I love eating outdoors and hiking, and I’ve been testing some interesting ways of packing in lunch on a small day hike. This is an cool example of an easy lunch you can prep ahead of time and hike in with any backpack. I don’t mind extra weight because it helps you train for when you actually have some weight on your back.
This is a simple lunch of bell pepper tapenade, good quality bread, any hard cheese, and any fruits that travel well. Parmesan or pecorino are always great – just wrap them in cheese cloth or napkin. I packed cherries because it was just a few mile hike on a cool day. You can use dried fruits on hotter hikes and put the tapenade in a small cool bag.
This tapenade recipe could have easily been enough to feed 4 people a light lunch.
- 1/2 bell pepper
- 1/2 red onion
- 1 tomato
- 4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
- 2 small cloves of garlic
- salt, pepper, and olive oil
- Finely dice onion, bell pepper, and tomato
- Add oil to pan on medium heat and add minced garlic
- Add diced onion, bell pepper, and tomato and simmer on med-low for 10-15 minutes until they are soft and the onions are translucent. Do not overly brown.
- Add vinegar half way through the cooking time
- Add salt and pepper to taste with a bit more olive oil
- Put in jar and cool in fridge
