Best camping snacks: no-cook, no-fridge picks for UK trips

Written by James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix. Updated October 2026. Flaming Phoenix makes Phoenix Bars, which are in this guide.

The best camping snacks keep for days without a fridge, need no cooking and come in portions you can share out. My top pick is Phoenix Bars: up to 557 calories in a compact, 120g bar that keeps for up to two years, eats in pieces and mixes with water into a no-cook porridge. Around them, the supermarket staples that work best are salted peanuts (185 calories a 30g bag), oatcakes, jerky, malt loaf, dried fruit, crisps and marshmallows for the fire, with labels and prices checked at Tesco in October 2026.

What changes from trip to trip is the mix. A family pitch next to the car can take anything that survives a cool box. A wild camp on Dartmoor, where everything goes on your back, wants the most calories for the least weight and nothing that goes off once opened.

Quick picks by type of trip

• Best overall, for wild camping, active trips and a back-up for a missed resupply: Phoenix Bars, up to 557 calories in a compact, lightweight 120g bar (our own bar).
• Family campsite weekend: a crisps multipack, malt loaf lunchbox loaves and Nature Valley bars, all individually wrapped and easy to share out.
• No-cook evening on a wild camp: oatcakes, a pack of jerky and a bag of salted peanuts, or a Phoenix Bar mixed with water as porridge.
• Savoury protein: Jack Link's beef jerky, about 21g in a 60g pack.
• Savoury and dense: salted peanuts, 615 calories per 100g.
• Sweet and keeps for days: Soreen malt loaf, 88 calories a lunchbox loaf.
• Campfire treat: marshmallows, 82 calories per 25g.

How we chose them

I judged camping snacks on the three things that matter once you are away from a kitchen: whether they can make a no-cook evening when the stove fails or you cannot be bothered, how long they keep at air temperature (before and after opening), and how easily they share out between a group or a family. Calories, protein, salt, storage advice and prices come from the Tesco product pages listed at the foot of this page, checked October 2026, with Phoenix Bars from our own label.

What makes a good camping snack?

A good camping snack needs no cooking, keeps at air temperature for the whole trip, and comes in portions you can hand round.

No-cook evenings. Every camper has a night when the gas runs out, the rain will not stop or the kids are asleep before the pasta boils. Snacks that combine into a meal, such as oatcakes, jerky, nuts and dried fruit, save that evening; sweets on their own do not.

Shelf life without a fridge. Read the storage line, not just the date. Jack Link's jerky is packed in a protective atmosphere and "keeps without refrigeration"; oatcakes, peanuts and crisps just need "a cool, dry place". Tesco's ready-to-eat apricots say "once opened, reseal, refrigerate and use within 1 week", so on a trip with no fridge buy small packs and finish each one. Fresh food is the weak point: bananas bruise and soft cheese sweats in a warm tent porch.

Sharing. Individually wrapped portions stop arguments and keep the rest of the bag dry. Multipacks are also the cheap way to buy: a 20-bag Walkers multipack is £4.85, about 24p a bag. Check labels for the group: Tesco marshmallows contain beef gelatine, so they are not vegetarian, and peanuts are the one snack to leave out if anyone has a nut allergy.

The best camping snacks, by type

1. High-calorie snacks for wild camping and active trips

When everything goes on your back, calories per wrapper matter most. Phoenix Bars carry up to 557 calories in a compact, lightweight 120g bar, with up to 19g of protein, and keep for up to two years (12 months for Cherry Bakewell), so a couple can live in the bottom of a pack. They work as a no-cook breakfast, as lunch eaten in pieces on the move, and as a porridge mixed with water. A group on The Long Crossing of the Lofoten Islands took them "as a safety back-up in case we couldn't resupply as planned". Our high calorie bars page has the full range of flavours, our ranking of the lightest high calorie food for backpacking lists calories per gram for common trail foods, and the best energy bars for hiking compares bars brand by brand.

2. Savoury snacks that keep

• KP salted peanuts, 5 x 30g: 185 calories and 9g of protein a bag, £3.25 for five. Dense and salty, a good partner to oatcakes.
• Nairn's rough oatcakes, 291g: 46 calories an oatcake, £1.85. The base of a no-cook meal; they crumble if packed loose, so keep them in their tube or a tub.
• Jack Link's beef jerky original, 60g: about 150 calories and 21g of protein a pack, £3.75. Light and filling, but salty (see below).
• Walkers crisps multipack, 20 x 25g: 127 to 130 calories a bag, £4.85. Light for the space they take, and what everyone wants after a long walk.

3. Sweet snacks and treats

• Soreen malt lunchbox loaves, 5 x 30g: 88 calories each, £1.80 for five (36p a loaf). Squashes instead of crumbling, with no chocolate to melt.
• Nature Valley Crunchy Oats & Honey, 5 x 42g: 196 calories a twin pack, £2.50 for five. Cheap and long-lasting, though the bars break into crumbs in a rucksack.
• Tesco ready-to-eat apricots, 250g: 57 calories per 30g handful, £2.80. The healthy-feeling sweet option, but refrigerate once opened, so buy small.
• Tesco marshmallows, 200g: 82 calories per 25g, £1.35. The campfire treat; toast them on a long stick over embers, not flames.

Chocolate is fine in spring and autumn and a mess in a July tent. For a campfire classic, split a banana, push in a few squares of chocolate, wrap it in foil and leave it in the embers until the chocolate has melted.

What protein snacks work for wild camping?

A high-calorie bar, jerky and salted nuts are the protein snacks that survive a wild camp without a fridge. A Phoenix Bar gives up to 19g of protein alongside up to 557 calories, a 60g pack of Jack Link's jerky about 21g, and a 30g bag of KP peanuts 9g. Watch the salt in jerky: the 60g pack holds 3.0g, half the NHS maximum of 6g a day for adults and the whole 3g limit for a child aged 4 to 6. Drink plenty with it.

How do you make a no-cook evening meal from snacks?

Combine a starch, a protein and something sweet, and you have a cold dinner of 600 to 700 calories. Here is one, all from the list above:

• 6 Nairn's rough oatcakes: 276 calories.
• A 60g pack of Jack Link's jerky: about 150 calories.
• A 30g bag of KP salted peanuts: 185 calories.
• A 30g handful of dried apricots: 57 calories.

That is 668 calories and about 37g of protein from the oatcakes, jerky and peanuts, with nothing to cook or wash up. For more ideas built around a stove-free trip, see our guide to no-cook backpacking meals, and for a mix you can make at home, our homemade trail mix recipes.

How many snacks should you pack for a camping weekend?

Plan on about four snacks per person per day: two savoury, two sweet. For a family of four camping from Friday night to Sunday, that is 32 snacks for the two full days. One 20-bag crisps multipack (£4.85) plus five-packs of Soreen (£1.80), Nature Valley (£2.50) and KP peanuts (£3.25) gives 35 snacks for £12.40, about 35p each, with three spare for the drive home. On an active or wild camp, where snacks are doing real fuelling work, plan more; our guide to wild camping food sets out a full day's eating, and peanuts and raisins both feature in our ranking of cheap high calorie foods.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best snacks to take camping?
No-cook snacks that keep without a fridge: trail mix, nuts, dried fruit, jerky, oatcakes, hard cheese for the first day, flapjacks, malt loaf and bars, plus a few treats like marshmallows. Match them to the trip: multipacks and treats for family camping, and dense, long-keeping food such as Phoenix Bars, with up to 557 calories in a compact, 120g bar, for wild camping and backpacking.

What snacks can you take camping without a fridge?
Anything with "store in a cool, dry place" on the label: salted nuts, oatcakes, crisps, malt loaf, cereal bars and marshmallows. Jerky in a protective-atmosphere pack keeps without refrigeration. Dried fruit is fine unopened, but some packs ask you to refrigerate once opened, so take small bags.

What are healthy snacks to take camping?
Oatcakes, unsalted or lightly salted nuts, dried apricots and fresh apples or oranges, which survive a few days in a bag. Ready-to-eat apricots give 57 calories per 30g with 1.7g of fibre. Keep an eye on salt in jerky and crisps if you are eating them all weekend.

What is the easiest camping snack?
A sealed single portion you can eat straight from the bag: a Phoenix Bar (up to 557 calories), a 30g bag of salted peanuts (185 calories), a lunchbox malt loaf (88 calories) or a cereal bar. No preparation, no washing up and no cool box, which is why they are the easiest snacks to pack and share.

Sources: Tesco product pages for KP salted peanuts, Nairn's rough oatcakes, Jack Link's beef jerky, Walkers multipack, Soreen lunchbox loaves, Nature Valley, Tesco apricots and Tesco marshmallows; NHS, salt in your diet. All checked October 2026.