Treating yourself to a fantastic meal while exploring the great outdoors is one of the most incredible experiences someone can enjoy in life. Something about basking in nature’s plentiful bounty and fulfilling your nutritional needs can truly inspire the best in you. To that end, what are the easiest hiking recipes?
While hiking, you can make many great recipes, but the best ones are high in protein, healthy fats, and energy-rich foods.
In this article, we will dive deep into what meals make you feel right at home and give you the energy to push forward after digging in!
How Much Food Should You Bring on a Hiking Trip?
It’s easier to gauge how much food anyone should bring on a hiking trip after first defining the length of the trip and considering a few other vital factors. For instance, if it is a short two-day hiking trip, you will only need six meals and a few snacks to keep everything covered neatly.
However, suppose you intended to remain on your adventure for that same amount of time, but you had a rather lengthy hike to get to your camping spot, or it is a bit more remote than your average location. In that case, you may need to pack more to remain prepared.
The final thing to bear in mind when planning your tasty meals for the route ahead is to consider just how many other people will be accompanying you, especially if they are counting on you to provide for them (primarily thinking about children or other scenarios where you might be covering an entire group). In these situations, other “wildcards” may come into play.
Some might be as simple as basic nutritional needs due to health complications, while others might be lifestyle preferences. Someone who can’t have gluten or excessive amounts of sugar would likely appreciate low-sugar juice options or just water instead of tastier alternatives.
What Equipment Should You Pack on a Hiking Trip?
Your hiking equipment should consist of absolute necessities as far as the trip itself is concerned. Here is a quick list of some things you need that will get you started are as follows:
- A backpack to carry your assorted goods and any valuables you may need to bring
- A fanny pack for quick access to snacks
- First aid and other essentials
- A water flask
If you want to take things a step further, consider the terrain you intend to hike in and equip yourself accordingly. For example, areas where falling and scraping your elbows and knees might call for knee and elbow pads, but there are other, more niche options.
Bring a headlamp when exploring in the dark or on cave trails. In colder temperatures, clothing, thicker socks, gloves, and similar items are also required.
Finally, longer journeys might see you use trekking poles or navigation equipment like a GPS (which may even work on your phone!) to ensure you don’t get lost.
What Are the Easiest Hiking Recipes?
The easiest hiking recipes do not require much effort, skill, or time to prepare and serve on a plate. However, for those who don’t mind putting in a little elbow grease, the proof is in the pudding, as they say, or, in this case, your stomach.
Breakfast
Strategizing a solid breakfast while hiking boils down to two choices: Do you want to be incredibly complete with some extra effort, or do you want to be ready to be a trailblazer within just a few moments of waking up? Either way, these recipes will have you covered.
1. Granola With Milk and Fruit
Substituting traditional cereals with granola makes for a much healthier choice in the morning. With the variety you have at your disposal, you can make this delicious choice anything you want. You cannot go wrong with this superfood, whether you add small yogurt chunks, perhaps some chocolate chips, or even a few dabs of honey.
Couple it with a nice piece of fruit, such as an apple, orange, pear, or even a banana, and you will start your day right.
2. Scrambled Eggs & Hash Browns
One of the worst things about cooking outdoors is how difficult it is to measure and keep your ingredients in order. On top of that, you have to cook them in specific ways to guarantee they turn out correctly. To that end, scrambled eggs and hash browns strut in, wearing their finest, and offer a delicious solution for breakfast, doubly so if you want something warm to start your day.
If you are okay with going plain Jane, these two simple choices can be fast and easy. However, like everything, this dish can become genuinely spectacular with a little effort.
For instance, dicing up a tomato and some mushrooms with your eggs and mixing in some cheese will bring out your flavors. Complementing them with salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder will send your taste buds into orbit!
Assuming you are still down for a little more effort, keep those seasonings out and bring your choice of deli meats, ham chunks, bacon, or other meat. Cook those hashbrowns together, and you have a five-course meal to start your day.
3. Instant Oatmeal
Cooking isn’t everyone’s forte; it doesn’t have to be. Instant oatmeal is just as its name implies: instant, or at the very least, close enough. A little warm water and a packet of oatmeal is all it takes to start your breakfast here.
If it’s too barebones for your liking, you can take things a step further by dicing up some fruit and tossing it in or skipping that entirely for a handful or two of your favorite berries to achieve the same effect without hassle.
Lunch & Dinner
When the day drags on, most people are either looking forward to something delicious that makes them forget about the woes and throws of the day or something quick and easy so they can either get back on the trail or get an early jump on some much-needed rest after an eventful hike. Regardless of your category, we’ve got you covered with some delicious dinner choices.
4. Loaded Mac and Cheese
It’s tough to find people who don’t enjoy a nice bowl of mac and cheese. Further still, some people haven’t, at the very least, heard of it. For the handful who haven’t, mac and cheese are essentially noodles that have been boiled to perfection with your favorite melted cheese mixed in, hence the relatively straightforward name.
Now that we’ve established the premise let’s move on to the important part—that’s right, the loaded portion of the recipe. You can do this in many ways, but it essentially boils down to adding some of your favorite herbs, spices, meat, or veggies to the mac and cheese and making it the ultimate comfort food.
A great example would be getting some ground beef, diced mushrooms, bacon, and spinach (so you can say you had some greens today).
Afterward, you will mix this exquisite medley with salt, pepper, the usual suspects of onion powder and garlic powder, a little basil, and perhaps some parsley. Once that is completed, you have something that will stick to your bones and potentially put you in a food coma.
5. Creamy Pesto Pasta
As you can tell, it’s hard to go wrong with pasta, which is precisely why it appears on this list several times. We’ll spare you the agony of reading what pasta is, but pesto is a sauce made from crushed or ground onion pan-seared into a paste or a sauce, depending on how much olive oil you add, alongside other selective options.
After making your base, you can make the pesto creamy by adding some delicious cheese. Parmesan is a solid go-to, but anything that will hold well and fit your flavor needs will do.
6. Chili With Hamburger Meat & Vegetables
It’s challenging to argue with a good homemade chili outdoors, especially if temperatures plummet or morale is low. Made with enough love, tenderness, and, of course, hamburger meat, everyone will be sure to be in top spirits before heading off to bed.
If you are truly roughing it, you might be short-handed on the genuine spices, and you’ll need to give your chili some bite, but this is more or less something you can plan for.
So, if it is on the menu, just be sure to bring a small baggy of your favorite spices to flavor it to your liking. Make a base and add personal changes to your bowl so younger and older people can enjoy it as well (being considerate only takes a moment, after all).
7. Cheesy Rice & Beans
Perhaps one of the simplest meals here, but its place on the list holds strong purely because: After making yourself a nice pot of rice, add some shredded cheese of your choice (or any that is just good at melting and maintaining flavor well) and your favorite kind of beans, and there you have it—a quick-fire meal that can satisfy anyone or at the very least fill them up.
The best part about this recipe is that it, too, can be pretty generic if you don’t care how it tastes, but there is plenty of room for a chef’s experience to shine through. With the addition of different spices, veggies, or even select meats, this basic meal can also evolve into something greater.
8. Ramen With Vegetables
As noted above, simplicity has its merits, while camping and ramen with veggies is just about the equivalent of scrambled eggs and hash browns as far as effort is concerned.
All you need to do is heat some water, toss in a ramen packet, and add some fresh veggies (or frozen, assuming they are still as hard as a rock in your cooler or preferred transportation). You’ve got dinner, spices, and such that will help this be less bland, but if it’s the speed you are after, it only gets a little quicker or lazier than this.
9. Fried Rice With Mixed Vegetables and Eggs
Here, we have a perfect example of how to express yourself as a chef purely through knowledge, ingenuity, and ability to perform. Fried rice, in and of itself, isn’t entirely hard to make, especially if it’s not your first rodeo. However, acquiring a more authentic taste can be very difficult to achieve.
Assuming you’ve got the basics on how to make fried rice, adding a dash of sesame oil and soy sauce will allow your fried rice to stand apart from most people’s, as astonishing as that might sound. Obviously, season it to your liking and cater the veggies to what you want (and what the kids will eat), and you’ll have everything ready.
It’s worth noting that not everyone wants eggs with their fried rice, and to that end, you might be wise to cook them separately. Of course, this will detract from the taste of the meal for everyone who can eat it normally.
Desert
Nothing beats closing your night and a pleasant meal, like an excellent mouth-watering dessert. Something about finishing your day with a sweet treat just makes your bed a little softer and your pillow a little more comfortable, so here are some of the best desserts to finish your day.
10. S’Mores
A true outdoor classic and fun for the whole family, some might say, if not a little bit messy, getting some skewers (or sticks for country folk), thrusting a few marshmallows through, heating them, and smashing them between graham crackers with a bit of chocolate in between makes for an immaculate way to end the day.
11. No Cook Banana Split Sunday
It isn’t easy to make this one happen without having a good cooler or ice box handy. Still, it’s essentially just one or two scoops of ice cream with a banana around it, drizzled in chocolate (assuming you can have it), some sprinkles, and a cherry if you are feeling fancy.
The no-cook part can come into play if you make these terrible boys before hiking and toss them into small ziplock baggies. This will give you easy access to them and allow dessert to be instant.
12. Jelly Doughboys
Making proper jelly doughboys while hiking can prove tedious, perhaps even not worth it because of the gear and preparation needed to attempt it, but assuming you manage to expertly pack some jelly into a piece of dough and then fry it, coating the entire thing in sugar or cinnamon afterward makes for a sweet treat everyone can appreciate.
Alternatively, you can cheat and bring some donuts along for roughly the same experience; heating them over the fire allows you to push it towards an almost s’mores-tier snack kind of, but the hassle of finding something to facilitate this would probably just cause you to either lean towards s’mores or donuts alone though.
What Is the Best Food to Take Hiking?
The best food to take hiking is technically a solid trail mix, as it will hit all of your major food groups (especially if you get one with dried fruits and nuts). Not only this, but trail mix can fill you up at any time during the day, potentially without ever stopping. Get a handful, pop them in, and keep moving.
Trail mix will also usually last a very long time. It’s easy to store, and as long as it’s made with things you enjoy, you’ll be getting your nutritional needs and savoring the great tastes.
What Is the Best Instant Food for Hiking?
The best instant foods for hiking are oatmeal in the morning and ramen for the afternoons and dinner, but you’ll need something to spice them up flavor-wise and nutrient-wise to keep yourself going strong instead of just “eating food.”
What Is a Good Breakfast for Lightweight Hiking?
Bringing a granola bar or two and a banana can be just the lightweight breakfast you need to kickstart your day and hit the ground running within just a few moments of waking up. They are both incredibly easy to unwrap, eat, and dispose of, making clean-up a breeze as well.
What Not to Eat Before Hiking?
To be at peak physical performance before hiking, it’s best to avoid eating foods that won’t sit well with intense activity, heat, or movement. For example, starting your day drinking milk when you know temperatures are going to be incredibly high might cause the milk to curdle in your stomach, giving you horrific stomach pains or worse.
Other options include eating incredibly greasy foods before waking up or heading out, as the grease won’t sit well and may cause you to get sick. If things get horrible enough, this can ruin your day, your experience, or even your pants, so play it safe and eat something a bit healthier.
Final Thoughts
Picking the absolute best foods to take with you on a hike truly boils down to your personality and whether you value your time or the flavor of your food more. Find out what kind of person you are and pack accordingly!
