Menu help needed

“I'm going on a 4 day trip with my 7yr-old, and I am having a huge problem with the menu planning. Luckily he's not a picky eater! but I would like some easy (and light-I get to carry most of the gear) meals that are kid-friendly. I know he won't eat instant potatoes or tuna. And since I live in Canada, I can't find a bunch of stuff like chicken in a foil pouch, or butter budds(??) Anyone wanna share their ideas? I've checked the old recipies threads, and am reading backpacking cookbook but we would apreciate any other suggestions”

“I have the same situation with my daughter when I go car camping. Here are some suggestions:

If you can take bread without squishing it, consider peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If she likes tortillas, then bean and cheese burritos or quesadillas might be nice.

Crackers with lots of things might work such as cheese or peanut butter.

Hot chocolate is a good drink for kids both in the morning and at night.

For breakfast or snacks consider pop tarts (toaster pastries).

Squeeze puddings are now available and they are pretty good.

Gorp - mixture of peanuts, M&Ms, and raisins.

Cold Cereal - Put your favorite cold cereal in a food storage bag. Add a teaspoon or two of sugar and two tablespoons of powdered milk. Then on the trail add 1 cup water, stir, and you have cold cereal.

Oatmeal - Lots of those flavored oatmeal cereals are pretty tasty and packaged individually.”

“The fruit and cream varieties of oatmeal will appeal the most to kids (and to me too). Dinners are harder though. Easy Mac macaroni and cheese will work, if you don't mind boiling the macaroni. YOU have to leave a little water in it though, so that when you put in the powdered cheese packet, there's something to make sauce with.”

“Tortillas, cheese and cooked (KFC) chicken...I brought this along on a short bp trip and was a big hit with everyone...especially Rockman!”

“tortias are the best thing to happen to backpackers since gergory.

PB&J is big w/ me.

You can dyhdrate your own chilli and beef jerky.

Tuna, I do alot of that.

I found a fell bell peppers held this summer for about 2 days. I just cut the core outbefore I left and took slices as I went.

Eggs are stronger than you think. Tom Terrific has the idea that you can put eggs in a ziplock and put it in your sleeping bag so they are cushiond. I found 2 out of 3 eggs survied a day of hiking that way.

Oat meal

Pepperoni slices, taht holds well. and a brick of cheder.

Good luck”

“thanks for suggestions. lots of good ideas
I'm thinking maybe for dinners: soft tacos with rehydrated beef & cheese & stuff, and tortillas with something - maybe chicken, but I am wondering about dehydrating chicken. Has anyone tried this?”

“and I think that the apple with cinnamon & brown sugar recipie posted on old thread sounds yummy. we will have to try that too.”

“I don't know if you can get Mountain top dehydrated food but i food the the mac and cheese is really good and they have lot of other options every thing that i have tried so far has been good. Which is perrty amazing for space food”

“how many servings per pack? and how big? The kid eats more than I do, and will be hungry again in 20 minutes! I may have to get a bigger pack to accomodate our food bag!”

“Rehydrating chicken is not that bad. Consider taking some 3 ounce cans of chicken. Granted, it is a little heavier, but maybe one or two for those really yummy tacos.”

“you can buy mountain top in 20oz packs know i can eat a full one of those after a full day of hikeing but its not much weight and they have vegges and stuff to go along with the main meal so ecept for ramen i don't know how to get more food for the weight
oh i got to get you a hand for taking kids backpacking i done it before and when they can't carry much it makes your work a lot harder. But if you bring someone new its all good and look in a few years he'll be able to take some of your stuff so it works out in the end”

“I'm dehydrating some leftover gr.beef from tacos, but now I've got a serious problem. Tonight I watched that kid consume five fully loaded soft tacos. Now add some fresh air & exercise...I figure he'll skarf down twice as much food as usual during our excursion. I don't think I'll be capable of even lifting our foodbag next month!”

“Try the chicken in a foil pouch similar to what tuna comes in. I don't know the brand name, but it is usually near the canned tuna and chicken. This will cut down on the weight. There is enough in these packs for a whole meal for 3-4 people for tortillas or sandwiches. You can also take beef jerky to snack on and rehydrate it to put in recipes like fajitas or chili, etc.”

“I live in Canada--we 'don't have that on our grocery shelves:(”

“same as denatured alcohol. walmart grease pots. butterbuds. dehydrated refried beans. and probably lots of other stuff too.”

“sorry helinka, after reading the original post again I realized my mistake. Maybe someone a little closer to the border will ship some up to you. I hate to take along a can, unless I have some other use for it.”