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Backcountry Foodie Review – Light Weight Nutrition | Average Hiker

Backcountry Foodie Logo on Average Hiker

I wrote a review on Backcountry Foodie two years ago and updated it a year later. I was going to update it again, but the company has made so many significant changes that I decided to rewrite the article.

Backcountryfoodie.com is an e-commerce business created for hikers and backpackers by a long-distance hiker and registered dietician.

Backcountry Foodie offers quick, ultralight recipes, a comprehensive calorie calculator, resupply services that include building your own boxes, in-depth nutritional information, Master Classes, and many other tips from a long-distance hiker.

Since my last review, new services have made creating and ordering nutritious recipes more convenient.

  • Resupply Planning
  • Building Your Own Boxes
  • Calorie Calculator
  • A Shop to purchase Backcountry meals, smoothies, gear, etc

If you buy a membership, use averagehiker20 for 20% off your membership. Once you become a member, you get 10% off ALL ORDERS in the shop.

Summary

You can read through the review below, but this is how Backcountry Foodie worked for me on my Arizona Trail Thru-hike.

Steps in My Process

  1. I set up my meal planner in Backcountry Foodie for the Arizona Trail.
  2. Recipes were easy to add, and I ordered my ingredients through the links for the recipes. There were a few items I could not source through BCF, so I ordered them separately.
  3. Once the ingredients arrived, I set up a table downstairs and combined my meals. I could work online via my phone to organize the recipes at the table.
  4. I ordered a small grinder to turn my ingredients into powder for the smoothies. I bagged the smoothies to ship to destinations on the AZT.

Backcountry Foodie offers guidance on how to package and store the meals, but I packaged mine in freezer bags the month before the hike, and they were fine. The last meals were packaged 80 days before I ate them.

My favorite recipes were the Smoothies, Spicy Hummus, and Buffalo Pasta Salad. The hummus was a great salty snack in the dry desert. I would add water to the hummus powder, break up the pita chips, and mix them.

Backcountry Foodie

Plans & Pricing

Backcountry Foodie offers three annual pricing plans. You can check out this pricing comparison chart to see what each plan offers.

  • Recipe Membership = $36 Annually
  • Meal Planner Membership = $48 Annually
  • Meal Planner + Membership = $72 Annually

Services Offered

Veggie Pho from Backcountry Foodie

Backcountry Foodie offers numerous services and products and continuously adds benefits and recipes.

  • Recipes – Over 200 ultralight recipes. Recipes include the ingredients, instructions, and “real-world” user comments.
  • Meal Planner – Twelve different planning templates based on calories, days, and locations purchased. I can create my menu, generate a grocery list, and directly order the items from the vendors.
  • Resupply Service – Order everything you need for your resupply box, and Backcountry Foodie will shop, pack, and ship it to you. This service includes adding your gear if needed and bouncing boxes. Foodie members also get 20% off their meals!
  • Calorie Calculator – This calculator determines the calories you need for your hike based on 11 inputs – gender, terrain, weight, altitude, exertion, etc.
  • On-Demand Masterclasses – A range of classes from Backpacking Food 101 to Mastering Backpacking with Diabetes, etc.
  • Shop – Shop for your favorite meals and snacks prepared by Backcountry Foodie, or purchase your favorite commercial items. You can also purchase meal kits and create a box with everything you need for a trip.
  • Forum – Up-to-date forums with valuable information.
  • Blog – Good, informative articles written by nutritionists.
  • Discounts – Discounts for members from various vendors and suppliers like Outdoor Herbivore, GAIAgps, CNOC Outdoors, BearVault, etc.

Backcountry Food Review – Performance

Backcountry Foodie smoothie in a Talenti Jar

Overall, I found the performance of Backcountry Foodie good across all its services. This small business focuses on customer service and providing the nutrition information needed to optimize your hike.

Website

Overall, I found the website intuitive and easy to use. Most menu items were one click away. There were some services I had to search for, like Resupply Planning and Discounts, but after I learned where menus were located, they were easy to find.

There are a couple of things to remember when navigating the website.

  • The Member Menu is separate from the Backcountry Food Menu, so if you want to review menu items like the Blog, you must exit the membership site.
  • The Shop is separate from the main website and opens on its own tab.

Meal Planner

I used the meal planner for my thru-hike of the AZT, as mentioned in my example above, and this tool has continued to improve since my hike.

  • Meal Planner Templates are either blank or prefilled based on your needs – calories, days hiked, and locations where you purchase products. Aaron is clearly a thru-hiker since “Dollar Tree” is one of the templates!
  • Favorites – I saved my templates by trail name.
  • Ease of Ordering – Creating a planner with all my meals and directly ordering the ingredients from the vendor makes ordering simple.

One note on the planner templates. You can’t choose a template, order, and then save it. You must download the template, name it, and select the category you want – breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner, etc.

Calorie Calculator

This is a feature I appreciate. Knowing how much food I need to pack based on the calories I will burn is helpful. The calculator has 11 easy inputs and instantly provides the calories burned for a day or multi-day hike.

If you create a meal plan, your total calories are included at the bottom of each day based on selected items. This is another nice convenience, so I don’t have to look up each item.

Responsiveness

As Backcountry Foodie has grown, they have added the staff needed to support the website. Multiple dieticians write for the website and provide coaching.

Backcountry Foodie also recently added an Operations Director to continue focusing on service and new products.

I have asked many questions using this website over the past two years. Whether the questions are via email or forum, I always get a quick response.

Backcountry Food Review – Pros & Cons

Sun-dried tomato pesto pasta from backcountry foodie

Pros

  • Recipes – There are some great recipes, and I really enjoy the Smoothie recipes. I’ve used protein drinks on the trails, and these Smoothies taste much better.
  • Ease-of-Use – I find the recipes easy to make. They are clearly laid out and straightforward.
  • Website – The website created by Backcountry Foodie is easy to use and intuitive.
  • Meal Planning – The meal planners make creating your backpacking food plan and ordering your meals and ingredients easy.
  • Content – The Blog articles and nutrition classes are some of the best features. The information targets long-distance hiking and hikers.
  • Shop – If I am short on time, I like that I can purchase the recipes I need. The Build Your Own Box feature is also very convenient.
  • Resupply Service – You can’t beat this service if you have the money. Backcountry Food will shop for you, pack your box, and then ship it to you. Resupplying with nutritious food is not always easy in small towns, and Backcountry Foodie makes it much more manageable.

Cons

  • Time – This has always been an issue for me. Some recipes are more labor intensive, and I don’t have time to use a dehydrator or freeze-drier. Fortunately, many recipes don’t require this, AND Aaron provides the recipes so you can make everything yourself if you choose this route.
  • Website – I’m not sure this is a negative, but it would be nice to have all of the Backcountry Foodie services and features, like the Blog, available on the Members page without logging out.

If you buy a membership, use averagehiker20 for 20% off your membership. Once you become a member, you get 10% off ALL ORDERS in the shop.

Backcountry Food Review – Final Thoughts

I am an affiliate with Backcountry Foodie because it is a valuable website, and I like to support small businesses that benefit the hiking community.

I have hiked over 30,000 miles over the last 35 years, including thru-hiking trails like The Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Arizona Trail, Colorado Trail, Benton MacKaye Trail, New England Trail, Long Trail, Superior Trail, etc. – some more than once.

Good nutrition is essential, especially as I get older and continue hiking long-distance trails, so I have turned to Backcountry Food when I have questions about what I should eat or want to make planning easier.

Backpacking and hiking are a big part of my life, and I want to ensure I have another 35 years!

This page has affiliate links for products and gear I purchase and use. If you click on one of these links, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. There may also be Amazon links and as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You can read more about my thoughts on affiliate marketing.

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