camp meals

Lemon-Pepper Tuna Crackers

A tuna pouch, mayo packets, and crackers. Lunch without opening the stove bag.

calories
320
weight
3.5 oz
cal / oz
91
protein
22 g
serves
2, 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.

  • Lunch
  • Snack
  • No cook
  • Backpacking
  • Car camping
  • Day hike
  • Bikepacking
  • Canoe / raft
  • Dairy free
  • Eat in the bag
  • Grab and go
  • Shelf stable
  • Dump and stir

Ingredients

Chunk light tuna pouch 1 pouch (2.6 oz) pouch, not can, so there is no lid and no draining
Mayonnaise packets 2 packets (about 1 tbsp) the shelf-stable single-serve kind
Whole grain crackers 2 single-serve sleeves
Citric acid or powdered lemon 1/4 tsp stands in for the fresh half lemon
Cracked black pepper 1/4 tsp
Dried dill 1/4 tsp

Method

  1. Tear the tuna pouch open along the top and squeeze out any loose water.
  2. Squeeze the mayo packets straight into the pouch. Add the lemon powder, pepper, and dill.
  3. Stir with a long spoon inside the pouch. The pouch is your bowl.
  4. Scoop onto crackers a few at a time and eat as you go.

Fresh lemon and a jar of mayo are the two things this dish normally leans on, and neither belongs in a pack. Citric acid powder gives the same sharp edge at a fraction of an ounce, and single-serve mayo packets stay stable for months in the heat. Everything else was already shelf-stable.

Mixing inside the pouch is the point. There is no bowl to wash, no fish smell in your cook pot, and the empty pouch seals back up to carry out. Keep the crackers away from the wet part until the moment you eat, because they go soft in about a minute.

Packing

Tuna pouch, mayo packets, and the seasoning in one small bag. Crackers ride in a hard container or they turn to dust by day two.

Variations

  • Spoon it into a tortilla instead of onto crackers if the crackers have already lost.
  • A packet of hot sauce replaces the lemon if you would rather have heat than acid.
  • Crushed fried onions on top add crunch after the crackers go soft.

https://camprecipes.com/lemon-pepper-tuna-snack-packs