Best Lunch Wraps

Wraps are a great way to feel like you are eating real food on the trail. Although they are heavy, tortillas keep really nice in the pack (if you pack them flat), they take up little space, and they have lots of calories. Here are a few of my favorite wrap recipes.

1. BLT Wrap

This is probably the best lunch I have ever had on the trail. While hiking on the Colorado Trail, I made a bacon, lettuce, and tomato wrap. I thought of it last minute as I was leaving Silverton, CO to head back up to the trail. I was already carrying a bag of baby lettuce and 2 grape tomatoes and I walked past a breakfast diner that smelled of bacon. I stepped inside and ordered a side of bacon and a packet of mayo to go (that must’ve seemed an odd combination).

Lettuce and tomato are only good if it isn’t really hot out, and probably only for one day at that. I stored them both inside my cook pot to keep them from getting crushed in the pack.

2. Guacamole Bacon Wrap

Another genius idea I came up with was an avocado bacon wrap (do you notice a theme here?). I was hiking the PCT and absolutely sick of everything I had been eating for the previous 4 months. In many grocery store deli coolers, you can now buy these little gems:

I actually had them and a box of shelf stable bacon in my resupply box in Stehekin, WA. They lasted just fine being unrefrigerated for about a week in my mail drop. Spread the guac on a tortilla and add a few slices of bacon. It was kinda heavy, but well worth if for the calorie-bomb bliss!

3. Chik’n Ranch Wrap

I was pretty happy with myself was when I brought out of town some Quorn chik’n nuggets for a delicious chik’n and ranch wrap. This company sells all kinds of frozen fake chicken products that actually taste really good!

I felt a little safer bringing these out instead of real chicken nuggets. They thawed out nicely overnight in my food bag and for lunch the next day I put them in a tortilla and added a packet of ranch dressing (which you can get at many convenience or grocery stores). Again, it was on the heavy side, but ate them on the early days of the stretch out of town.

4. Bean and Cheese Wrap

I love burritos on and off the trail, so this is a staple in my pack. If you can get ahold of some dehydrated refried beans, that is ideal. You can find them in the bulk section of many natural grocery stores, or sometimes in the Hispanic or natural sections of larger grocery stores. Actually, the best ones I have had are from my favorite online backpacking food store, Packit Gourmet. They sell them in pinto or black bean, with the cheese already added!

Packit Gourmet Burritos

You don’t even need to cook dehydrated refried beans (make sure to read the package and make sure they are instant). I put them in a good ziplock bag, add a bit of cold water, and put the bag on the top of my pack in the sun to rehydrate and warm the beans.

If you haven’t thought that far ahead, and you can’t find the dehydrated ones, convenience stores sell little 3oz. cans of bean dip that are decent for the first day out of town (you will want to get rid of that weight quickly).

Since I almost always carry cheese, I add that to any of my bean burritos. I especially like the Babybel white cheddar cheese rounds.

5. All-American Burger Wrap

When I am out hiking for a long time, cheeseburgers always start to take over a large part of my daydreams. Packit Gourmet makes a delicious meal that includes freeze dried burger crumbles, freeze dried cheddar cheese, and packets of mayo, ketchup, mustard, and relish. They suggest serving it on a tortilla, which surprisingly satisfies the burger craving!