The Best (and Worst) Backpacking Meals Reviewed

I’ve been backpacking for over 20 years and have written two backpacking guidebooks, so I’ve eaten a lot of meals in the backcountry. In this post, I’ll review all of the pre-packaged backpacking meals I eat on my trips.

Sometimes I home-dehydrate my backpacking meals. And sometimes I save some money by putting together my own meals from grocery store ingredients. But, I don’t always have the time, so I end up bringing pre-packaged commercial backpacking meals on some of my trips.

I’ll update this post every time I try a new meal so you can read through my reviews and see which ones you should pack for your trips.

This post includes:

• How I choose backpacking meals – what I like and don’t like
• My favourite meals – the ones I buy again and again
• More meals I recommend – these are also good but aren’t my absolute favourite
• Meals that are just okay – these meals weren’t bad, but I didn’t love them a lot
• Meals I don’t recommend – these meals were gross, and you should avoid them

Hey there: I bought most of the meals in this post with my own money, but a few of them where gifts from brands. As you can read below, I am pretty honest with my reviews and don’t hesitate to say when I don’t like something. As well, some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support. -Taryn

How I Choose Backpacking Meals (My Biases)

Taste is subjective. Not everyone has the same favourite foods or the same foods that gross them out.

To help you understand if my meal reviews are helpful for you, I thought it would start by explaining what I like and don’t like, so you can see if my tastes align with yours.

To start with, I’m an omnivore. I eat and enjoy pretty much everything. I’m ok with meat, dairy, and gluten. I also have no problem eating vegetarian or vegan/plant-based meals. (As long as they are delicious.)

While I’m not a picky eater, I do have preferences:

• I like a little bit of spice… but not too much. Super-spicy food can upset my stomach, which isn’t something I want in the backcountry. But I don’t want bland food either.

• I like pasta more than rice. Most backpacking meals use rice or pasta as their base carb. I tend to like pasta dishes more than rice – that’s just a bias I’m going to have.
• I tend to choose Italian or Western backpacking meals more than Asian meals. That isn’t because I don’t like Asian food – in my everyday life, I actually cook and eat tons of East and South Asian food. However, I find that so-called “ethnic” flavours in backpacking meals are inconsistent and often poorly executed, so I’m always nervous to try them in case they are bad.
• I don’t like beans very much. I grew up in a vegetarian household and had hit my lifetime quota of bean consumption by middle school. I will eat beans, I just don’t choose them often. As well, beans are tricky in backpacking meals – if they don’t rehydrate fully, they can give you an upset stomach, which makes me nervous.

My Favourite Meals

West Coast Kitchen The West Coaster

My rating: 9/10

Calories per serving: 760

Protein per serving: 33 g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: 10 minutes

Price: $18.99 CAD

Diet: Omnivore – contains pork, wheat, and dairy

This was the best new-to-me meal I tried last summer. West Coast Kitchen is a small company from Vancouver Island.

The West Coaster is their signature meal – it’s a creamy pasta dish that includes bacon, mushrooms, onions, and capers. The flavour profile is a bit like alfredo, a bit like carbonara, and a bit like stroganoff. And the sauce is made with cream cheese (as well as parmesan), which gives it a bit of a tang.

This is a freeze-dried meal, and all of the components are fairly small, so it rehydrated completely in the relatively short recommended soak time of just 10 minutes.

The stats above are for their single-serving package (they also make a plus package that purports to serve two people). Honestly, this is a decently filling meal for one person – a rarity among backpacking meals when you eat the suggested serving size.

The only downside to this meal for me is that it calls for 1.2 cups of water (280 ml). That is not an easy measurement in the backcountry! Most of the ways I measure (pots or water bottles with gradations) have them measured in 50 or 100 ml increments, so I had to eyeball it.

In the end, I think I may have added too much water since my meal ended up a little bit too soupy. I also expected the sauce to look creamy, but it looks more like veggie soup broth. Still tasty though.

Where to buy:

Peak Refuel Beef Stroganoff

My rating: 9/10

Calories per serving: 400

Protein per serving: 20 g

Servings per package: 2

Rehydration time: 10 minutes

Price: $19.95 CAD/$14.99 USD

Diet: Omnivore (Contains beef, wheat, and dairy.)

I discovered Peak Refuel meals a few years ago, and I think their Beef Stroganoff is the best meal they make. All of their meals are fairly good because they are freeze-dried, so they are full of flavour. They also use chunks of beef rather than ground beef, which has a better texture when it rehydrates. (Ground beef can be a bit like gravel.)

If you measure your water properly, the sauce on this meal ends up nice and thick, which I love since some backpacking meals can feel very runny. However, the sauce tends to separate a bit, which visually isn’t that appealing. (Food science is wild, so the fact that you can go from powdered meal to beef stroganoff in 10 minutes is pretty incredible.)

I don’t know anyone who would be satisfied with the suggested serving size of half a package for this meal. I easily eat the whole thing.

Mountain House Kung Pao Chicken

My rating: 9/10

Calories per serving: 290

Protein per serving: 16g

Servings per package: 2

Rehydration time: 15 minutes

Price: $18.95CAD/$11.99 USD

Diet: Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Omnivore (Contains chicken.)

The Mountain House Kung Pao Chicken reminds me of North American-style Chinese take-out or mall food court Chinese food. It’s sweet with a hint of spice, but definitely not too spicy. It gave me real nostalgia vibes for the Chinese food I ate as a teenager in the 90s.

This rehydrated really well, including the rice. (Sometimes rice can be chewy if it doesn’t rehydrate properly or mushy if it sits too long – this was perfect.)

Texture-wise, it’s definitely a gloopy stew with rice in it, rather than rice with chunks of chicken and veggies, but I didn’t mind. Like other Mountain House meals, the freeze-dried chicken chunks are kind of bland, but the sauce makes up for it.

The portion size on this package is hilarious. I don’t know any adults who can hike all day, eat a 290-calorie dinner, and feel full. I easily ate the whole package on my own and still had room for dessert.

More Meals I Recommend

Alpine Aire Tuscan Style Pasta Roma

My rating: 8/10

Calories per serving: 300

Protein per serving: 17g

Servings per package: 2

Rehydration time: 10-12 minutes

Price: $15.95 CAD/$11.95 USD

Diet: Vegetarian (Contains wheat and dairy)

The Alpine Aire Tuscan-Style Pasta Roma pleasantly surprised me. It’s a rose-style creamy tomato sauce with a cheesy flavour that I really enjoyed.

It’s a vegetarian meal, but it has so much cheese in it, that the protein per serving is pretty good. Although that might also be because it contains soy-based textured vegetable protein. Honestly, I didn’t taste the soy protein in this at all – the cheese really hid it and I had no idea it was in there until I looked at the ingredients after I was done.

I do wish this meal had a few veggies in it, but overall, it’s pretty good for a basic vegetarian pasta.

Mountain House Stroganoff Beef With Noodles

My rating: 7/10

Calories per serving: 280

Protein per serving: 12g

Servings per package: 2

Rehydration time: 9 minutes

Price: $18.95 CAD/$11.99 USD

Diet: Omnivore (Contains beef, wheat, eggs, and dairy)

I’ve eaten the Mountain House Beef Stroganoff with noodles more times than I can count. It was one of my go-to meals for years before I discovered the superior Peak Refuel beef stroganoff.

It’s got a good creamy sauce that rehydrates well and doesn’t feel too runny. The bits of ground beef add a bit of protein and texture, but are kinda bland. While lots of the meals I’ve tried aren’t great to look at, this one is particularly beige.

While lots of backpacking meals have a fair amount of sodium, this one has a ton: If you eat the whole pouch, you are consuming 1540 mg of salt (about 67% of your recommended daily intake). I actually like the salty taste of this meal. And I often plan to eat this meal after a hot day where I’m sweating a lot and need to replenish my electrolytes.

And of course, I eat the whole package. I don’t care what it says – this is not two servings.

SLY Pad Thai

My rating: 7/10

Calories per serving: 1030

Protein per serving: 30g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: 12 minutes

Price: $17.95 CAD

Diet: Vegan, Gluten-free, Dairy-free

I was excited to try a meal from SLY because they are a small plant-based freeze-dried meal company from Quebec. The SLY pad thai wasn’t very traditional, but it is pretty good. I would describe it more as a rice noodle stir fry with a tangy peanut flavour. It’s not pad thai, but it is tasty.

Many plant-based meals don’t have a ton of protein. This one has a decent amount (but still not a ton) thanks to the big pieces of soy protein. I actually found the soy protein in this meal to be pretty flavourful and kind of meaty, thanks to the sauce it’s served in.

However, the biggest issue with this meal is rehydration. I let it sit for the recommended 12 minutes, and the big pieces of soy protein were still quite crunchy and powdery. After another 5 minutes, they were a bit better, but still not fully rehydrated.

I ate the meal anyway, since I didn’t mind the crunch, but I can see that being a turn-off for some people. (It’s worth noting that I did make this meal in temperatures that were slightly below freezing, so rehydration time could be a bit slow because of that. But I did try to keep the pouch warm in my jacket.

The calories on this meal are insane – 1030 for the whole pouch. It honestly isn’t that much food by volume, so I had no problem finishing this on my own.

Meals That are Just Okay

Mountain House Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

My rating: 6.5/10

Calories per serving: 230

Protein per serving: 22g

Servings per package: 2

Rehydration time: 7 minutes

Price: $18.95 CAD/$11.99 USD

Diet: Gluten-Free, Omnivore (Contains chicken and dairy.)

If you’re backpacking with someone who is a picky eater, the Mountain House Mashed Potatoes with Chicken is the meal for them. It’s tasty, but fairly boring – perhaps a bit bland. It’s also very beige. I would have loved to have some gravy to go with this, or even some hot sauce.

However, this is a solid and reliable meal. It’s definitely filling, and the freeze-dried chicken adds protein. I also love how quickly it rehydrates – the potatoes rehydrate almost instantly. The additional waiting time is mostly so the chicken isn’t crunchy.

I recommend this meal if you want something you can just pick up off the shelf and go. However, you can replicate this meal at a lower price by combining a package of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes with a handful of Mountain House freeze-dried chicken.

Like the other Mountain House meals, you need to eat the whole package to get full. It does NOT serve two.

Mountain House Beef Lasagna

My rating: 6/10

Calories per serving: 220

Protein per serving: 11g

Servings per package: 2

Rehydration time: 9 minutes

Price: $18.95 CAD/$11.99 USD

Diet: (Omnivore: Contains beef, dairy, and wheat.)

The Mountain House Lasagna is a good meal for kids or picky eaters. It’s a very cheesy pasta with tomato sauce and ground beef.

This is another meal I’ve eaten tons of times because I really love the cheese in it. You can actually get a bit of a cheese pull going, which helps it feel more like real food and less like slop in a bag.

The meal rehydrates well, although the beef can be a bit gravelly. I do find the tomato sauce a bit on the sweet side, kind of like kids’ pasta, but there isn’t sugar in their ingredients list, so I’m not sure where I’m getting that from.

And of course, I eat the whole package since it’s not enough food for two servings.

Meals I Do NOT Recommend

Thankfully, there’s nothing on this list yet! I don’t know if I’ve just been lucky, or if I’m not a picky eater. Time will tell!

Final Thoughts

I’ve probably tried dozens of backpacking meals over the years. I wish I had started reviewing them sooner so I had a record I could refer back to when buying new meals. Sometimes I just stare at the packages at the outdoor store and guess!

I’ll keep this post updated each time I try a new meal, so stay tuned for more backpacking meal reviews.

READ NEXT:

• Grocery Store Backpacking Meals for Cheap
• Dehydrating Food For Backpacking: A Beginner’s Guide
• 16 Backpacking Breakfast Ideas