The Best Overnight Backpacking Meal I've Ever Had

When most people, myself included, think of backpacking meals, the first thing that comes to mind is dehydrated, nonperishable, vacuum-sealed meals. These meals can be store-bought or homemade. The preparation usually consists of boiling water and rehydrating, or simply cold-soaking. There are few things better than that first bite of rehydrated Mountain House Chili Mac after a long day of trekking up a mountain! It’s literally like your stomach is getting a hug. Chef’s kiss! 

Deric and Eric enjoying a Mountain House meal during sunset.

However, if you ever eat backpacking food while not on a backpacking trip, you will be sorely disappointed. I can’t explain why, but backpacking food is only good when out in the woods after hiking. That’s it. There is literally no other way to eat it. They are sacred in the wilderness, and only in the wilderness. Don’t believe me? Just try eating a dehydrated meal in the comfort of your home. You’ll be disgusted. But head out into the forest? It’s Michelin star material. It’s a hiking phenomenon. 

Fresh Food on the Trail

Now, I have to forewarn you. This tale is not about the best dehydrated meal. It's not a recommendation on what you should eat while backpacking. It’s about a fresh meal on the trail ***GASP***

About to hike behind a waterfall to get to our fresh meal!

I recently did a hike with fresh pasta sauce and spaghetti! It tasted as gourmet as it sounds.

This meal breaks the cardinal rule of backpacking food. BUT. It is the best backpacking meal I've had in my entire life and I’m here to share it with you all. 

[Disclaimer: I must note, due to potential food illness risks, I do not recommend doing this. I opposed the idea of packing fresh food until I did it this one time. It’s probably a one-time thing for me, but it was still damn good and will live as a core memory in my backpacking vocation.]

The Thought Process

When Noah- my partner, a self-proclaimed foodie, and an expert rafter- said he wanted to come on an overnight backpacking trip, his first thought was “What are we going to eat?” 

Noah cooking up a curry on a rafting trip- notice the expansive beach kitchen

I must mention this was his first official overnight backpacking trip (exciting stuff!!!). His question was not of the mindset of debating which dehydrated meal to choose from. It was along the lines of “How do I create the most delicious meal in the woods.” 

Note his attributes of foodie and rafter. These are important components to understand why his idea of a backpacking meal did not follow the status quo.

Rafting Food vs. Backpacking Food

one of the meals on our latest rafting trips! Photo cred: Jenna Medlin

Let me give you a little insight into Noah’s approach to camp food. He grew up rafting. If you do rafting food right, each meal has the potential to be the best food you will eat all year.

Boats are loaded with giant coolers that act as refrigerators, keeping food properly chilled and/or frozen for days on end. The rafts can handle a ton of weight, which means a full camp kitchen to cook meals to your heart’s delight. 

Backpacking is the antithesis of this. 

rafting! PC: Walker Mattlin

On the left (or top) you see an elaborate rafting kitchen set up (photo cred: Walker Mattlin), stocked with dry boxes full of all you may need for your culinary arts on the river. On the right (or bottom) you have a backpacking stove that screws into a butane tank. One is not like the other.

While backpacking, a tiny stove heats one piece of cookware at a time, and that cookware is usually a cup that you use to boil water. Unlike rafting trips, luxury is not the main prerogative in meal preparation. In fact, luxury is so far off the radar it’s on another planet.

Other backpacking blogs may disagree with me, saying that you can have delicious meals in the mountains. It's true, you can!! Backpacking meals can be wicked good!! But it’s all relative. Having a top-notch backpacking meal, in my opinion, will never come close to a meal one may have after a long day of boating down a river. It’s almost incomparable since they are two completely different processes, the only common factor being the act of cooking outside. That is until you bring a rafter on backpacking trip...

Kenzie prepping the stove next to his nice new kitchen box, equipped with a paper towel holder! You wouldn't be caught DEAD with a full roll of paper towels on the hiking trail, let me tell ya!

Noah is used to the exorbitance of the fine dining of rafting. I explained to him that we would not be eating something that needed to be chilled and would instead bring dehydrated meals to pour boiled water into.

He wasn’t satisfied with that option and opted for a complicated and unheard-of meal: fresh pasta sauce, made at camp, for ALL FOUR hikers going. 

the four hikers in an obligatory pre-hike selfie

Something you need to know about Noah is that he is determined. When he has an idea, he makes it happen, no matter how unruly or unusual it is. Here is a man who has never gone on an overnight backpacking trip veering from the traditional dehydrated meal to make a fresh sauce, not just for himself but for everyone on the trip. So he formulated his plan and made it happen. Plus it was Deric's birthday, which made the meal extra special!

the birthday boy and a waterfall!

Backpacking Meal Ingredients: Fresh Pasta Sauce

The plan was to gather the ingredients, bring a lightweight knife and cutting board, and hike it all to camp where he would prepare it. And he did just that.

Here’s what we brought:

• 1 jar of vodka sauce, opened then frozen in a quart bag. The frozen sauce also acted as the “ice” to keep the veggies cold 

• 1 shallot

• 4 mini bell peppers

• 3 fresh mushrooms

• 4 chicken sausages, also frozen

• 16oz box of spaghetti 

• Olive oil put into a baby soap travel-sized bottle

I didn't take photos of the ingredients and you probably already know what they all look like, but I drew some out for you anyway to add some flavor -if you will- to the page :-)

You may wonder: If you were going to freeze the sauce anyway, why didn’t you just make it beforehand and freeze the whole thing? Great question!

It’s because Noah loves fresh meals and was bound and determined to do his dicing and prep out in nature. 

All he had to do was make sure the chicken sausages and the veggies didn’t go bad during the trip. It helped that we froze the unopened sausage packet because it was already vacuum sealed, lessening the chances for bacteria to grow. 

Noah took my old work lunchpack, cut off the handles (extra weight???), and used it as his insulator to keep the food cold. His thought process was that the frozen items (sauce and chicken) would stay cold enough to keep the lunchpack chilled, yet still be able to defrost by the time we got to camp. 

Cooking at Camp

To my surprise and delight, his method worked! Everything defrosted during the seven-mile trek but was still cold when we made it to camp. I was worried that the chicken and mushrooms were going to go bad, but they were just fine! 

The only whoops was that we left the cutting board at home! Bummer! But what do we do in the face of events not going as planned? We adapt! We ended up just using a flat rock and rinsing the veggies off with filtered water. Since there were four of us going, we asked our friends to bring an extra stove so we could cook the spaghetti and sauce at the same time. 

We prepped all of the veggies and sliced the chicken. We then sautéed it all with olive oil in an MSR ceramic skillet. We boiled water and cooked the spaghetti in an MSR 2.5 Liter pot. Shoutout to Kenzie (my friend and Noah’s brother) who likes to research and buy high-quality camping gear. Plus he lets us borrow it! 

two happy campers makin' a meal

The veggies sizzled and created a savory aroma that would put my Italian grandpa's kitchen to shame! (Okay, that's an exaggeration and also blasphemy to all my Italian relatives, but it was pretty darn mouthwatering). We mixed in the vodka sauce and let it simmer with the base. We drained the pasta, and the meal was complete! We served it all up with a foldable, lightweight camping spoon (also from MSR).

meal so good ya can't help but dance

The meal turned out to be a success, filling all four of our bellies after an upwards trek to camp! It was also the perfect meal to prep for our incline-only eight-mile hike the next day! Carbloading with a fresh twist, including a full chicken sausage for each person! All in all, I give Noah major credit for bringing fresh food on a backpacking trip and making the best backpacking meal all four of us ever had, as each hiker can attest!

Final Thoughts

It's not totally uncommon for backpackers to make fresh meals instead of the typical dehydrated ones! It helps when the hike is short and the vegetables are hearty. If you have a plan and are going on a one-to-two-night hike, I honestly think it's worth it.

However, the whole opening of the tomato/vodka sauce and bringing chicken was frowned upon by every Reddit backpack meal-prepper I read. And they all have a point.

The main arguments against bringing fresh food on backpacking trips include:

• Perishability: fresh food goes bad when unrefrigerated.

• Bacteria: Ahh yes, the imminent self-inflicted food poisoning. Rotten/bacteria-ridden food is to be taken seriously, as being sick on a trek is about 39790823475907234 times worse than being sick at home.

• Time on the trail: This meal was doable because it was a single-night trip. The more time you're out on the trail, the less likely your fresh food will last. 

• Scent: smells carry to the wildlife around you, and you may attract certain unwanted trail mates. Alternatively, rehydrated meals and the leftover packaging also smell, so I don't feel the scent argument is the strongest.  

• Weight: fresh food weighs more than dehydrated food. Simple as that. Let’s just say you probably won’t see ultralight backpackers bring this type of meal on their hikes.

• Food Handling: let’s face it. You’re out in the wilderness. You’re dirty. Hand sanitizer can only go so far. The last thing you want to do is handle the food you’re about to eat with your grimy fingers and never-quite-clean utensils. 

With all the arguments deterring hikers from making fresh meals, there is credence to bringing fresh food, if you can plan for it.

There are hearty veggies that will last you the first few days on the trail, like peppers, shallots, cherry tomatoes, apples, avocado (start green), and carrots. This can add some diversity to your backpacking platter. The primary way most backpackers get their fix of fruits and veggies is by dehydrating them beforehand. Here’s a great video by Homemade Wanderlust where Dixie shares how she implements a healthier variety of food into her backpacking meals. I highly recommend watching her video, especially before a thru-hike. 

Noah's first backpacking trip (and fresh backcountry meal) was a success!

It was a risk to bring the frozen chicken and an already-opened can of pasta sauce. An alternative was to bring the jar of pasta, but carrying glass around is a big no-no, both for safety and for weight. It was a risk that we took and fortunately, it turned out super well! Plus Deric got his birthday meal and Noah got bragging rights for his first overnight backpacking trip!

Overall, bringing fresh food on the trail was a success for our single-overnighter, and was a delicious alternative to a dehydrated meal. In the future, I may be a bit braver while packing veggies on my overnight trips! 

However, do I recommend doing this on a hike that lasts more than 1-2 nights? Not really. It was a fun bonding experience and a delicious meal, but again, the health risks might not be worth it. We'll see if I change my tune on my next backpacking trip!

Have you ever done fresh meals on overnight trips? Let me know so I can try it out! Comment below or send me a message and I’ll let you know how my attempt goes :-) 

Eric relishing in his fresh meal. I know it looks photoshopped, I also don't know why, ask my camera