The 2026 Outdoor Retailer show had a huge array of camp foods, snacks, bars, and ways to get caffeine into your system. As someone who’s gone all electric with my rig’s kitchen, most of these looked like great options for simply rehydrating tasty treats from an electric kettle. And if you’re hiking, backpacking, or bikepacking, these are all great ways to save space and weight without giving up flavor.
I’ve split them up into three categories – meals, coffee & caffeine, and snacks. Bon appetite!
Camp Meals
Bighorn Mountain Food (shown at top of post, too) had a wide array of flavors like Birria Mexican Rice and Bourbon BBQ Pulled Pork.
They also have this clever insulated pouch sized perfectly for most freeze-dried meal packs, keeping it hot while it cooks, but also keeping your hands from burning while you’re holding it to eat. Because let’s be real, we all just eat these straight from the package, right? Right?!? Available direct and on Amazon.
Bowl & Kettle’s menu had a Cajun lean, with a really delicious Crawfish Étouffée. They come with individual seasoning packets so you can spice things up as you like, which is unique for the category.
Farm to Summit sources as many of their ingredients from local farms as possible, and uses blemished produce that usually doesn’t make it to grocers, reducing waste. Their packaging is also compostable, breaking down completely in under two years in a land fill, so you can feel better about what you’re eating and the single-serve container it comes in. Because let’s be real, these are all single-serve, right? Right?!?
Foundation Outdoors calls these “performance meals” thanks to a much-higher-than-normal protein and calorie count. Most range from 28 up to 70+ grams of protein per pouch, with calories from 800 to 1,390! Even the desserts are stacked, just in case you need a little extra. Also available on Amazon.
Luxefly steps up the flavors with meals like Duck Confit & White Bean Cassoulet, plus plenty of Mexican-inspired dishes and some vegetarian options, too. It’s not just flavors, they also source mostly local organic produce and free-range local meat from Oregon farms.
Nomaste brings popular Indian foods to camp with an entirely plant-based lineup. While the total calories are a bit lower, they’re still high protein and high fiber to fill you up!
Poe & Co. Folk Foods is another plant-based camp meal brand, making it easy to add vegetarian options to your trip. I tried the Coconut Chickpea Stew and Black Garlic Ramen Bowl and both were excellent…not surprising since they’re developed by Michelin-trained chefs!
Trail Goods Co. has a smaller menu, just four flavors, but I tried them all and they’re all very tasty without being overly salted, letting the actual flavors show through. They also do instant coffee.
Coffee & Other Caffeinated Treats
NoNormal’s Outdoor Coffee is a unique take on instant coffee. Rather than a powder, it’s a paste. Just put a dollop in your cup, add water, and you’ve got coffee…hot or cold, it dissolves easily. Need a quicker hit? Squeeze some on a banana, or straight into your mouth. I’d recommend the Sweet Black for direct consumption, it’s lightly sweetened (just 1.6g sugar per serving), and uses natural beet sugar.
Worth noting, it’s not freeze-dried then reconstituted. They brew 100% Colombian Arabica, then reduce it to a concentrate about 20x stronger than a usual cup, so all of the flavor is retained. The tube is made of recycled aluminum.
Dry Brew makes chewy coffee bites, kinda like a Tootsie Roll, but made from coffee. Available in single-serve packs with 65 to 100mg caffeine depending on flavor, or tins with smaller bites, they’re an easy way to caffeinate on the go. Also available on Amazon.
I’m a big fan of Laird Superfood’s creamer, bring it on all my trips to add some healthy fats and sweetness to my instant coffee. They’ve also made enhanced instant coffee for a while, but the latest is this Protein Coffee and Protein Matcha, which keep the coconut sugar (or monk fruit), MCTs, and mushroom powder (you can’t taste it), and add 10g of milk- and whey protein concentrates. They’re both tasty.
I also really liked the hydration mix, which uses coconut water and added sea water-derived minerals to hydrate without any crap or artificial sweeteners. All are also available on Amazon.
Buzz Bomb gets the caffeine into your system faster than anything else here. Just sprinkle the flavored powder under your tongue and it’s absorbed in under two minutes.
Available in five flavors, they come in tiny stick packs, making it easy to carry along on a hike, bike ride, run, etc., and get the dose just right. Also available on Amazon.
Huxley Energy Drinks do two things right – they use real fruit juice to flavor and sweeten them (9g total sugars, including a bit of cane sugar), and they add electrolytes.
They taste more like a sparkling water with a little juice in them, something I make at home all the time, but with 90mg caffeine from coffee beans. There’s also Theanine, which is great for concentration without the jitters. Also available on Amazon.
Weird & Wonderful Snacks, Bars & More
Send Bars were probably my favorite from the show for pure energy bars thanks to the addition of greens and 12g of protein each. They’re made with real foods, too, so it’s not full of sugar or powders, and the consistency was very good, too. Highly recommend, especially the Banana Bread flavor. Also available on Amazon.
Nathan and Sons’ Underbrush Gum is made from natural tree gums, not “plastics” like what you find in the grocery store checkout aisle. They crushed it with their launch, selling something like $30 million worth of gum on social, and it’s a compelling option if you like chewing gum but don’t want all the fake sugars and ingredients.
They say it’s even good for your teeth, helping to remineralize your teeth, and you can literally chew it for days without it breaking down! Also available on Amazon.
Gourmet uncrustable PB&J, anyone? That’s what Gallant Tiger’s offering, with flavors like Strawberry Cardamom and Blueberry Lemon Thyme jams. The peanut butter is spread on both slices of bread, too, so the jam won’t turn things soggy.
Freeze them for big hikes, or just throw ’em in your cooler for long road trips when you want a tasty, high-protein treat that makes you feel like a kid again. And yeah, they cut off the crusts.
Navitas Organics makes delicious little trail bites full of superfoods like Chia, Goji Berry, and Acai, plus nuts, dates, and seeds for long-lasting energy. The trail mix keeps all those things separate, but both look like more filling options for fueling adventures.
They also have lots of superfood powders as raw ingredients, if you like making your own bars or adding them to smoothies. Also available on Amazon.
Angry Pika Foods not only has one of the cutest logos, they also had some of the tastiest bites at the show with their Granola. Eat it dry, or add milk to make it a cereal. Or add hot water to make it like oatmeal. Lots of options, and six flavors to keep things fresh.
Prefer cookies? The Trail Cookies hide proper people fuel in a cookie-shaped snack. They’re gluten free, vegan, and packed with fats and protein for a more filling snack and longer-lasting energy.
Canyon Crack Adventure Butter Super Fuel blends super foods and treats into peanut and almond butters for more sophisticated flavors. They’re delicious on other foods, like bananas or bread, but also come in single- and multi-serving squeeze packs for on-the-go snacking. Definitely more filling and a welcome change from sugary snacks.
Coba bars are made with real coffee or ceremonial-grade matcha tea, some with chocolate, some without. They’re delicious, and sized perfectly for making s’mores. They also have a 20-serving coffee concentrate, if you need a drizzle for your dessert. Also available on Amazon.
Melli Gel is an energy gel made with honey, not a sugar syrup like most. Several versions are available, including caffeinated flavors and some boosted with superfoods and Rhodiola Rosea to help boost VO2 max.
On Trail Bars are real-food energy bars, packed four to a bag. They’re pretty good, with a consistency similar to a Clif Bar, but without the individual packaging to deal with (and no soy, which I’m not a fan of). They’re a blend of fruit, dates, nuts, seeds, and nut butters. Six flavors in total, and I’m wishing they’d sampled the Apple & Peanut Butter!
This last one isn’t a food, but it’s a great way to keep your food (and your cooler) tasting and smelling like it should. Titan Totes are odor-proof, puncture-resistant, resealable bags, sized to handle a meal’s worth of stuff (or a bunch of sandwiches), and keep it fresh, dry, and completely contained.
These are made by Com-Pac, which makes residential and industrial resealable containers, and at the moment, these food-grade, BPA-free versions aren’t available online, but I’m hoping they will be soon because they’re definitely something I’d use on my trips!
Stay tuned for more coverage from the 2026 Outdoor Retailer show!
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