Spend any time in the backcountry or the campground at your local state park, and you’ll quickly realize the importance of a good meal outdoors. You need the calories for hiking, and good food helps soothe the pain of a long day and turn that rained-out trip into an “at-least-we-ate-well” adventure.
Bringing the kitchen to the outdoors isn’t always as simple as it sounds. I’ve been a professional chef and have also guided quite a few groups through the wilderness, and in that time I discovered what every professional guide knows: Food makes or breaks the trip. Here, I’ve put together a menu of ideas, from the gear you’ll need