Ultralight Backpacking Recipes For Cold Weather

Push Through Cold Weather With These Ultralight Backpacking Recipes

Matt Jenkins and Elyssa Shalla, backcountry rangers at Grand Canyon, have been exploring the southwestern deserts together since they met in 2008. The couple’s next adventure will combine many of the backcountry routes near their home on the Coconino Plateau into one, extended, mostly trail-less adventure—a winter thru hike of ‘The Canyon’ from the Grand Wash Cliffs to Lees Ferry. For the occasion, they’ve worked up an assortment of the kind of nutrient and calorie-dense ultralight backpacking meals that keep them moving when the temperature drops.

The raison de etre for this long walk centers around an urge minimize their belongings, live a simpler lifestyle and get better acquainted with the vast wilderness that lies in their backyard. As rangers, they constantly seek ways to share their passion and enthusiasm for traveling lightly and efficiently through wild places.

Big winter days require a larger than normal stockpile of food to fuel. Here is a single day menu with two of our hearty ultralight backpacking recipes for colder weather. We strive to eat nutrient rich and hearty meals by including ingredients with a high number of total calories, a mixed variety of food sources and a sufficient number of calories per ounce. Mix, match and shuffle to cater to your dietary needs and wants.

Calories: 3813
Calories/oz: 129
Weight (oz): 30
Price/day: ~$15.00
Fat (g): 163
Carbs (g): 490
Protein (g): 110

Pre-Trip Prep:

• Breakfast: Mix oatmeal, shredded coconut, chia seeds, chai powder and
  sugar packet in a small Ziploc bag. Store unopened coconut oil
  pack inside the Ziploc bag.
• Dinner: Mix ramen noodles and all dry ingredients inside of a medium size
  Ziploc bag. Dispose of the Ramen spice packet. Store beef jerky
  and olive oil packet separately.

To cook breakfast:

• Dump all ingredients into a cozy. Add approximately 1 – 1.5 cup of
  boiling water (to desired consistency). Stir, cover and let sit for 1-2
  minutes.

To cook dinner:

• Dump all ingredients into a cozy. Pour approximately 1.5 cup of
  boiling water into the cozy so that all ingredients are covered with
  water. Cover and let sit for approximately 5 minutes.

Matt shared another day’s worth of his recipes for ultralight backpacking trips here. Looking more recipes ideas? Check out our collection of Backcountry Food + Backpacking Recipes blog posts.

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