Tramping Food Ideas for New Zealand hikes
Delicious Tramping Food Ideas for feed the whole family
Choosing the perfect tramping food for your hike doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, you can just take normal food with you, it doesn’t have to be fancy specialised food at all. As long as you take enough food, you can’t really go wrong.
But some foods are better than others in terms of energy and nutrients and some travel better. If you’re looking for tramping food ideas for multi day hikes, for day hikes or just some great snacks for kids, then you’ve come to the right place.
Tramping in New Zealand is such a past time, so lets make sure you’ve got a menu to make memories
This article will cover
- Things to consider when choosing hiking food
- The Pros and Cons of Freeze Dried Meals
- Tips for prepping food for multi day hikes
- Equipment List for cooking on hikes
- Breakfast Hiking Food Ideas
- Lunch Tramping food ideas
- Dinner ideas for overnight hikes
- Hiking Snack ideas: a huge list
- Our kids favourite freeze dried meals
- Our Multi day hike sample menu
And hopefully you’ll have a great raft of tramping food ideas nz after this.
If you’re interested in the best snacks for hikes including some delicious recipes, then you will want to read: Hiking Snacks (coming soon)
What to consider when choosing food for hiking
When choosing food for tramping you need to consider
- Calorie intake – will there be enough energy to sustain you on your trip
- Weight – heavy food is just, well.. Heavy. Is it worth it? Only you can tell
- Portability – will the food travel well? FYI: bananas get mushy, so does bread down the track
- Packaging and rubbish: anything you don’t eat, still needs to be packed out. If you don’t eat all that rice, how will you contain it? Also if you had to have that can of Watties baked beans, you still need to carry that can out.
- Perishability – more for multi day hikes, but what foods will still be good down the track? How soft can you eat your cheese? Ham might go slimy but salami might be good.
One of the biggest considerations when choosing tramping food especially for multi day walks, is weight. Food can take up a considerable amount of weight in your pack and it’s up to you whether it is worth it or not. If it’s chocolate, the answer is always yes.
The other thing to consider for multi day hikes is the shelf life of food. Cheese three days into the trip isn’t going to be that great, depending on the type and a fresh meat won’t last that long unrefrigerated. Freeze dried meals such as backcountry cuisine are great for the later stages of your hike.
One thing I’ve learnt from tramping with kids is to have a mixture of “normal foods” as well as freeze dried meals. On our first great walk, the Routeburn Track (3 days, 2 nights) we went all in on the dehydated meals which was great because they were light, but the kids (and me to be fair) got over them very fast and they weren’t keen to eat.
Our strategy now is to bring fresh food for at least the first couple of days and then rely on the freeze dried meals later down the track. This worked much better on the 66km Kepler Track and they ate like troopers.
Nutrition, Energy and all that jazz
Sometimes I find that tramping food ideas always involve too much scroggin and I just want some real food.
But there is a method to the madness around traditional hiking food.
Food with lots of energy in the smallest lightest form: Nuts in particular have a high energy load, some good fats and protein and help to fill you up. Also they can be a little salty, which is quite good for adding in those electrolytes. We lose salt when we sweat, so if you find your body craving salty snacks on those long hikes, it’s your body’s way of saying hey, you’ve got some sweat to replace.
Don’t forget about good proteins to fill you up
Freeze Dried Meals
If you want easy tramping meals, then freeze dried meals are super convenient and provide you with a nice hot meal in a bag with boiling water. They are convenient as you only have to bring a gas cooker to boil water and you don’t need pots or pans.
You don’t actually even need a bowl or plate as you can eat right out of the packet. Just bring some cutlery (I do suggest that as on day hikes I’ve been known to forget)
Pros of Freeze Dried Meals
- Light
- A big variety
- Easy to prepare after a long day hike
- Bags double as a bowl
- Doesn’t go off or spoil
- Easy to find at supermarkets and outdoor stores
- No preparation required before you hike
- Convenient
Cons of Freeze Dried Meals
- Can be expensive if purchasing a lot of them
- Some can be high in sugar, salts
- Sometimes not super appealing looking (which can be a big deal for kids)
There are three major brands in New Zealand. You can purchase these from many supermarkets and outdoor stores around the country. If you’re hiking in Queenstown, the Pak n Save at Frankton has a really good selection at some of the cheapest prices I’ve seen.
Back Country Cuisine: This is the brand that my kids like the best. They have a range of what feels like home cooked meals such as spaghetti bolognese, carbonara pasta, shepherds pie etc and whatever my kids eat is good enough for me to give the tick. My favourite is the cooked breakfast and the kids are partial to the chocolate brownie pudding.
Radix Nutrition is great for those with specific food preferences. Their range is all plant based, has a great range of keto tramping food and is very nutritionally balanced. I’ve found some good, others a little chalky. I did find I stayed full after them though.
Real Meals: I’ve only tried a few of these and have really enjoyed the couple I have tried. When we used Easy Hike as part of our Routeburn walk they included a few of these and they were really good. They are a tad more expensive than the above.
A big plus of these meals is there is such a great selection, they are portable, super light and require minimal effort, which is sometimes what you need after a big day hiking. But the meals can be more expensive than other options such as making your own dehydrated meals or bringing other options from home.
Tips for Hiking Food on Multi day hikes
- Create a tramping food list and menu and keep it on your phone. If I just grab whatever I feel like from my pack I’ll end up eating all the good stuff first, or even “overeat” and not have the right things for later in the trip
- Portion out everything so you know exactly what food per day you have and lay it out on the ground
- If it works in with your packing, pack certain days foods together and bury what you don’t need
- Always take some back up meals just in case you get caught out by weather. Extra freeze dried meals and high calorie bars are good for this.
- The best hiking food for kids is those that they will eat. Make sure you take foods you know you like and test out meals in advance, especially if you have kids. Have a hot lunch as a day trip and if they like it, add it to your multi day menu
- You will naturally have less fresh food as the days go on. I like to take prunes with me to make sure everything stays regular (you’ve been warned)
- Make sure you drink enough water on the trip and if you’re a bad drinker like me, electrolytes or some sort of juice powder to encourage drinking can be good.
Equipment for cooking on hikes
If you are doing a New Zealand Great Walk, the majority of the huts will have gas cookers provided so you do not need one of these. There are some backcountry huts like the Hooker Hut where gas is also provided.
But in general, you will need some sort of cooking device
What we use: The Jetboil Flash will boil water in 60-90 seconds and we use this for our freeze dried meals. You could boil pasta in it, but you can’t really cook sticky foods or meat in it. It’s definitely set up as a water boiling device.
In saying that, you can buy a pot support to add to the Flash which provides stability to add a pot or pan to cook over. We have GSI pots and pans that balance on top.
Other options: A little hikers stove costs as little as $50 and you just connect that to a gas canister. You’ll need to buy a little portable pot or frypan or set to cook off. Primus, MSR, Gasmate as all good quality brands you can use here.
Other things to bring to cook with
- Cutlery
- Wooden spoon/stirrer/fish slice depending on what you’re cooking
- Bowls to eat out of. Bowls are more versatile than plates. We use Sea to Summit collapsible bowls that double as a chopping board. Any light plastic reusable bowl will be suffice
- Don’t forget oil/butter if you’re cooking something that might stick. Cleaning your pot with limited resources can be a real pain
- Salt and pepper can really elevate a home cooked meal
- Cloth, tea towel and scrubber to wash with and detergent.
- Rubbish bag (a few large ziplock bags are good)B
Breakfast Ideas for tramping
- Muesli/Cereal and milk: Portion out your cereal and either bring a measured amount of milk powder and mix with water, or bring UHT milk. Milk powder is the easiest solution but my kids don’t love it and prefer UHT milk. I often oblige for the first day
- Homemade Porridge: Bring oats, milk powder/milk, raisins, or dried fruit to add and a bit of sugar and cook a nice hot breakfast
- Hack: Bring an Uncle Tobys single serve sachet (or two, they’re quite small)
- Elevate: Add chia seeds, nuts etc to boost protein and fats for the day. You could also add protein powder here.
- Bircher Porridge: Leave you oats, milk and toppings to soak overnight and wake up to a nice bircher muesli/porridge. If you have a container with a lid, that works well here or a ziplock bag.
- Fresh bacon and eggs: You can freeze bacon and by the morning of day 2, it will have defrosted. Eggs can be fresh in a little carry container if you’re game, or buy freeze dried scrambled eggs. If you brought a frypan and bread, you could make a version of toast too
- You will make everyone jealous with the smell, just FYI. Would work well with sausages too.
- I’ve also heard of people cooking bacon at home and just reheating in the morning too. I haven’t tried it but there’s an idea for you.
- Breakfast Burrito: Bacon or sausage, egg, capsicum all wrapped up in a tortilla
- Pancakes: Premake your own mixture or buy one of those “just add water” pancake mixes and fry on a frypan. Bring small amounts of maple syrup, nutella brown sugar, lemon, jam or fruit to eat with them. This just add water pancake mix is very easy to bring with you and doesn’t require eggs or any fresh ingredients
- Spaghetti or Baked Beans: You can have your firm favourites here. I personally wouldn’t take a can, but some do. You could also take a lightweight reusable container and just wash it out afterwards. I can double as a bowl or a place to store unused food.
- Freeze Dried Breakfast Meals: My personal favourite is the Cooked Breakfast from Back Country Cuisine, in fact I’ve also had it for dinner too. The Porridge Supreme is also really good with a bit of rehydrated apple in there which is tasty but the regular 2 serving is very large. There’s enough for me and 2 kids.
- Muesli Bar/Protein Bar and Coffee: Some people love to get on the road early and then have a bigger meal/brunch later on.
Tramping Lunch Ideas
- Fresh Sandwiches/Rolls: I’m a fan of taking the ingredients and making them up on the way so nothing goes too soggy but you can totally make them in advance. Normal foods on day hikes or early in a multi day hike is good
- Wraps/Pita Breads/Bagels: These “breads” last longer and won’t be smooshed in your tramping pack so are a good option for later days on your multi day hikes and are great for day hikes to
- What to add to wraps/pita
- Fresh salads and meats on day one/ day hike
- Peanut butter
- Peanut butter and banana
- Salami and cheese (hard cheeses will last longer but can go soft/warm)
- Tuna / canned meats
- Back Country Scrambled egg or real eggs (in one of those special egg cartons)
- Jam
- Honey
- Vegemite and butter
- 2 minute noodles: I personally hate these and they don’t provide a ton of nutrition but lots of people love them on the trail and I know kids do too. Do add some protein if possible to bulk this out.
- Crackers and Cheese: Crackers last well unless you crush them and hard cheeses are recommended. I’m a bit fussy and am not a fan of cheese when it goes soft, but it depends on your preferences.
- Premade items from the supermarket: Cold bacon and egg pie, quiche, sausage roll, savoury scrolls, pizza bread, raspberry buns, muffins, sushi
- Pasta Salad: Pick up some from the supermarket, make it advance or boil up some plain pasta the night before, add chopped veges like capsicum and cucumber and add a dressing.
- Cold Cherrios or cold precooked sausages
Lunchtime sides
- Fruit: apples and oranges travel well
- Dried Fruit
- Muesli bars
- Protein bars
- Yoghurt (day one)
- Carrot/Celery and hummus or peanut butter
Hiking Dinner Ideas
Quick tip: Dont forget: salt, pepper, oil/butter to cook in
- Make meals ahead and just reheat: I know many parents in particular who prepare a meal, freeze it and let it defrost on the way. This just requires a pot and gas to reheat. A few ideas include: pasta bake, devilled sausages, savoury mince, beef casserole etc
- Make your own dehydrated meals: I’ve not stepped into the realm of creating my own dehydrated meals but if you do have a dehydrator or a friend with one, there are plenty of online recipes to try out. Just add them to a ziploc bag and you have only own premade meals.
- Fresh meats: If you’re out for just an overnight hike or the first day of your thru hike, then you can definitely take fresh meat. You could take a cooler pack, or a hello fresh ice pack (that you can just drain of water when you’re done) or even freeze the meat to defrost on the way) From there, it’s your own risk with food safety.
- Couscous: So fast and easy to hydrate. Just add boiling water, salt and pepper and stir. My favourite is to turn this into a greek salad with cucumber, tomato, feta etc.
- Mashed Potato: Potato flakes are inexpensive to buy and you can add cheese, bacon bits etc to pimp it out, or use as a side.
- Fresh Pasta: Fresh pasta cooks quickly and lasts well for the first nights meal. You can bring a tomato sauce to add but my kids actually love fresh ravioli all on its own. They honestly think this is the best tramping food ever, which I appreciate because it’s low energy on my end.
- Cheese sauce or sauces for pasta: Maggi packets are great if you want a lightweight way to bring a sauce with you that’s low maintenance. Most just require milk or water and only take a few minutes to thicken and its ready to go. If you need milk for a recipe, bring some milk powder.
- A few options: Cheese sauce, creamy chicken pasta bake, carbonara, mexican nachos, chicken chow mein,
- Nachos/Chilli: I have seen parents who make this before and freeze it, then reheat it on the go, but if you’re not that organised, you can make a hybrid version. Buy a packet of back country freeze dried mince, rehydrate it, add a tomato sauce/spices/chilli beans and heat through. Then you have a basic nacho meat mix, then bring chips and any accompaniments (guacamole, sour cream)
- Burritos: Rehydrate a packet of Back Country Freeze Dried Mince, add a taco seasoning packet as per the directions. Lay out your wraps, add taco mince and salad fixings and that’s dinner.
- Teriyaki Chicken / Salmon bowls: Grate or chop cabbage and carrot, boil some rice in a bag, add a can of teriyaki chicken or salmon for a tasty rice bowl. We ate this on the Kepler and it was great and also familiar. Just needed to bring some mayo/aoili to finish it off.
- Boil in Bag rice:I prefer to use this rice over standard rice as it’s much easier to clean up and I never have to worry about it sticking. It is a little more expensive but I reckon it’s probably saving my pots
- Vermicilli Noodles: These only need boiling for a couple of minutes. You can add them to a soup, make a stirfry or just add a sauce and eat.
- Soup: Bringing packet soup is a good way to warm up on the trail or at the hut. Also helps to increase your salt intake too
- Pasta with pesto sauce: You can definitely cook normal pasta on the trail but be aware the regular dried pasta takes quite a long time to cook. If you’re using a little gas burner, you will use a lot of gas, but if you’re in a great walk hut for example with a decent sized pot, this is an easy way to have meal just like at home. You could also swap out regular pasta for fresh if its earlier in the hike as this cooks faster.
- Sausage sizzle with bread/sauce: First night is perfect for a precooked sausage and bread. Fry up a few onions and you have your own little bbq on a wee frypan.
- Gnocchi: Packaged gnocchi can be delicious, albeit a little on the heavy side. Pair with your favourite sauce and maybe some parmesan cheese.
- Premade bacon and egg pie: I love bacon and egg pie and this makes a great meal on the trail. I make it at home, put in a container or wrap in foil and just eat it cold. My basic recipe is just to lay baking paper, pastry on the bottom, eggs, sliced up bacon, onion and thinly sliced potato on a mandolin and repeat (a bit like a lasagne) Top with pastry and cook for 30-40 minutes until the egg has all firmed up. Very simple but yum
- Left over pizza: Okay maybe not super nutritious but how jealous will everyone be when you crank out cold Pizza Hut pizza. (surely I’m not the only one who loves cold pizza) You can reheat on a frypan if you wish.
- Shepherds pie: Grab a maggi gravy mix and add to your freeze dried beef and top with potato flake mash. You can also get dehydrated peas and mixed veges and can add them in there also. I think that sounds like a pretty balanced meal to me! Tramping food recipes can be very simple, must like this.
You can definitely use all of these hiking meals as great camping food ideas. If you’re keen on camping with the kids you can check out these articles
Dessert: Trail Food ideas
You’ve burnt a lot of energy for this overnight hike so you definitely deserve some dessert. Here are a few ideas to make your evening supper a little special
Instant Pudding: A packet of instant pudding is only a few dollars, make up some milk with milk powder, shake on up and leave for 10-20 minutes to thicken up. Easy in winter to leave it in the cold, or just use really cold water and it will thicken well
Smores: Cook Marshmallows over the gas to go a little gooey and smoosh between a chocolate wheaten, a biscuit with a chocolate coating to make your smore. This is one of my kids favourite trekking food ideas and again, its very simple.
Chocolate: A good ol chocolate bar is delicious and compact.
Apple Crumble: Cook up your own apple, or rehydrate dried apple, add muesli on top for an easy crumble topping or premake a bit of butter, flour, oats and brown sugar, fry off in the frypan and app on top of the apple
Freeze Dried Desserts: There a raft of quick make puddings you can purchase and my kids love the Backcountry Cuisine – Apple Pie and Chocolate Brownie Pudding
Hiking snacks ideas
Somedays I think we just hike for the good snacks, but you do need easy to eat things as you do burn a lot of energy on the go. Here is a huge range of ideas, no need to explain them, just pick up at the supermarket, or make with a tiny bit of prep.
- Pretzels
- Chips (these are a hut treat for me when I need a bit of extra salt)
- Jerky
- Dried Fruits
- Banana Chips
- Nuts / Scroggin / Trail Mix
- M&Ms are great if you love chocolate. You need to be careful as chocolate does melt but M&Ms will stay in tact because of the candy coating
- Muesli bars
- Hard boiled eggs
- Protein bars
- Electrolytes / Raro
- Trail mix with fun cereals for crunch – salty sweet
- Bliss balls
- Dates
- Homemade cookies
- Homemade muesli bars
- Canned tuna and crackers
- Salami and crackers
- Cheese
- Popcorn
- Nutella
- Lollies
- Chocolate covered raisins / peanuts
- Carrots
- Fruit
- Baby food – freeze dried yoghurt melts
If you think we’ve missed any delicious tramping snacks, do message me on Instagram and I’ll be sure to add them in.
Our kids favourite freeze dried meals
Backcountry Cuisine
Cooked Breakfast: Sounds weird, looks interesting, but is actually my favourite meal ever. Just trust me – this is delicious when you’re hungry
Chocolate Brownie Pudding: The berry contrasting with the sweet chocolate makes this dessert
Beef Hotpot: Its quite plain with beef, pasta and mixed vegetables but the kids always choose this
Porridge Supreme: This has apples in it and its really delicious. I’d say the larger size would serve 3. We never make it through with 2 people.
Outdoor Gourmet Company Butter Chicken: All round favourite
Sample Tramping Food Menu for Multi Day Hikes (What we ate on the Kepler with kids)
This is just what works well for our family so hopefully it might give you some ideas for your own multi day hike. You can read more about hiking the Kepler with a 7 and 9 year old on our Kepler Track with Kids Guide
Day 1
- Breakfast: Normal breakfast at home / hotel
- Morning Snack: Muffin and Banana
- Lunch: Fresh bread rolls with ham, cheese, capsicum, cucumber, lettuce, muesli bar, apple
- Afternoon snack: pretzels
- Dinner: Fresh ravioli pasta from the supermarket and left over salad fixings from lunch
- Dessert: S’mores: Marshmallows and Chocolate Wheaten biscuits, cooked over gas cooker
Day 2
- Breakfast: Weetbix/Muesli and UHT milk (could use milk powder to mix up, mine don’t like it)
- Morning tea: Scroggin and Apple
- Lunch: Homemade bacon and egg pie, muesli bar, carrot
- Afternoon tea: Muesli bars
- Dinner: Chicken teriyaki rice bowls (canned teriyaki chicken, boil in bag rice, cabbage and carrot
Day 3:
- Breakfast: Backcountry Cuisine Porridge
- Morning tea: OSM muesli bars and apple
- Lunch: Crackers, Salami, Homemade Cookies
- Dinner: Backcountry Freeze Dried Meals and dessert packs
Day 4:
- Breakfast: Backcountry Cooked Breakfast
- Snacks: Whatever you’ve got left over to be honest.
- Lunch: Pita bread with smooth peanut butter
Finished!!
Final tip: I like to leave some nonperishable food in the car and some water in case you have totally run out of both and are far from a town. Sometimes the kids end up super hungry and the time we arrive back is basically a meal time and this has been a lifesaver.
Jennifer
Founder of Backyard Travel Family
Jen is a super organiser when it comes to travel. Having travelled extensively in Europe and Africa, has lived in London and the USA and holidayed in many parts of Asia, she is not a newbie to the travel space
Jen has three young children, 11 and under and travels around New Zealand with them.
