As he prepared for a quick getaway last weekend, Lucas found himself struggling to come up with fresh ideas for lunch and dinner. Seeking inspiration, he’s now turning to the community for help compiling a list of easy recipes. Have a favorite bikepacking meal? Share it here…

While doing some last-minute prep for a two-night trip last weekend, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few packable lunches and dinners. For whatever reason, maybe because it was at the tail end of a long week, the meal-planning inspiration completely failed to strike. I was relying on muscle memory to help me decide what to pick out as I wandered the aisles, but I came up empty.

Going in, I knew I wasn’t in the mood for anything overly involved (despite singing the praises of gourmet camp food in my Editor’s Dozen earlier this year), but I drew a blank when trying to envision something easy, light, satisfying, and somewhat cohesive on the fly. My usual no-frills picks of ramen, broccoli and cheddar noodles, and pouches of Indian food were in the back of my mind, but they weren’t sounding appetizing in the moment. Perhaps that’s due to overindexing on them, in the same way that I haven’t been able to touch trail mix again since making the questionable decision to eat it almost exclusively on the Colorado Trail in 2009.

I ended up walking out with an odd assortment of Mexican street corn and bean packets, fresh fruit, cheese, carrots, and peanut butter-filled pretzels. It got the job done, and I didn’t go hungry, but it made me realize that I’m in dire need of a fresh rotation of top-of-mind picks before heading out for a couple of nights again next weekend.

This brings me to the question: what’s your go-to meal for bikepacking? Bonus points if it’s vegetarian-friendly, but even if not, hopefully we can compile a useful list of quick-and-easy picks for future reference in the Conversation below. And if you’re seeking suggestions yourself, be sure to browse some of our resources in the Further Reading grid, where I’ve rounded up a selection of related posts.

Further Reading

Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info...

Please keep the conversation civil, constructive, and inclusive, or your comment will be removed.