Walking Tacos, Trail Version
Seasoned beef and crushed corn chips eaten out of the bag. No plate, no pot.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 144
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 8 min
- total time
- 13 min
- water
- 250 ml boiled
- 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
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Backpacking
- Day hike
- Basecamp
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dehydrated seasoned ground beef | 1/2 cup | brown lean beef with taco seasoning at home, blot the fat, dry it hard |
|---|---|---|
| Taco seasoning | 1 tsp | extra, since drying dulls it |
| Corn chips or nacho-flavored tortilla chips | 1 single-serve bag, about 2.5 oz | |
| Freeze-dried cheddar or shelf-stable cheese powder | 2 tbsp | |
| Dehydrated salsa flakes | 2 tbsp | dried salsa or tomato powder plus chili flake |
| Sour cream powder | 1 tbsp | optional, adds fat and cuts the heat |
| Dried refried bean flakes | 1/4 cup | bulk and binder |
Method
- Boil 250 ml of water. Pour it over the beef, salsa flakes, and bean flakes in a mug or freezer bag and seal it.
- Wait eight minutes. Stir once halfway. The beef needs the full time or it chews like gravel.
- Stir in the cheese powder, sour cream powder, and extra seasoning. It should be thick, not soupy. Add water a splash at a time if it seized.
- Crush the chip bag against your knee, cut the top open, and spoon the meat straight in.
- Eat out of the bag. Pack the bag out.
The original is a car-camping meal built on fresh lettuce, shredded cheese, and sour cream, none of which travel. So the whole topping bar gets replaced with powders: cheddar powder, sour cream powder, and dried salsa all rehydrate off the same boil that softens the meat, and none of them need a cooler.
The bean flakes are the structural piece. Rehydrated ground beef alone stays loose and runs to the bottom of the bag; the beans thicken it enough to sit on a chip. Crushing the chips before you open the bag matters too — whole chips shatter into shards you can’t spoon, and the bag is your only bowl.
Packing
Everything dry rides in one snack bag inside the chip bag. Dry the beef thoroughly at home and it keeps a week in warm weather; a day-one cooler trip can use browned beef straight from a zip bag instead.
Variations
- Skip the beef and double the bean flakes for a lighter, cheaper version.
- Fritos in place of tortilla chips makes it a Frito pie.
- Add dried jalapeño or a squeeze packet of hot sauce.
https://campfirefoodie.com/walking-tacos-recipe-for-camping