Best Trail Cooking & Food Drying Gear Picks for Backpacking
This collection of recommended products will help
you with your food dehydrating projects and trail cooking adventures.
I use the featured products regularly, and if I haven’t yet, they come recommended by Backpacking Chef readers.
Table of Contents
Dehydrating & Storage
Mesh & Nonstick Dehydrator Sheets
Digital Scale & Measuring Cups
Slicing, Coring & Peeling Tools
Backpacking Cookware
Food Products
Egg Crystals & Instant Mashed Potatoes
Powdered Cheese, Peanut Butter, and Coconut Milk
Single-Serve Condiment Packets
Dehydrated Vegetables, Beans & Soup Mixes
Electrolyte Drink Powders & Tablets
Books
Backpacking Recipe Books by Chef Glenn
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Dehydrators
My Excalibur and Cosori dehydrators get a lot of use. They both dry food efficiently with consistent results. It's easier to spread blended foods on square or rectagular trays compared to round dehydrator trays. Read my Review comparing these dehydrators.
Nonstick Dehydrator Sheets & Trays
Mesh sheets are needed for drying small food items in dehydrators that have tray supports with large spaces. Excalibur dehydrators come with mesh sheets.
Nonstick sheets or trays are needed for drying fruit leather and saucy foods. Flat sheets can be cut to fit with scissors. Trays with raised edges are great for containing liquidy foods. Sheets and trays made of silicone offer the best nonstick performance, but Teflon sheets also work well.
- Dostk Silicone Mesh Dehydrator Sheets, 14” x 14”, 12-Pack for Cosori dehydrator (cut to fit). Not for Excalibur.
- Excalibur Polyscreen Mesh Screen Inserts, 14" x 14", 9-Pack. These come with Excalibur dehydrators, so only order if you need to replace them.
- Bright Kitchen Silicone Flat Sheets for Excalibur
Dehydrator, 14" x 14", 9-Pack. Must use on top of Excalibur polyscreen mesh screen inserts. Also available in a 6-Pack.
- Hlimior Silicone Dehydrator Trays with Raised Edges,
12” x 10.6”, 6-Pack for Cosori or Excalibur.
- Homey Teflon Nonstick Sheets, 14” x 14”, 10-Pack for Excalibur or Cosori (cut to fit).
Digital Scale,Measuring Cups & Spoons
Use
a
digital food scale
and measuring cups when cooking meals and ingredients for dehydration, and for weighing dried ingredients when assembling meals.
Slicing,
Coring & Peeling Tools
Fruits and vegetables sliced into uniform thicknesses will dry evenly and at the same time. Mandoline slicers and coring/slicing tools get the job done fast. A high-quality peeler that doesn’t clog up is also a time-saver when peeling potatoes and apples.
Gramercy Adjustable Mandoline Food Slicer
Newness Pineapple Corer & Slicer
Spring Chef Premium Swivel Vegetable Peeler
Vacuum
Sealers & Bags
Vacuum sealing removes oxygen and prolongs the shelf-life of dehydrated food. Vacuum-sealed meals are protected from moisture on the trail. You can seal mason jars with a jar-sealing accessory purchased separately.
- Vacuum Sealer Kit for Wide & Regular-Mouth Mason Jars, Works only with FoodSaver Vacuum Sealers.
This sealer for wide-mouth and regular-mouth mason jars does not require connection to a Food Saver Vacuum Sealer.
Mylar Bags & Oxygen Absorbers
Mylar bags, when used in combination with oxygen absorbers, are excellent for storing individual dehydrated meals. Cook meals right in the bag by adding boiled water.
For the most effective long-term storage, oxygen absorbers should be added to dehydrated foods stored in mason jars, even when the jars are vacuum sealed.
- Mylar Pouch, Pint-size,
6" x 8", Heat Sealable Bags plus 100cc Oxygen Absorbers, Pack of 50 each, plus Long-Term
Food Storage Guide from
PackFreshUSA.
- Mylar Pouch, Quart-size, 7" x 9", Heat Sealable Bags plus 200cc Oxygen Absorbers, Pack of 50 each, plus Long-Term Food Storage Guide from PackFreshUSA.
- 100cc Oxygen Absorbers, 100 Pack, plus Long-Term Food Storage Guide from PackFresh USA.
Insulated Food & Beverage Containers
Thermos food jars are excellent for rehydrating meals that you want to eat later in the day. Great for backpacking, hiking, work, and travel. It helps to have a long-handle spoon. Read more about thermos cooking.
- GSI Outdoors Pouch Spoon. Good for eating out of a 24 oz. thermos or freeze-dried meal pouch.
Give your thermos a thorough cleaning with a bottle brush when you get home. The Holikme 11-piece set includes thinner brushes to clean tubes that connect to backpacking water filters and hydration systems. It's also useful for cleaning a pineapple corer.
GSI Outdoors Backpacking
Pots
GSI Outdoors makes hard-anodized aluminum backpacking pots to meet the needs of solo minimalists and dualists. Explore my GSI backpacking pot reviews.
Backpacking Canister Stoves
I have used all three of these brands of canister stoves, and they all boil water very fast. The new MSR PocketRocket Deluxe features a pressure regulator for better performance in cold weather, plus piezo push-start lighting. The GSI stove’s pot supports fold down, and the Optimus Crux folds in half, enabling either stove to stow under a fuel canister.
DIY
Pot Cozy Materials
Hold the heat in your backpacking pot or bag by making an
insulating pot cozy or pouch cozy. See how to make a pot cozy.
Water
Filters & Purification
Sawyer Squeeze water filters come in several sizes and work well. Carry a backup water purification method such as chlorine dioxide drops or tablets, or a UV SteriPen. Read more about water filters and purification.
- Sawyer Squeeze Water Filtration System w/ Two 32-Oz Squeeze Pouches, Straw, and Hydration Pack Adapter
Reader Recommendation:
Food Products
Powdered Eggs & Instant Mashed Potatoes
Mix OvaEasy Egg Crystals with cold water, then cook in pan just like real scrambled eggs. Idahoan Instant Mashed Potatoes rehydrate instantly with boiled water into fluffy mashed potatoes.
Recipes: Fried Rice with Scrambled Eggs, Cooking Mashed Potatoes in a GSI Bowl.
Powdered Cheese, Peanut Butter, & Coconut Milk
Add these powdered ingredients to backpacking meals and desserts.
Recipes: Mac & Cheese, Thai Peanut Noodles, Thai Green Curry.
Single-Serve
Meat Packets
Single-serve packets of chicken, tuna, and salmon are convenient
to add to backpacking meals like mac & cheese and cold-soak backpacking
pasta salads. They also roll up nicely in tortillas for quick,
high-protein trail lunches. Essential for emergency home storage kits.
- StarKist Premium White Chicken, 2.6 oz. Pouch, Pack of 12
- StarKist Chunk Light Tuna, 2.6 oz. Pouch, Pack of 12
- StarKist Wild Pink Salmon, 2.6 oz. Pouch, Pack of 12
Single-Serve
Condiment Packets
Add to meals on the trail to boost fat calories.
Instant
Coffee & Milk Powder
Coffees highly recommended by Backpacking Chef readers. Add whole milk powder to coffee and mac & cheese meals for extra calories.
Dehydrated
Vegetables, Beans & Soup Mixes
Harmony House Foods offers a large assortment of dehydrated vegetables and beans in several size options including 1-cup zip pouches and quart-size jars. Most of my backpacking recipes call for a ¼-cup or ⅓-cup of dried vegetables, so you’ll get 3–4 servings from a pouch or up to 16 servings from a jar.
Or try the Harmony House Backpacking Kit which includes 18 zip pouches of assorted dehydrated vegetables and beans.
Buy Harmony House Foods on Amazon
Buy Direct from Harmony House Foods
Freeze-Dried Cheese & Meat
Cheese does not dehydrate well, but it's great when freeze-dried. Nutristore offers #10 cans of freeze-dried cheeses, meats, fruits, and vegetables. Freeze-dried cheeses and meats have a shelf life of 25 years in the unopened cans.
Freeze-Dried
Meals
These freeze-dried meals got the top votes from Backpacking Chef readers. With a 30-year shelf life, it’s good to keep a few meals on hand for emergencies or for when you don’t have time to dry your own.
Hungry backpackers can eat a 2-person serving, but a 1-person serving may be better for some appetites.
Pro-Pak meals are 1 serving.
Energy
Bars
Calorically dense energy bars to eat between meals. Recommended by Backpacking Chef readers.
Electrolyte Drink Powders & Tablets
Replace sodium and minerals lost during sweating and improve recovery.
Books
Backpacking Recipe Books by Chef Glenn
Everything you need to know about dehydrating delicious backpacking meals.
Backpacking Recipe Books by Other Trail Chefs
- Thruhikers: A Guide to Life on the Trail by Renee Miller & Tim Beissinger
General Dehydration Books
- The Dehydrator Bible by Jennifer MacKenzie
- The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Drying Food by Tammy Gangloff
Recommend a Product
If you use and love a product related to food dehydration or backpacking food, please send me your recommendation here:
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Dehydrating Food from A–Z
