eNZees Blog

Make your own DIY Adventure Food

by Jill Schuman | February 10, 2017 | 1 Comment

Foul weather keeping you indoors this weekend? No reason to let that get you down! Why not spend some time in the kitchen experimenting with these homemade energy bars, DIY backpacking meals, and good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies? Find one you like and bake them before your next adventure!

No-Bake Raspberry Chia Breakfast Bars

DIY Chia Seed Raspberry Breakfast bar

Delicious and easy? Sign us up! Chia seeds, as you may know, are a much heralded superfood, rich in healthy nutrients like fiber and protein. This DIY breakfast bar recipe from The Daily Burn makes full use of chia seed's natural properties: each bar contains 7g of fiber and 6g of protein!

Monica's 6 Homemade Backpacking Meals

DIY backpacking meals The Yummy Life

Monica from The Yummy Life has a fantastic blog with some great DIY backpacking recipes. Try mixing up one of these six recipes this weekend and sample them from comfort of your own home, before you take them on the trail. Curry Chicken Rice, anyone? 

Fresh Electrolyte Recovery Drink

DIY Electrolyte sports drink

You've no doubt seen the bottles of electrolyte drinks and powders in your local health food store (or even outdoor gear store!), but are quite often filled with artificial sweeteners and food dyes. Try out one of these homemade, all-natural drinks from Everyday Roots after your next workout session.  

Healthy Homemade Granola from Cookie + Kate

Homemade Granola by Cookie + Kate

Love granola? Don't love all the words on the ingredients list you can't pronounce? Try making your own granola at home. It's incredibly easy and more cost efficient than buy boxes of store bought granola. We're big fans of the recipe blog Cookie + Kate, which provides a huge variety of recipes and beautiful photography to boot! Insider tip: granola is a great backpacking breakfast. Mix up a cup of dehydrated milk powder and serve your homemade granola! 

The Wild Backpacker's Latte Bars

Need a little afternoon kick on the trail? Try making this Latte Bar recipe from the Wild Backpacker. With minimal ingredients and a short bake time, you'll be enjoying these bars in no time! 

Tagged: DIY backpacking food, homemade dehydrated backpacking food, homemade energy bars, homemade granola, homemade protein bars, how to make your own backpacking meals, how to make your own hiking food

DIY Backpacking Meal Ideas

by Jill Schuman | May 28, 2016 | 0 Comments

DIY Backpacking Meals

Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/oliveoligarchy/

Prepackaged backpacking meals like Good To-Go or AlpineAire are great, but if you’re headed out for several days at a time their weight (and cost) can add up. Creating your own dinners for backpacking can be a creative and fun endeavor. Try out these ideas next time you hit the trail.

Quinoa Marinara Casserole
Quinoa is a great food for backpacking, not only because it is light but it’s also high in protein, magnesium, and fiber. A single cup usually generates 3 cups of fully cooked quinoa, so you won’t have to carry very much for a single meal.

Ingredients:
Quinoa
Water
Marinara sauce leather or powder
Dehydrated vegetables
Freeze-dried beef
Parmesan cheese

To cook the quinoa, you need 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. Once you get your quinoa boiling on your camp stove, mix in the marinara leather or powder, vegetables, and freeze-dried beef. Sometimes I’ll carry a small bottle of olive oil (for additional fat) and mix that into my meals as well. Depending on how much fuel you have and the type of stove you’re using, you can let this mixture simmer until done, however if the weather is warm, I will usually take my covered pot off the stove and let everything rehydrate in the hot water for 10-15 minutes. Top it off with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Ramen with Instant Mashed Potatoes
I admit, ramen and mashed potatoes sounds like something you might’ve eaten on a dare in college. But for a thru-hiker, this high-calorie meal really hits the spot after a long day (after day) on the trail.

Ingredients:
1 package of ramen noodles (any flavor of your choice)
½ package of instant mashed potatoes
Freeze-dried beef
Dehydrated vegetables
1 single serving package of greens powder (to make this meal at least look healthy)

Nearly all these ingredients can be found at your local grocery store, making it as easy to shop for as it is to prepare. Boil however much water the ramen calls for (usually 400-500 ml) and drop the ramen noodles, seasoning, vegetables, and beef in. Turn your stove off and let sit for 3-5 minutes (or until the noodles are soft). Mix in your mashed potatoes and powdered greens. Let sit for another minute or two then dig in!

Mac n’ Cheese Casserole
I originally got the idea from BackpackingChef.com’s Beef Stroganoff Recipe that calls for Annie’s stroganoff powder. Like the above ramen dish, this will be another hearty meal for big days. Mix the powdered ingredients, beef and veggies at home before you hit the trail to reduce the number of separate ingredients you have to carry.

Ingredients:
1 box of Annie’s Mac n’ Cheese
1-2 TB powdered milk
Dehydrated ground beef
Dehydrated vegetables

Bring 300-400ml of water to a boil. Stir in the pasta, vegetables, and beef. Again, if it’s warm enough outside, you may be able to let your noodles rehydrate off the burner. If not, simmer, stirring frequently to keep the noodles from sticking. Once the noodles are soft, mix in your remaining ingredients. If the concotion is too soupy, add in more powdered milk to thicken it up.












Tagged: backpacking meals, DIY meals for backpacking, homemade backpacking meals, how to make your own backpacking meals