"I Tried 27 Backpacking Meals and While Some Were Gross, Many Were Delightful"

According to Grace Kelly of Serious Eats, "There are three types of campers out there: the glampers, the campsite tent-type, and the backpackers. Of the three, the backpackers have it the hardest when it comes to dinner."

Here's an excerpt from the article; "I’m a seasoned campsite camper (glamping is often beyond my budget), and I love cooking some hash browns, bacon, and eggs over an open fire (one time I even made butternut squash risotto from scratch over nothing but flaming logs. Four hours later, it tasted REALLY good). But if you’re a backpacker or backwoods camping sort, well, you’re more like Legolas and Aragorn when they search for Merry and Pippin: “Leave all that can be spared behind. We travel light.” No cast iron skillet, no perishable ingredients, no logs. Sad! But it doesn’t have to be."

While you can grab a box of mac and cheese or instant rice and some bagged beans (they’re actually quite good!) and call it a day, there’s also a whole market of freeze-dried backpacking meals out there. Just boil some water in a backpacking stove, add it to the package, stir, let it sit for a few minutes, and dinner’s ready. But are any of them, well, good? I sacrificed my stomach for you, oh brave, fearless backpackers, to find rehydrate-able backpacking meals that are a far cry from the mealy, mushy backpacking meals of yore (as in, I actually relished eating them).

Among a host of other great brands, Wild Zora stood out as:

The Best Chicken Grain Bowl Backpacking Meal
Wild Zora Herb Roasted Chicken Quinoa Bowl

While yes, quinoa is a seed and not a grain, you get the gist. I’m not a massive quinoa fan, but this herby, warm, and savory meal was quite delicious. The texture was also spot-on—it was neither soggy nor crunchy, with the little quinoa orbs providing a pleasant pop and crunch. 

Key Specs

• Serving size: 1
• Calories per serving: 550
• Protein per serving: 26 grams
• Sodium per serving: 410 milligrams

For the full article, click here. For all of our lifestyle and on-mountain meals, click here!