I have a small backlog of those backpacking foods that come dry in a bag, which must be reconstituted with boiling water, to provide a hot meal on the trail.
My girlfriend has Celiac disease, and thus I have a few of the gluten free versions of these, which we intended to use for day hiking in the colder months that are now behind us.
I thought I’d try a few of these out this summer, rotating our inventory, to keep the older ones from expiring.
Related: I have a small article on how long these backpacking foods last, where I surveyed the expiration dates of several brands at my local REI.
It’s a bit easier to do a head to head comparison during this inventory turnover, where I’ll try a different one out every few days, so I’d thought I’d share the results here, as I try different ones. The below picture is what I’ll be working with, though some of these are not gluten free, so I’ll be saving them for another time.
Where Can You Buy Gluten Free Backpacking Food In Store?
I bought these gluten free backpacking food bags at REI, so if you need one on the fly, I would check to see there’s a store near you. They have a good selection of gluten free options, with Backpacker’s Pantry and Good-To-Go brands adequately represented in store. Sometimes Dick’s Sporting Goods and Walmart will also have a few Mountain House meals in store. If I see any at any other stores I’ll report back here. Otherwise, you may have to grab them from Amazon, or from the REI online store.
What Makes a Backpacking Food Good for Hiking?
These are the features that are important to me, as a day hiker when it comes to these backpacking foods that are reconstituted with boiling water:
- Do they provide enough macronutrients for a 2 to 4 hour day hike? Enough protein? Enough carbs and protein for a post-hike repletion of macros?
- Is it easy to reconstitute in the field? Does the bag stay open and steady when pouring boiling water into it? Is it easy to get the bag open? Is it easy to get any ancillary bags inside the bag open?
- Does it taste good? It doesn’t have to be like a home cooked meal, but does it not taste bad?
- Does it create any adverse GI effects? Bloating, gas, diarrhea, reflux, etc.?
Macronutrients
As far as the macros go, the main function of these meals from the day hiker’s perspective is either for a pre-hike fuel up, a stop-for-lunch refuel, post-hike repletion of lost macros, or a crap-I-got-stuck-out-here, I’m-eating-this-for-dinner-and-sleeping-in-my-car, type scenario. From the pre-hike or mid-hike vantage, getting enough protein (and fat) helps slow gastric emptying, which keeps you feeling full. Complex carbohydrates are needed to slowly release that energy through your hike.
Daily Energy Requirements
Optimally, these backpacking food meals should be able to provide you with roughly 1/3rd of you daily energy requirements, unless you’re bringing along supplemental food as well (which you might want to do for post-hike dinner scenarios, if that tends to be your biggest meal of the day, and thus you want more than 1/3rd of your energy needs).
You therefore should be aware of two things when using these bags in the field: 1) A rough estimate of your daily energy requirement, accounting for your hike. Check out my day hiking and backpacking calorie calculators on my nutrition page. 2) And your daily protein requirements.
For regular, day hikes your protein requirement (assuming you’re an adult) for the day will be 1 to 1.6 grams of protein per kg of body weight (assuming you’re not morbidly obese). If it’s a strenuous, multi-hour, steep hike with a heavy pack, then you can go up to the athletic requirement of 1.4 to 2g/kg/day. I’ll be focusing mostly on the former scenario in these reviews, since we’re talking day hiking here. As long as the bag can provide you with enough protein for 1/3rd of the day also, I’d say it’s a decent bag.
Gluten Free Backpacking Food – Individual Product Results
Backpacker’s Pantry: Pad Thai With Chicken
Check it out on Amazon: Pad Thai with Chicken
Nutrition
The big feature to this meal is that is has 23g per serving of complete protein, or 46g per bag. There is more than enough protein here to get you through a one meal hike. Eating the entire bag provides 840kcal which will likely replete your energy needs for a few hours of day hiking. The complex carb component alone of the meal (38g per serving, once you subtract out fiber and sugar, 76g per bag) works out to roughly 1/3rd of a regular person’s daily needs according to the Nutrition Facts on the back of the package.
Example Macro Calculation
For example, say you’re an active 30 year old, 70kg (154 lbs), 1.77m (5ft 9in.) male expecting to expend 3,300kcal for the day on a moderate hike. You’d need at least 70g+ of protein for the day, equating to 280kcal. The entire bag provides 46g in one serving, so it would be a good pre-hike or post-hike meal. You also need 3,020kcal in carbs and fat, 70% of which should be carbs, or 2,100kcals, or 525g of carbs, for the day.
This meal gets you 110g of carbs, or about 21% of your daily needs, if you eat the entire bag. Just adding a cliff bar (with 43g of carbs) inside your hike, maybe an hour or so in, would get you to 29% of your daily carb requirement. You also need about 100g of fat for the day, and the meal (the entire bag) provides 32% of that. With all the fat and protein in this bag, you’re not going to feel empty on your hike.
Post-hike Macro Repletion
Generally within 30 minutes after a vigorous hike, you’ll want to take in 1.1 to 1.15g/kg of carbs for proper glycogen resynthesis, as well as 0.3 to 0.5g/kg of protein. With 100 grams of non-fiber carbs, this would satisfy a person up to 87kg or 191 lbs with regard to carbs, and a person up to 92kg or 202 lbs with regard to protein.
Sodium Content
The bag also has 1.42g of sodium so if you’re planning on sweating hard for a few hours, this will likely replete a significant amount of your sodium loss through heavy sweating (though to be fair, every person is different in how much sodium they lose sweating; visit my article on the subject).
Ease of Use in Reconstitution
The bag tares apart easy at its intended opening, and is able to sit upright in an open position well enough to allow one to pour their boiling water into it. The ancillary ingredients come in their own bags, and the sriracha powder is easy to spill, opening it by hand, so keep a pocket knife or utility tool with scissors handy if packing this meal. If it’s windy in the field I would probably try to position the bag between two large rocks, in similar size to the bag before trying to pour your water.
The water requirement for the bag is 480ml or about 1 pound of water; keep that in mind if you plan on using it miles up the trail, with a light pack stove. Also keep in mind it’s hard to boil water with one of those stoves when it’s windy, as the flame blows away from your cooking pot. So you’ll need to strategize your cooking if using the bag in the field.
Palatability
From a hot hiking food perspective, I personally rate this one a 9 out of 10. From an overall food perspective, maybe like a 5 or 6 out of 10. It’s really nice to have those generously sized hunks of chicken that you get to bite into and chew like a proper meal. The crunchy peanuts help the texture also. The noodles kind of melt in your mouth, where I would have liked them to be a bit more firm and chewable.
I used the entire sriracha powder and it wasn’t very spicy. I didn’t really taste the sodium either. Basically it tasted like chicken plus a tomato based stew with lime in it. I don’t recommend adding the entire lime packet as it easily gets overwhelming. The peanut butter that it comes with, which you add in before adding your boiling water, is not noticeable in the final product.
GI Side Effects
This meal did not produce any reportable GI discomfort. You do feel full for hours after eating it in a low activity setting (easy, lazy, flat hiking).
Gluten Free Backpacking Food from Good To Go: Herbed Mushroom Risotto
Check it out on Amazon: Herbed Mushroom Risotto (now just packaged as ‘Mushroom Risotto’)
Nutrition
This meal is similar in calories to the chicken based Pad Thai about, but features less protein, a bit more carbs, and a bit more fat.
Protein
The protein is still adequate for a hiking meal, providing about a third of what a 70kg (154 pound) person would need for the day, unless they’re hiking under super strenuous conditions, equivalent to weighted squats at the gym for leg muscle growth.
However, a lean protein of some sort would be a good complement to this bag, especially considering this likely is not a source of complete protein.
Carbs
Continuing to examine our standard 70kg male on a moderate day hike, the bag will give him 23% of his daily carbs. Not bad for an easy to stow meal in your day pack.
Fat
That same hiker would also be getting 20% of their daily fat in the bag.
Sodium
There’s less sodium here than in the Pad Thai above, but still a decent amount – a little less than a gram – so keep that in mind, with regard to heavy sweating and electrolyte repletion.
Post Hike Repletion
As mentioned above, within 30 minutes after a vigorous hike, you’ll want to take in 1.1 to 1.15g/kg of carbs for proper glycogen resynthesis, as well as 0.3 to 0.5g/kg of protein. With 120g of non-fiber carbs, this is good for a person up to 109kg or 240 lbs, and with 26g of protein, this can satisfy a 86kg (190 lbs) person’s post hike protein needs.
Ease of Reconstitution
It was not a problem opening the bag, sitting it upright in an open position, or pouring in the water. Just remember to take out the oxygen absorber. You need a little over a pound of water (500ml) for this one, so pack adequately. The stirring and 20 minute wait from the directions is no joke: failing to stir or wait results in crunchy rice. Believe me, I know! Other than a spoon you need no other tools to deal with this bag, as it has no auxiliary ingredient bags inside the main one. Again, find a less windy spot to boil and pour your water.
Palatability
This one is really good; I would eat this as a side for a home dinner. 10 out of 10 for camp/hike food and 9 out of 10 for regular, home food. Maybe when I make it next, and wait the full 20 minutes, and thus less crunchy rice, it would also be 10/10. Even though it has less sodium than the Pad Thai, it comes out more, for a very flavorful experience.
GI Side Effects
Again zero issues with this bag; and like the Pad Thai, I ate the full thing!
Backpacker’s Pantry: Three Sister’s Stew
Check it out on Amazon: Three Sister’s Stew
Sorry folks, I used this one when I was camping the other day; brought half the bag home, so not the best pics, but here’s what I thought nonetheless:
Nutrition
This on is another 410kcal per serving, 820kcal per bag meal, with 14g/serving or 28g/bag of complete protein, thanks to the quinoa, brown rice and black beans. I’d still combine it with lean complete protein though, which is what I did when camping (pan fried chicken).
Protein
For our 70kg male, inside a moderate hike, where the lower end of protein needs are adequate, this bag gets them 40% of the way there. For a 54kg female, the minimum daily protein requirement allows the bag to provide 52% of that. In more intense hiking, the bag provides 25% and 33% of daily needs for these two people, respectively.
Daily Energy
Our male, on a 3 hour, moderate hike this time, will need 3,460kcal for their day. This bag gets him 24% of the way to satisfying this. The equivalent female, in need of 2,640kcal, could get 31% of her daily needs from the bag.
Carbs and Fat
Our male will need 3,200kcal of carbs and fat (2,240 from carbs, and 960 from fat), and the bag gives him 20% of his needs in non-fiber carbs, and 17% regarding fat. Better eat a chicken breast with that bag dude, like I did.
Our female will need 2,400kcals in carbs and fat, or 1,680kcal and 720kcal respectively, and the bag gets her to 27% and 22.5% of that.
Post Hike Repletion
30 minutes after a big hike, this bag will satisfy a 224lb person’s carb needs, and a 205lb person’s protein needs to minimize their store loss.
Sodium
Again the sodium will go a long way as far as sweat loss goes, on a moderate, 4 hour plus hike, for a heat naive hiker. More on sodium repletion on my sweat, mineral and micronutrient losses during hiking article.
Ease of Reconstitution
I had no problem rehydrating this bag on a picnic table in low to moderate wind conditions. The olive oil packet it comes with tore open easily, and the bag stood steady as I poured the water in.
Palatability
It could have been that the sun was going down, and it was getting cold, but having a hot bowl of flavorful stew with rice, beans, quinoa and veggies was awesome. Definitely gonna buy it again, since it has the carbs and veggies all in one. Regular food score 8/10 and camp/hike food score 10/10.
GI Side Effects
Nothing notable and I ate like 60% of the bag.
Quick How To: Using a Backpacking Stove to Boil Water on the Trail
If you’re reading this and wondering what this backpacking food is, and how to cook it on the trail, then watch this short video using a GSI Outdoors Glacial Camp Stove, a isopro canister, and a GSI Outdoors Water Boiling Pot. I don’t have a link for the canister, as you normally have to buy them in person, at your local camping sport store, like REI. The video features my final dish I’ll be looking at on this article, below. (More gluten free backpacking food articles to come.)
The Gluten Free Backpacking Food Saga Will Continue
So I think reviewing about three of these bags per article will be a good reading length; as such, I’ll go ahead and sign off for now. Once I get another three lined up, I’ll post a link below.
In the meantime, check out my hiking nutrition articles for day hiking nutrition topics.