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Healthy Food for Camping or Hiking

Packing healthy food for a camping or hiking trip can be tricky. You want the convenience of pre-made food, but not at the expense of your health.

Packing healthy food for a camping or hiking trip can be tricky. You want the convenience of pre-made food, but not at the expense of your health. Last week, we took some time off as a family and headed to Yosemite National Park. I spent several hours prepping all the food to ensure healthy eating on the trails and thought the information could benefit you and your family too.

Packing healthy food for a camping or hiking trip can be tricky. You want the convenience of pre-made food, but not at the expense of your health.

We stayed at a lovely KOA campground. It was clean, well-kept and the people tending to the campground were friendly and helpful. And I’ll mention, I say “camping,” but we did stay in a small cabin with a stove, refrigerator and sink. Our lives are a bit hectic right now, so we thought it best to simplify our trip. As long as you have a sturdy cooler and a camp stove, you can use this menu and/or ideas for your next camping trip.

Packing healthy food for a camping or hiking trip can be tricky. You want the convenience of pre-made food, but not at the expense of your health.

We were at the park for three days so here was our menu:
Wednesday:
Breakfast – Bacon and Eggs (I used pastured bacon and organic, pastured eggs)
Lunch – Snacks (below)
Dinner – Beef Chili

Thursday:
Breakfast – Bacon and Eggs
Lunch – Beef Chili (I heated the chili over the stove in the morning and put single servings in four insulated thermos containers.)
Dinner – Cream of Vegetable Soup from Sally Fallon’s book Nourishing Traditions – I substituted cauliflower for the potatoes.

Friday:
Breakfast – Pancakes (my favorite grain-free recipe will be in my next cookbook, so in the meantime, here are a few good sources). I mixed all the dry ingredients in one mason jar and the wet ingredients in another. The morning of, I combined them into one bowl and fried them in the pan.
Lunch – Cream of Vegetable Soup (I heated the soup over the stove in the morning and put single servings in four insulated thermos containers.
Dinner – Bunless Hamburgers with Guacamole, Organic Kettle Potato Chips with Sour Cream Onion Dip (a big treat!)

Snacks:
Hard Boiled Eggs
Bell Pepper and Seed Crackers with Kerrygold Butter
Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Raw Cheese
Bananas
Dried apricots, pineapple and strawberries (I bought these from Trader Joe’s)
Homemade Beef Jerky
Pumpkin Muffins (my kid’s favorite!)

Packing healthy food for a camping or hiking trip can be tricky. You want the convenience of pre-made food, but not at the expense of your health.

I knew it would be chilly and we’d be tired at the end of the day, so I pre-made the soup and chili. I’m not a fan of plastic bags, but to avoid bringing heavy glass containers, I cooked the chili, let it completely cool and then double bagged it in heavy freezer ziplocs. The chili and soup made enough for lunch the next day so I brought our stainless steel insulated thermoses.

I chose to serve eggs and bacon two mornings in a row, because that meal is very nutrient dense and would give us lots of energy during our morning hike.

We also brought large containers of water and kept them in the car. I brought a few stainless steel water containers that we refilled and kept with us while hiking.

I’m a bit of a coffee snob, so I brought my own french press coffee maker. It’s very portable since you simply pour in your coffee grounds and add hot water. It was a nice treat to start the day with.

Keeping us all on a grain-free and nutrient dense diet proved very helpful. We didn’t need to eat often and our meals kept us satisfied for 4-5 hours at a time.

What favorite unprocessed foods/meals do you take on the trails?

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30 Comments

  3. kirstin

    April 9, 2013 at 11:15 am

    Great post. When we go on vacation we always try to stay somewhere that has a kitchen so we can prepare the majority of our meals ourselves. We also do a lot of overnight traveling for soccer tournaments. I always pack homemade snacks and lunches. Sandwiches, homemade granola bars, fruit or other healthy options.
    Reply to this comment

  5. Kristin B

    April 9, 2013 at 12:15 pm

    Thank you so much for this post! I've been wondering how vacationing goes for others. We recently went to Disney World where they were very helpful at the various "fancy restaurants" but I've been wondering what I'll do for a couple of upcoming trips. Now I won't be camping - not even in the cabin sense of camping. I'll be doing more of the hotel room variety of "camping". I'm definitely going to ask about fridges and microwaves so I can prepare my own food. But thank you for at least getting my mind rolling in the right direction!
    Reply to this comment

  7. Karen

    April 10, 2013 at 8:54 am

    I used your coconut waffle recipe (I love this recipe) for pancakes, they were great! I used kefir instead of yogurt, obviously it's a little runnier and I added a 1/4 cup of milk. Not as runny as pancake batter, but I just made them as big as I wanted and spread them a little.I'm sure you are experimenting with something that will be divine! Maybe a buttermilk pancake recipe :o)??? That would be terrific!
    Reply to this comment

  8. Denise @ Creative Kitchen

    April 10, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    Beautiful photos Carrie! My family and I just got back from a weekend of tent camping. It was our third trip with friends this season (South Florida our camping season is Fall/Winter/Spring). This time I really strived to eat clean, and was thrilled to make it through the weekend with NO sugar including natural ones. Yay! ;)We are new to juicing (have a vitamix for green smoothies) so we loaded down our cooler with fresh produce & brought our juicer with us. Was fun to try to get our friends into juicing but next time we'll make juices as home for day 1 and smoothies for day 2 and wait till we get home for day 3. It was a lot of work trying to keep all the produce cold. LOL!Thanks for these great links I can't wait to try. In figuring out my food intolerances I'm trying to go grain free and dairy free so they are a huge help!
    Reply to this comment

  10. Jason Leake

    April 11, 2013 at 10:23 am

    Aggh so jealous! I've traveled much but have not yet been to Yosemite (the plan is to visit during the summer of 2014). Nice to see your girls out enjoying nature. We're camping here in NC next month so have bookmarked this post. Thanks!
    Reply to this comment

  14. amy

    June 17, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    I was just in Yosemite camping in the Valley a few weeks ago. I wish I would have had this info...but I think I did a great job with my food and snacks too. I had bacon and eggs, (pasture raised, nitrate free)and I had chicken to throw on the grill at night that I had marinated and freezed at home so it stays for a few days. I also made chili at home and brought it to warm up. I did have sandwiches on my sprouted bread though because I couldn't think of anything to carry on a hike. Great ideas for next time!! Thanks!
    Reply to this comment

  16. Jennifer Helm

    January 14, 2016 at 11:48 am

    We camp often, 4 or 5 times a year and I am always on the lookout for healthy ways to eat on the go. These are great. Thanks for the info and the recipes. I will be gleaning these in the future. Always a pleasure to browse all of your hard work on this webpage. Keep up the good work for those of us still on our healing journey of health.
    Reply to this comment

  17. Heather

    January 27, 2017 at 11:14 am

    I seriously dread the thought of camping because if the meal planning. We go about 4 times, 3-4 days each time, in the summer and every time I feel overwhelmed. It never gets easier for me. Never thought of chilli though, thanks for these simple suggestions!! I'll try to change my attitude and think more positive! ;)
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