About Camp Meal Tier List

Born out of a backpacking trip. We were deep in the backcountry, rating our dehydrated meals around the fire, and realized nobody had ever made a proper tier list for camp food.

What is this?

Camp Meal Tier List is a community-driven ranking of everything you might eat in the backcountry — freeze-dried backpacking meals, MREs, tinned fish, trail snacks, and more. Each meal is scored by our admins across five dimensions, placed into a tier, and opened up for the community to weigh in.

Think of it as a trusted field guide. Before you spend $12 on a pouch you end up hating at mile 15, check the list.

The tier system

Meals are ranked S through F. Each tier has a clear meaning:

SS — Elite

AA — Great

BB — Good

CC — Decent

DD — Mediocre

FF — Avoid

How meals are scored

Each meal receives a score from 1–10 in each of these categories. The overall score is the average:

Taste

How good does it actually taste, hot or cold, after a long day?

Nutrition

Calories, protein, macros. Does it fuel you properly?

Price

Value for money. $8 for 270 calories isn't great.

Weight

Grams per calorie. Critical for long trips.

Prep Ease

Can you make it in the dark with cold hands and a headlamp?

What we rank

Backpacking MealMRETinned FishTinned MeatSnackDrinkOther

How to contribute

Anyone can create a free account and suggest changes to any meal's tier or scores. Expand any meal card on the home page and click “Suggest a change.” Our admins review all suggestions and apply the ones that improve accuracy.

If you want a meal added that isn't on the list yet, use the contact form.