If you’re preparing to go to a festival, there are many essential items you’ll need to take with you, and we’re sure you’re checking them off your list ahead of all the exciting events. One of the most important considerations is what to eat while you’re there, as you’ll need food options that give you enough energy to keep you going throughout and provide all the nutrients your body needs.
To help you out with this, we’ve put together a guide on what food to bring to a festival, with many convenient festival food options that are all low-hassle, filling, and delicious!
Why Plan Festival Food?
Among the many things you’ll be packing for your festival, food is one that should be at the forefront. At festivals, there may be plenty of food options available to purchase, but these aren’t always suitable for everyone. Food vendors can be very expensive and are often in high demand, so you could end up spending a significant amount of time queuing up – time that could be spent enjoying yourself. For those with food allergies and specific dietary requirements, navigating food options at festivals can become all the more complicated.
With this in mind, we recommend bringing your own food as a convenient and cost-effective option. There are many quick, easy-to-prepare options available that provide all the energy and nutrients you need to keep you going throughout the festivities!
What Food to Bring to a Festival
When you’re taking food to a festival, there are various options that you won’t be able to take while you spend your time camping. Without refrigeration, items that are likely to go off quickly, such as dairy products, raw meat and fish, and deli meats, will quickly become unsafe for you to eat.
Though you’ll just be taking the essentials with you for cooking, there are still plenty of food options that are perfectly suitable for festival camping that taste great, too. Our best recommendations for convenient and great-tasting festival meals and snacks are:
Freeze-Dried Meals
Freeze-dried food is the perfect option for festival meals, being quick to prepare, full of flavour, and storable at room temperature. The freeze-drying process efficiently removes moisture (and therefore weight) from the meals while keeping the quality and structure of the ingredients intact. By re-adding some hot water to these meals, you can prepare delicious meals at your festival in no time at all!
Our best recommendations for freeze-dried festival meals are our Summit to Eat, Adventure Food, and LYO Expedition food, as cost-effective options that you can stack up on that provide plenty of flavour. Alternatively, we recommend our Real Turmat meals, which are the ideal premium choice. Their ‘Field Meal’ range features many different high-energy meals, each of which contains around 700kcal to keep you sustained for longer.
Wet Meals
If you’re wondering “what food to take to a festival without cooking”, wet meals are a great choice. These ready-to-eat meals can be eaten as they are, out of their pouches, cold, or warmed by boiling them in their bags to improve their flavour. In comparison to freeze-dried or dehydrated meals, they can be a little heavier if packing light is your main priority, though their more homely flavours make up for this.
Our most recommended ready-to-eat meal brands are Wayfayrer and MRE, each offering a variety of flavoursome, easy-to-prepare meals at affordable prices.
Energy Snacks
While our meal recommendations above will keep you sustained at meal times, there will be moments in between when you’ll need an energy boost to keep you going and enjoying the vibes. Therefore, it’s best to take some energy snacks with you that contain plenty of calories to keep you fuelled.
Ideal for festivals, our energy bars are lightweight yet high in calories to keep you going. These are not only practical but also taste great, with delicious varieties such as flapjacks, peanut butter bars, and chocolate bars that you’ll enjoy. For a wider range of options to suit your needs, it can also be worthwhile to pack some energy gels and energy sweets for a pick-me-up when you need it.
Festival Camping Equipment
There are several useful festival camping equipment products that we recommend taking with you to make preparing and eating your meals as convenient and simple as possible. These include:
Stoves
To heat up your meals, a lightweight camping stove is a good option, as it's highly portable and simple to use.
In particular, we recommend using the MSR PocketRocket 2, being an especially lightweight, small, and affordable option that can boil a litre of water in just 3.5 minutes. Another worthwhile alternative is the SOTO AMICUS Stove with Stealth Igniter, being a similarly lightweight and easy-to-set-up option that will suit many festival campers.
Alternative Heating Devices
If you don’t feel like you’ll fully benefit from bringing a stove with you, there are several other useful devices that you can use to prepare your meals. You can use our Heat2Eat plastic self-steamers, a quick and convenient way to prepare meals. With no need for gas, charcoal, or electricity, these devices use an exothermic chemical reaction triggered by adding water to their HeatStone pouches, quickly steaming meals inside the foil tray within the plastic container.
You can also use a Flameless Ration Heater Pack. Similarly, these can heat meals by using just some water to produce heat through a chemical reaction. If you want to heat your meals but don’t want to invest in or carry a stove, these packs provide a convenient alternative.
By spending over £30 on our site, you can get a free Heat2Eat Plastic Self Steamers Essential Kit! Just add it to your basket and use code Heat2EatOffer at checkout.
Bowls and Plates
For eating your food while at a festival, if you choose wet meals, you’ll need some plates and bowls that are practical but don’t weigh you down.
We have many great, budget-friendly outdoor cooking equipment options in our range, such as our MSR Alpine Plate, which is made from lightweight stainless steel for a balance of durability and convenience. Our collection also contains the MSR 2 Person Mess Kit, which contains everything you need for two people, including lightweight mugs, bowls, sporks, and a breathable mesh bag to keep them in.
Cutlery
You’ll need quality cooking utensils for camping for your festival meals that don’t make your backpack any more bulky than it needs to be. Our MSR Folding Utensils set is ideal, with lightweight cutlery that folds down to save on space. Our Sea to Summit Frontier Ultralight Knife, Fork, and Spoon Set is also a lightweight option and is made from aircraft-grade aluminium for a long-lasting and durable set.
Get Festival-Ready at Base Camp Food
At Base Camp Food, we have a fantastic selection of delicious, easy-to-prepare camping meals to keep you fuelled throughout your festival. This includes our many freeze-dried and wet meals, with various options in different flavours and many choices to accommodate special dietary requirements.
If you’d like to ask us anything in particular about using our products for your next festival or have any other questions, get in touch with us today. We’ll be more than happy to help you out to choose the perfect products.