This is, hands down, one of the best backpacking meals we had on the JMT. Our buddy Treeline (who got the recipe from Andrew Skurka) had an extra serving of this in his pack that he gave to us and we devoured it.
Pack ½ cup instant refried beans (or black beans), ½ cup instant rice, and 2 tsp taco seasoning in a bag. Bring along a 1oz of cheddar cheese and a 1 oz snack size bag of Fritos. In camp, bring 1¼ cup (300mL) water to a boil and add the beans, rice, and seasoning. Simmer for a few minutes until the rice is tender (or take it off the heat and put it in your pot cozy after you stir in all the ingredients). Use your knife to cut up the cheese and then stir that in, and top with the Fritos.
For short trips (like a weekend), individually packaged cheddar cheese has a decent enough shelf life and are a good option for their melt-ability. If you’re going on a longer trek, hard cheese are a better choice so choose an aged cheddar instead. We have not seen any individually wrapped hard cheddar, so bring a small block of cheese and use some for this recipe and the rest for snacking!
Recipes 