Backpacking Recipies
Before starting with any of these recipies, you should read Menu Planning Fundamentals, which discusses hwo to count calories and plan an appropriate menu for your trip.
Recipes on this Site
General Tips
Utensils
The more dishes you carry, the more weight you carry, and the slower you’ll hike. Plan...
Breakfast Backpacking Meal Ideas
Backpacking breakfasts are usually quick to cook, because a long breakfast means you’ll be hiking in the hottest part of the afternoon. However, be careful of the temptation to make breakfasts nothing but granola bars — they’re handy when you need to get moving in a hurry, but they’ll...
Dinner Backpacking Meal Ideas
Angel-hair pasta in dried tomato sauce
Even using expensive dried tomatoes, this costs less than half as much as freeze-dried spaghetti, and give you many more options for adjusting the flavor to your liking.
Ingredients
- 1 lb angel hair pasta, broken into 2” pieces.
- 1.5 quarts water
- 0.5 cups Parmesan cheese (in a plastic bag)
- Sauce...
Food Planning Chart
The food calorie and weight planning chart discussed by Mr. Heaton has been revised and uploaded to the website.
Lessons learned for cold/wet camp conditions
Camping when weather forecasts call for rain/snow showers is challenging. You’ll need to use your head and take care of yourself and your gear. Here’s some lessons learned (the hard way). Read and learn the easy way, to your advantage.
Base Camp (and backpackers):
— Your...
Lunch Backpacking Meal Ideas
Lunch on the trail should be fast and require little or no cooking. This will help you make lunch stops quick and painless. Think about trail breads, summer sausage, peanut butter, fruit preserves, and cheeses that keep well without refrigeration.
Pita bread, sausage, and cheese
This is a classic trail...
Menu Planning Fundamentals
When you’re planning a major trip or a backcountry adventure — a long distance cycling trip, a backpacking trek, or a wilderness canoe trip — you’ll need more of a menu plan than “let’s have hot dogs.” These guidelines will help you plan menus that account for calories, nutrition, rough handling, and taste.
Packing Guides
Below are several guides providing general information on camping equipment, gear checklists for backpacking and camping, and tips on bear safety.
- General Equipment Notes (PDF)
- Backpacking Gear Essentials (PDF)
- Bear Safety Tips (PDF)
These guides provide tips for cold weather camping and winter backpacking. Some of these guides...
Scout Uniforms
Discusses the types of Scout uniforms, when to wear the uniform, and where to get the parts of the Scout uniform.
Selecting a Backpack
For trips that stay at or near a fixed base camp, most Scouts should only need a small daypack for carrying essential gear, such as water, rain gear, and sunscreen. For Scouts going on backpacking or long-distance hiking trips, a frame backpack with a waistbelt is essential. These...