It isn’t easy to find good ultralight backpacking food because many products are very expensive in this market. But you really don’t need to buy these high-priced products that are produced especially for backpackers. Moreover, they aren’t really delicious!
Therefore, we choosed ten ultralight backpacking foods that are not only lightweight but delicious, easy to prepare and high in calories. You can find every single product in your local supermarket! Also they are ideal for ultralight backpacking because they have more than 100 calories per ounce of weight which is great!
Let’s go!
Breakfast Pastries
Breakfast Pastries are a popular snack for breakfast among ultralight backpackers because they are easy to eat in your sleeping bag during a wonderful morning in your tent. These sugar-filled bombs are helping you to rocket you up the first trail of the day. Moreover they don’t need to be cooked or prepared.
For example, the Break Pastries by Little Debbie are fairly delicious and have a good light package. Of course, you can put the pastries in your own box or something else.
Trail Mix
Everybody knows them from parties and almost everybody loves them. Trail Mix or also called “Good Ole Raisons And Peanuts” (G.O.R.P.) is a must-have during your ultralight backpacking trip because one cup of GORP can provide as many as 650 calories which is a really good number.
A trail mix consists of nuts, dried fruit, candies, seeds, crackers and cereals. It isn’t a full meal but it’s good enough for a snack while you’re hiking! The Trail Mix of Trader Joe’s is a good choice.
Snickers, Twix and Co.
Apropos snacks! You all have seen those overdesigned and overpriced energy bars on the market. But they aren’t worth it because they don’t provide good nutrition and taste like sawdust. Therefore, if you would like to eat something like that, then you should grab some Snickers or Twix bars during your next visit to the supermarket.
A single King Size Snickers weighs less than 4 ounces and delivers more than 510 calories! This means that a cheap Snickers provides as much energy as the overpriced “energy bars”, if not even more. So it’s a must-have for your next ultralight backpacking trip
Macaroni & Cheese
Macaroni & Cheese is popular among students and also hikers. You just can’t beat the price. And it’s also easy to cook because it’s not necessary to follow the provided cooking instructions. In fact, it’s even simpler! All you need to cook trail mac is to cook a pot cozy and two cups of boiling water.
Have to admit that by itself it’s kind of tasteless so if you like you can add parmesan cheese, sausage, a nice hot sauce or olive oil. One box of macaroni and cheese with a little bit of olive oil and sausage provides a stunning 1,100 calories with a weight of just 10.5 ounces.
Olive Oil
So if you would like to eat macaroni and cheese with olive oil you logically need olive oil. Olive oil is very popular among hikers because you can combine it with so many other foods! Additionally, it has high calories and has a rich taste.
An ounce of olive oil contains about 230 calories and works great as a butter substitute in foods like potatoes, Rice and Pasta, Oatmeal, and, of course, Macaroni & Cheese.
Peanut Butter
It’s a classic ultralight backpacking food staple and is still on of the best: Peanut butter! It has a high calorie to weight ratio and provides a really good mix of fat, protein and carbs. You can eat the peanut butter itself, on bagels, crackers or tortillas.
If you would like to pack it in its own container, choose a brand that comes in a lightweight plastic jar. Plastic can’t break!
Tortillas
It’s obvious that you can’t eat only snacks during a ultralight backpacking trip. So you could think that some bread would be nice but you have to keep in mind that regular bread is not very good for ultralight backpacking trips because it’s easily squished. Bagels may be a better option but they take up a lot of volume in your ultralight backpack. So choose tortillas!
Tortillas are flat, ease to pack and really light. If you fill them with foods like peanut butter, jelly, cheese, sausage, honey and more you can create a really delicious wrap that will stave off your hunger! The best thing is that you can put literally everything in a wrap.
Flavored Drink Mixes
Of course you need something to drink during your ultralight backpacking trip. The best thing you can do is to drink a lot of water, but after a while, the taste of water gets old. Flavored Drink Mixes can solve that problem, and sports drinks are the best ones because they provide electrolytes, sugar, and salt.
Liptons Sides
Another cheap meal that is easy to prepare is Liptons Sides. These are popular among hikers because they make an excellent main course for a hungry hiker. You can also ignore the instructions here because they call for too much water and additional ingredients.
All you have to do is prepare Lipton’s sides with 1.5 cups of water, a stove and pot cozy! By adding olive oil you can achieve a really nice taste!
Instant Mashed Potatoes
Instant Mashed Potatoes are very easy to make therefore they are great because they are tasty too. It’s even not a problem if you don’t want to cook them; just add water to rehydrate. You get mashed potatoes in many different flavors which include spices, cheese and many more. A single package of average mashed potatoes that are prepared with 1 ounce olive oil provides whopping 900 calories and weighs just 7.5 ounces.
All in all, you can see that there are many food options for an ultralight backpacking trip. Of course, the list may not be the best for everybody, but my goal is to give you some ideas and inspiration for what you can eat during a backpacking trip with ultralight gear!
