Top Backpacker Friendly Grocery Stores
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When I first started backpacking I had no idea what I was doing and really no one to show me the ropes. I went shopping at Savemart of Food For Less, bought what I thought was necessary and headed out. What I thought was necessary was normal food. Heavy food. Food full of sugar…. seriously like all the bad things possible.
After my first trip I was pissed. I felt so out of shape and really just terrible. I was hiking the mountain and felt like I was going to throw up. It was stupid and I vowed to never have that happen again. I had so much weight in food it just rocked me. So, I started experimenting with making my own everything, but struggled finding the ingredients or just finding good backpacking options at normal grocery stores.
Since I struggled so hard, I figured someone else is doing the same thing so I wanted to put together this list. A list of backpacker friendly grocery stores. Places that you can go to find good healthy food that isn’t too expensive and is perfect for the trail.
So, here are my favorite grocery stores that have some amazing items for backpacking.
Top Backpacker Friendly Grocery Stores
Trader Joe’s
Seriously Trader Joe’s is hands down my favorite place to shop. They have so many different items, they are not expensive, and their fruit and nut section is amazing! If you haven’t been in Trader Joe’s yet, do yourself a favor and go.
For backpacking I am so obsessed with their freeze dried section. They have a variety of fruits and veggies which is just awesome and makes it so dang easy to create your own backpacking meals.
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Here are some of my absolute favorites from Trader Joe’s:
Sprouts
This store is quickly becoming one of my absolute favorite grocery stores. They have really good deals on meat which is awesome for jerky. They also have a ton of healthy cracker options, ramen brown rice noodles, and protein bars. The thing I love about this store the most is their bulk section. You can buy bulk everything basically. Any sort of nuts, rolled oats, protein powder, rice, and so much more. It is pretty awesome.
Oh and one other thing… their hard cheese selection is amazing! Yep I am a cheese lover, so this is incredibly important :)
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Here are some of my favorite things from Sprouts:
Target and Walmart
Did you know that Target and Walmart carry freeze dried backpacking meals? Yep, if you are into eating Mountain House or other various freeze dried meals then you can get yours at your local Walmart. You just need to go to the camping section.
Walmart and Target also have pretty much everything you need as far as noodles, rice, seasonings, snacks, and just everything.
The thing I love about these stores are their prices.
Any Outdoor Store
Naturally any outdoor store will have what you need for backpacking. Some examples are Dicks Sporting Goods, Bass Pro Shop, Cabelas, and REI. The awesome thing about these stores is they have a huge variety of snacks and backpacking meals catered directly to backpackers. The downfall is that they are a bit more expensive than any other option.
Farmers Markets
I love farmers markets because they are local. First of all you are supporting local businesses, you know where your food is coming from, and you are helping the environment. I typically go to the Farmers market in order to get fruits and veggies to dehydrate.
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Online
I honestly do the majority of my shopping on Amazon. I have found some of the most awesome things in order to make my backpacking dinners. Amazon has pretty much everything you can think of. You can also shop pretty much any store online.
Check out these awesome powders on Amazon that I but to make my backpacking dinners:
What is your favorite store to shop at for backpacking food? Leave me a comment below. I would love to check it out.
Wishing you nothing but amazing adventures and good food!
Bess