This Costco Grocery Item Makes Packing Food For Camping Trips Quick And Convenient

Meal prepping for camping and backpacking trips can seem daunting. Thankfully, a great way to ease the burden is by mixing in freeze-dried meals. Better yet, these can be easily purchased at Costco. Specifically, Mountain House is one of the most well-known companies in the freeze-dried backpacking meal space. The perfect low-effort dinner, Mountain House freeze-dried meals in a bucket are a great solution for hassle-free cooking while camping. In fact, they're probably as hassle-free as you can get, since all you need is boiling water in order to rehydrate them. How will you boil the water? Easy. Make another stop in-store to pick up a TSA-approved travel essential all outdoor enthusiasts need: A portable camping stove.

Although Mountain House meals are typically meant for backpacking, the packets can also be thrown in with your camping gear for an easy warm meal that you can enjoy with little to no effort. They're also good as back up meals to have on hand if you're not sure about what the dinner plans might be on one or more of the nights of your camping trip. So, if your friends end up having other food for themselves, you can quickly boil up some water and rehydrate one of these meals.

That said, while the amount of time needed to rehydrate can vary based on the meal, the process is simple. All you have to do is open the package, take out the oxygen absorber, pour in boiling water, seal the pouch back up, and wait until the food is hot and ready to eat.

One of the biggest complaints often associated with backpacking meals is the cost. After all, depending on where you by them, they can set you back roughly $12 per meal pouch. Not at Costco, though! If you're able to splash out on the store's $99.99 Classic Meal Assortment Bucket, you end up saving a whopping $44 on the 12 pouches compared to if you were to buy all 12 pouches at $12 a piece. Best of all, the pouches have a 30-year shelf life so they will be sure to last you a very long time if you don't use them right away, as long as they're stored properly.

For camping meals, they're also nice because you don't actually need to be served out of the pouch — which obviously makes cleaning dishes while camping even easier. Beyond that, Mountain House meals are fun, too, because you can try all of the different flavors and see which ones you like best. In the Costco box specifically, you'll find four dinner options and one breakfast. For the morning, you can kick off the day with a granola with milk and blueberries. On the other hand, the dinner flavors include spaghetti with beef marinara, beef stew, chicken fried rice, and beef stroganoff with noodles. The box is also designed to be stackable. This means it can be placed in a garage or gear room, and you can easily grab your meals for your next camping trip. Alternatively, you can also store a few in your car. That way, if you ever need an emergency meal, you'll have one.