Cooking in the Backcountry With Your Kids

Backcountry camping with kids is a great joy. You get to see your kids experience the natural world, learn new skills, and move at a slower pace.

But bringing food into the backcountry for your whole family can be a bit of a challenge. You not only need enough calories for everyone, you need food that tastes good enough that everyone will eat it.

This is where Mountain House excels. We make products you can rely on to taste the same trip after trip, so your kids know what to expect and you don’t have to worry about bringing all the ingredients and spices to cook for multiple people in the backcountry. But if cooking is your thing, we have a ton of camping food ideas for you here!

There are two main ways to make the most of mealtimes with family in the backcountry.

As Many Calories, as Light as Possible

Freeze-dried food is pre-cooked and seasoned, which means a chef has cooked it before it gets to you. So, you can count on it to be delicious when you heat it up. That’s the other thing about freeze-dried: all you have to do for it to be ready is to heat it.

Bringing multiple large packages allows you to have several servings at a time, while also being able to mix up the flavor from meal to meal. We recommend bringing a spread of flavors that you know your family will like, such as:

Beef Stew

Chili Mac with Beef

Classic Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

See the full line of our pouch flavors here. 

To be absolutely sure you have enough to feed the whole family, you can also get most Mountain House flavors in our #10 Cans, each of which has 10 servings. And once the can is empty, you can use it to pack out any waste you might have! See the full line of our #10 cans here.

Don’t Forget Dessert

Dessert is a great way to get the whole family some extra calories and make sure the next day on the trail is full of fun (rather than dragging feet). When you’re in the backcountry, you’re active almost all day. And if you’re not active, you’re still out in the elements. You need calories to fuel this activity, and at the same time you need calories to replenish the energy you’ve already spent for the day.

Dessert helps everyone get the calories they need to replenish and keep going. A chocolate bar is a simple option. Or, you could go with something that brings the flavors of home to your campfire, such as our Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich. Browse our full selection of breakfasts, entrees, and desserts. And the next time you and your kids hit the trail, take a pic and share it with us! #savortheadventure