How to Make Your Own Backpack Meals

Plan your meals. If you prefer, you may choose from the many backpacker meal menu options linked in the resource section. If you want to make up your own meals, plan foods that are made with food that can be dehydrated or bought dehydrated and cooked together in a small pot. Also try to plan meals that use the same ingredients more than once, so that you will have fewer ingredients to buy and dehydrate. Backpackingchef.com suggests that each meal for one person contain one quarter cup meat or beans, one quarter cup vegetables and one half cup starch and be cooked with one cup of water.

Select grains that are easy to cook with minimal water and store densely, such as rice, couscous or bulgur, over grains that take more fuel to cook, such as pasta. For breakfast you can use make oatmeal or pancakes without taking up much space in your pack. To add variety to dinner, use a variety of beans such as lentils, black eyed peas and chickpeas.

Go to your local bulk foods store and buy as much of the food on the menu as possible. If you have a dehydrator, you can prepare your own meats and vegetables using this. If you do not have a dehydrator you may want to substitute jerky and textured vegetable protein for meats.

Pack your individual meals into medium size freezer bags. Using a black pen, label each meal with a black pen so it's easier to locate the one you want while out on the trail.