Trail Mix
An old camping standby, trail mix satisfies hunger pangs with its hefty caloric clout. You can make your own or buy it already mixed. A traditional trail mix recipe combines raisins, peanuts and hard-coated chocolate candies, plus usually one or two other types of nuts as well. For a more creative concoction, add different types of dried fruit, candies, nuts and crunchy cereal.
Jerky
Beefy jerky and other dried, packaged meats slip easily into full backpacks to provide bellies with much-needed protein. Lightweight and handy, jerky serves as a quick camp snack close to dinnertime or as an additional serving of protein anytime. To improve the nutritional value of your jerky, try jerky made with meats other than beef, such as elk, venison or even buffalo.
Fruit
One of the simplest ready-to-eat snacks available, fruit can make a great camping food, so long as you choose the right kind to stand up to your style of camping. For car camping with a cooler, almost any fruit will do. If you're hiking to the campsite, however, you'll want to choose fruits that can take a beating inside a backpack. Top candidates include apples and oranges, as well as all dried fruit.
Bars
Energy bars, granola bars and candy bars all have a place in the camp foods pantry. Energy bars feature an impressive range of sizes, shapes and styles, whether you want extra protein, an energy lift or a few simple, organic ingredients. Granola bars quell hunger without the specially formulated ingredients of energy bars and with a smaller price tag. Candy bars serve as an easy dessert or as a key ingredient in the much-anticipated s'mores.
Cheese
So long as it's not extremely hot---or if you have a cooler with you---cheese cut into cubes or individually wrapped servings of cheese (such as string cheese) make for quick, space-saving and filling camp snacks. Cheese ranks as one of the more filling foods on the satiety index, as explained in the article "Food and Diet in Diabetes: Satiety Index" by Rick Mendosa and John Walsh, P.A., C.D.E., on DiabetesNet.com.
