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When thinking of food for bike touring, there are so many things to consider. And while it’s easy to overthink bike touring food, it really doesn’t have to be too complicated. The main thing to remember is it’s important to consider how many more calories you’ll be burning than normal and really focus on meals that replenish your body.
While cycling from Seattle to San Francisco there was a huge learning curve with how many calories we needed to consume to how many we were burning each day. Now, that’s not to say we were calorie counting.. we certainly weren’t, however, we could feel our bodies missing the nourishment we needed to continue a climb or long day if we didn’t eat enough food leading up to a bigger ride.
The most important thing we learned about food for bike touring to pass on is that you should always have some kind of quick, easy snack on you, even if you just finished eating a big lunch and you don’t think you’ll need it.
Bike Touring Breakfast Foods
Bananas, Honey, and Peanut Butter
Bananas and honey are a great combo to get you up and ready to ride in the morning and add peanut butter to the mix and you have a great source of protein too! You can also eat it with a handful of almonds or other nuts for the added protein as well.
This may seem like more of a snack for you, and while it does make for a quick and easy snack, it’s a great breakfast too. If temperatures allow, you could grab some greek yogurt the night before and have that with this meal too!
Ingredients
- bananas
- peanut butter
- honey
Recipe
- Peel banana until just enough for one bite is exposed.
- Spread a scoop of peanut butter on the top of the banana. Skip this step if you just want honey!
- Drizzle honey on the tip of the banana (or over peanut butter)
- Take a bite, then repeat steps 1-3 until your banana is gone 🙂
Oatmeal
Oatmeal has a bad rep for a lot of people, but we’ve got to say, we’ve really come to love it! Adding things like honey, butter, chia seeds or hemp hearts, and fruit can really spice up a bowl of oats! Blueberries and bananas are both great options for adding to oatmeal — and Jay learned in Finland to add green grapes to oatmeal to make it sweet too!
Ingredients
- oatmeal
- berries, honey, fruit, seeds, really anything is an optional addition here!
Recipe
- Boil water on your stove, we recommend the jet boil for cycle packing,
- Add in oats, and let sit for a couple of minutes covered
- Top with any fruit, nuts, milk, butter, cream.. you get the idea, really anything, and enjoy!
Eggs and Vegetables
Having a quick scramble in the morning with lots of veg is great for a day on the bikes! When grocery shopping look to buy a six-pack of eggs and split it with someone! If you’re cycling by yourself, make friends at camp or on the road, and see if someone else wants a few of your eggs so they don’t go to waste!
Adding veggies like onion and zucchini are great because both travel well in a bike bag and cook relatively quickly. You can also add fresh tomato or avocado on top of eggs for extra zest!
If you can’t find someone to share a half dozen eggs with, either cook half them up for dinner the night before (if it’s cold enough temps overnight to leave them out), or boil the eggs you don’t eat and have them as a snack for the next day’s ride!
Ingredients
- Eggs
- Butter (for cooking eggs in)
- Zucchini
- Onion
- Optional avocado and tomato
Recipe
- Chop Veggies
- Melt butter in pan and add veggies
- Cook for a few minutes, then add eggs (Heather likes to keep them separate, while Jay likes to mix the eggs with the veg)
- When eggs are cooked through, plate the meal and enjoy!
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Bike Packing Lunch Ideas
Tuna + Avocado Crackers
This is perfect for a day on the bikes. The tuna and the avocado both are full of nutrients needed to keep you going! Healthy fats in the avocado, protein in the tuna, and salt in the crackers make the perfect combo for a bike-packing meal! If you have cheese from another meal, you could add that to this as well!
Ingredients
- Crackers (our go-to is Triscuits for this meal)
- Canned Tuna
- Avocado
- Cheese is an optional addition
Recipe
- drain tuna, you could use tuna in oil for extra added good fats
- spoon tuna onto crackers
- slice avocado and add to top (this helps keep your fingers from getting fishy)
- enjoy
Honey, Peanut Butter Wrap
We love this meal, as it’s a great boost of energy and has basically no mess! Peanut butter, honey, and tortillas are all great for bike touring as you don’t have to worry about them going bad or getting smashed!
Ingredients
- tortillas
- peanut butter
- honey
Recipe
- Take out a tortilla and spread peanut butter over the entire tortilla, leaving space on the edge to wipe your knife clean!
- Drizzle honey over the center of the tortilla
- Wrap it up, enclosing one end, so the honey doesn’t escape, and enjoy!
Refried Beans and Avocado
Don’t be hating on this meal. It’s simple and full of good fats to keep you going on the bike! We were introduced to this meal by a couple that was all healthy fats and bulletproof coffee! They would scarf down a whole can of beans in a sitting, and oftentimes would just eat it plain with some avocado, or eat it with tortilla chips.
Ingredients
- refried beans
- avocado
- tortilla chips (optional)
Recipe
- Open can of beans
- Cut avocado
- Scoop out of both with a spoon or tortilla chip and enjoy it!
Bike Touring Dinner Recipes
Burritos
If you go off of other meals on this list, you’ll have tortillas with you for honey and peanut butter wraps, so you may as well use those tortillas for some proper burritos too! Grab some meat (our favorite is ground turkey), some taco seasoning, a can of pinto or black beans, and maybe even a bit of veg if you feel fancy, and cook up some burritos!
Ground meat cooks really fast, and ground turkey isn’t as greasy as beef, so it’s great for on the road! Although taco seasoning is more expensive in the small packs, you may just want to suck it up for this meal and spend the 50 cents!
Use your leftover meat, veg, and beans in the morning for some epic breakfast burritos by just scrambling some eggs and warming up the leftovers! Our favorite thing to do in the van and on the road!
Ingredients
- tortillas
- ground meat
- can of whole beans
- peppers & onions
Recipe
- Open the meat and put it in the pan.
- While the meat is cooking, thinly slice peppers and onions and add to the pan.
- Open a can of beans, drain, rinse, then add to the pan.
- Layout your tortilla, and then dish the above concoction on it.
- Roll it up and enjoy it!
Pesto Pasta
Pasta is a great way to load up on carbohydrates before a big ride. Jay was a runner in high school, and the night before any big race, he would eat pasta, so we took on that same idea for cycling. Before a long ride, or one with a lot of elevation, we’d carb load the night before.
Pesto pasta is absolutely amazing and oh, so simple to cook! And before you read it below, don’t be hating on canned chicken, it’s really not that bad and arguably good in this meal!
Ingredients
- pesto
- zucchini
- onion
- pasta (smaller noodles like vermicelli noodles cook much faster than others)
- canned chicken
- oil or butter to cook the veg in
Recipe
- Slice onion and zucchini and place in a pan with oil or butter
- Cook for a few minutes until onion and zucchini are tender, but not all the way done.
- Add a jar of pesto to the pan, filling the jar with water after you get the most out.
- Shake the pesto jar with the water to get the last bit of pesto out, and pour watery pesto into pan
- Add Vermicelli noodles to the pan (they only need to cook for about a minute!)
- Add chicken, and cook until water is boiled off.
- Enjoy!
Snack Food For Bike Touring Ideas
High Protein Granola Bars
- We always had a Clif bar in our saddle pouches for quick easy access when we felt we were getting tired. It’s nuts how just a simple snack can boost your energy so much!
Nuts
- Nuts are a great snack to have on a cycle tour as the replenish your energy, good fats, and sodium levels. Just be sure to watch how much salt you are intaking.. you’ll sweat a lot and lose a lot of salt, but you still don’t want to have too many nuts if your mains are full of salt too!
Banana + Honey
- This way Jay’s go-to on the cycle trip, and even to this day when he’s feeling his body is unbalanced or he’s cramping up a lot, he’ll eat a banana with honey drizzled on top! This is one of our breakfast meals too!
Dark Chocolate with or without Nuts
- In full honesty, we love to carry snickers on us when cycling or doing a big backpacking trip.. but dark chocolate is much better for you, and offers healthier quick energy! Trader Joe’s carries a couple of great chocolates from Belgium that we fully recommend!
Jerky
- While we hate the idea of all the extra plastic that individual bags of jerky bring, we suggest bringing individual serving bags of jerky, as typically it has to be refrigerated after opening. We’ve had salmon jerky (on the California coast), turkey jerky, beef jerky, and even venison jerky.. any and all kinds are great and make a perfect high protein snack!
Things to Remember When Packing Food for Bike Touring
Don’t Pack Too Much
- While we always suggest having an extra meal on you, like either of the lunch ideas above, you don’t want to be lugging around a ton of extra weight in food. Pack only one meal more than you think you need and some snacks too!
There Are Typically Places to Grab Local Food
- One of the best things about cycling is that you’re literally working out each place you go! So don’t be afraid to stop at little pop-up restaurants or random food stalls on the way!
- Our favorite stop was on our cycle trip down the Pacific Coast Highway and we saw a big waffle cone sign, we stopped to get ice cream, only to learn it was a savory cone filled with chicken, mashed potatoes, and more! You better believe we still ate it anyway!
Remember, You’re Working Out The Entire Way
- Following up with both the points above, when you plan on your food for bike touring, remember you will consume more calories (more food) than you normally would. Keep that in mind as you buy groceries to bring with you!
Always Carry A Small Number of Basics
- We always had butter, salt, and pepper on us because we use those three things like nobody’s business. Whatever your basics are, carry them in small portions with you! Salt and Pepper can completely change a dish!
