Kid-Friendly Hiking Foods Needed

[Herbie]

I debated between the Family and Food fora for this, settled on the Chef's area:

So I've spent years improving how I eat when hiking and backpacking, and eventually overlanding. I've got a hoard of recipes perfect for the foodie in the wilderness. I can have a fancy 3-course meal on a day hike, and even better when in camp. Since my daughter has come along, I've focused more on basecamp cuisine - keeping the family well fed has become a staple of our overlanding trips.

But now she's four, and we're ready to start her with a bit more hiking. Not huge distances yet, but longer than the 30 minute walks we've tried to this point, so on-trail meals are starting to become a concern again. As I've said, I can whip up plenty of stuff for Mom and myself, but the list of preschooler-approved lunches is already perilously short (she's in a picky phase), and of course the list of things I can serve her on-trail is even shorter.

Anyone got a ready stash of hiking-friendly meals fit for a princess? Difficulty: No PB&J (heresy!)

Meals I'm already doing or considering:

• Salami Sandwich - assemble on-trail and use condiment packets
• Bean & Cheese Burrito - assemble after breakfast and keep wrapped in foil for a few hours
• Crackers, String Cheese, and Fruit - borderline big snack

A lot of parent-blogs suggest just having the kid snack continuously for such activities, but I don't feel right just pushing trail-mix or fruit leather all day. Besides, having a nice meal in a serene spot is part of why I like to hike. For the adults, lunch is usually something like tuna-salad w/ capers, red onion, and tarragon in pita, a small greens salad w/ mustard vinaigrette, and some fruit, but the kid won't eat most of it!

 

[green73brc]

Here are a few things we have done.

Grilled PB&J (Seems to hold up better and a special treat with the buttery taste and a good idea for people with kids who like it)
Quesadilla - They like them cold or hot
Hummus - Even the little ones love this when paired with a tasty vessel to use
String Cheese - I have to have mine cold but they are okay with warm
Baby Bell - With crackers they love to open them up
Salami - Straight up with a block of cheese and crackers kids love making little sandwiches and to mom and dad a fine cheese is good.
Soup - We get the boxed "higher end" soup with a nice loaf of fresh bread and good cheese. Kids love to dip bread into soup

We usually just modify foods we know they like to eat at home and put them in finger/bite size. Our main problem is getting them to actually eat, they are usually so excited that they wont eat until it is too late. So making the food in snack form but meal substance is usually our focus.

But yes i agree filling them up with just granola bars/gold fish/snack crap seems to just cause them to have poor intake which produces poor output.

 

[Black Dog]

If you don't mind packing some stuff in you could make what I always called hobo packs when I was a kid. Just make a hamburger patty, get some potato chunks, carrots, onion, oil up a piece of aluminum foil and wrap everything up good and tight. Stick it on the coals for a while and you're good to go. One trick I learned is to put an ice cube in too, but that may be difficult hiking.

A variation on this for dessert is to core out an apple and stuff it with brown sugar and raisins, and put a pad of butter on top then wrap and cook as before. For an adult treat you can add a splash of bourbon or rum too!

 

[Herbie]

Yeah, I'm covered for cooked foods. We do everything from grilling to dutch oven to "al cartoccio" (That's I-talian for "Hobo pack"). Mostly looking for on-trail lunch ideas, stuff we can eat during a dayhike, since it's harder to feed the picky 4-year-old.

I do like the idea of turning "real" food into "snack form" somehow. Will ruminate on that and see if I can rework some of the meals I know she WILL eat into alternate formats.

 

[Black Dog]

Mostly looking for on-trail lunch ideas, stuff we can eat during a dayhike, since it's harder to feed the picky 4-year-old.

Maybe some "ants on a log"? Apple slice+peanut butter+raisins.

 

[jtpaintball70]

Maybe a green apple, cored, filled with peanut butter? IT might work as a quick snack.

 

[geojag]

Hard cheeses and dry sausages last well without refrigeration. Also, there are a lot of flavored tuna and salmon packets available. I have also take packets of smoked salmon, they seem to do alright.
You can find dried fruits like apricots and mangos (my favorite) that are quite a bit healthier than fruit leathers.

 

[Kelly Campbell]

Did you ever try giving her some of your adult food? Or … are you strictly sticking to kiddie food with all the supposed nutrients, vitamins, etc. ? just curious.

 

[Herbie]

We try all the time. She's just picky lately.

Ended up doing just lots of snacks on that trip. Next time may need an actual lunch...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Ramjet]

Costco Natures Bakery Fig Bars

We just picked up a box of the Fig Bars at Costco and they are awesome. Three flavors: Fig, Blueberry, Raspberry. GMO free, dairy free, Kosher, and they taste great.

 

[UK4X4]

we have a 6 year old, but she has strange tastes...

carrots, cucumber, celery and humus
Olives
Capers
Caviar- don't ask
ham and bread "hamburger"
Daddies biscuits.....sweet and salty bars
hot chorizo sausage
blue cheese
pre done hot dog sausages
strawberries - fruit etc, she's a berry demon
raisons
peanuts
smoked salmon


she likes to graze on bits and bobs, rather than have a large meal

 

[Ramjet]

we have a 6 year old, but she has strange tastes...

carrots, cucumber, celery and humus
Olives
Capers
Caviar- don't ask
ham and bread "hamburger"
Daddies biscuits.....sweet and salty bars
hot chorizo sausage
blue cheese
pre done hot dog sausages
strawberries - fruit etc, she's a berry demon
raisons
peanuts
smoked salmon


she likes to graze on bits and bobs, rather than have a large meal

We should all take lessons from her. That's the way we were designed to eat. We should eat for fuel, not just to,eat for earrings sake. I love her list as well. Awesome.

 

[Dvsjw_Betterhalf]

When we took kids hiking, my daughter would make it fine but my son had to have a snack/sandwich every 2 1/2 miles or he was fussy and grumpy. LOL He was 16 and his metabolism worked so quickly we learned he ate more than all of us on hikes. Granola bars and beef jerky sticks and organic type of fruit bars worked for trail food. Ziplock bags of dried cereal also worked well.

 

[Black Dog]

One thing I remember having on a canoe trip in Boundary Waters and Quetico is Hudson Bay Bread. Basically is granola and corn syrup and dried fruit all baked into a dense MRE-style pound cake type thing. We would have it up to two meals a day with honey on it to make it a little more chewy. Super high energy and pretty tasty to boot.

 

[jeepgc]

Could try flapjacks, soft oat based bars, although our kids didn't like them until they were older.

When they were 4, they did like eating breakfast cereal based bars, maybe worth a try.

Hot dogs seem to be universally popular.