Ill go first. My favorite weird backpacking snack has got to be just plain cream cheese. This is a weird snack in general but on my weekend trips I will bring one block of cream cheese and I split it up into a few long pieces. I sort of nibble and gnaw at one until its gone. I typically dont finish the block, however when the weather is bad and im in my tent doing nothing, i love to grab my book, read, and eat my cream cheese.
What are you favorite odd backpacking snacks/luxuries?
Lucky, you got good eats, my friends insist on bringing booze instead of sweet, delectable treats.
Honestly If I’m doing hiking drinking doesn’t appeal to me at all! I’m always tired and starving so a snack is so much more rewarding.
If I’m on a canoe trip on the other hand I’m happy to have some alcohol!
I always want the snack, but at the end of the night, if I brought a flask and some packets of hot chocolate I'm always super happy that I brought them!
Apple cider packets and rum for me 😁
I’m so much of a lightweight that I think bringing booze on a trip would turn my hike into a tumble.
"Sometimes if you listen really close, on a foggy night just like this, you can hear me violently open a Tillamook pepperoni stick."
A little pack of baby wipes. When you get in your tent at night it is so nice to get all the sunscreen and grime off your face before you go to sleep.
And feet. Few things better than cleaning the feet.
Hope you pack them out. Though they often might say biodegradable they break down in about a thousand years. *
*Hyperbole
Yes - for sure. I use the ‘green’ ones but we are no trace campers.
I use the unscented ones to not attract animals and dry them out at home and wet them when used, to lighten them up. 2g each so don't feel guilty carrying a few!
Tortilla, Nutella, dried banana chips, and honey. All rolled up. Might try throwing some M&Ms next time too.
this sounds quite incredible. how do you go about spreading the nutella, ive used a detected plastic knife for spreading nutella and peanut butter bc my bush knife gets very gross and id like to avoid licking it.
A spoon works fine as a spreader
I would also slice up butter and add it to the hiker trash burrito 🌯
Chicken ina biscuit crackers with pepper jack cheese.
S'mores flavor pop tarts.
The pop tarts, yes! When I do longer trips, after a couple weeks I switch my breakfast to S’mores pop tarts. I open them all up and put them in a ziplock bag. They get all smooshed up anyway so I’ve found this way I don’t have to deal with trying to eat them out of the foil wrapper.
I’ll bring the fudge flavored if I can’t find S’mores at my resupply.
Is anyone going to acknowledge how insane OPs cream cheese snack is???? Nobody is talking about this and I feel like I'm going crazy
Plus, eating in the tent is a good way to invite bears to your camp.
I'm too disgusted to comment on it.
i can’t imagine wanting the cream cheese after being smushed by other snacks and in a warm toasty pack. i’m with ya
Yeah, it comes insanely close to eating butter 😜
Absolutely unhinged. Gagged reading it.
OP might not be doing this specifically, but I love to take sealed packets of cream cheese. They are ultra heavy and so I'll eat them early, but cream cheese makes almost everything more luxurious (in a dirtbag hiker sorta way).
However, my favorite snack is black bean beandip with Fritos. It looks pretty gross, but has great ratios. Tons of carbs, tons of fat, tons of protein, and at 190 cal/oz it is one of the most weight-efficient snacks you can get. No simple carbs, so if you want an immediate energy bump you need to supply sugar elsewhere. But I love this as a mid-afternoon 10-minute break. You can make your own (I do, with a recipe from backcountryfoodie) or you can just dehydrate your favorite store brand. The nature of beans is that they dehydrate really well so you can minimize the carry weight.
Whenever possible, I carry a cucumber out for my first day after town. It's basically water but a wonderful, fresh snack and easy to just bite into while hiking
Fresh fruit and veggies are such a morale boost!
I love an apple. Crisp and sugary
Baby bell cheese. Only time I eat it but I keep it in my pocket and nibble.
Skyrim vibes
Didn't expect this combo to be so great, but almond butter, dates and sharp cheddar cheese in a tortilla. I became sort of known for having a bag of potato chips lashed to my pack. Sun dried tomatoes and cheese on crackers. Baby food pouches of more exciting variations of applesauce.
Snickers beats any fancy energy bar out there because it tastes so much better, makes a nice morale boost when you're dragging.
Snickers don't have nearly the protein of an energy bar, but they are a good, tasty boost! I usually bring a snickers or peanut m&ms for each day. I've also added Milano cookies to the mix - very good calorie to weight ratio!
My favorite hiking lunch is thawed out morning star patties, tillamook extra sharp white cheddar slices, on a tortilla.
oh my gd i never thought about just bringing veggie patties instead of meat patties.... this could be a game changer for me
I am unfamiliar with this snack. Im unsure if this is a troll or not. seems to me this is just a classy name for that classy snack. The closet i've had to that is string cheese and beef jerky on a tortilla. Quite good, and fueled me for my hike!
I'm not trolling. I'm a vegetarian and was having a hard time finding a savory sandwich that doesn't need to be refrigerated at all so I could take a break from pbj wraps, and that was the solution I came up with.
I'm a vegetarian and have never been able to find anything to scratch the savory sandwich itch either. Do you put the patties in frozen and let them thaw as you go or pre-thaw and put them in? Any other suggestions for things you've found?
I usually buy them the day before or in the morning, so they have plenty of time to thaw out naturally by the time lunch rolls around. The only sandwich I've found that is legitimately really good is a humus and veggie wrap/sandwich. That's harder to do without a kitchen to store and prepare things though, but that's the best. I've found nothing great for more extended trips, hence my weird Veggie patty nonsense above.
Definitely gonna give this a try. Thanks for the info!
ok i gotta try the veggie patty thing.
you can dehydrate hummus into a powder and then rehydrate slowly with water and a little bit of oil. its absolutely divine on a tortilla with some veggies and cheddar cheese.
it sounds quite nice i appreciate your comment!
I bring those little boxes of golden raisins / cranberries. Great for a tiny snack, great to mix in with morning oats so it's not sad and depressing. And as I said higher up, I always bring hot chocolate mix and a flask of whiskey.
So I'm not someone that watches tv and movies very often. Plus I tend to read tons of books on my spare time. So when I go backpacking I like to download a season of a show or a few movies. I'll watch about an hour of screen time before bed and it is just amazing. Most people don't understand it.
Was on the colorado trail back in late october downloaded a movie on netflix, what an experience. Downloaded the babysitter or whatever. that one movie with king bach and being out there warm asf in my bag watching that shitty movie was such a nice time. That shitty movie is now one of my favorite movies just because of it (and maybe because of a little king bach action)
Not a snack but helpful for snacking and cooking, I take chopsticks.
I had to make myself a pair of chopsticks on one trip when I left my spoon at the prior nights campsite... :(
A fresh peach or nectarine carefully protected and saved for a few days in. Such a luxurious treat!
Not really a snack, but I’d consider it a luxury any time of the year: Thanksgiving dinner in a bag. Put some instant potatoes, dried cranberries, dehydrated stuffing, a pack of instant brown gravy, and a packet of Starkist chicken with a little salt and pepper. Half a cup of hot water, then mix it up. It ain’t pretty, but dang it tastes great. I usually have 2 servings of it in my pack any trip, and is a perfect make-ahead meal. Really serves 2 people per pack.
Also, loose leaf tea is a must for me. Black or herbal, so no temperature games to be played with the kettle.
This sounds great. I've been looking for a homemade dinner meal without dehydrating. Can you share the quantities you use? Also, do you think it would work with dehydrated chicken?
1/2 cup instant Potatoes 1 tablespoon powdered milk 1 cup dried stuffing 2 tablespoons dried cranberries Packet of turkey gravy Packet of precooked chicken
2 cups boiled water total. You can do a cup of the water with the potatoes and milk, then a half cup with the stuffing and cranberries, and the other half cup with the gravy. Or you can do like I do and throw it all in a bowl and mix it together for less fuss. Still eats well.
Might work with the dehydrated chicken, or turkey for that matter. Just haven’t tried it.
Edit: I said half cup of water in my first reply, but looked up the proper recipe from Fresh Off the Grid. Credit to them for the recipe. Overall, the whole meal could serve 2 people, and it takes almost no room or weight in a pack. Plus, the cost is pretty low if you shop it. Win win.
Awesome. Thanks. I will try this on my next trip.
Edit: making it at home first of course :) This is what I eat for breakfast everyday so looking for a similar solution for dinner where I can buy off the shelf stuff instead of dehydrating my own. Good commercial dehydrated meals are just so expensive.
I’d definitely recommend trying it with half the ingredients first, not only to see if you like it with less waste, but also to test your portion size. I know the last trip I took it on, I made the full size and by the end of it was feeling stuffed. Could have easily handed off a portion of it to one of the others on the trip and eaten well. Of course, mileage may vary, so test for what works for you. Just giving a friendly heads up. It’s hearty lol
Thanks. I was thinking of cutting it half :)
instant cornmeal polenta, served oatmeal style; maple syrup, dried fruits, nuts, etc. you can also make it a savory meal with salt/pepper, olive oil, cheese, etc.
Whoaaa I did not know instant polenta was a thing. This is a game changer and sounds like a really good thing to mix up the breakfast oatmeal monotony.
Oh man I love it with butter powder freeze dried corn, parm, and a few packets of Taco Bell hot sauce.
A full ass plastic jar of peanut butter
I play chess on my phone before bed and bring peanut m&ms.
What app do you use for chess? I do crosswords but like chess too.
Chess.com so you can play against the computer (varying degrees of difficulty) while in airplane mode.
Thanks!
Puzzles won’t work offline - play around and enjoy. Also, the M&Ms really help your rating.
Olives are perfect. Salty. Fatty.
If I can find the right kind of Polish or German kabanos, also called kabanossi (smoked sausages about thumb thickness and about 9 inches or thereabouts) I air dry them further and they're a massive comforting flavour hit. Better than jerky any day, and can be cut into chunks to enliven stews and soups.
Thanks for this idea, I hadn’t thought of dehydrating sausage!
A cool dry place, and a couple of days, concentrates the flavour wonderfully. Try to get the 'artisanal' type rather than plastic wrapped type. Have you a food dehydrator, as that would do a brilliant job of drying them.
Plenty of sausages out there that do not require any extra drying. They'll keep for a few weeks in your pack.
I don't eat meat anymore but I used to bring a soppressata with me and just slice it up. Even worked great cutting up chunks to go in food I cooked.
Cherry turnovers. A little heavy but incredibly satisfying.
Our friend produced smoked oysters, cream cheese and crackers one evening in the backcountry. She made very elegant and filling appetizer. Another good trick is to bring fresh basil - it packs a powerful flavour and gives any kind of backcountry wrap, etc, a fresh green flavour.
This is mine! I always bring smoked oysters and crackers. I'll have to bring cream cheese next time too. Sounds delish! The oysters have a TON of salt in them too. Perfect for those extra sweaty days.
Yes - that salty oily taste is perfect when you are really hungry.
Tinned fish
does cream cheese run the risk of spoiling?
That would most certainly be a fat joint for any vistas we come across. Certainly a time worth using some if you happen to partake of the herb.
My favorite snack is probably still those Snyder flavor pretzel peices...
Pizza. Wrapped 2 slices to a foil pouch, one veggie one meat. Guarantee enjoyment- once on top of Humphrey’s Peak in AZ stunned the 4 other people on top. Ended up sharing it with them, and Maisie our dog got the pizza bones.
Tuna pouch with to go mayo and to go relish mixed together and on a tortilla. I like grabbing those condiment packs from gas stations and seeing what I can come up with. I live for the morning beef stick.
In an attempt to justify posting this on wildernessbackpacking, this Finnish traditional way of cooking fish was developed during hunting and fishing trips (while modern applications usually literally use a board made at a sawmill). Back in the day, a farmer would not only have the farm, but a designated wilderness area to which they'd make hunting, fishing and foraging trips both for adding variation to their own diet, and for some of the harvest to be sold. (in addition, the base for the Finnish word for wilderness is connected with hunting, fishing, foraging, bushcraft etc.)
It's called "loimulohi ". You pin a fillet of a fatty fish on a wide, damp board. Sprinkle on some oil, pepper and salt. It's a good idea to soak the pegs to they don't catch fire. Then you begin the process of cooking it next to the fire in a near-vertical position.
Done just right , the surface is just a bit crispy, and the inside is wonderfully juicy, yet cooked through. Beginners often feel tempted to take the fish too close but using patience, you tend to get better results.
I've been storing my feces in a .67oz dyneema drybag for a few years now. nOT SURE if this is an odd luxury or others do the same but I'm quite a stickler when it comes to leave no trace. I swallow large chunks of food and they typically come out the other end whole dodging any effective digestion. I dont think burrying skittles would be good for the Earth so I keep it with me until I reach town. I thru hiked the PCT in 2021 and for a big chunk of Southern California tthe air would be so dry that I would be able lay my feces on a rock and let it harden overnight. This was super effective when my stools were not so very solid. From there I would smahs it into little itty bitty pices and rake em into the DCF bag. Its around 20L or so and I still had plently of room even after 7 days away from town. The DCF rendered the feces relatively ordorless and I had no fellow hikers comment on it. It was easy to clean and I think the Earth is probally happy My shitsd not cumming inside it
is this a troll? this seems so beyond fake. but the leave no trace principals make it seems real. So let me know if youre trolling.
Redditors is this guy being real? I heard once that a guy used a dry bag to save money and waste on wag bags. Is this the case here? Thanks.
Not a troll ha guess just a weird quirk of mine I guess. I've put thousands of miles down doing this and its become habitual. I know a lot of hiker's whos diets shouldn't allow them to freely shit in the bush. Correct me if I'm wrong but I feel There's no way Pop tarts and instant ramen will benefit the bush
I haven’t laughed this hard in ages. Thankyou
Bellavitano cheese covered in ground espresso beans. Usually I pair it with some kind of beef jerky or crackers.
I was just trying to become a better writer, stop following me between subs you stalking freak.
This guys comments crack me up. No way they’re serious .
“Leaving my vessel dormant “ 🤪🤪🤭🥴
What vessel ? Lololol
Weirdly phallic
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Any favorite chocolate/candy/licorice/fruit roll up. Nun tabs. Trader Joe’s beef jerky.
Aged cheddar crisps & jerky or PB, honey and Tortilla Are my pocket snacks.
Love cereal, powder milk and vanilla protein for on trail lunch.
Homemade cookies, usually Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk where I have subbed a combination of different baking chips for the plain chocolate.
Fig Newtons with a single walnut half balanced on it and a drizzle of honey. I will happily sit in the dirt for a half hour + making and consuming these.
Riley’s beef jerky. The best jerky ever made. Costly but dam!
Hard Tack or Pilot Bread. I love crackers and cheese but Ritz or saltines get destroyed. MRE crackers or pilot bread is the way.
I like to bring some good sausage and aged cheese. I just cut off bits with my knife and snack on high end cheese and sausages.
Hershey's minature chocolate bars. You can get a bag of assorted ones on Amazon for cheap.
Big Sur Bars.
If I take a zero in a hotel, I’ll make wheat toast and make a couple mayo, tomato and lettuce sandwiches.
Trolli worms are a must
I hit the dollar store before and stock up on the candy. camping is boring asl when you dont have a nice snack waiting for you.
Canned fish - mussels, oysters, trout etc. Only for day trips or in the SW where there aren't bears. Boy does it smell so packing it out requires lots of layers even after washing it out.
Weird Snack: Smoked Oysters or other fish.
Weird Luxury: Sega Dreamcast with a 5 in mini lcd TV and battery pack or Nintendo Switch if I don't feel like carrying the full Dreamcast setup.
Me and my friend have a tradition of brining brie, crackers and red pepper jelly to eat at the high point on our trip. We just do 3-4 day hikes so the extra weight is fine.