Best Paleo Backpacking Meals for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Snacks

My partner tries to do at least one multi-day backpacking trip per year and usually he’s either doing keto or paleo at the time. 

The hardest part for him isn’t so much finding paleo meals that are compliant with his diet, but really finding ones that aren’t stuffed full of carbs like most freeze-dried meals. Most of these meals have a long shelf life so if they have any real fat content, they will spoil more quickly. As a result, unless you’re buying a high quality product, it’s pretty tough.

Below are the ones that we’ve found are the best during and after a long day of hiking. 

Paleo Lunches and Dinners for Backpacking

Let’s start with my recommendations for getting in a hearty meal while backpacking.

I’m not going to be recommending anything other than dehydrated meals in this section. These are never going to be the best meals you’ve ever eaten, but they are going to taste amazing on the trail and they’re exclusively the ones that only call for hot water. Hot food is standard yet somehow feels like a luxury, but in a pinch it can also be eaten cold. 

I’m going to try to focus on meals that have natural ingredients and high protein.

I’m also going to assume that you have some sort of camp stove and pot. Gear is a whole other ball game so I’ll just assume that you have a few basics or are hiking with people who do.  

Also, pack an extra meal as a safety meal in case something happens and you’re out there longer than you think you’re going to be. Search and rescue might take a day or two to get to you depending on how bad the weather is, so a little extra is just prudent planning.

Wild Zora

If freeze-dried food is what you’re looking for, Wild Zora makes things easy. Their mountain beef stew, summit savory chicken, and bedrock beef chili are all delicious and they cook just like any of the other popular brands of trail kibble. Just add hot water, stir and wait. As an example, the beef stew has a decent amount of protein at approx 30g, and they’re decent in the carb department with only about 25g. Very low fat though, and as I commented on earlier, we’ll get to fixing that down below. These are probably my top pick for this list and I’ve eaten more of their meals than anyone else’s.

Peak EATS

Another brand that makes whole foods for exploring the great outdoors is Peak eats. Their keto pork panang curry is paleo compliant. If you’re on their website though, make sure to review the ingredients. A lot of the foods they have under the filter for paleo have dairy and if you’re not eating that because of dietary restrictions, make sure to take a look before you buy.

Wild Edge Keto

Similarly to Peak EATS above, Wild Edge products contain dairy in the form of ghee. That being said though, the meals look good and I’m sure they’ll keep your energy levels high on the trail. Even when I’m in my local grocery store, the pre-made food items that are most likely to be paleo compliant are the stews and the chili. If I’m in a rush and haven’t packed a lunch, I’m usually trying to find one of those two before I just resign myself to buying and eating raw ingredients. The thing I like about Wild Edge is that they also have a little more variety.  This sesame ginger wild boar looks great!

Note: The freeze dried meal fat problem

All of the meals above don’t contain enough fat.  They’re good on protein and reasonably low carbs but they need to be able to be stored for a decent amount of time so they have a relatively low fat content so they don’t spoil as quickly. My solution to this has been to pack a small bottle with either olive oil or MCT oil. I add a bit to each meal to both increase the calories after a long day of hiking and also to get those fats up. An 8 ounce bottle has about 16 tbsp of oil in it, or enough for about 4-6 days of hiking depending on how much you use. And if you drink bulletproof coffee, I’ve got more on that below under breakfast options.

Breakfast options

If dinner is the most satisfying, then breakfast is the least. But it’s actually the most important meal. There are a lot of companies that offer freeze dried eggs or some type of grain free granola but trail cooking is a pain and dishes are a pain and most people don’t want to do either twice a day. Most groups also don’t want to wait around for you to burn the most enjoyable part of the hiking day. Mornings are usually cooler and so the hiking is more pleasant (unless it’s raining). People usually just want to pack up and get moving. That being said, whoever is up first boils the water for coffee, tea, or other hot drinks so make sure you’re up first if you want to putz about eating a gourmet breakfast and then cleaning up after.

Coffee

I linked my brew of choice but I’ll link it again here. Instant coffee is a staple and these little packs make things super easy. Plus somehow I think they have more zip than regular coffee.  Two of these and I’m off to the races.

Bonus: Bulletproof coffee

For a couple of hikes, I’ve packed in MCT oil and drank a couple coffees with a couple tablespoons of MCT oil on the trail for breakfast. It goes “relatively” well. First, the great. It makes you feel amazing and is a quick fix to the “what to eat for breakfast” dilemma if you’re like me and only want to “cook” once a day. I still think this is a good idea and this one “good” outweighs a much longer list of drawbacks which I’ll get to in a sec. Regardless of what I say next, I think this is the best way to navigate breakfast on the trail. MCT oil is easy to pack because you don’t need a lot of it even if you’re on the trail for a week, and you can also add a bit to your meals at dinner as mentioned below.  

Ok, now the bad.  Firstly, unless you’ve built up a tolerance and drink bulletproof coffee as part of your normal everyday life, you may experience some digestion issues. I’ve miscalculated building up that tolerance and thought that I could do it in a week before a camping trip and then spent the second day squatting in the woods every hour or two. I’ve learned from my mistakes. I hope you can do the same. Build up a tolerance slowly and make sure you’re eating however much you plan to on the trail as part of your everyday life.  Secondly, the oil floats on top of your coffee and gets hot because you can’t blend it. This also seems to insulate your coffee and prevents it from cooling down as quickly.  It’s a lot harder to drink hot floating oil than it is to just drink your shot of cold oil and then wash it down with coffee. Lastly, if this all sounds unpleasant, don’t worry, it absolutely is. but it’s efficient, and it’s easy, and if done correctly with the right tolerance, I’ve never felt better for the first few hours of hiking. The best I’ve ever felt is walking along a cool cliff side trail at 9am with the sun rising after a couple strong coffees and MCT.  Boundless energy with the ability to fully appreciate and enjoy a beautiful day on the trail.

Snacks (for breakfast, lunch, and any other time that isn’t dinner)

There’s a bit of an art to finding the right balance with snack food on the trail and it involves making a bit of a meal plan to know exactly what you’re getting each day for calorie density and adequate protein. As a general rule, try to get at least 2000 calories a day with at least 1g of protein per kg of bodyweight.

Without further adieu, here are my favourite paleo snack foods for the trail!

Beef Jerky and nut butter

A good friend of mine introduced me to this and it’s been a staple ever since. Take your favorite beef jerky and dip it in (or eat it with) nut butter. This does two things. First, beef jerky is usually pretty low in fat and high in protein so it fixes that problem. And second, it actually tastes great! Nut butters are so satisfying due to their richness, and they pair really well with dried meat. It feels like a treat even when you’re eating it for breakfast while sitting on a log drinking a coffee before hitting the open trail.

These days there are a lot of options for both. Cashew butter, almond butter, even pistachio butter are all easy and available at most grocery stores (ok maybe not pistachio, you might need to order that on amazon). I usually look for something stored in a single serving nut butter packet to make things easy on the trail. I don’t want to carry around big jars or extra servings. 

Jerky has also come a long way recently. It’s easy to find good grass-fed beef to take on your next hike and it comes in all sorts of flavors. Again if your grocery store doesn’t have what you’re looking for, online ordering is your best friend here. It seems that there are new companies starting up all the time offering new versions and options year by year so it’s worth it to do a google search to see who’s offering what when you start planning your next adventure.

Trail Mix

It’s almost as if it was designed for this purpose (haha!). Trail mix is a great way to get in some dried fruit or other ruffage to keep you regular. I like to make my own using more ingredients like sugar free dried mango, coconut, sunflower seeds, sea salt and some type of nut that isn’t the butter I’m dipping my beef jerky in (almond slivers or something similar). I usually leave out the chocolate because I pack a bar each day as a treat so I keep this pretty simple. 

Paleo protein bars

Similarly to beef jerky and nut butter, protein bars have come a long way and there seems to be tons of new companies and options springing up all the time. I find these bars to be really convenient and pack well on the trail. They’re usually calorie dense and you can pack a lot of them due to their size and shape. 

Here are a few of my favorites with reasons why. These aren’t in any particular order, just a list of the ones I think taste good and I can eat every day without getting bored of them because of taste or texture.

RXbar – I like these for their simple ingredients. They’re a bit lower on the protein side at only 12g per bar but that’s still ok.

Bullet proof bars – I like these because they contain collagen and MCT (especially if I’m not doing bulletproof coffee. That would be a lot of MCT!

Epic bars – These are probably the best for paleo dieters as they have the fewest additives.  Actually, RXbar might be on a similar level except these have meat. Either way, a great choice with some bold flavors to choose from.

Paleo chocolate bars

Lastly, we come to the chocolate bars. I usually pack one per day as a treat after dinner. A full size chocolate bar has a lot of fat and calories so it’s a great way to indulge and refuel for the next day while also relaxing and enjoying the sunset while camping. It’s a good luxury item on the trail and can be shared with whoever you’re hiking with. In the absence of other snack items where weight and size are a luxury, a good chocolate bar is a morale booster and is something to look forward to if the weather isn’t great and the views you were hoping to see are obscured by clouds or fog. At least you know there’s a good bar down there in the bottom of your backpack after you’ve set up camp for the night (and eaten whatever stew you’ve got going on haha).

Brooklyn born chocolate – This company is great! They have a ton of paleo options.  They do contain coconut sugar but this is also a luxury item on the trail and you do need some carbs to keep glycogen stores high for the next day. I think these are worth it even if they are a little in the grey area. Besides that, the only other significant ingredient is cacao so it can’t get any simpler in terms of ingredients. I highly recommend them. They’re also a pure chocolate bar and not trying to be more than a single thing.

Thunderbird bars – I like these and include them in this list because they aren’t high protein.  They taste great though but they don’t fit as a protein bar so I’m including them here. They also aren’t great for sharing as they’re not the classic squares.

Hu chocolate bars – Like the Brooklyn born stuff, these Hu chocolate bars are simple and they appear to pride themselves on providing real bars and snacks. I don’t think all of their stuff is vegan, it appears that some of the milk chocolate options have real milk so just be careful when ordering to ensure that you’re getting what you want. They also appear to use coconut sugar primarily but again, I’d look at what you’re ordering to ensure that it’s paleo.

Taza chocolate – Lastly, These guys have a lot of super dark chocolate options that are worth mentioning. They have a bunch of flavors for their 95% chocolate bars which is nice.  95% is less of a treat and more of a refuel item IMO but you can choose your own adventure as it comes to comfort foods as in all other things.

This brings me to the end of my list. Picking a variety of items from all these categories will ensure that you are full and happy on your next trip without packing too much volume or weight in the backcountry. One freeze dried meal, one pack of jerky and some nut butter, 2 protein bars, a couple handfuls of trail mix and a chocolate bar on top of a lot of strong coffee (and maybe some MCT oil if you’re brave enough) is all you need to keep you happy and energetic, day after day.