Meal and ingredient requirements A tiffin carrier containing a stew Limited cooking time ĭue to the difficulty of carrying large amounts of cooking fuel, campers often require their meals to cook in a short amount of time (5–20 minutes). To address these needs, camping food is often made up of freeze-dried, dehydrated, precooked, pre-prepared, or otherwise preserved foods that can last extended periods of time.

The primary differences relate to campers' and backpackers' special needs for foods that have appropriate cooking time, perishability, weight, and nutritional content. The term also encompasses ingredients that can be used to make said foods.

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