9 Bikepacking Meal Ideas & Tips

Eating is an essential part of bikepacking, and it should be enjoyable too. In our latest video, Neil shares a variety of ideas for bikepacking eats, such as simple one-pot recipes, quick homemade meals, easy additions to spruce up any meal, and much more.

This video was supported by Tailfin, learn about their range of bikepacking gear here: https://www.tailfin.cc?utm_source=bikepacking.com&utm_medium=paid_video&utm_campaign=bikepacking_neil

Outline
Intro: 0:00
Free Condiments: 0:21
One Pot Meals: 1:39
Buy A To-Go Meal: 2:54
Bring Reusable Bags: 3:36
Think Outside The Box: 4:34
Make your Own Meals: 5:50
Cold Soaking: 6:38
Tortillas For The Win: 7:25
Make Sure You Have Room: 8:01

Mentioned Links:
A Guide To Low Waste Bikepacking – https://bikepacking.com/plan/guide-low-waste-bikepacking/

Do you enjoy our videos, routes, and articles? Help sustain this resource by joining the Bikepacking Collective: https://bikepacking.com/join/?utm_source=youtube

#bikepacking #pedalfurther #bikepackingfood
————-
::About The Host::
Neil Beltchenko (https://www.instagram.com/neil_beltchenko/)
Geometry: 150lbs, 5’9.5″, 32″ inseam, +2.5″ Ape index

– Does the cooking side of bikepacking haunt you or frustrate you a little bit? Or perhaps you’re just looking for a few pointers for your next trip. Well, this (laughing) video is just for you, as I’m gonna share a bunch of valuable meal tips and creative ideas for your next trip.

Let’s do it. All right, so have you ever visited a gas station or restaurant and noticed that area filled with condiment packets? Yeah, we all have. Usually, at least for me, I don’t really think too much of it and walk right past it. Well, imagine yourself at camp with a somewhat dry burrito that you made

Or purchased from the convenience store and realize how nice it would be to have a hot sauce packet or salsa packet. Yeah, I’m telling you, I just started collecting these things like it’s my job now. I add them to my cook kit and almost always find a use for them.

Parmesan cheese packets, hot sauce, salsa. These salsa packets on burritos are good. There’s like small jam packets that you can put on granola bars, mayo for either a dry sandwich or if you wanna make some tuna salad. Oh, and I even got this like ranch and sweet sriracha sauce.

I’m sure I’ll use ’em someday. Oh, and you know those free tea packets, those tea bags at hotels? Well, I love ending the day with like a nice herbal tea. So those definitely come in handy. All right, so when I took a National Outdoor Leadership semester way back in the day,

Cooking was certainly the most exciting, one of the most exciting parts of the day. And it was a big point of emphasis in the NOLS curriculum. While these meals were not extravagant by any stretch, they taught me to be creative and enjoy the simple pleasures of a few ingredients.

So for instance, the best bang for your buck in price and probably weight savings is a ram bomb, a bag of ramen and instant potatoes. It’s definitely one of my go-tos, because well, every convenience store almost always stocks these items. And adding a thing of string cheese to that,

It’s just gonna blow your mind. Another good one is ramen and peanut butter and some soy sauce. And there are a few other simple one-pot recipes on bikepacking.com. Maybe the best part about all of this is you only need to clean one dish. All right, so before we dive any further,

I just wanna mention that this video is partially supported by Tailfin. Tailfin designs and engineers technical bikepacking equipment for almost any kind of adventure. Innovation and quality are at the heart of what makes them tick, and their constant strive to create better performing gear

Means that you can just focus on enjoying the ride. They offer a range of options for hauling your gear, whether you’re taking on the Tour Divide or just escaping for an overnighter. So for more on Tailfin and their range of bags and accessories, be sure to click on this card right here.

Or you can also find a link below. All right, so oftentimes, we have a plan when we go into a bikepacking trip, such as like rationing out the food and deciding what you’re gonna kinda have each day, especially for dinners. But I’m here to tell you,

It’s okay to pull an audible and spend a little extra money for a burrito, some pizza, or a sandwich on the go. This is especially nice when you are, say, getting into camp super late or you’re just exhausted and you just really don’t wanna cook when you get to camp.

Having food ready is super nice. And if you are just going out on a sub-24-hour overnighter, you can support some local businesses by buying a calzone or a sandwich or something and save space by leaving your cook kit at home. When you do buy a to-go meal,

I like to bring, say, a reusable silicone Stashers bag, some beeswax wrap, or just an already used plastic bag, just to reduce your waste. Restaurants usually comply if you tell them you want to use your own bag. If not, just say you want your meal to dine in

And use your own bag to put your meal in. One dirty dish, I’d say, is better than filling a landfill with some Styrofoam or a to-go container. I really like these Stasher bags and typically bring the Stasher sandwich bag or the two-cup bowl or both. They close really well and stay secure,

Are much more durable than, say, your single-use plastic bags. And they pack down better than a rigid container, especially when it’s empty. I also like using the bowl because it is safe to add boiling water to, which creates another meal vessel. Somewhat related, we have a complete guide

On low-waste bikepacking which can be found in the description below. Cooking while camping and food in general, well, it’s made to be creative, right? (laughing) So Pop-Tarts are great, but they’re even better when warmed up. While I have yet to do this, Joe actually posted that he heats up his Pop-Tarts

Over a stove or flame. And I really just love that idea. Cowboy coffee is another fun option. It’s certainly cheaper than instant coffee. And all you have to do is just grind some coffee at home and put it in a bag. And then, once you want coffee in the morning,

Put it in some water, boil that water, and then once it boils, turn it off, and all those grounds just sink to the bottom and you have a delicious cup of coffee. All right, so something I always do is bring these just oatmeal packets, these small ones. I bring a bunch of ’em.

And I’ll just add a touch of warm water directly into the packet. The packets are strong enough for that warm water and to eat out of. And it obviously will save you a dish and/or allow you to use your mug for coffee or tea in the morning.

Another fun one is to buy a frozen burrito or a refrigerated burrito, put it in, say, a hip pack or somewhere where it will get a little bit warmer. And after a few hours, well, you have a nice warmish burrito. There’s a lotta different kinda food hacks. So if you have one,

Definitely leave it in the comments below. All right, so while I quit dehydrating my own meals awhile ago, mainly due to lack of time, and it never really went all that well for me, (laughing) it does actually make for a rather cheap and easy meal.

However, an easy alternative here is to chop up some non-dehydrated veggies at home before, say, the first night of a trip. Throw them in a Stashers bowl and then bring some ramen noddles, soy sauce, some cashews, and you have yourself a nice stir fry. Preparing other meals like noodles, veggies, and pasta sauce

At home is also easy. And the same is true for breakfasts. Oats, nuts, and some dried fruit is a great meal to start the day. And a whole food store in a town is typically another great way to make some similar options mid-trip.

So while I have not done this in a really long time, since my early ultra endurance days, cold soaking is a really popular method, especially among backpackers. What you do is throw in the necessary amount of water, seal it up, wait an hour or two,

And then pull it out and enjoy a nice meal. All right, so many folks suggest using some sorta jar. And while this is practical for backpackers, maybe not as much for bikepackers. But I get the point. You just reduce the likelihood of spilling. This works for anything, from, say, ramen packets,

To mac and cheese, premade dehydrated meals, or your standard purchased dehydrated meals. This offers a fast lunch without the hassle of getting your stove out. And I guess you could leave the stove at home if you always did this, which would definitely save space and reduce weight.

All right, so when in doubt, bring a bag of tortillas. Share them with your friends or eat ’em all. But they go well with almost anything. Dehydrated or freeze-dried meals. (laughing) You can make a quick quesadilla or bean and cheese burrito. You can use them for PB&J or tuna salad.

Plus, they pack down exceptionally well. I’ve strapped them to the outside of a dry bag on, say, a rear rack. But they also would fit in a dry bag or a frame bag nicely. So if you’re stumped on a meal or simply wanna make a meal a little bit more elaborate,

You really can’t go wrong with tortillas. All right, so finally, and this might be a little bit more complicated than you may envision or think, but it’s making room in your bike for extra food. So I always try to have a little bit of extra space in my frame bag or expandable space

In, say, a dry bag or hip pack for a to-go meal, ingredients to make dinner, or a special beverage. This certainly requires understanding how much food you may need to carry at one time between resupply points. And always having extra space in the event that you wanna bring an extra treat

Is super, super important. So yeah, make sure you have some space in that frame bag or somewhere, because you’re gonna want it, and you’re gonna need it. All right, so that about does it. Do you have any unique meal ideas, tips, recipes, or hacks? Let us know in the comments section below.

As always, thank you all so much for watching. If you found this video useful, please hit that Subscribe button and notification bell. It truly goes a long way. And if you really wanna help us out a little bit more, you can do by signing up for The Bikepacking Collective.

The Bikepacking Collective has a lot of awesome perks, including the twice-yearly “Bikepacking Journal,” a beautiful print publication. So to learn a little bit more about The Bikepacking Collecting, click on the card in the top right corner, or you can also follow the link in the description below.

As always, thank you all so much for watching. And until next time. Pedal further.