Food for a Ten Day / Three Person Backcountry Trip: BWCA 2018

I still love everything about canoe tripping, even the preparations. Finding lightweight foods safe to carry without refrigeration that fit the blue barrel and satisfy the divergent palates of the entire family poses a fun challenge. This year I've planned meals for three people for our family's 10 day canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). 

Dehydrating Meats, Veggies, and Easy Entrees for Outdoor Adventures

Want to cut back on weight in your pack while increasing the nutrition and protein in your trail meals over that of store bought freeze dried foods? Dehydrating your own foods at home can be the solution you are looking for. In this post I'll provide you a list of tips for success and three videos on how to dehydrate meats, veggies, sauces and entrees for the trail. Once you understand the system, you can put together many of your own great meals for outdoor adventures!

Nine Day Backcountry Menu Plan for our Family of Three

I love everything about canoe tripping, even the preparations. Finding lightweight foods safe to carry without refrigeration that fit the blue barrel and satisfy the divergent palates of the entire family poses a fun challenge. This year I've planned 8 cooked dinners, 4 cooked breakfasts, and additional breakfast and lunch items for eating on the go.

BOUNDARY WATERS 2016 BACKCOUNTRY MENU PLAN & FOOD PREP LIST

Warm, delicious meals around the campfire after a rainy day of paddling and portaging make the trip. Nothing feels better than sharing a well earned meal with the one’s you love while reliving the day and making memories.  On our trips, traditional family favorites like beef stroganoff and chili nourish the heart and fuel the body, while new treats add fun. Let’s gather around the food barrel, and find out what’s for dinner.

Preparing Dehydrated Foods for Next Summer's Wilderness Adventures

Cold winds howl. The urge to hunker down at home and keep warm strikes. What do you do? Enjoy a nice warm pot of of chili, spaghetti, beef stew, or beef stroganoff and dehydrate the left-overs for your next wilderness adventure. Lightweight, well-preserved, home cooked foods for your back-country adventures prove far more satisfying, contain more protein, and taste far less salty than the prepacked options.

2015 Boundary Waters Backcountry Menu Plan

Fire up the dehydrator Honey, we're going for a paddle! Nothing tops delicious, home-cooked meals in the outdoors. My biggest trip preparations these days revolve around camp eats. Demands include compact, lightweight, temperature resistant foods. Adding to the challenge, my husband likes spicy foods. He also needs protein. Our daughter still loves sweet, carby foods. I don’t eat sweets and prefer not to eat too many carbs. Given palates and constraints, for our August 2015 Boundary Waters Canoe Area trip, I planned and prepped our Boundary Waters menu.

Smoky Mountains 2015 Backpacking Menu & Food Prep List

One of the most important parts of a backpacking trip take place before the actual trip. We're talking food prep and menu planning. To prepare for our 4-day, 3-night trip in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, I packed enough food for a week, or so it felt. My prediction, we'll eat all the snacks and breakfast food, but a number of the dry meals will be left untouched. It's just not convenient to fire up the camp stove in the middle of a hike. Especially if it's too hot, too rainy, or there's just not a good spot alongside the trail to throw down and do some cooking.

Inexpensive Lightweight Fruits and Vegetables for Backpacking, Hiking, and Paddling

Food options just keep getting better for hikers and paddlers. When I started backpacking, affordable light-weight fruits and veggies were unavailable. The best I could do were raisins and "dried" apricots along with sneaking in a fresh apple. I am delighted to report stumbling upon a great source of lightweight, low cost fruits and vegetables. Target now carries Simply Balanced™ freeze-dried fruits and vegetables for a lower price than the freeze-dried fruits and vegetables available at outdoor sporting goods stores.

LÄRABAR

Trying to give up sweeteners and missing your granola bars? For me, foregoing granola bars on hiking and canoe trips turned out to be one of the toughest things about giving up sweeteners (sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners). Many of the "healthful" granola  bars and all of my former favorites contain sweeteners. 

Tips for Getting Your Protein on Hiking, Backpacking, and Paddling Expeditions Using Inexpensive Grocery Store Foods

Protein is important on long distance hiking and paddling trips. Without adequate protein we fatigue, our muscles repair more slowly, and our immune systems weaken. Meats, dairy, beans, and nuts provide protein. Fresh meat and milk, heavy and perishable, don't work for back country adventures. Compact, lightweight, nonperishable foods fit the bill.

How to Get Your Veggies on Backpacking and Paddling Adventures

For some hikers and paddlers, veggies are not a consideration. They burn mega-calories on long distance hikes and paddles. They require calorie dense foods, high in fats, proteins, and sugars, for fueling extreme adventures. But some of us have other nutritional objectives, or even concerns about keeping the plumbing moving. This can be especially important when camping with kids.

How to Gear up Your Camp Kitchen – Boundary Waters Trip, 2014

MSR stove.

Back country cooking requires lightweight, compact kitchen gear. Canoe campers can tolerate a few more luxuries than backpackers, but every ounce must be portaged between lakes. With this in mind, we packed for our family's 2014 Boundary Waters Trip.

Easy Backpacking Recipes – Boundary Waters, August 2014

As promised on the post containing our Boundary Waters 2014 Menu and Food Prep List, the trip recipes are presented here.

Boundary Waters 2014 Menu & Food Prep List

Dehydrated green beans.

Backcountry Eats - Tips for Eleven Easy, Lightweight, and Inexpensive Prepackaged Foods from the Grocery Store for Backpacking and Paddling Expeditions



Mama's family loves camp eats!

Recently a friend looked at me incredulously, and asked, "What do you eat when you're in the wilderness for a week?" After I ran down my list of go-to pack foods, he made a confession. When he does weekend kayak trips with his buddies, they fast 2 ½ days at a time to avoid carrying food. Really?