40 Best Backpacking Foods at Grocery Stores

This video “40 Best Backpacking Foods at Grocery Stores” discusses various lightweight and convenient food options ideal for backpacking that can be found at any supermarket.

It emphasizes the importance of balancing weight, calorie density, and ease of preparation. Most foods on this list can be prepared with a basic backpacking stove.

Key food categories include:

1. Breakfast Options: Cereal, dehydrated hash browns, powdered eggs, pancake mix, oatmeal, and grits.
2. Carbohydrates: Pasta, rice, quinoa, and ramen noodles.
3. Snacks: Potato chips, banana chips, apple chips, kale chips, and snap pea crisps.
4. Wraps and Crackers: Tortillas and various types of crackers.
5. Protein Sources: Beef jerky, tuna and chicken pouches, nut butters, powdered milk, and legumes.
6. Trail Mix Essentials: Nuts and raisins.
7. Emergency Items: Spices, broth cubes, tea, coffee, drink mixes, and oils.
8. Treats: Candy for energy boosts.

The video also provides tips for packing food efficiently, such as using Ziploc bags to reduce bulk and carrying small condiment packets. Overall, it serves as a guide for selecting practical foods for a backpacking trip.

Here is the transcript and complete list of 40 best backpacking foods at supermarkets:

1. Cereal. Breakfast cereal is an excellent food for backpackers. It’s ultralight, full of energy, tasty and can be eaten dry and on-the-go as a snack or as a meal.
2. Dehydrated hashbrowns. Hashbrowns make a wonderful meal staple during backpacking trips. It’s light to carry and fairly simple to prepare. With hot water and a greased pan. Hashbrowns are great by themselves, added to soups, or as a side dish to freshly caught fish or game.
3. Powdered eggs. Getting enough fat and protein in your backpacking diet can be challenging. Powdered eggs gives you a hearty breakfast option of a warm meal that satisfies your crucial refueling needs. 
4. Pancake mix. If you’re looking for a carbohydrate blast in the morning, consider packing pancake mix. A few cups of pancake mix doesn’t weigh much but packs a lot of calories. And it’s easy to prepare with water and a hot pan.
5. Oatmeal. Another perfect backpacking meal for breakfast is oatmeal or hot cereal. They come in serving size packs that don’t take up much space in your pack and they’re simple to prepare with hot water. 
6. Grits. If you prefer a less sweetened option for breakfast, instant grits is another terrific backpacker food. Grits also come in single-serve packs and just require hot water for preparation. 
7. Pasta. Pasta can give you a big energy boost before a ling hike. Pasta is lightweight, easy to pack, and only requires boiling water to prepare. Fully cooked pasta pouches are ideal for backpackers. 
8. Rice. If you plan to catch wild game, rice is an easy and filling side dish. A few pouches of instant rice go a long way and provide dense calories and minerals to compliment meats and soups. 
9. Quinoa. You can get quinoa in pre-seasoned, easy-to-cook pouches that are perfect for backpacking. These make filling hot meals with just a couple spoonfuls of hot water. 
10. Ramen noodles. Ramen noodles are good comfort food on a budget. They’re simple to prepare and deliver an easy hot meal that refuels your sodium requirements and calories. 
11. Potato chips. Potato chips make a nice snack while on the trail and they’re more natural than Doritos to refuel your carbs, fat and sodium. They practically weigh nothing and hit the spot during brief breaks during hikes.
12. Banana chips. Banana chips are a healthier option than potato chips with more potassium and less grease. They can be eaten as a quick snack or added to cereals and pancakes.
13. Apple chips. Dehydrated or baked apple chips make an excellent backpacking snack as well. It’s another lightweight option with essential vitamins and minerals and a satisfying flavor. 
14. Kale chips. Unless you are an experienced forager of wild plants, getting enough greens on the trail can be challenging. For the ultra healthy backpackers, kale chips provide a healthy snack of greens to add to soups, rice, eggs or other meals.
15. Snap pea crisps. A healthy alternative to chips are snap pea crisps which are dried and salted sugar snap peas. They’re lightweight and loaded with essential vitamins and minerals.
16. Tortillas. It’s not very practical to carry bread on the trail because it’s easily crushed. Tortillas make an excellent substitute as they are much easier to pack and are great when combined with many other ingredients on this list of backpacking foods.
17. Fruit snacks. Fresh fruit is impractical for backpacking because it’s heavy, bulky and perishable. dehydrated fruit snacks deliver the same benefits and satisfy your sweet tooth without added sugar.
18. Crackers. crackers like triscuits, wheat thins or saltines are lightweight filling and boost your calories to handle arduous exploration.
19. Cheese crisps. If you’re looking for paleo or keto backpacking foods add the next few items to your pack. Cheese crisps are a crunchy alternative to high carb chips or crackers.
20. Pork rinds. pork rinds are as light as air and provide a salty greasy crunch for keto hikers. they can also be used to flavor soups eggs and even help start fires in the rain
21. Bacon bits. Real bacon crumbles are perfect for backpackers on low carb diets. They are a filling snack that doesn’t take up much space and are a perfect addition to eggs, soups, grits or rice.
22. Beef jerky. Beef jerky is a must-have item for all non-vegetarian backpackers. Beef jerky is light low-carb and provides a key source of protein to stay strong in the wilderness.
23. Tuna pouches. Tuna provides another source of protein. They are easy to pack and carry while backpacking. they can be eaten directly out of the packaging or with crackers and chips.
24. Chicken pouches. Like tuna, chicken also comes in convenient pouches for quick meals and snacks that are low in carbs and high in protein can be eaten with crackers or added to soups, pastas, rice and more.
25. Nut butter packets. Peanut butter and almond butter are favorites for hikers and backpackers especially those on low carb diets like paleo and keto individual packets are convenient and loaded with fat and protein.
26. Peanut butter powder. Make your own peanut butter on the trail by adding water to peanut butter powder. it’s lighter to carry and gives you more bang for your buck.
27. Bean packets. Beans are a significant source of protein carbs and vitamins. Easy light and convenient instant bean pouches are a satisfying addition to meals. eat with tortillas or chips or with eggs, rice and stews.
28. Nuts. Nuts are a staple in traditional backpacker trail mixes for good reason. peanuts or mixed nuts are a lightweight filling snack on the trail that provide satisfying fat, protein, and sodium.
29. Raisins. Although raisins are under the dehydrated fruit category they’re such a staple in trail mixes that they deserve their own slot. Raisins are a great snack and can be added to cereal, oatmeal, and pancakes for extra flavor in the morning.
30. Powdered milk. Dairy products like milk and cheese are luxuries while backpacking they’re heavy and typically require refrigeration to stay fresh. A little powdered whole milk is nice to have for coffee cereal, oatmeal and creamy soups.
31. Granola bars. remember when nature lovers were called granolas. hikers and backpackers earned the nickname because granola is such an excellent trail food. granola bars are inexpensive snacks that pack a lot of energy to carry you between meals.
32. Protein bars. Protein bars are like jet fuel for backpackers; they provide a compact jolt of calories and macronutrients and there are much tastier options today than ever before including those on keto and paleo diets.
33. Spices. Spices take very little space in your pack and make camp cooking much more enjoyable depending on tastes. The minimum spices that are nice to have while backpack camping are salt, pepper, onion flakes, garlic salt and red pepper flakes.
34. Chicken beef and vegetable broth. Chicken beef and vegetable bouillon broth cubes are also worth adding to your spice bag. A hot cup of broth by itself is soothing on a cool evening.
35. Tea. Along the same lines sipping on a steaming cup of tea on bright chilly mornings while waiting for breakfast to finish cooking is an unforgettable joy while camping tea bags are lightweight and take almost no space in your backpack.
36. Instant coffee. It’s easy to get your coffee fix while backpacking. There are plenty of flavorful instant coffee options that come in individual serving packets.
37. Drink mixes. Flavored drink mixes provide a welcome change from filtered water. Additionally, some drink mixes can add much needed electrolytes calories and other essentials when you’re burning energy on fierce expeditions.
38. Cooking oils. Camp cooking using many of the ingredients on this list requires cooking oil you won’t need much and you’ll miss it sorely if you don’t have any. Adding a few tablespoons of olive oil into an airtight container is sufficient for short treks. Also consider mayonnaise packets which are nearly pure vegetable oil and are a surprisingly adequate substitute for butter.
39. Sugar. Sugar is great for coffee tea oatmeal cereal and pancakes you don’t need much to create a more pleasant experience at camp sugar packets or cubes is best for backpacking
40. Candy. Candy seems like a luxury while roughing it in nature. However candy like Werther’s Originals provide fast bursts of energy and are great for the time between breakfast and your afternoon snack. Hard candies are also good for soothing a sore throat. and they help you make friends on the trail.

Here are some pro tips for fitting food in your thru-hiking backpack. Remove bulk foods from the store packaging and empty them into clear heavy duty Ziploc bags before packing this allows for fast easy access while reducing waste during backpacking. And you can never seem to have enough ziploc baggies. 

Another great hack for saving money on your food rations is to grab additional packets of salt, pepper, sugar, parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, hot sauces, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, crackers, creamers and more when eating at restaurants. These make your backpacking meals much tastier for zero cost.

Tell us what you eat on the trail in the comments below. 

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