Freeze-Dried Fruit and Seed Snack Mix
Freeze-dried berries and toasted seeds, mixed at home and eaten out of the bag.
- calories
- 430
- weight
- 2.6 oz
- cal / oz
- 165
- protein
- 12 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Snack
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Day hike
- Thru-hike
- Bikepacking
- Canoe / raft
- Car camping
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried strawberry slices | 1/2 cup | crushes easily, pack it where nothing sits on it |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried blueberries | 1/4 cup | |
| Dried mango | 1/4 cup | cut into thumbnail pieces before the trip |
| Pumpkin seeds | 1/4 cup | roasted and salted |
| Sunflower seeds | 3 tbsp | |
| Salt | a pinch | skip if the seeds are already salted |
Method
- At home, cut the mango into small pieces. Whole slices turn the mix into one sticky lump.
- Combine everything in a bowl and toss until the seeds are spread through the fruit, not sitting at the bottom.
- Divide into single-serving bags and press the air out.
- On trail, eat straight from the bag. No water, no stove, no pot.
Freeze-dried fruit is the whole point here. It carries the flavor of fresh berries at roughly a tenth of the weight, and it does not go soft, sticky, or moldy in a hot pack the way most dried fruit does. The catch is that it is almost pure sugar and almost no fat, so on its own it burns off fast.
The seeds fix that. Pumpkin and sunflower bring the fat and most of the protein, which is what turns this from candy into something that holds you between meals. The dried mango sits in the middle: chewier than the freeze-dried stuff, so your jaw has something to do on a long climb. Salt matters more than it looks like it does, especially on a hot day when you are sweating it out faster than you replace it.
Packing
One quart bag per two servings, or single bags if you want to ration. Freeze-dried fruit is mostly air, so it eats pack volume rather than weight. Keep it in a rigid pocket or a lid pouch and it stays in pieces instead of powder.
Variations
- Swap the mango for freeze-dried banana if you want less chew and less sugar per ounce.
- Add a tablespoon of chia or hemp seed for a few more grams of protein at almost no volume.
- A little chili powder and lime salt makes the mango version work better in heat.
https://motherearthproducts.com/collections/smart-summer-snacks