favorite kid’s meals

[Katherine .]

Only point of failure on my son's recent first backpacking trip was hot meals. He didn't care too much because I brought an abundance of sweet stuff.

I had moved up the timing, and didn't have a chance to home-test meals. I grabbed some wholesome looking (brown paper packaging!) mac & cheese, checked that the sodium wasn't crazy high, and thought that would be easy and safe. Had a gawdawful sour taste — I could barely eat it. (luckily he was OK with the back-up plan: plain cous cous).

I know this sounds easy, but walk me through a few simple, tasty, kid-friendly hot dishes!

My style is: boil water, add ingredients to pot, stir up to a few minutes, maybe add more ingredients. Quick is good. (Using a canister, instead of alky, for trips w/him)

Also, any hot breakfast favorites? Specific brands, e.g. of quick oats or whatever. He did not like my usual oat bran/coconut/cranberry/almond breakfast. At least he was fine w/Nido + Cheerios. But I'd like to do something hot for us both.

[David Thomas]

Although we try to eat better at home (fresh-caught sockeye salmon, quinoa, and a green salad last night), we let things slide on camping / backpacking / snow camping trips. Partly because it is easy. More so, because we're trying hard to keep backpacking fun, not do too many miles, or anything else that would put them off the activity. So far, so good – 2 weeks ago, they finished a tough 33-mile BPing trip from Alaska into Canada of the Chilkoot Pass.

For Mac&Cheese, I use the bright orange Kraft stuff on the trail, not the pale Little Annie's stuff from the health-food section. We've had good luck with the kids eating dehydrated beans after soaking, adding coconut-milk powder, and some green curry paste (less for the kids than for the adults). They like white beans with garlic and toasted, oiled bread crumbs (we do the bread crumbs in advance at home). Foil pouches of tuna or a tin of corned beef makes pasts or ramen more substantial and interesting. For many of these dishes, we prepare a separate cup of dehydrated veggies seeping in hot water to add to the adult portions. Our kids like pesto (they're actually kind of pesto snobs since we grow our own basil) and pesto on pasta is caloric and one-pot.

For hot breakfasts, we rotate between oatmeal and cream of rice. The trick is to have lots of optional additives – nuts, craisins, brown sugar, cream (e.g. shelf-stable coffee creamer), toasted coconut, etc. Other times, we bring homemade granola that is heavier on the nuts and fruits than store-bought stuff. Hot chocolate is very popular morning and night. We insist on a fair bit of dried-fruit consumption because a constipated kid isn't fun for anyone.

On snow-camping trips to a USFS cabin, we'll actually bring a frozen pizza and enough aluminum foil to make a tent on top of the wood-burning stove. Not our favorite, but, again, we're trying to keep it fun for them.

[Ben H.]

Sorry I can't be much help, but I am following this thread. My kids are picky eaters and I have a heck of a time getting them to eat on trips. About the only hot meal I have been able to get down my kids throat is the instant mac n cheese (high sodium and simple carbs and all). Other than that it has been mostly snack foods: Dried fruits, cheese, crackers, salami, granola bars. I will usually bring a sandwich for the hike in and a fresh apple or two. My son refused to eat nido with cereal and oatmeal in the morning. He does like hot cocoa.

The only pleasant surprise was he ate the trout he caught. He was very enamored with the whole experience of fishing. With my fishing skills it is hard to rely on catching fish.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

My oldest son lived off of these two recipes for years:
http://www.trailcooking.com/fbc/cheesy-couscous/
http://www.trailcooking.com/fbc/cheesy-rice/

I'd add in a 3-ounce can of chicken to it for protein. Never failed to make him happy!

[Sumi Wada]

I admit that I've never gone out of my way to pack healthy/wholesome meals for my son when backpacking or even car-camping. (The good news is that regardless of all the junk food, sugary cereals and soft drinks you allow when camping, the everyday good-eating habits do stick with them.) I just concentrated on bringing things he liked and would eat.

For him, the pasta-based meals worked best. Before I started dehydrating my own stuff, Mountain House's lasagna was his hands-down favorite. He also liked their chili mac. Spaghetti's generally safe.

One non-packaged meal that you assemble yourself that he'd probably like is foiled chicken + stuffing + gravy mix + dried cranberries. Add boiling water and you have a Thanksgiving-like meal. You can substitute pasta for the stuffing (or any other starch/filler.)

For lunches, it was mostly peanut butter and beef jerky for him.

He wasn't a fan of hot breakfasts like oatmeal but ate it when he was hungry enough. Just Quaker quick oats with Nido, sugar, a little cinnamon, dried fruit. When he first started backpacking with me, I took Cheerios and made little balls held together with peanut butter. I still think that would be his favorite even now, just that carrying enough Cheerios for a 17yo is too bulky.

[Katherine .]

Sumi – I don't think I've ever noticed "foiled chicken" before, where would I find that?

David – Tuna packets is a great idea (on the short list of foods he likes). I've taken them into desert-ish setting, but hesitant in forested areas that the smell would be a bear magnet. Any thoughts on that? Near-future trips would be in Oregon/southern WA.

Thanks Sarah!

[Casey Bowden]

Organic Mac'n'cheese mixed with smoked herring and topped with crushed organic Cheddar Rockets, all from Trader Joe's.

[David Thomas]

"David – Tuna packets is a great idea (on the short list of foods he likes). I've taken them into desert-ish setting, but hesitant in forested areas that the smell would be a bear magnet. Any thoughts on that? Near-future trips would be in Oregon/southern WA. "

Katherine,

1) No grizzly bears in OR / Southern WA.
2) Cooked fish (like packaged tuna) doesn't smell near as much (to my nose) as fresh fish gone rotten.
3) We brought tuna packets on this last trip and saw two grizzlies and one black bear (this was Alaska and very northern BC). Not a problem – they went the other way, as all bears I've seen up here have. The habituation of bears to humans as a food source is SO much worse in the Sierra and SE USA. In the north woods, we're more careful, less densely populated with humans, and bears that approach humans end up as stew, breakfast sausage, and the pastrami in my fridge.

But we are very bear-aware, even if we aren't bear-averse. On this trip, there were bear lockers in all the campgrounds (a huge step in avoiding habituated bears!). In more remote areas, we do the 100m triangle between sleeping, cooking and storing food (hung or in a container).

OTOH, reducing food smells is always good and the two bears I've chased off of packs in CA went for the packs (out of many others) with the salami in them. If you're having a campfire anyway, many people up here "burn the smell out" of the garbage and then pack out the remaining metal bits.

And then there's always this approach:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sj81NNTMxI4 (only 30 seconds).

[ed dzierzak]

"Sumi – I don't think I've ever noticed "foiled chicken" before, where would I find that?"

It's a retort pack similar to tuna packets. You'll usually find to near the foil tuna packets. I've seen it in 3 oz. packets years ago, but don't find them anymore. Usually they are now 7 oz.

An alternative is canned chicken which is still packed in 3 oz. cans. There's not a lot of weight difference in the trash. Cans are just awkward. It's kind of a moot point if you really would use a complete 7 oz.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Yep, as Ed says. I only use the 3 ounce cans when it is one person (they have a pull top btw).

As for smell, just bag your garbage and store properly. It will be just fine here in Wa.

[Author]

Posts