The Best Snacks to Eat While You’re Hiking

No blog on hiking snacks could begin without talking about trail mix. This delicious blend of dried fruit and nuts is a great snack, no matter which side you choose regarding chocolate in your mix. Easily found in most larger supermarkets, make your own trail mix to use up pantry leftovers – it’s a great way to ensure you get plenty of your favourites in there too. Our favourite trail mix includes dry mixed nuts, granola, sunflower seeds, sultanas and chocolate chips. The joy of trail mix is that there is no set recipe, so have fun with different combinations – you could add different seeds, roasted beans and lentils, cereal, mixed dry fruit, coconut flakes and even popcorn!

Kendal Mint Cake is a classic hiking snack, and it was invented right here in England in 1869. This sugary peppermint treat accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, and Sir Edmund Hillary brought it on the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Numerous climbers and mountaineers have kept a trusty bar in their pocket over the last 150 years. Do as the pros do and keep a bar of Kendal Mint Cake close at hand for an energy boost during your hikes.

It was Romney’s Kendal Mint Cake (pictured) that Hilary took up Everest. Find out more about the story of this tasty treat here.

Granola, or cereal, bars are often considered the successor to the flapjack. A sweet and crunchy bar, you’re unlikely to have undertaken an adventure without a store-bought pack of these close at hand.

Supermarket granola bars tend to have a shelf life of a few months. This means they’re perfect if you’re bulk buying or want a snack you can grab out of the cupboard for those spontaneous trips. Homemade granola bars are equally tasty, and they’re a quick bake too. You’ll need a few more ingredients than the classic flapjack above, but not many, and there’s so much potential for customisation.

Whether home-baked or fresh from the shop shelf, granola bars are a brilliant snack. They give you an energy boost while keeping hunger at bay out on the trail.

An apple a day might keep the doctor away, but a banana on the trail will never fail. Most fresh fruit has a high water content and lots of vitamins and minerals that your body uses as part of its essential processes. Fruits like bananas are high in energy-releasing carbohydrates for your body to burn as energy, and they’re tasty too.

Fresh fruit is a good hiking snack, but dried fruit is on another level. You’re still getting those good natural sugars, but dried fruit is more compact in your bag. It is also less easily damaged and keeps longer than its fresh counterpart. Pack a pouch of dried mango or chewy banana to enjoy a boost of potassium and carbohydrates to fuel your adventure.

While they aren’t recognised for their nutritional value, Jelly Babies are a bit of a trade secret amongst fell walkers and mountaineers. These soft jelly fruit sweets are a 19th century English invention. Today, they can be found in most supermarkets and grocery shops. Packing an impressive 5g of sugar per sweet, a small handful of Jelly Babies is the perfect weapon against flagging ascent energy.

Crisps are a great snack to have in the pantry, ready to go on your next walking adventure. Fatty, salty and crunchy potato crisps are just the thing to munch on when hunger threatens. Here at Wilderness HQ, we love Two Farmers crisps from Hertfordshire, England. Two Farmers grow, grade, store, fry and pack their potatoes on the farm and aim to locally source what they cannot produce themselves. They use renewable energy where possible and package their crisps in a plastic-free bag that will completely break down in your home compost.

They’re certainly some good crisps, and that’s why you’ll find them in your van’s snack box on our guided trips. Read up about this crisp story on the Two Farmers website.

Teetering on the line between snack and meal, pork pies are an English classic. Where you buy your pork pie, or whose recipe you follow if you’re making your own, will have an impact on the pie you eat. Generally, you can expect a cold pie with a roughly chopped and well-seasoned pork filling within a hot water crust pastry case. Melton Mowbray pork pies are the iconic option, being granted a protected designation of origin in 2008. Whichever pork pie you buy, always try and find a handmade pie over its mass-produced counterpart for a real treat.

Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe in Melton Mowbray is a bit of an iconic sight amongst pork pie aficionados. Find their story here.

While the tasty package of a pork pie is a welcome sight on the trail, and the salty/carb combination is a good one, do remember that a pork pie is, well, pork. Due to the meat content, pork pies will start to go bad after 2-4 hours out of the fridge so are a treat best kept for shorter walks, and certainly only on cooler days.

Jerky might bring thoughts of the old Wild West to mind, but this dried meat option has been a popular choice of snack around the world for at least 500 years. Originally, jerky was a great way of preserving meat for winter. Today, it’s an increasingly popular snack, especially among cyclists and hikers, due to its high protein and low carb content. Jerky is also flavourful and compact, with a high salt content thanks to the drying process. This sodium is excellent for helping your body replenish electrolytes after intensive exercise, but it’s also why this snack is best enjoyed in moderation.

With a long shelf life and high protein content, jerky is the perfect walking snack. However, watch out for high salt levels, and always look for more natural store-bought options with fewer artificial ingredients.

So is there a perfect walking snack? It is a matter of personal preference and what you’ll want to snack on while hiking. Let our list inspire you, and remember the three key elements of the best hiking snacks:

• Is it a good source of energy?
• Is it easily transportable in your pack?
• Will it keep fresh on your hike?

Tick all three boxes, and you’ve found your perfect food to eat on the trail.

A final note: Snacks are a delicious part of hiking, but it is equally important to ensure you’re hydrated. A general rule of thumb is that you should bring approximately a litre of water every two hours you’ll be walking.

If you’re on one of our guided trips, your guide will have extra water available in the van. Regardless of when and with whom you’re walking, ensure that you have enough water in reusable bottles to keep you going on your planned trip.