Just add butter and dehydrated milk. Delicious! .

Thicken up the chilli with a box of mc & cheese then it goes really nicely on the flour tortillas

Lunch on the Run is a good meal for backpacking and you don't need to cook anything.

Outstanding video.

I buy a sack of freeze dried refried beans. Mine come from Gordon’s Food Service (GFS) outlets. Other food outlets would have them, or maybe Gordons would do business on line? They are fully cooked, and ready for rehydrating in steam table trays. I pulverize them in a food processor for faster rehydration in camp, and pack serving sized meals (about 1/4 cup of dried beans) in a sandwich sized Ziploc bag, along with some powdered garlic and powdered cumin. In camp add about 1/3-1/2 cup hot water, and maybe minced fresh onion. Spread onto a tortilla. JARVIS good eatin! A handy plate is a plastic frisbee. And a package of tortillas can be carried inside of it. After supper, you have a toy to play with. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying

Thank you for saving me from falling for freeze dried meals. I am not paying those prices lol

Quaker out meal with a hand full of trail mix!

I like to buy freeze dried or dehydrated vegetables. It's really nice way to get veggies in your food. Like for example in case of tacos, just rehydrate some corn and bell pepper. Overall freeze dried vegetables are actually not that expensive. Just look it up on Amazon. You can actually craft amazing custom foods that are not necessarily too expensive by buying individual items from internet. Freeze dried meat costs a ton so I wouldn't buy that though. You can just use any other shelf stable protein.

Has anyone been able to cook the Bear Creek Darn Good Chili by simply adding hot water and letting sit for 10-15 minutes like you would a backpacking meal? We are a family of four and so we don't do pot cooking simply because our pot isn't big enough to make four meals at once and the last thing I want to do is do two rounds of cooking. Same question for boxed mac and cheese. Our family loves RX bars, they don't melt and get extra messy. We tried Bob Red Mill's muesli mixed with dried mango, conconut and almonds, added powdered milk and cold water and that's a great breakfast. You can mix in a bowl or directly add the water to the freezer bag for less cleanup. Another meal that was a hit was thanksgiving on the trail. Each serving gets 3/4 cup stuffing, 1/2 a 4oz bag of instant potatoes, 1/2 to 1/4 cup dehydrated veggies, 2tsp chicken gravy and half a pouch of chicken. Add approx 1.5 cups boiling water, stir and massage. Allow to sit 10 minutes.

very useful, THANK YOU!!!!

Preecooked polenta, canned tuna and parmesan cheese all the way

G7 Coffees! A must have on the trail! I prefer the stronger 3 in 1.

My biggest regret from my last trip was eating anything besides beef jerky

It has never occured to me until now since I like the chili too, but it is such a pain to clean up with limited water. Do you think it would be ok to heat it up by boiling it in the pouch and eating it out of it?

so are you cooking the sausages in some way or just eating them out of the package? going to the north cascades in a week a would love to bring a package or two of these instead of another dehydrated meal. weather seems like it will be cooler than its been recently..

Great! Quaker oats have too much junk IMO. Premix my own; rolled oats, milk powder, raisins, nuts, anything else. Also; instant coffee! Delicious cappuccino oatmeal😋

Do you freeze the sausages before going on your trip? Then they will be thawed by the time you need to use them?

I love Annie's mac n'cheese! I'm curious, by what do you substitute the 1/2 cup milk for the sauce? Milk powder?

Perhaps you should freeze the Adell's Sausage ahead of time in the summer. I prefer to have them frozen before heating, otherwise, for me, they taste dry.

What vegetables do you bring along? Are there dehydrated or foil packed greens? I might suggest fresh carrots as they don't require refrigeration; are crunchy and sweet; can be cooked in boiling water or with ramen noodles. Similar root vegetables offer carbohydrates and nutritious minerals.

I am a peanut butter fanboy. I put it on pancakes instead of syrup at home. Tuna pouches are great. I like your note on trash. In my experience i always packed too heavy and had items i never ate but thought id eat them on the trail. I was usually so tired i wanted something fast cause sleep was coming nomatter what. A good hot meal is that..... hot mac and cheese with some sausage would be 5 stars. Cause imma sleep till 3 am solid and i gotta pee. Somehow that craft mac and cheese keeps you 15degrees warmer(:

Dry sausage and dried shrimp for protein.

focus.....................................................

Just tried bear creek tater soup.. I'm not a fan of soup.. I..freaking love it! 8 meals? The Hekking yeah!

Your delicious grocery list would kill my heartburn and indigestion every night 😆

Minute Rice, Capellini, Stovetop Stuffing, rice noodles all make quick cooking good starch bases to add protein and sauce to for a main meal. Getting it all into a bear cannister for a multi-day trip is an issue. Flour tortillas, wraps, that sort of thing pack well conforming against the wall of a container. Summer sausage is a good long keeping meat. It's designed to be ok unrefrigerated. A big issue I have with REI sourced food is that it's rather calorie deficient for a strenuous trip.

Freeze them before your trip.. Then you get more time with the sausage

Annie's makes a squeeze cheese version. Boil noodles. Squeeze the cheese. Ketchup packets. Mmm.