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Recipe quick jumps:   Dinner  Breakfast  Desserts

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There are two basic meal planning strategies that canoe and backpackers typically use. You can plan your meals to the last detail prior to heading out from home taking only the items needed, or take basic ingredients for many meals and make your plans during your trip. For a short or 1 overnight trip, full pre-planning is the way to go. For longer trips you may consider taking a variety of ingredients. All of the fancy pre-packaged dehydrated foods sold at the outdoor retailers have two things in common. They're all expensive and they all taste bad. There are many foods sold at the grocery store that are excellent for camping trips. The best backpacking foods are light weight, packable (a.k.a. crushable), easy to prepare, and require little cleanup. Listed below are several poplar backpacking meals, many donated by club members.

A day spent carrying a heavy backpack several miles over varied terrain is not a day to diet. "Bonking" is what Tour de France riders call running out of energy, and this is not the condition you want to find yourself in case your day out turns bad. The old boy scout motto applies here: "Be Prepared". Count on burning twice the calories you would consume on a normal day back home. GORP (good ol raisins and peanuts) is the traditional backpacker snack food of choice, and for good reason. GORP can provide more than 160 calories per oz of packable weight. Making it up yourself back home is always better (and less expensive) than store bought. Mix equal parts low salt dry roasted peanuts with plain raisins. Many people like to also mix in plain M&M candy, Reces pieces, or dried fruit. A couple fist fulls of GORP is rocket fuel to a tired hiker. Here Carbs are good. Just don't over do it. GORP is also addictive. Take several small zip-lock bags of it instead of one large bag to help keep track of how much you eat.

GORP (see text), Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bars, Fig Newton cookies, Granola Bars (ever try home made?), Beef jerky, Dehydrated fruit

Quaker instant Oatmeal (I like the kind with the riddles on the package), Kellogg's Pop-Tarts

Summer sausage & crackers w/ Guda or Edam Cheese (comes in hockey puck sized red wax), powdered soup mix, beef jerky, canned ham/chicken/tuna (down side is packing out the empty cans-drain well first)

Lipton Noodles & sauce (mix in canned chicken for great meal- serve w/pita bread), Instant minestrone soup (mix in ham chunks or summer sausage), Make stew or chili at home & freeze solid in Ziploc bag. Eat 1st night out.

Tea bags (great anytime on cool days), Hot chocolate packs, Coffee (Harry doesn't travel w/o his one cup french press), Salt & Pepper, Parmesan cheese, sugar, olive oil, Bisquick mix, powdered milk, powdered drink mix (Crystal Light, Gatorade), Pita Bread, butter buds, Mrs. Dash garlic & herb

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Dinner Recipes:

 

1 10oz can Roast Beef
8 Small Flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups Instant Rice
1 1/2 cup water, plus more if needed
1 Zucchini cut into small strips
1 sliced Onion
1 Green Pepper cut into small strips
1 to 2 packages Fajita Seasoning, start with one, add more if needed.
8 packets Taco Bell Taco Sauce
Optional: dehydrated beans
Canned tomatoes and chiles (for salsa)
Oil for stir frying
1 large pan

To cook:
cut up Zucchini, Onion and Green Pepper in to small strips. (if you eat this the first night on the trail, veggies can be cut up at home)
Stir fry veggies in a small amount of oil or boil in a small amount of water, when done, add Fajita Seasoning, rice and water. Cover, bring to a boil, remove from stove, let stand until done. Add water if needed. Add meat (could be added after vegetarians are served), Serve a scoop in a tortillas
Chef - Linda Gibson

Package of Creamy Noodle Mix
Can of Hormel Bacon Bits (not Baco's)
Dehydrated green beans or carrots

At home:
Cook and dehydrate green beans, put in a heavy freezer ziplock bag
To cook:
First thing, rehydrate veggies in the baggy by pouring enough boiling water over green beans to cover it. Zip up and set aside. Prepare Noodle according to the directions, when done, add the bacon bits. To serve, dish up noodles and serve green beans on the side.
Chef - Linda Gibson

1 package instant fried rice
4oz-dried veggies (from Wild Oats or Georgetown Health food store))
canned ham or chicken
Packages of Soy Sauce, Sweet n Sour Sauce, Hot Sauce from your favorite Chinese Restaurant
oil
At home:
Put veggies in a heavy freezer ziplock bag
To cook:
First thing, rehydrate veggies in the baggy by pouring enough boiling water over to cover them. Zip up and set aside. Prepare rice according to the directions, when done, add the veggies and meat.
Serve Fortune cookies for desert.
Chef - Linda Gibson

3 cups Small Pasta shells
2 cups Dried Tomatoes (cut in half)
2 Tbsp Powdered Shortening
3 tsp Dried Basil
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 pkg Mrs. Grass Onion Soup mix
1 pkg Uncle Ben's Cream of Mushroom Soup mix
At home:
Mix ingredients in zip-lock bag and tape it shut.
On the trail:
Boil 6 cups of water, add ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove from stove, cover and wait 5 minutes.
Chef - Lois Evans

3 cups water
3 servings dry mushroom soup mix
1 can turkey (5 oz)
1 pkg Ramen oriental noodles
On the trail:
Mix water and soup mix until smooth. Add turkey and noodles. (Don’t use the sauce mix from the Ramen package. You can leave that at home.) Cook 2 minutes and serve.

1 green pepper
1 cup instant brown or white rice
12 sun dried tomatoes, cut into small pieces
teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Smoked sausage or summer sausage
2 cup water
At home - Combine all ingredients, except green pepper and sausage in to a heavy freezer Ziploc bag
To cook - Cut sausage and green peppers in to small piece
Bring 2 cup of water to a boil. Drop in green peppers, cook until almost tender. Add rice mix and sausage and return to a boil. Cover, let stand until rice is down.
Side Dish - Pita Bread with butter and Ms. Dash Garlic and Herb.

(2 containers will feed about 8 people)
Can of chicken (or precook chicken at hold, shred and freeze. Should be used the first night on the trail)
Dried veggies (from health food store, Wild Oats or Good Earth, these are expensive so you might need to up the price per meal,
instant mash potatoes
powdered milk
butter buds (optional)
gravy mix (about cup per person)
1 med pan
2 heavy freezer ziplock bags
At home - Put veggies ziplock bag
Place instant mash potatoes, powdered milk and butter buds in ziplock bag. (follow instruction on box to determine the correct amount of flacks and powdered milk per person. Mark the amount of water needed on the outside of the ziplock, including water for milk)
To cook - Add boiling water in to the ziplock bag containing the veggies, water should cover veggies.
Start the gravy, stirring to avoid burning it. When it's thick, add the chicken.
Add the correct amount of water to the ziplock bag containing the mash potato mixture. Stir with a long handle spoon.
Server potato, veggies, then top with chicken gravy. Side Dish - Bagels with butter and Ms. Dash Garlic and Herb
Chef - Linda Gibson

1 Package Near East Mediterranean Curry Couscous (very little curry flavor)
3 diced large Carrots
1 diced Onion
1 diced Zucchini
cup chopped Pecans
cup Raisins
At home - Cook and dehydrate veggies, put in a heavy freezer Ziploc bag (OR take fresh vegetables)
To cook - If you are using dehydrated veggies, first thing, rehydrate veggies in the baggy by pouring enough boiling water over them to cover it. Zip up and set aside.
If you are not using dehydrated veggies, add enough water to the bottom of pan to cook veggies. Cook veggies a little, do not over cook. In the same pan as the veggies, prepare Mediterranean Curry Couscous according to the directions, add pecans, raisins, cover and let stand for 5 minutes with NO heat.
Chef - Stan Curts

Sliced Hormel Turkey Pepperoni (no refrigeration required)
Noodles and Spaghetti sauce (hamburger helper without the hamburger can also be used)
To cook - Prepare Noodle according to the directions, when done, drain. Make sauce in the same pan.

1 10oz can chopped ham
Package of sliced potato dinner (may require powdered milk)
Dehydrated veggies from local Heath food store with butter (or butter buds)
At home - Put veggies, in a heavy freezer Ziploc bag
To cook - First thing, rehydrate veggies in the baggy by pouring enough boiling water over veggies to cover them. Zip up and set aside. Prepare Potatoes according to the directions. Add Ham. Drain water from veggies, add butter.
To serve, dish up potatoes and serve veggies on the side.

Carrots and cabbage keep fresh without refrigeration, so are great for fresh vegetables when you are camping. Purchase grated carrots and combine with a bottle of Italian dressing. Add raisins. Mix in zip lock bag.
Chef - Ellie Bachmann

Place small flour tortillas in a skillet, warm on both sides, then sprinkle shredded cheese over Tortilla, warm over low heat, fold in half, serve.
Chef - Lois Evans

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1/2 cup whole wheat couscous
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup chopped almonds

2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/8 or less teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water
At home:
Combined all dry ingredients in a heavy freezer ziplock bag
To cook:
Add 1 cup of boiling water into the baggy. Zip up and set aside for 10 minutes.
Chef - Linda Gibson

1 cup dried fruit (apples, peaches or blueberries work well)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, pinch nutmeg and clove if you have it.
1/4 cup bisquick
1 1/2 cup of water
At home:
Bag 1 tbsp of brown sugar with bisquick in a ziplock bag.
Bag remaining ingredients in another ziplock bag.
To cook:
In a large pan or skillet that has a lid, Boil 1 1/2 cup of water with fruit mixture, bring to a boil, simmer 5 minutes.
Add 1 tablespoon of water into the baggy that contains the bisquick and mix well. Cut whole in the bottom of the bag, squeeze over fruit mixture and cook for 5 minutes.

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To warm bagels, butter the bagels and brown in a skillet

1/2 cup instant rice
1/2 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup chopped dried fruit
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 or less teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water
At home
Combined all dry ingredients in a heavy ziplock bag
To cook
Add 1 cup of boiling water into the baggy. Zip up and set aside for 10 minutes.

6 eggs
1/2 lb turkey bacon (or precooked bacon or Hormel Bacon Bits)
a hunk of cheese
3 tortillas
spices
dried tomatoes
2 tsp powdered milk
a little water
3 packets of Taco Bell hot sauce
To cook
Fry bacon & set aside (near the campfire). In a bowl or pot scramble eggs, powdered milk, and little water and pour into frying pan. Add cheese (broken in small pieces), spices and tomatoes and fry until done. While eggs are frying, toast tortillas over campfire. Put eggs and bacon in tortillas and smother with hot sauce.
Chef - Lois Evans