Backpacking Dinners

Ultralight purists will forego the stove (and therefore the warm dinner) but in our opinion nothing beats a hot meal to end the day. While freeze dried meals are light and convenient, we implore you to give one of the following "real" meals a try on your next trip. All the meals below require minimal prep and can be cooked in one pot. 

Bacon Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese is good enough to eat at home and certainly only gets better the further you get from the TV. Buy boxed mac and cheese (not the instant kind) for a cheap and yummy meal. To spice things up we recommend adding shelf stable bacon (often called bacon bits)

Mushroom Risotto

Trader Joe's sells a great mushroom risotto that comes in a box and is easy to prepare. Bring along extra dried mushrooms to give your risotto an even richer flavor profile

Corned Beef Hash and Avocado Tacos

You will have to bring a can into the wilderness but this high fat, high flavor meal is 100% worth it. We like to fry up Hormel corned beef (don't diss it until you try it) until it is nice and crispy and eat it with corn tortillas and avocado slices

Indian Curry and Couscous

Another Trader Joe's meal. Buy the shelf stable Indian curry packets from Trader Joe's. They are delicious and can be eaten cold in a pinch. We particularly like the Punjab Eggplant 

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

This sounds fancier than it is. Spaghetti alla Carbonara is basically spaghetti with bacon, cheese, and egg. There are many recipes out there but we like this one.  The key here is to understand that (1) eggs are fine to store unrefrigerated for up to a week and (2) cheese and bacon have only been refrigerated in modern times