Eating on a hike is always doubly enjoyable. First, a meal break is an opportunity to rest, and second, in nature, in the mountains, appetite comes faster, and it is much more pleasant to satisfy it. But eating has another important function - it is to restore the strength of all participants in the hike. After all, it is thanks to a hearty lunch or breakfast that a tourist is energized to move on.

There is an unspoken rule: you need to spend 2 times more time organizing a hike than the hike itself will last. In other words, it is advisable to start preparing for a weekend hike on Tuesday. If you are going on a hike in the mountains, in nature, with an overnight stay in tents, try to organize yourself together to plan everything as efficiently as possible.

Food for a hike in the summer and its selection - This is an important stage of preparation, even if you are just going to go out into nature with friends. It is important to organize everything so as not to take too much with you (after all, you will have to carry everything yourself), but also not to overdo it and not stay hungry. Food and water are the first things to think about when planning a hike.

What products to take on a hike

Eating on a hike is somewhat different from everyday food. The first thing you need to do before the hike is to make a schedule. First, you need to think about how energetic this hike will be in order to estimate how many calories will be spent per day:

  • A hike on the plain or rafting on a quiet river — 2500 kcal per day.

  • For a week of hiking on not very steep slopes, you will need 3000 kcal per day.

  • A long hike in the mountains, kayaking — 3500 kcal per day.

Remember that you are not going on a hike to lose weight, so you need to eat as many calories as possible so as not to lose strength. Below is a list of high-calorie foods (the number of kcal per 100 g of raw product, except for dried fruits — there the calorie content is already indicated in dried form):

  • Peanuts — 555

  • Prunes — 262

  • Oatmeal — 358

  • Corn flakes — 345

  • Salted lard — 797

  • Hard cheese — 460

  • Beef — 191

  • Pork — 218

  • Kozinaki — 576

  • Chocolate — 550

  • Halva — 519

  • Bagels — 335

  • Rye bread — 210

  • Wheat bread — 246.

When hiking, it is always necessary to maintain a balance of fats (lard, butter, cheese), carbohydrates (vegetables, dried fruits, sweets), and proteins (nuts, chocolate, meat) to ensure a complete diet. After all, a successful hike largely depends on a balanced, nutritious diet.

What foods should not be taken

  • Foods that spoil quickly

  • Juices

  • Food in heavy containers

  • Food that contains a lot of liquid, low-calorie

  • Those foods that are difficult to prepare in hiking conditions.

Diet on a hike

Breakfast and dinner are necessarily prepared over a campfire - this is a full meal. As for lunch, it all depends on the difficulty of the hike. In a leisurely, easy hike, there is time and strength to prepare a full-fledged soup or stew. If the hike is more difficult, spending precious time on preparing lunch is not profitable. In this case, you can limit yourself to tea with high-calorie sandwiches and brew instant packaged soup. This will be enough to keep moving.

If this is a hiking trip with children, take care of hot dishes, additional protein, vitamins. When planning portions, for small children they can be halved.

Food outdoors in the summer without cooking

It often happens that during a hike, even a not very difficult one, there is no strength and energy to prepare a full lunch or dinner. But you have to eat, and light snacks will not do. More and more often, tourists prefer ready-made freeze-dried products, which do not take up much space in a backpack, but become a full meal during a hike. Freeze-dried products are food that has undergone vacuum-freeze drying. Moisture is removed from the products by vacuum. The benefits of this are enormous: the product decreases in volume and weight, does not lose its beneficial properties, and its shelf life increases.

Freeze-dried food Meals include breakfasts, lunches, dinners, dishes with and without meat, snacks in the form of nutritious bars, tea and coffee. In other words, you can take exclusively freeze-dried products on a hike and eat fully throughout the hike. To prepare freeze-dried products, just add boiled water and wait 10 minutes. Rice with pork, oatmeal or bulgur with vegetables is ready. Another "plus" of such food is that it does not spoil in the heat. This is especially important on summer hikes, when you can't take a lot of products because you can't store them properly.

In addition to freeze-dried products, you can take products with you that don't need to be cooked on a burner. For example, instant oatmeal or muesli (they can be steamed without boiling water), powdered milk, cookies, chocolate, cheese, sausage. This way, you don't have to spend time not only on cooking, but also on washing dishes.

Menu on a hike

The menu on a hike without cooking looks something like this:

Day 1

  • Breakfast: corn porridge with chia seeds and poppy seeds, banana-fig energy bar, coffee.
  • Lunch: buckwheat porridge with beef, Carpathian tea, dried fruits.
  • Dinner: soup-mushroom puree, tea, raisin-poppy seed energy bar, dried fruits.

Day 2

  • Breakfast: oatmeal with dried apricots, energy bar with currants, coffee, nuts with raisins.
  • Lunch: risotto with mushrooms, tea, dried fruits.
  • Dinner: pea soup with pork, tea, cocoa bar–hazelnuts, nuts with raisins.

Day 3

  • Breakfast: nut granola, dried fruits, coffee.
  • Lunch: mashed potatoes with pork, mint energy bar–dates, Carpathian tea.
  • Dinner: tomato cream–shrimp soup, nuts with raisins, tea.

The menu consists of freeze-dried products that have small volume and weight, they are easy and simple to take with you on any trip, they do not spoil and are able to saturate the body with useful substances and necessary proteins, fats, carbohydrates. Thus, you do not need to bother with cooking every time at a stop. It is enough to pour boiling water directly into the bag, mix and wait 10 minutes. Freeze-dried products make the trip much easier, and you can concentrate solely on the process itself, and not think about how and where to cook food.

Food for a camping trip with tents

For those who do not like lazy vacations, the opportunity to take a backpack on your shoulders and go on a hike is the best way to relax. What is needed for a tented vacation depends on how you plan to relax and where to cook. If it is just a weekend trip with friends with one night, you can have a good rest by looking around the city where you live, seeing new places.

An important point even in a two-day hike is food for an overnight stay in tents. Plan your diet at home in advance and make the necessary purchases. This way you will save significantly by not overpaying for products in tourist shops that are on the campsites. As in any other case, it is not advisable to take perishable products with you. If it is meat, take it in frozen or freeze-dried form.

In such a hike, you cannot do without water. Consider how many liters you will need for the entire duration of the hike for all group members, because without water, hiking is the most difficult. Of course, you can't carry a 5-liter flask with you. Therefore, during the hike, buy additional water or fill empty containers at springs along the way.

One of the universal products is cereals, from which porridge is prepared. If the hike is not long, you can take canned food and stew (but remember that they are quite heavy and take up a lot of space). It is advisable to stock up on vegetables and fruits that do not spoil quickly. Take tea, coffee, cookies for nice gatherings by the fire in the evening. You can also take your favorite sweets, nuts, chocolate, condensed milk — they are also high-calorie and easy to store.

We should note that even on a two-day easy hike with tents, freeze-dried food will be appropriate. It is enough to calculate how much and what products are needed for the entire group of tourists - and the problem with food will disappear by itself. You have the opportunity to plan a menu for both vegetarians and those who love meat. And the variety of products allows you to eat new dishes every day of the hike that you will not have time to get used to.

A hike with an overnight stay with tents - is a good way to relax from the everyday life and noise of the city, gain strength and "reboot".

Food for a picnic

A hike in the forest or to the lake allows you to relax and take a break from everyday problems. That is why many of us love nature trips so much, even if they are short-term. A picnic is always a good opportunity to relax in nature with loved ones, friends or a loved one. But even such an innocent hike requires careful planning of meals. Before deciding what food to take, you need to calculate the number of hike participants. Then you can start making a list of products, taking into account the taste preferences and wishes of all group members. It is not recommended to take perishable foods if you cannot eat them in the next 2 hours. What basic products can you take with you on a hike:

  • Drinks. You can't do without water even on a short hike. You can also take a thermos with boiling water and tea or coffee bags with you. If this is a hike in hot weather, you need to stock up on cooling drinks.
  • Fruits, vegetables, greens. During the picnic season, these are simply necessary products for a successful picnic. Such products should be cut on the spot so that they do not lose their freshness.
  • Bread or pita bread. For dessert - cookies.
  • Products for sandwiches. This can be anything, depending on the preferences of the group. Keep in mind that in the summer, in the heat, some products spoil quickly, they are not recommended to be taken.
  • Salt and spices for cooking any dishes, sugar for tea or coffee, vegetable oil for dressings.
  • Fish, meat, poultry - if this is not a long hike, but a short vacation in nature.
  • Canned food. You can make a delicious soup from fish, and use vegetable ones as a side dish.

A hike, even if it's for 1 day, will be successful and unforgettable if you plan it correctly. Don't regret spending a little time at home so that everyone enjoys the outdoor recreation.

Remember that the process of preparing food on a hike should not be complicated and take up a lot of strength and energy. Make this process easy so that you can fully enjoy the tourist route.

How to choose products and what to eat without cooking on a hike

Products on a hike should take up a minimum of space in your backpack and be quite light. The best choice is food without cooking. Experienced tourists recommend taking porridge, mashed potatoes or instant noodles with you. All this is very tasty, and also:

  • 5-10 times lighter than a raw product: this is important when you need to carry equipment, a change of clothes, water, etc.;
  • a portion contains a balanced amount of nutrients sufficient for an adult. There is no need to weigh or calculate anything for those who are very careful about their diet;
  • The ЪDLO company offers a wide range of dishes, including vegetarian ones.

If the route passes through the forest, then on the way, taking food that does not require cooking is complemented by a pleasant walk and fresh air. Such an atmosphere awakens the appetite and makes the taste of food truly divine. Products are always at hand, which helps to get rid of the question of "what to cook on a hike without a campfire."

Remember that the process of cooking food on a hike should not cause difficulties and take a lot of strength and energy. Make this process easy so you can fully enjoy your travel itinerary without worrying about what to eat without cooking.