10 Easy Delicious Hiking And Backpacking Lunch Ideas
/Hunger pangs are real when you’re on a trail for hours or even on a 2-day or 3-day hike. With a little bit of meal planning, you can find inventive ways to prepare delicious hiking and no-cooking backpacking lunch ideas.
The most important way to mix and prepare your food is to be conscious of whether your meals are broken down into carbs, protein and fat.
Carbs are pretty simple to figure out, starting with either instant rice, oatmeal, buckwheat or couscous and sugars from trail mixes.
For fats: there are a variety you can balance it out from such as canned tuna with olive oil, some nut butter of your choice with healthy fats or even hardened cheese.
For proteins: eating high-protein foods are important is the amino acids helps your body recover and rebuild muscles. Pick the right pocketable protein such as tuna, any of your favourite easy-to-go- meat portions like ham slices, smoked salmon or cooked sausages. If you’re vegetarian, you can opt for hummus and bell peppers.
Here are some important ways on how to prep your meals and 10 Asian and Western lunch ideas (scroll below)
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What Should You Eat On A Day Hike?
The best hiking and backpacking lunch ideas for a day hike, 2-3 day hike
If you’re going on a day hike, the most important thing is to not let yourself eat junk food. It is easy to cave in but with proper planning you can find healthier alternatives.
The most important thing is to ensure that the meal before your hike is packed with nutritious content focusing on whole grains and lean protein.
A turkey or chicken sandwich, hard-boiled eggs, oatmeal with apple and banana are all great ideas to consume before you start your hike. You can double the portions and bag it for your trip during your hike! You could have a sandwich before and after with all the hiking you’re doing!
The humble and the best sandwich in the world in a sealed ziploc bag is really what it takes to keep you full during the day and couple that with trail nuts, an energy drink.
What Should You Eat On A Multiple Day Hike (2 or 3 days)?
The first thing in getting food for a multiple day hike is to ensure that the food doesn’t weigh much. Get less-water based dishes such as pasta, couscous, buckwheat, fruits or veggies to start with.
For breakfast: Oatmeal in a packet with hot water from a flask and small sack of dry fruits to lay it on.
For lunch: You do not want to stop somewhere where you have to make a full-fledged lunch.
Ham slices with cheese and put them on a bread loaf with any squeeze sauce you can drizzle on is perfect for lunch. But if that’s too elaborate you can open a can of tuna and eat them with crackers. If you’re vegetarian, the best way is get hummus and sundried tomatoes!
Pre-packaged meals are really what I would dish out — you can get a lot of Indian pre-packed meals in cottage cheese (paneer) flavours that are excellent and wholesome. All you need is a pot and some hot water.
If you don’t want to cook, you could carry a can of your favourite protein of your choice and add a dash of twist to it, make it into a taco bowl or chicken bowl with canned beans that are properly rinsed, shredded cabbage, honey tomatoes and shredded cheese and dressing of choice.
Snacks: There’s nothing more important than having snacks to treat yourself. I know people who have had a snicker day meal for days but you don’t have to be that extreme, you could carry any chewy chocolate and protein bars and nuts!
Backpacking Lunch Ideas Where No Cooking is Required
Here are some hiking and backpacking lunch ideas where no cooking is required
If you’ve a Western palatte, your idea of lunch may be different but there’s no harm exploring the Asian end of the aisle and mixing it up with a few lunch favourites that pack a punch.
Western Style No-Cook Hiking Lunch Ideas
1. Premium Loaded Sandwiches
Hiking lunch sandwiches with a variety of toppings
There’s no creativity and ideas stopping what you’d put in a sandwich — for starters it is your meat of choice that could be either tuna, salami, shredded chicken or prosciutto decked with pickles, cucumber, salt and good old cheese.
I often use canned white tuna and and garden-fresh veggies. I would usually chop up the olives and capers and mix them into the tuna for a nice flavour hit that won’t slip out of your sandwich as you eat.
2. Peanut Butter and Jelly
We’re suckers for PB&J’s and you know it can be eaten any time of the day, but the trick over here is to make it loaded with nutritious content.
The night before spread an evenly layered of thick peanut butter on what side and jelly on the other side (ideally strawberry or blueberry jelly) — I would freeze them the night before (2-3 sandwiches) and take them with me the next morning.
3. The Ultimate Sausages Wrap
Cold sausages mixed with veggies and wrapped with mustard and cabbage is perfect for on-the-go hikes! (Tip: pack your wraps separately so it not soggy)
4. Backcountry Tuna & Egg Salad
The key is to make it a double protein egg and tuna lunch. Pack pre-boiled eggs, tuna in olive oil and hard cheese and dijon mustard sauce. Give it a punch by carrying your favourite veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers!
5. No-bake energy rolled oats bites
This is a heavenly mix that will keep you full for a long time! You can prepare them the day before and basically combine rolled oats, honey, peanut butter and choc chips and store the mixture in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes before rolling and freezing later.
Asian Style No-Cook Hiking Lunch Ideas
1. Onigiri
Known as Japanese rice balls filled with meat (usually chicken or fish), you can get it at any Family Mart or convenience store. These are quite filling and have the perfect portion of rice and protein.
2. The Ultimate Kewpie Egg Sandwich
Kewpie Mayo sauce has been a household staple for a lot of people! Their sauces are the perfect pick-me-up after a hard morning of hiking. All you need are hardboiled eggs with and Kewpie Mayo sauce with a dash of salt and black pepper.
I usually like to carry boil eggs because they’re filling and the perfect protein but it can be pretty bland on its own, so the best combo is usually with Kewpie Mayo sauce.
3. Ramen Lunch Box
A crazy good ramen lunch box that you never imagined! All you need is to carry a hot water thermos with you.
Ramen can be full of MSGs and the key thing is to find organic ramen. You can find organic ramen in some markets or in the natural foods section of some supermarkets
All you need is to soak the noodles, add edamame, grilled tofu, and a generous helping of greens of your choice like parsley or spinach drizzled with your own pepper spice mix like garlic powder, paprika, cumin and salt. Most of it would melt right into the soup.
4. Healthy Asian Spring Roll Wrap
Not many people know but you can use Vietnamese spring rolls made of thin rice paper to wrap rice noodles, shrimp, chicken or any fresh herbs of your choice and add it with a dash of spice. It looks like an Asian burrito and it is absolutely delicious and healthy!
5. The Spicy Cumin Wrap
You can mix shredded cooked chicken with cumin or cajun spice and have sundried tomatoes, nuts and cucumber and any packet sauce of your type and wrap it in a tortilla - perfect and simple!
On Outdoor Nutrition
It is important to know your body and the kind of good energy supply that you’d want to spread out throughout the day. There’s a certain ratio of food components that come highly recommended and this should follow with 60% carbs, 20% fat and 20% protein distribution over 2600 to 3000kcal.
Drinking enough water is crucial as well! If needed carry oral dehydration salts or energy gel!
Remember, you’re in control of your body performance and the rest is to have fun during your hikes!
Also read:
Here are some hiking essentials for your meals and trip!
What other lunch ideas do you have in mind? Share with me below!
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