In a perfect world, I would always have a stash of delicious and nutritious homemade backpacking meals ready for the trail. But if you haven’t figured it out yet, this is no perfect world, right? While it easy to dehydrate food for backpacking (read how- Here), it does take some pre planning. And at times, ain’t nobody got time for that. So occasionally it just works out that we are packing for a backpacking trip and have no homemade dehydrated food to fill up our food bags. Prepackaged single serving dehydrated meals are a no go for my family as they are too expensive and too heavy for six people and I hate all of that packaging waste. So what’s a hungry girl to do?
No worries, you can easily fill your food bag with items from the regular grocery store, like I wrote about here. But better yet, if you are lucky enough to have one in your area, head over to Trader Joe’s for a wide selection of hiker friendly meal staples. I love Trader Joe’s for everyday grocery shopping because of their free range organic meats, delicious fresh produce, large wine selection and great prices. And for trail food? Trader Joe’s backpacking food is amazing.
Trader Joe’s Backpacking Food
Stroll around the store and you are guaranteed to agree that for price, taste and selection, Trader Joe’s backpacking food is the bomb diggity. I like to stock up on their trail friendly options so that when nice weather hits, it’s easy to grab convenient and delicious backpacking meals on the fly and hit the trail. From Whole Wheat Couscous to Mushroom Risotto to Curried Rice, you will find Trader Joe’s backpacking food selection to be varied with many diverse ethnic flavors to keep your taste buds satisfied at dinner. We like their selection of crackers, cheeses, cured meats and jerky (they even have Salmon Jerky) for easy trail lunches. For breakfasts we like to doctor up oatmeal with their large assortment of dried fruits (read about some of our favorite oatmeal combinations, here).
And for snacks? Look out. Trader Joe’s has tons of delicious options. Fruity candy, chocolate and some of the best chocolate espresso bites on this earth, you will love all the snack options found here. Trader Joe’s also sells numerous already mixed up trail mix combinations as well as an unbelievable selections of dried fruits and nuts so you can easily prepare your own favorite gorp. Fruit leather, cereal bars and kale chips also make it into our snack bags. For a special treat, Trader Joe’s has a 2 cup coffee filter packet which makes delicious french press style coffee. They even have some pretty decent and downright cheap instant coffee packets, which is a morning must for this momma.
Trader Joe’s Backpacking Food – Our Very Favorite Things
My favorite packaged Trader Joe’s backpacking food items are the mushroom and herb risotto, the garlic mashed potatoes and the whole wheat couscous. I also really like their pancake mix for both breakfast and dinner on the trail. Another bonus find? Clarified butter! I usually make my own (read how, here), but this is such a great convenience option and comes in a lightweight plastic container. 
My favorite Trader Joe’s backpacking food snacks are their amazing dark chocolate peanut butter cups, their PB&J candy bars, their apple cereal bars, their gourmet jelly beans and fruit leathers and their organic milk chocolate candy bar with raisins and pecans. All of these are absolutely delicious!
And Trader Joe’s is not just for food! Two of my favorite backpacking staples – Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap and Trader Joe’s Head to Toe Moisturizing Balm are sold there too. Bonus!
If you are lucky enough to have a Trader Joe’s where you live- check it out. Not only is Trader Joe’s backpacking food a great buy, they have tons of great items for your home pantry.
Do you have a favorite Trader Joe’s item? I’d love to hear about it!
