Best Hiking Snacks
Whether we go hiking for one hour or many hours, usually a little snack is always welcome. So… what are the best hiking snacks? Most likely you’ll want to bring with you a small snack variety, depending on how long you plan to be out hiking. Also, water should be a main staple in all your hiking endeavors. We always want to practice safety when out in nature, and water is a must.
Snacks with Sustenance
Carbohydrates
Some snacks you’ll want to “stick with you” if you know what I mean. When we are out in nature hiking, moving, sweating, etc. we want a snack that will help fuel our body and give us what we need. Carbohydrates are a great source of energy. Crackers or whole grain breads would be a suitable carbohydrate that you can easily pack and not have to worry about keeping cool. Also, thankfully, fruit is a great and delicious carbohydrate. Therefore, a great hiking snack would be fresh fruit or even dried fruit. Fresh fruits that travel well are apples, bananas, pears, mandarin oranges, etc. Dried fruit would also work as a great snack and you can pack whatever your favorites are. These can also be mixed into or found in trail mix.
Proteins
That brings me to another great snack for hiking. Foods high in protein help the body slowly release energy. Snacks with protein include meats, eggs, nuts, and legumes. Obviously we would need these to also carry well while hiking. Beef jerky is a great traveling snack, along with your favorite nuts and nut butters. A jar of nut butter and some of your favorite crackers sounds oh, so delicious.
Fats
Fats are digested the slowest, so they make you feel full longer. Cheeses would be a snack you may want to consume earlier rather than later. But again, nuts and nut butters have fats and they travel well.
What Am I Bringing?
This next fourteener, Quandary Peak, is about a 6 1/2 mile hike up and back with over 3,300 feet of elevation gain. So I’ll be packing some trail mixes and my favorite protein bites from Kelley on her blog Chef Savvy. They taste like chocolate chip cookies to me! Last year when hiking Mount Bierstadt, I annihilated these little protein bites. I’ll link the recipe here. Sometimes I even add in some raisins or chia seed. These really are the best hiking snacks! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
