The Art of Meal Prep JMT

I’m planning to prepare my own backpacking meals for my JMT hike this summer, which means I will dehydrate 66 meals: 22 breakfasts, 22 lunches, and 22 dinners. This will be the first trip where I completely use home cooked meals and a lot of people ask me why. Taking the time and effort to prepare 66 meals seems crazy to most people when there are enough places on the JMT to buy a refill. I think my reasons for making my own food are pretty solid!

Why am I dehydrating my own food?

I have two big reasons why I choose to prepare all my backpacking food for the JMT. The first reason is dietary restrictions. Unfortunately I am lactose intolerant. While I’m a big fan of pizza and ice cream at home, I avoid dairy on the road. I can’t eat flour tortillas either. This reduces many of my food options, which brings me to the second reason for preparing my own food. I backpacked through the 100 Mile Wilderness in 2022 and ate several freeze-dried meals that were almost inedible. This was the biggest motivation for me because I would arrive at camp feeling very hungry, rehydrate my food, and discover that the dinner I had been waiting for all day tasted terrible. I figured if the food was going to disappoint me, I might as well disappoint my own cooking.

How I am preparing 66 meals for the JMT

The thought of preparing 66 meals is incredibly daunting. So, I did what every engineer does when faced with an overwhelming project: I made a spreadsheet. My goal was to develop three breakfast recipes, three lunch recipes, and at least seven dinner recipes. I don’t think I mind repeat breakfasts and lunches, especially when I can mix up my snack options, but eating the same thing for dinner too often makes me cranky. I try to reuse ingredients in multiple recipes to make it easier to dehydrate large quantities of food; For example, I use rice in my beans and rice, in my masoor dal, and in my chickpea and coconut curry.

My goal is to try all of my homemade backpacking recipes, either at home or on a test hike before taking them to the JMT. This allows me to adjust the taste and quantity of each meal before hitting the road.

My current recipe list for JMT

Breakfast

• oatmeal with apple
• Granola with red berries

Lunch

• Chickpea and vegetable couscous
• Beans and Rice
• Pesto Raman

Dinner

• Chicken Pad Thai
• Coconut and cashew curry
• BBQ Chicken Bowl
• Lentil cake
• Masoor Dal
• Meat Raman

I’m still working on perfecting my list of dinner recipes and hope to make a dairy-free risotto and mac and cheese to round out the list.

The biggest secret of good mountain food

Surprisingly, hunger is not always the best spice! The best additions to homemade backpacking meals that I have discovered so far are adding olive oil and packets of True Lime. My pad thai recipe was a solid 6.5/10 without the True Lime packet; after adding it in, it was a solid 9/10. Even if you’re picking up food along the way, carrying a spice kit with packets of salt, pepper, True Lime, True Lemon, and soy sauce can make a big difference in how good your food tastes.

Next steps in preparing for the JMT

In addition to running my dehydrator like crazy for the next three months, I’m working on perfecting my gear list and taking the time to do some hiking on local trails. My next post here will be on my gear list after my test hike in May!

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