5 Gourmet Backpacking Recipes You Can Make With Gas Station Ingredients

Why waste time pre-packaging trail food when you can purchase a feast along the way?

Share

Save

Pizzadillas cooking over coals (Photo: simonmayer / iStock via Getty)

Meticulously dehydrating your own trail food has its benefits. But it also takes a heck of a lot of organization and preplanning—aspects of adulthood some of us have yet to master. If you fit into that category, have I got an alternative for you: the ad-hoc gas-station resupply.

Though resupplying at gas stations is a respected logistical strategy in the bikepacking and thru-hiking worlds, hikers are sometimes reluctant to take full advantage. Most folks worry they won’t find enough variety—or options with sufficient nutritional value. While that latter concern is a fair one, I have to point out that peak nutrition is usually not a top concern when you’re hiking 10 to 20 miles a day. I once met a thru-hiker on the Appalachian Trail who claimed he was hiking the whole thing on Honey Buns. He was about 65 years old, flat-nosed and ham-fisted, and his trail name was Meat. I ran into him along the Tennessee-North Carolina border. I don’t know if he finished, but he did make it that far.

Whether you’re hoping to follow in Meat’s footsteps—or do what I do and supplement dehydrated food with occasional convenience store top-ups—knowing what to get in the gas station is a useful skill to have in your back pocket. Note that food options vary, and can sometimes be a bit repetitive. So, if you’re on a long trip, be sure to bring a bottle of olive oil and a lightweight spice kit. Soy sauce packets, mayonnaise packets, hot sauce, and other condiments also go a long way toward keeping mealtime interesting.

Here’s the gas station shopping list I tend to mix and match from, plus a few trail recipe ideas to jump-start your imagination.

Similar Reads

The Best High-Fiber Snack Recipes to Carry on Your Next Outdoor Adventure

These 11 Cheap Camp Meals Cost Pennies—and Taste Fantastic

The 6 Best Backpacking Meal Brands for Crave-Worthy Trailside Feasts

Breakfast items

• Oatmeal
• Fresh apples or oranges
• Raisins
• Cereal
• Powdered milk
• Dried fruit
• Poptarts
• Honey buns
• Powdered donuts
• Instant coffee

Lunch items

• Salami
• String cheese
• Tortillas
• Peanut butter
• Nutella
• Nuts
• Trail mix
• Starkist Tuna pouches
• Saltines
• Pringles
• Potato chips

Snacks and desserts  

• Snickers
• Peanut M&Ms
• Sour Patch Kids
• Goldfish
• Cheez-Its
• Hot cocoa packets
• Brownie mix (stir in water for instant trail pudding)

Dinner items 

• Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese
• Starkist Tuna or chicken pouches
• Instant mashed potatoes
• Ramen noodles
• Roasted peanuts or walnuts (to top noodles or pasta)
• Angel-hair noodles
• Pizza sauce or tomato paste
• Jerky or summer sausage
• Cheddar cheese
• Fritos
• Refried beans
• Minute Rice
• Taco seasoning
• Canned jalapeños (Repackage them in the parking lot and toss the can)
• Eggs (Buy hard-boiled, or boil them in the parking lot and eat within a couple of days)

5 Gas Station-Gourmet Trail Recipes

Here are a few of my go-to convenience-store concoctions. While the below backpacking recipes all involve a meat of some kind, you can make most of them vegetarian by subbing in textured vegetable protein (pack this in yourself), or adding extra nuts or cheese in lieu of meat.

Chicken Pad Thai 

• Peanut butter
• Soy sauce
• Ramen noodles
• Sweet roasted peanuts
• Lime (if available)
• Chili flakes
• Sriracha (if available)
• Starkist chicken pouch

Open the noodles and set the flavor packet aside. Cook the noodles until al dente, then strain, retaining just two tablespoons of pasta water in the pot. Stir in the peanut butter while the noodles are warm. Then stir in the soy sauce and powder from the flavor packet. Top with chicken and peanuts, then drizzle with lime, chili flakes, and hot sauce to serve.

Mac Mash 

• Instant mac
• Mashed potatoes
• Cheese (or crumbled Cheez-Its)
• Olive oil
• Summer sausage (or crumbled beef jerky)
• Salt
• Pepper

Cook the mac ‘n cheese according to package directions. Once the noodles are al dente, add a scoop of instant mashed potatoes and extra water as needed to reach the desired consistency. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with cheese and a protein of your choice.

Pizzadillas 

• Pepperoni
• Tomato paste or pizza sauce
• String cheese
• Tortillas
• Canned jalapeños, repackaged into a zip-top bag (optional)
• Canned pineapple, repackaged into a zip-top bag (optional)
• Deli ham, bologna, or summer sausage (optional)
• Olive oil

Heat some oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, spread tomato paste over one hemisphere of a tortilla. Add string cheese and other toppings, then fold in half to make your pizzadilla. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the pizzadilla. Toast on both sides until cheese is fully melted.

Nacho Bowls

• Refried beans
• Minute rice
• Fritos
• Cheese
• Taco seasoning
• Canned jalapeños, repackaged into a zip-top bag
• Hot sauce

Cook the minute rice according to the package directions. When cooked through, stir in taco seasoning. Top with beans, jalapeños, cheese, and Fritos. Drizzle with hot sauce, then serve.

Tuna Salad Sandwiches

• Bread
• Tuna pouch
• Mayonnaise packet
• Mustard packet (if available)
• Relish packet (if available)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Olive oil

Pour the condiment packets and seasonings into the tuna pouch. Stir to mix. Separately, cut the hard-boiled eggs into thin slices. Drizzle two slices of bread with olive oil and toast in a pan. When toasted, build a sandwich from the seasoned tuna and sliced hard-boiled eggs.