By Inga Aksamit & Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD • Updated June 12, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Drying Instructions | Storage | Veggie Pho Recipe The key to dehydrating tofu is freezing it ahead of time. Before Chef Glenn cracked the code with this technique, dehydrating tofu resulted in hard nuggets that were nearly impossible to rehydrate or chew. Freezing and thawing the tofu opens up air spaces in the otherwise dense product. The resulting product is crunchy when dry and rehydrates easily with hot or cold water. It’s a little too dry to enjoy as a ..read more

By Inga Aksamit & Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD • Updated June 5, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Drying Instructions | Storage | Veggie Pho Recipe Fresh vegetables, like green onions, can be dehydrated or freeze-dried and used in a wide variety of backpacking recipes. Drying green onions, also known as scallions, is a great way to use excess produce that you can’t consume fast enough that would otherwise go to waste. Dehydrating your own green onions is also an economical way to increase nutrition, variety, and flavor in your backpacking diet. What types of green onions can ..read more

By Inga Aksamit & Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD • Updated May 31, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Pretreatment | Dehydration Process | Storage | Recipe Strawberries can be dehydrated or freeze-dried for snacks or added to breakfast cereal, desserts, smoothies, trail mixes, or other DIY backpacking meals. Dried strawberries intensify sweet flavors and make a refreshing snack. What types of strawberries can you dehydrate or freeze-dry? Fresh and frozen strawberries can be dehydrated or freeze-dried. It’s best to dry strawberries at the peak of ripeness as unripe strawberries l ..read more

By Amelia Guinn, MS, RDN • Updated June 1, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. “Help! I’m leaving for my thru-hike in a week and don’t know what food I’m bringing. Where do I start??” Sound familiar? You’re in the right place! At Backcountry Foodie, we hear this question all the time. Meal planning for any backpacking trip can be a task. Thru-hikers face the added challenge of planning backpacking meals for an extended period of time and resupplying at unfamiliar grocery stores. Luckily, Backcountry Foodie has all the tools to relieve your meal planning anxiety. This post describes ho ..read more

By Amelia Guinn, MS, RDN • Updated May 19, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Jump to Recipes If you haven’t yet hopped onto the no-cook backpacking meals wagon, this may be your year! Discovering that you can go a whole trip on satisfying, nutritious food without even packing a stove can be quite liberating. And just because no-cook food is simple doesn’t mean it’s boring. You can go far beyond the basic PBJ or trail mix. Need some inspiration? Read on! We’ve delved into the no-cook lifestyle and picked our favorite no-cook backpacking recipes. They’re all easy and can be made with ..read more

By Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD • Updated May 18, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Cold Soaking Containers | Foods that Cold Soak Well | Cold Soaking Tips & Tricks | Recipes Find out if cold soaking is right for you and how to get started! Have you heard of other backpackers going stoveless in favor of cold soaking? You may think of these hikers as rugged outdoors people, willing to forgo the creature comfort of hot meals in the backcountry. However, many people don’t realize that they already use cold soak recipes for some of their meals.  Maybe you . . . have thought ..read more

By Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD • Updated May 18, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Jump to Recipe Have you ever made homemade pesto before? You may have thought it couldn’t get much easier. You were wrong! Backcountry Foodie’s cold soak backpacking pesto recipe takes just a few minutes to prepare and packs a surprisingly flavorful punch with no fresh basil required. The best part? You don’t have to clean the food processor. At Home: At home, make a “pesto packet” with garlic powder, dried basil, salt, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese. Pack olive oil separately. On the trail, si ..read more

By Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD • Updated May 21, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Ultralight Meal Planning Videos | Meal Planning Tips | Meal Preparation Tips THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED ON THE TREK AND CAN BE FOUND HERE. For those who have followed previous posts, you know that I set a goal of preparing ultralight backpacking meal plans at 5000 calories per two pounds of food for my upcoming PCT thru-hike. I’m excited to share that I pulled it off! After experimenting with more than one hundred ultralight recipes over the last year, forty-two of these will ..read more

By Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD • Updated May 18, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Jump to Recipe This meal replacement shake is a Backcountry Foodie fan favorite. It’s great for refueling on the go or when your appetite hits the road. Already a fan of our shake recipe? You might also want to try our Peanut Butter Protein Shake recipe. Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake Backcountry Foodie Recipe This delicious shake is a Backcountry Foodie fan favorite. It's quick & easy to prepare at home or while resupplying in town. Keep the shake mix in your hip belt pocket for refue ..read more

By Aaron Owens Mayhew, MS, RDN, CD • Updated May 18, 2022 This post may contain affiliate links. Jump to Recipe History of instant ramen noodles Did you know? Ramen is a Japanese adaptation of Chinese wheat noodles believed to be introduced to Japan in 1859. However, instant ramen noodles were not invented until 1958 by Momofuku Ando, the Taiwanese-Japanese founder of Nissin Foods, the producer of what is now Top Ramen. According to a Japanese poll in 2000, it is believed that instant ramen was their greatest invention of the twentieth century. As of 2018, 103 billion servings of instant noo ..read more