Sustainable Adventure Food
Environmentally-friendly meal options for your outdoor adventures
image: A_B_C on Adobe Stock
If you’re heading outside to connect with nature, chances are you have an interest in protecting the environment. While making a choice about a series of meals for one outdoor adventure isn’t going to save the planet (we’ve got to work to change the system, vote!, and take action to create more eco-consciousness in your community), small choices can make an impact. Plus, it feels good to support small businesses who share your values about the outdoors.
Here are some eco-friendly dehydrated backcountry meal options that can fuel your next outdoor adventure:
DIY Dehydrated Backpacking Food
Making your own food is a great way to decrease your impact on the environment. This is especially true if you are making food from your own garden or local farmers’ market.
If you’re interested in making your own dehydrated backpacking food, you’ll need a dehydrator, containers that seal tight to avoid spoilage, and great recipes.
Here are some great DIY dehydrated backpacking recipes that you can create at home.
If dehydrating your own meals seems like more work than you’d like to take on, there are a few companies that are making more sustainable meals for the trails. From locally sourced food to biodegradable packaging, these small brands are making the most eco-conscious backpacking meals out there.
Farm to Summit
Farm to Summit is an adventure food company based in Durango, Colorado that creates delicious dehydrated meals using imperfect produce from local farms (mostly Colorado). The women-owned company offers meals such as Anasazi Beans Rice and Fall Harvest Green Curry that are packaged in omnidegradable ® bags, which means they will biodegrade almost anywhere that microbes are present.
Ever Green Adventure Foods
Ever Green Adventure Foods is a family-owned brand from the Eastern Sierra Mountains that was conceived from a desire to decrease plastic waste in the outdoors. Ever Green Adventure Foods creates plant-based meals made with organic ingredients packaged in 100 percent compostable containers. They also donate a portion of proceeds to local conservation organizations such as Pacific Crest Trail Association, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the Tahoe Rim Trail Association.
Fernweh Food Co
Fernweh Food Co. based in the Pacific Northwest creates plant-based, gluten-free meals for outdoor adventures. A womxn-owned company, Fernweh Food Co. offers sustainable options through the use of low-impact packaging (some compostable, some omnidegradable®) and bulk dehydrated meals. Fun fact: Fernweh is a German word that translates to (something along the lines of) “an aching for faraway places.”
Sasquatch Fuel
Sasquatch Fuel was created by a father and son team in Montana. They offer meaty options using cattle jerky sourced from Idaho, and backcountry standards like mac and cheese, rice and beans and granola, all in omnidegradable ® packaging. Sasquatch Fuel is also a 2% for Conservation member, donating over 1 percent of total revenue to conservation organizations and one percent of their time towards backcountry cleanup.
Whether you make your own or purchase sustainable backpacking meals from a small brand, you’ll be doing your tummy and the planet a favor.
