Food Preparation and Packaging
Cottage Gear Guide: Ultralight Hiking & Backpacking Gear from Small, Startup, and Cottage Brands
Discover the most unique, innovative, and ultralight backpacking gear from small, startup, and cottage brands in our Cottage Gear Guide.
DetailsBear Canisters: Design, Use Cases, and Reviews
We hope this guide will help you understand bear canisters a little bit better. You’ll learn about various testing agencies, bear canister design, materials, usability, and user experiences. Lastly, we’ll make some recommendations for bear canisters that reflect unique combinations of value, weight, and capacity.
DetailsPublisher’s Gear Guide Update (Nov ’23)
The Publisher’s Gear Guide has been updated. This gear guide contains recommendations in various categories by Backpacking Light Publisher and Founder Ryan Jordan. This is the gear he actually chooses to use on his own trips.
DetailsBackpacking Food
A curated guide to backpacking food ideas, meals, ingredients, strategies, skills, podcasts, forums, research, education, product recommendations, and more.
DetailsHome Freeze-Drying vs. Other Trail Food Preparation Strategies
Drew Smith talks about the place of home freeze-drying in the wider context of trail food strategies, and attempts freeze dried french toast!
DetailsIs Buying a Home Freeze-Dryer Worth the Money?
Home Freeze-dryers are handy but expensive. Are they worth the cost? We show you how to find out.
DetailsHow to Store Freeze-dried Food
Best practices for storing your freeze-dried food (plus one killer chiles rellenos recipe).
DetailsWhy is it hard to freeze-dry liquids?
In part four of his ongoing series, Drew Smith tackles freeze-drying a smoothie.
DetailsWhy Freeze-Dried Food Retains Taste and Nutrition
In part three of his ongoing series on freeze-drying, Drew Smith explores the science behind how freeze-drying preserves important nutrients – and why it matters.
DetailsFoodsaver v4440 Vacuum Sealer
Gear reviews from our staff and members, buy/sell used, shopping tools, and more about the Foodsaver V4440 Vacuum Sealer.
DetailsPackit Gourmet Cook-in Bags
Gear reviews from our staff and members, buy/sell used, shopping tools, and more about the Packit Gourmet Cook-in Bags.
DetailsHow Does Freeze-Drying work? (The Physics of Making Freeze-Dried Backpacking Food)
Why and how does freeze-drying work? The physics and science of freeze-drying your own backpacking food, plus a killer freeze-dried hash browns recipe.
DetailsFreeze-Drying Your Own Backpacking Meals: How to Eat Your Favorite Town Food on the Trail
In this freeze-drying installment, we discuss the history of freeze-drying and experiment with using a freeze dryer to prepare our favorite take-out town meal for enjoyment in the backcountry.
DetailsHow to Plan Food for a Backpacking Trip (Member Q&A)
Considerations for backcountry food planning, caloric density, packaging, and more for hiking and backpacking.
DetailsHarvest Right Home Freeze Dryer Review
The Harvest Right Home Freeze Dryer is a fantastic – and fantastically expensive – way to prepare backpacking meals.
DetailsHarvest Right Freeze Dryer
Freeze drying is the ultimate DIY process for the passionate backcountry foodie. The food lasts much longer, is more nutritious, and cooks much faster than dehydrated foods. In addition, the…
DetailsExcalibur 2400 Dehydrator
For DIY backcountry foodies who don’t yet want to make an investment into a freeze dryer, we recommend Excalibur Dehydrators. They are simple, reliable, and effective. The Excalibur 2400 Dehydrator…
DetailsJoin Our Community
Become a Backpacking Light Member
Forum Access
Unrestricted access to all forums, plus the ability to post and start new threads.
Premium Content
Unrestricted access to all 2,300+ articles, gear reviews, skills, stories, and more.
Community Posts
Post new content to the community including gear swaps, reviews, trip reports and more!
Online Education
Get unlimited access to all our online education (*Unlimited membership required).
Pack less. Be more. Become a member today!
