Best Vegan Food for Traveling,
Backpacking, and Mountain Climbing

2 years ago I went backpacking with my dad and brother in Yellowstone National Park. I was the only vegan. What did I eat? Lots of great stuff.

Photo Credit: Terence S. Jones

We spent four days in the mountains with nothing but the gear on our backs. Unfortunately, I wasn’t carrying 50 pounds of bananas.

Best Vegan Food for Traveling

My number two rule when traveling is to eat real food. My number one rule is to calm down on the fiber and water so I don’t spend the whole trip in the bathroom. (As you can probably tell, Rule #1 and Rule #2 don’t always agree with each other.)

Eating fresh, raw produce is the best thing whenever you have the chance. During our trip to the park at Yellowstone I was able to order salads everywhere and I bought fruit at local markets and gas stations all along the way.

When it doubt, eat food from the earth.

Real (Packaged) Food

While on the mountain, I gorged myself on severely dehydrated, freeze-dried food from REI. I made each meal for myself as my dad and brother shared their own omnivorous selections.

Surprisingly, the backpacker foods are good. I know that I was starving and had nothing else to choose from, but I was quite pleased with the vegan choices from Mountain House and Backpacker’s Pantry.

REI.com lets you select vegetarian or vegan food specifically for backpacking and the selection is impressive.

Lots of Water

Water is essential. Lots of water is best. I carried a full canteen with me everywhere in the mountains, especially due to the elevation change which requires more water intake than normal.

While in the back country, we used a mobile water purifier that let us drink straight from the streams and lakes.

Energy Bars

One the most critical elements for me was my enormous bounty of Vega Bars. I brought enough to eat 2-3 per day while hiking. Vega Bars are vegan, whole-food energy bars designed by vegan triathlete Brendan Brazier and I love them.

The bars are a little dry, so you will need to drink plenty of water afterwards. The best part of these bars is that the ingredients are predominately organic and tasty! Awesome combo.

Green Powder

Along with the energy bars, I brought Vega One Nutritional Shake powder. Add 8 ounces of water to this smoothie mix and you have a very nutritional snack.

I made sure to drink at least two servings of these every day to get some fresh greens in my body. It’s not the same as a salad, but it works.

What ‘s Your Favorite?

If you have a favorite vegan food that you always travel with (or pack up the mountain side).