Category Vegan Backpacking Meals

Cold Soaked Orzo and Beans

This simple recipe is a version of pasta with tomato sauce that is as easy to make and cold soak as simple rice-and-beans. It is 100% vegan, rehydrates fast, and tastes great! It makes a perfect lunch with simple preparation steps before and during your trip.

Cold Soaked Rice and Beans

For lunch while thru-hiking the PCT in 2018 we mostly cold-soaked store bought prepared foods (Near East couscous or Knorr rice sides) that we had supplemented with additional dried beans and/or greens. By the end of the hike we were absolutely sick of our lunches. The store-bought pre-made foods were full of sodium and preservatives that tasted fine at first, but over time they became extremely noticeable and disgusting. In summer 2019, while hiking the German countryside, we started experimenting with our own backpacking lunch recipes. Cold soaked rice and beans is cheap, simple, and easy to prepare both on and off trail. And it doesn't taste like chemicals!

Spanish Rice and Beans

We love this rice and bean recipe for a large and fulfilling dinner on the trail. Few things beat sitting at camp after a long day of hiking and enjoying this meal plain, smothered in hot sauce, or wrapped in a tortilla!

Ethiopian Lentils and Rice

Cabbage, lentils, and rice. Yum! This recipe was inspired by an Ethiopian restaurant we went to in Sacramento, California during our PCT thruhike. It was also influenced by our move to Germany, as our consumption of cabbage has gone through the roof.

Taco Pasta

Pasta, veggies, and beans in a tomato sauce flavored with taco powder and topped with nutritional yeast. Vegan taco pasta is a tasty and filling meal on the trail.