Welcome to Camp Cooking Week! We’ll be cooking outdoors all week long so come back tomorrow for more outdoor cooking tips and tricks.
Backpackables – Camp Cook Week Day 4
Camp cooking is all great to talk about, but when you’re hauling all your food for several days on your back camp cooking takes on a whole new meaning. Backpacking requires lightweight, easy food options. Here are some grab and go foods we tried recently.
Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeeze
Grain and fruit in a convenient pouch make eating a balanced meal on the go much easier. Moms out there may be familiar with these food pouches for apple sauce and baby food, but these meals in a bag are designed for both kids and adults. So when Munk Pack gave me some to sample, I was excited to try them out, especially because they’re wheat, egg and nut free – perfect for my allergic son.
Munk Pack Oatmeal Fruit Squeezes are larger than an applesauce pack at 4.2 ounces and come in three great flavors – Apple Quinoa Cinnamon, Raspberry Coconut and Blueberry Acai Flax. My favorite was the Blueberry, although Big E wouldn’t let me try to Apple Quinoa Cinnamon. The texture was a bit odd, like applesauce with little lumps in it because of the grains, but it was still tasty.
Traditional protein bars take up an entire aisle at the grocery store yet all seem very similar to me. The energy bars produced by
Chapul are very different. Why? Because they’re made out of crickets.
Since crickets need minimal resources to raise, do not emit greenhouse gases and are a complete protein they make sense as a
sustainable form of protein in a growing world. People have eaten cricket for thousands of years all over the world.
Chapul grinds the insects into cricket flour, not that different in look and texture than whole grain oat flour. From that flour they created four uniquely flavored energy bars.
- Aztec – Dark Chocolate, Coffee and Cayenne
- Matcha – Matcha Tea, Gogi and Nori
- Chaco – Peanut Butter and Chocolate
- Thai – Coconut, Ginger and Lime
I was given each flavor to sample and I liked the Chaco bar most, I think because I’m used to granola bars having those flavors. The Thai bar was strong on the ginger flavor, and the Aztec was good, but has a kick of Cayenne and I’m a spicy wimp.
The last grab and go food I got samples to review was a bag of
GoChia bites. These food squares are like granola bars’ healthier, stronger cousin. With a mix of quinoa, chia and dark chocolate these superfood bites provide high energy in bite sized pieces.
Kinda like my kids.
Chia seeds are promoted as a superfood containing omega-3 fatty acids, carbohydrates, protein, fiber and antioxidants. They’re tiny black seeds that remind me of poppy seeds.
Compared to a traditional chocolate granola bar,
GoChia bites are grainier and less sweet. They taste healthy, like something I’d only eat if I had to, kinda boring, a little like cardboard. So imagine my surprise when
my kids gobbled the whole bag up before I could take a single picture (this one is from their website). They loved them, asking for more when the bag was empty.
I was shocked and pleased.
It’s always hard to find pre-made foods that Big E can eat with his allergies (wheat, eggs, peanuts and treenuts). These
GoChia bites are gluten and nut free, super healthy and the tots thought they were delicious.
Backpackables
If you’re planning a backpacking adventure, or even just a trip to your local park, these grab and go options are great for something a little different. They’re energy packed options that are healthy, sustainable and unique. Try some out and let me know what you think.
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Other links you might like:
Dutch Oven Cooking for Beginners – Camp Cook Week Day 1
Primus Firehole 100 Camp Stove Review – Camp Cook Week Day 2
Backyard Bonfire – Camp Cook Week Day 3
Author: Mountain Mom
Hi! I'm Mountain Mom. I live with my husband and three young kids near the mountains in Idaho. When we're not hiking, biking, skiing and camping, I like to spend my time doing Mom stuff and reading.
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