Frito Taco Bowl
Corn chips, taco seasoning, and cheese eaten out of the chip bag. No pot, no water.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 160
- protein
- 14 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 2 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.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Day hike
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Fritos original corn chips | 1 individual bag (about 3.5 oz) | the original flavor holds up; flavored ones go stale fast |
|---|---|---|
| Taco seasoning | 1 tsp | about a third of a standard packet |
| Hard cheese | 1.5 oz | cheddar or a stick of string cheese |
| Candy bar | 1 bar | eaten alongside, not mixed in |
Method
- Open the chip bag. Do not tip it out.
- Shake the taco seasoning into the bag.
- Cut or tear the cheese into small pieces and drop them in.
- Roll the top of the bag shut and shake it until the seasoning coats everything.
- Eat straight from the bag with your fingers. The candy bar is dessert.
This is a resupply meal, not a recipe: a bag of corn chips, a spoon of taco seasoning, and cheese, built in the bag with no stove and no water. Corn chips are cheap, they survive a week of being crushed against a bear can, and they carry more calories per ounce than almost anything else on a gas station shelf. The seasoning is doing all the work of turning them from a snack into something that reads as a meal.
The cheese is the reason to bother. Fat and salt in one block, no cooking, and it clings to the seasoning powder instead of sitting at the bottom of the bag. Hard cheese keeps for days out of a fridge in cool weather; string cheese is fine for a day or two and easier to buy in town. Eat the candy bar after, not with. Nothing about the chips gets better with chocolate in it.
Packing
Portion the seasoning into a snack bag at home so you are not carrying a full packet for one meal. The cheese goes in its own bag; it sweats and the chips get soft if they share.
Variations
- A foil packet of chicken or beans turns this into a real dinner and adds 20 g of protein.
- Crushed chips plus hot water and a spoonful of instant refried bean powder makes a warm version if you want to run the stove.
- Swap the corn chips for a bag of tortilla chips if that is what the gas station has.
https://www.erinexploring.com/blog/all-the-food-i-ate-and-put-in-my-resupply-boxes-on-the-pacific-crest-trail