How to Plan Your Food for the Larapinta Trail: The Gluten-Free Guide

Planning food for a long-distance hike is rarely simple. But when you’re managing a strict diet and autoimmune issues, it quickly turns into a logistical headache.

Beyond the challenge of ensuring that the right food ended up in the right food drop box, my food needed to be strictly gluten-free, low-FODMAP, low-sugar and paired with as much fresh food as possible to prevent hypo-glycaemic crashes on the trail.

I spent weeks planning, sourcing and re-organising our food supplies for our 16-day Larapinta Trail adventure.

To keep my sanity, I made a spreadsheet and things got underway.

While this guide focuses on my specific Larapinta Trail preparation, I stick to a very similar blueprint for staying healthy on all my multi-day hikes.

Just to be clear: Every single meal, brand and snack mentioned in this guide is strictly gluten-free unless explicitly stated otherwise.

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PLANNING VS. SANITY

In the lead-up to our hike, I contemplated buying a food dehydrator to batch-cook my own meals. But in the interest of keeping my sanity, I decided against it.

While I still think I could create far better meals myself—and I might still do so in the future—I simply didn’t have the mental energy to start that journey at the time. I ended up buying pre-made meals instead.

THE “HARD NO” LIST: MY DIETARY REQUIREMENTS

While the husband will eat almost anything, my health needs mean I have to read food labels with a fine-tooth comb. For the Larapinta, I stuck to a strict protocol that balanced my dietary restrictions with the realities of desert hiking:

• Strictly Gluten-Free: No even debatable.
• Low-FODMAP: Mostly strictly adhered to, especially avoiding big triggers like onion.
• Low-Sugar and No ‘Sugar-Free’ Substitutes: Absolutely no sugar alcohols (erythritol, sorbitol or maltitol). These are very common in “healthy” snacks but turn my digestion pear-shape very quickly.
• Minimal Additives: Free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives wherever possible.
• Lactose-Free: I let this slide slightly for the sake of calories and variety. I am a total cheese-piggy and ate hard cheese every single day on the Larapinta (naturally very low-lactose).

The goal was simple: Eat food that gave me enough energy and variety without triggering an auto-immune flare-up. {Side note: I still crashed at the end but luckily, it was after the hike when I was back home.}

MY 16-DAY FOOD PLAN: VARIETY & CALORIES

I organised our food so that the husband and I would sometimes share meals, while at other times we ate separate dinners. Because the husband doesn’t have dietary restrictions, I bought a few standard freeze-dried meals for him that sounded like something he would enjoy. My choices were more limited.

To manage the logistics, I used a spreadsheet that detailed every single meal and snack, and how these would be distributed across our three food drops and our initial meals in our packs.

Because I chew through fuel rapidly when hiking, I needed to maintain a steady stream of energy to avoid a hypo-glycaemic crash and organised plenty of snacks. But I still lost 3-4 kg during the 16 days since my body was in high-maintenance mode and only just kept me going.

For our 16-day hike, I organised the following:

Beyond my dietary restrictions, I also had to balance pack weight against variety and calorie density—I simply cannot eat the same thing every single day. We mapped out a rough dietary intake vs. energy table to ensure we were actually eating enough calories to cover the physical output.

THE DESERT FRIDGE: FRESH FOOD STRATEGY

People often assume you can’t have fresh food in the desert. However, unless you’re hiking in the hotter shoulder seasons (April/early May or September), winter nights in Central Australia are freezing. Your food drop boxes essentially act as a natural refrigerator.

We included cheese, salami, fruit and veggies in our food drops without a single issue, making us the envy of other hikers on the trail.

• The Hard Cheese Strategy: Hard cheeses like cheddar are naturally low-lactose, calorie-dense and stable. They provided the essential fats and protein I needed to get myself through long hiking days.
• The Power of an Orange: A fresh orange on a food drop day tastes amazing after days of eating dehydrated mush.

The clear downside is the weight. Fresh apples, carrots and salami are heavy but I was happy to carry the extra grams to stay as healthy as possible. If you want to maintain your health on a long trek, consider packing fresh treats for your food drops.

Shopping Tip: We brought most snacks and our dehydrated meals from home, shopping only for fresh food and extra treats in Alice Springs. Between Coles and Woolies—both in the Todd Mall area—you can easily find most fresh items and snacky things. Just don’t leave your shopping to the end of the day, you might be left with nothing!

BREAKFAST

I love oat porridge but I can only handle that intermittently. In Australia, oats cannot legally be labelled as ‘gluten-free’ so I either source ‘gluten-free oats’ from overseas or buy expensive imported products.

So instead, I rotated my Larapinta breakfast between these three options:

• Option 1: Four Real Food Corn Thins (organic or multigrain) with peanut butter (making two “sandwiches”) + Radix Protein Smoothie Berry & Banana (best flavour);
• Option 2: Radix Breakfast Mixed Berry (by far my favourite) + Radix Protein Smoothie;
• Option 3: Protein bar for dry camps; Note: I still haven’t found a brand that isn’t heavy on dates or pasty—if you have a recommendation, let me know in the comments!

LUNCH

Lunch was always built around fresh food for us—the base included:

• Two Real Foods Corn Thins or a gluten-free wrap—favourite brands:
• Tuna (always check the label) or salami (one salami in each food drop)
• Tasty (cheddar) cheese (about 250g for both of us in each food drop + 250g at the start)
• Campers Pantry Hummus Dip (food drops #2 and #3); Note: it’s easy to mix this in camp on a slow afternoon but you’ll need a separate container to store it. I love the Humangear Stax containers—they’re leak-proof and ideal for storing food like peanut butter or hummus.

To this we added various quantities of fresh produce:

• Hard-boiled eggs (day one + leaving Standley Chasm)
• Carrots (one every 1-2 days)
• 250g punnet tomatoes (each food drops—they kept remarkably well)
• Capsicum (one for each food drop + one at the start)
• Continental cucumber (food drop #2 only for more variety—wrapped cucumbers keep remarkably well in the winter months)

We stored the fresh food in a plastic container, which made finding lunch in my pack very easy. For the food drops, I simply kept the fresh veggies in a large ziplock bag, and left apples, mandarins and oranges loose in the box.

DINNER

I thrive on variety and hate eating the same thing every day, so we rarely repeated a dinner over the 16 days. Our dinner strategy was pretty straightforward:

• Freeze-dried / dehydrated meal: We stuck to Strive Food or Radix Nutrition. The husband occasionally ate non-gluten-free meals from Campers Pantry or Back Country Cuisine when I had my own single Radix or Strive meal.

Both brands are preservatives and are basically just real food. Radix offers brilliant technical nutrition but after a while, their different flavours tend to taste the same given that their meal base is actually the same.

We also tried a couple of On Track Meals as a ‘treat’ dinner/dessert in our food drop boxes but while ok, they turned out to be not such a treat after all. On Track Meals are not dehydrated or freeze-dried, they’re retorted (ie. fully cooked) and thus weigh the equivalent of a ton for a hiker. They have a good selection of gluten-free meals but we only used them in our food drops for food drop nights—I wouldn’t carry them on a hike.

DESSERTS

All up I packed five different dehydrated desserts across the food drop boxes. I’m not sure we ever ended up eating them for dessert—instead we had them as ‘afternoon tea treats’ on long afternoons or after a hard hiking day.

For the desserts I made exceptions and chose what sounded good rather than what would be good for me. 🙂

SPECIAL DROP BOX TREAT MEALS

Since eating out at Ormiston Gorge kiosk or Standley Chasm wasn’t an option for me, I packed a few special items in the drop boxes. Each drop also included a bag of chips and chocolate:

• Food drop #1 (Ormiston Gorge): On Track Meals Potato & Pumpkin Mash + Strive Food Mixed Vegetables
• Food drop #2 (Serpentine Gorge): Radix Mexican Chilli + a bag of corn chips + On Track Meals Coffee Rice Pudding (dessert—no longer available)
• Food drop #3 (Standley Chasm): Pre-cooked Rice + fresh eggs (yep, I packed raw eggs in the drop box to make scrambled eggs for dinner) + On Track Meals Coconut Rice Pudding

SNACKS

Oh, the snacks. Way too many snacks.

I completely overcompensated here out of fear of running out of fuel, ending up with far too many snacks. I left heaps of extra snacks in our food drop boxes, in the ‘freebie’ boxes and gave them away to other hikers.

My core snacks included:

• Nut Bars: I always seem to come back to Carman’s Nut Bars. I mostly packed Aldi nut bars (half the price but nowhere near the same quality) but Carman’s is my go-to choice.
• Snack Balls: Health Lab Protein Balls are very pricey but fantastic. We so enjoyed sharing an Aussie Lamington one for afternoon tea. The Holy Hazelnut balls are pretty yummy too. They kept well in the drop boxes—just don’t leave them out in the sun.
• Lollies/Sweets: My quick fix when things are dicey. I tried Skratch Labs (too sticky and gooey) and Simply Wize (decent value but with preservatives). Current favourite, natural brands are Eco-Vital (pricey but 100% natural), YumEarth and Funday.
• Dried Pineapple: Literally my favourite hiking snack. I prefer the sugar-free, sulphite-free versions from my local health food shop.
• Happy Snack Company Dried Chickpeas: Don’t love the savoury versions (too pasty) but the chocolate-coated chickpeas are a great camp snack.
• Fresh Fruit: Apples, and extra mandarins/oranges for the husband on food drop nights

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A QUICK HIKING MEAL REVIEW

Since our Larapinta hike, Real Meals from New Zealand has entered the Australian market—as their name suggests, their meals are freeze-dried high-quality ingredients. They’re not completely additive-free, and you have to check ingredients carefully as only a handful are actually gluten-free.

But for an unbeatable salad option, try their Beetroot & Carrot Salad—so tasty! I’ve recently tried it on a hike in New Zealand, yum yum yum.

DINNER TASTE TEST: STRIVE VS. RADIX

Most of our hiking meals worked out really well, though I would say that Strive is the overall winner. Radix is nutritionally fantastic but since their meal base is the same across all flavours, they tend to taste the same after a while.

STRIVE FOOD (THE WINNER)

My absolutely favourite dinner is Strive’s Vegetable Curry Laksa. It’s spicy yet flavourful, and has officially become my celebratory ‘last-day-of-the-hike’ treat meal. It just makes me happy.

Note on simmer time: Keep in mind that Strive’s meals take a bit of actual simmer time on the stove so factor gas consumption into your rations.

A very close second is Strive’s Chicken Broccoli Pesto Pasta—absolutely delicious. It’s not lactose-free so I have to weigh up my health vs. a very satisfying pasta meal. Strive’s Mexican Chilli Beef was the only slight disappointment; it sounds amazing and exactly what the husband and I would like but it’s a bit too spicy—and we like spicy!

RADIX NUTRITION

On the savoury side, Radix’s Turkish Falafel is a decent option, the flavours really work for me. Nutritionally, you can’t complain—I just can’t eat it every day. Radix’s Indian Curry and Mexican Chilli almost tasted the same, and neither of them got me overly excited.

Where Radix does shine, however, is their breakfast range. Their Mixed Berry Breakfast (who wants to eat chocolate for breakfast?!) and the Berry & Banana Protein Smoothies are excellent trail food that work really well for me nutritionally and health-wise.

THE HUSBAND’S BIG MISS

The husband, on the other hand, had one absolutely terrible meal when he tried Back Country Cuisine’s Nasi Goreng. This isn’t gluten-free so not even an option here but I pity you if you’re sharing the tent with anyone eating this. You will not be able to smell the fresh night air for the tent fumes, let’s just say that.

DESSERTS: HITS & MISSES

Hands down, Back Country Cuisine’s Chocolate Brownie Pudding is the best dessert. It hits all the right spots, especially when I ignore the list of ingredients. This is the one dessert treat that I have bought again and again for other hikes since.

Side note: The only time I let a Back Country Cuisine meal in is for dessert.

We also tried On Track Meals Coffee Rice Pudding and Coconut Rice Pudding, alongside Back Country Cuisine Strawberry Ambrosia, and Strive’s Chocolate Pudding.

We often didn’t actually feel like eating dessert but I’d left the Strive Chocolate Pudding dessert for one of our last nights as a sort of ‘end of hike’ treat, and I was really looking forward to it. Oh boy, was that a mistake! It was truly awful.

The chocolate buttons turned into some sort of soupy chocolate mush that didn’t know whether it wanted to be a hot chocolate or a dessert. We could not figure out what to do with it, and in the end just drank it as a weak hot chocolate. Having looked forward to this chocolate pudding for days, it was a letdown of epic proportions.

Love their meals and still keen to try the Butterscotch Apples dessert, the chocolate pudding, unfortunately, was a total miss.

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A NOTE FOR INTERNATIONAL HIKERS ON BIOSECURITY

If you are flying into Australia from overseas to hike the Larapinta, don’t panic about our notoriously strict biosecurity laws. As someone who frequently travels into Australia with food, you can actually bring quite a bit of food into the country. You just need to know exactly what kind.

The first thing you always have to remember is: Declare everything.

WHAT IS GENERALLY ALLOWED

Commercially manufactured, sealed freeze-dried or dehydrated meals (like Radix, Real Meals or Back Country) are generally fine.

• They must be shelf-stable with ingredients clearly listed in English on the packet. That said, when they contain meat, it becomes trickier—pork is forever on the no-go list (as is chicken at the moment). This list changes periodically, depending on bird flu or other animal disease outbreaks around the world. In a nutshell: Bring vegetarian meals.
• Commercially sealed muesli bars, nuts, sweets, chocolate and similar snacks are also generally safe.
• Oats and other grain products (but no uncooked rice!) are usually ok as long as they’re commercially packaged and remain unopened.

WHAT IS A STRICT NO-GO

Don’t bring any fresh food, including fresh fruit and vegetables, or home-dehydrated meals. If you dried your own beef jerky or backyard apples at home, eat them on the plane or bin them before customs. They will be confiscated instantly. This includes any kind of fresh dairy product.

DECLARE EVERYTHING

When you complete your Incoming Passenger Card, tick ‘YES’ to the food question. Biosecurity officers will look at your sealed commercial products, verify they’re compliant and send you on your way.

If you declare it, the absolute worst-case scenario is that they throw a specific packet in the bin. If you hide it and they find it, you face serious fines and you will be listed for future inspections in the system.

Check the latest advice and updates on the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry website.

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LARAPINTA-SPECIFIC TIPS & LESSONS LEARNT

Preparing for our first really long-distance hike meant, of course, that we made mistakes. Here are a few straightforward tips and some food logistics takeaways from our trek:

• Beware the Simmer Times:
  • Strive meals are real food so they require actual simmer time to rehydrate. Make sure you choose the right Strive meal for the Larapinta—don’t choose the risotto or the minestrone soup, they require a simmer time of 12-15 minutes! That’s gas you can’t afford to waste—leave those for other hikes. But they all need at least 3-5 minutes of simmering in a pot on the stove. Factor this directly into how many gas canisters you pack into your food drops.
  • Radix meals, on the other hand, just need boiling water poured straight into the packet just like many dehydrated meals.

• Organising Your Food Drops: I labelled all meals with a #1, #2 or #3 before leaving home so I knew exactly which drop they belonged to once we arrived in Alice. I also printed my spreadsheet out so I could tick everything off as we packed the boxes. Looking at a big spreadsheet on my phone wasn’t something my brain could handle.

• The Alice Springs Stock-Up: Keep in mind that you’re technically not allowed to bring fresh food, especially bananas into the NT from other states in Australia due to biosecurity risks. You can easily source your fresh produce and a few standard gluten-free snacks right there before your transfer. Just get your shopping done early in the day—if you leave it until late afternoon, the shelves can look pretty bare.

• Don’t Over-Cater on Snacks: This is pretty common, nobody wants to go hungry on a long trek like the Larapinta. I went next level and was so paranoid that I wouldn’t have that I ended up with far too many. Skip the standard Aldi muesli bars, they’re quite awful (sweet and just puffed air). Buy Carman’s and don’t sweat the extra cost or make your own trail mix.

Managing gas canister math and food weight is only half the battle. To see how we balanced our packed weight with the rest of our desert gear, check out my full Larapinta Trail Gear Guide.

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READY TO ORGANISE YOUR GLUTEN-FREE FOOD?

Planning food for 16 days in the desert with strict dietary restrictions is a pretty big, fun jigsaw puzzle but it’s entirely doable. You don’t need to live on basic cardboard bars or eat dehydrated food only, just because you’re in the desert.

Take advantage of the cold desert nights to turn your food drops into mini refrigerators, and you can enjoy real, fresh food throughout the entire trek—provided you’re willing to carry the extra weight. Or at least eat that orange at the food drop!

If you’ve got any questions about specific gluten-free brands or how we handled our drop box packing, drop a comment below!

Happy organising,