DIY Backpacking Instant Meals

Matt sometimes goes all-out gourmet when we're camping.  He's baked fresh biscuits and made gravy.  He's made eggplant parm.  Stirfry with fresh veg is common.  More often though, we go with quick-and-easy to prepare foods.  We hike and play hard all day on our adventures.  By the time we get back to camp we're ready to fill our bellies on the double.  That's where our DIY instant meals come in.

Backpacking with friends Idaho in April 2022.  Photo credit to Joelle.

We have a couple go-to flavor profiles--Instant Indian Food and Instant Mexican Food--but the customization options are really infinite.

Mixing up a batch of instant food.

Instant Indian Food
1 cup instant rice
1/2 cup textured vegetable protein
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1  boullion cube
1/2 cup dehydrated vegetable blend

At camp on the Idaho backpacking trip in April 2022.  Photo credit to Joelle.

Instant Mexican Food
1 cup instant rice
1/2 cup textured vegetable protein
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 boullion cube
1/2 cup dehydrated vegetable blend

Directions At Home: 
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. 
Put mixture into a well-sealed container or storage bag.  

Directions At Camp:
Bring 2 cups water to a boil. 
Add Instant Food mix and stir until well combined. 
Turn off heat. 
Allow to sit, covered, and hydrate for five minutes. 

We like to serve these up with tortillas or corn chips for the Mexican food and bread, tortillas, or crackers with the Indian one.  This makes about 3-4 servings.  Depending on how far we hiked that day.  :)

One happy camper scarfing an instant burrito after a hot day hiking and swimming in North Cascade National Park.  7/29/2022 

We initally invented the instant meals for backpacking, as a homemade and lower waste version of the expensive dehydrated meals typically marketed to backpackers.  They're filling and balanced, lightweight and quick cooking, easy to prepare and affoardably priced.  We've found they're also well suited for car camping, too, though.  We prepped a batch of each flavor to take along on our recent Washington Megavacation.  Heck, we've even eaten them at home a few times when circumstances have found us with only enough time and/or gusto to boil some water.  ...like when we come home from vacations wrung out and ravenous.  :)

On the trail with my sister, her boyfriend, and Matt. 7/28/2022

They're very handy.