March 28, 2025
I can hardly type out this email because my fingers are crossed so tightly. I'm writing to pretty much beg you to sell us your backpacking meals for our upcoming high-altitude polar mountaineering expedition. We'll be attempting to summit Denali as a 2-person wife/husband team for 30 days in May/June.
We've been dedicated customers of yours for over a decade. Your backpacking meals have fueled us on a 1,000-mile cross-country backpack/scramble across the southwest desert, on high mountain routes across the Sierra and Wind River ranges, and on countless other soul journeys.
I just about fell out of my chair a few minutes ago when I went to make a large purchase for our expedition. I am shocked and dismayed to see your meals might not be available until Fall 2025. Is there ANY A*N*Y possibility you have some backpacking meals stashed away? I don't know what we'll do without you.
Please, I genuinely don't know how we'll nourish ourselves on this endeavor without your meals.
Warmly and keenly, Jenn We're back!
May 11, 2025
As someone who has been ordering your food for twenty years (you fed us on our 2004 honeymoon hike of the Continental Divide Trail!), I was startled to read that you're on hiatus until Fall 2025 and wondering what I will buy instead, but supportive of your company, your process, and your integrity!
With warmest regards, Ann We're back!
Backpacking meals should be delicious and healthy. Our Backcountry meals are lightweight and easy to prepare like backpacking food should be, all while being organic and packed with flavor. Why eat unnatural food in natural places? Our tasty meals are available in TWO package options:
Hiking, biking, climbing, paddling, or whatever your taste—my foods will ensure that the food lives up to the adventure.
Jump right to our best-selling backpacking meals.
For three decades, I dreamed of and created "real food" just-add-water meals while living, eating, and working in the backcountry as a fire lookout, wilderness ranger, and remote station guard. Rooted now on land of my own at the end of a dirt road, I’ve been packaging my organic alternative to industrial-grade backpacking food in non-aluminum pouches for 32 years and counting, sparing our planet the equivalent of 200+ football fields covered in aluminum foil. In addition, 100% of our production electricity comes from alternative, renewable sources. Thank you for joining in my conservation endeavors.
MaryJane Butters
I’ve updated the layout of my food pages to help you take better advantage of my bulk packaging. Many of you reached out with questions about being able to buy my foods in larger quantities. Some wanted to know if their favorites were available in family-sized containers that could be stored in case of some sort of disaster. Others were looking to save money on large supplies they could take on an expedition. Hopefully, my unique bulk packaging system will be the perfect fit for you.
My foods are organic, healthy, long-lasting, and easy to prepare. For the most part, I use the same recipes for backpacking foods as for emergency foods; the main difference is the packaging. My site has a designated area for Emergency Food. This is where I offer 11 different pre-packaged long-term oxygen-free Mylar stashes for 3-day, 1-month, and 4-month meal planning. My emergency foods are also sold individually in long-term 3# oxygen-free Mylar packaging. Each individual offering is available in a sample pouch (try before you buy because we don’t allow returns on bulk options). Simply click on a delicious-looking spoonful and you’ll find sizing options, nutrition facts, cooking directions, and pricing information. Proceed to checkout! (Creating an account with us is required because doing so eliminates phishing—an unfortunate fact of life.)
I have a backpacker friend who loves my Organic Bare Burrito. He buys it in my DIY Ziplock 3# Bulk, then he portions that out into quart-sized Ziplock freezer bags when it's time to hit the trail. He's a very hungry guy, so he puts 7 ounces in each bag rather than the normal 5.4 ounces. When dinnertime rolls around, he mixes the Bare Burrito with boiling water in his bowl, then lets it sit for 10 minutes (usually nestled in a hoodie or something for insulation). He saves about 25% and gets the bigger-portioned meal size that he likes.
So, whether you are an avid backpacker, a family preparing for a disaster, or someone who just likes saving money on delicious food: click here to shop.
July 10, 2025
Thank you so much for your timely help. And thanks also for your collective push to get back into business for this summer. I saw all the pleas/letters from others when I decided to check one more time this last weekend just in case you were back early, and it was such a wonderful relief/surprise to see our summer camping faves back in stock! You all are doing it like nobody else!
Corinne