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 did not enjoy – I didn’t like them, but maybe you will?
• Desserts – Are backpacking desserts better than just bringing a chocolate bar?

Hey there: I bought most of the meals in this post with my own money, but a few of them were 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.

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 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.

Backpacker’s Pantry Shepherd’s Potato Stew with Beef

My rating: 7/10

Calories per serving: 430

Protein per serving: 27g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: 15 minutes

Price: $17.95 CAD/$12.99 USD

Diet: Gluten-free, Omnivore (Contains beef and dairy)

The Backpacker’s Pantry Shepherd’s Potato Stew with Beef felt quite hearty, even though the calorie count for the package was fairly low at just 430 calories. But when you consider that potatoes have a high satiety index (they make you feel full), that makes sense, since this dish is basically flavoured mashed potatoes with some beef.

Before you add water, the meal is white, since it is mostly potato flakes. I was really surprised when I opened it during rehydration to stir it and found that it was brown! The beef and soup powder really turn the whole dish into a savoury brown stew with chunks of veggies.

It was also seasoned well – the garlic and black pepper really came through. While the nutrition facts list a ton of salt, the meal didn’t taste over salted. There is also cheese in this. The cheese flavour is subtle, but I think it does help make the overall meal feel more creamy.

Backpacker’s Pantry Lasagna

My rating: 7/10

Calories per serving: 620

Protein per serving: 28g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: 15 minutes

Price: $14.95 CAD/$9.95 USD

Diet: Vegetarian (Contains gluten, eggs, and dairy)

Both my husband and I were surprised to discover that the Backpacker’s Pantry Lasagna is vegetarian. Neither one of us had looked at the package too carefully, and it was only when we were halfway through it that we realized it didn’t contain any meat. It is quite hearty for a vegetarian meal, thanks to all the cheese and dairy in it.

It’s also not really lasagna, since the layered and baked texture would be impossible to achieve in a freeze-dried meal. Instead, it is bits of flat noodle with a creamy tomato sauce, lots of cheese, and herbs (mostly oregano). But, it does taste like lasagna!

I wish it was as cheesy as the Mountain House beef lasagna (reviewed below), but overall I preferred the creamy, herby tomato sauce in the Backpacker’s Pantry version.

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.

Backpacker’s Pantry Drunken Noodles with Chicken

My rating: 6.5/10

Calories per serving: 490

Protein per serving: 27g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: 15 minutes

Price: $18.50 CAD/$13 USD

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

Also known as Pad Kee Mao, drunken noodles is a spicy Thai dish that is so hot that it is often served with an ice cold beer, hence the name “drunken”. The Backpacker’s Pantry Drunken Noodles with Chicken is not a particularly faithful version of dish, but that’s probably for the best because while it does have a hint of spice, it’s not overly spicy.

I think it’s the perfect amount of spice for a backpacking meal – enough to taste it, but not so much that you can’t finish the meal or enough to upset your stomach.

In general, this dish is flat rice noodles, the same bland freeze-dried chicken breast that is in lots of backpacking meals, finely diced veggies, and a sweet soy based sauce with a kick of spicy jalapeno and lime.

I liked the overall flavour of the dish, especially the hint of lime and jalapeno flavour that balanced out the sweetness of the sauce. Rice noodles rehydrate fast, which means there were no unexpectedly crunchy bits like you get with wheat noodles. However, some of them felt a bit mushy – they rehydrated almost too much. The veggie chunks are also super-small, so it was more like veggie powder than actual veggies you can see and taste.

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.

Backpacker’s Pantry Fettucini Alfredo with Chicken

My rating: 6/10

Calories per serving: 580

Protein per serving: 40g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: 15 minutes

Price: $19.50 CAD/$12.99 USD

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

The Backpacker’s Pantry Fettuccni Alfredo with Chicken is a perfectly serviceable backpacking meal, but it just doesn’t stand out in any way. The noodles were nicely al dente without being mushy. The sauce flavour was what you’d expect from alfredo.

The downfall of the dish is the chicken, but that’s not a knock to Backpacker’s Pantry – the freeze-dried chicken breast that pretty much all backpacking meal companies use is very bland, and this one was no exception.

I do wish the sauce was a bit thicker and creamier. It tasted exactly like alfredo sauce, but the consistency was much closer to water than sauce.

I think pretty much everyone will eat this meal with few complaints, but most people won’t be excited about it.

Meals I Did Not Enjoy

I don’t love these meals, but maybe they just aren’t to my taste?

Wild Edge Keto Breakfast Shakshuka

My rating: 1/10

Calories per serving: 420

Protein per serving: 12g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: 15 minutes

Price: $17.95 CAD

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

I really wanted to like the Wild Edge Keto Breakfast Shakshuka since it’s from a small Canadian company based out of Powell River, BC and it is keto, which can be hard to find in carb-heavy backpacking meals. It also comes with a little packet of ghee (clarified butter), which was a fun touch.

However, this just wasn’t for me. The major issue is that it uses dehydrated eggs. Scrambled eggs are really hard to preserve. Freeze-dried eggs can be ok and so can egg powder that you rehydrate and then cook in a skillet, but both can be unpleasantly rubbery. Dehydrated eggs have a terrible cardboard texture that is hard to overcome. My husband likes a lot of backpacking meals that use eggs and he couldn’t finish this.

The other thing that I didn’t love about this meal is that it claims it is high calorie and high protein, but it doesn’t deliver. It’s only 420 calories, which is really low compared to many of the other meals I’ve tried. And it only has 12 g of protein, which is one of the lowest values of any of the meals I’ve reviewed… including vegan meals!

Desserts

Mountain House Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich

My rating: 7/10

Calories per serving: 140

Protein per serving: 2g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: n/a – it’s ready to eat

Price: $5 USD

Diet: Vegetarian (contains dairy), Omnivore (Contains wheat)

I’ve seen the Mountain House Ice Cream Sandwich in stores, but I had never tried it since it sounded a bit weird. It’s basically freeze-dried ice cream.

After finally sampling it, I can confirm… it’s definitely ice cream. The ice cream tastes just like vanilla ice cream! The wafer part of the sandwich is remarkably like the cookie portion of a cheap grocery store ice cream sandwich: slightly soft and a bit mushy from being next to the ice cream.

But the big difference is the texture. Since it is freeze dried, the ice cream is chewy and a bit brittle, sort of like the sponge toffee in a Cadbury Crunchie. It crunches and crumbles when you bite into it, and then it melts on your tongue. It’s a weird (but not unpleasant sensation).

While I liked the ice cream sandwich, I can’t give it a super high rating since it’s a bit expensive for the amount of food you get. And honestly, it’s a bit of a novelty rather than something I would pack over and over again. But if you want to get a special treat for an ice cream loving backpacker (or some kids who backpack) I definitely recommend it.

Liquid I.V. Hot Chocolate Electrolyte Powder

My rating: 5/10

Calories per serving: 30

Protein per serving: 0g

Servings per package: 1

Rehydration time: n/a – just stir in hot water

Price: $22.79 CAD for a pack of 18

Diet: Vegan, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

I sweat heavily, so on backpacking trips, I usually drink an electrolyte beverage as soon as I get to camp. I was excited to try out the Liquid I.V. Hot Chocolate Electrolyte Powder since it seemed like a good way to get a hot drink and replenish my salts at the same time.

Unlike the other Liquid I.V. flavours (I love the passion fruit one), the hot chocolate powder is designed to be added to 250ml of water instead of 1L, so it comes in a much smaller package.

When I first mixed it into hot water I was confused. It smelled mostly like hot chocolate, but it wasn’t creamy at all… it just looked like brown water. I checked the ingredients and realized that’s because there is no cream in it – dairy or otherwise. When drinking, it felt quite thin compared to normal creamy hot chocolate.

The hot chocolate also smelled a bit like chocolate liqueur, rather than hot chocolate. The taste was chocolately, but since it was missing the creaminess of regular hot chocolate, I didn’t enjoy it as much. It also was less sweet (which is fine) and a bit more salty (which I expected since I was drinking it to replenish salts).

Overall, it was fine. I’ll finish the rest of the package I bought, but I don’t think I’ll buy it again. I’m going to try mixing it with regular hot chocolate powder in a 1:1 ratio and adding more water next time. I think that will improve the flavour and texture while still giving me electrolytes.

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