Cooking your own meals is part of the backpacker travel experience; this isn't the Maldives where chefs are constantly on standby to take your order.

So we sourced 5 incredibly easy, incredibly delicious, and (perhaps most importantly), incredibly cheap backpacker recipes! 

1. Avoca-DUH! Pasta

By Melanie Defever

Avocado, you either love it or you hate it. I’m a big fan, and I could eat avocados every day and I‘m pretty sure I’m not the only one. I have been living in different hostels for the past 6 weeks and I’ve seen a lot of avocados in the backpacker kitchens. That’s why I wanted to share one of my favorite avocado recipes, the avoca-DUH! Pasta. When I was preparing this delicious meal, there was even a guy who came up to me and said, “That looks great!”.  So that’s when you know it’s backpacker approved.  This avocado inspired pasta recipe is healthy, easy to make, and also really cheap. These are the ingredients you need:

• Whatever pasta you like
• 2 avocados
• 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 can of corn
• 1 can of cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cucumber

Okay, first step: put some music on and cook the pasta in boiling water. While the water is boiling, grab the avocados, halve them, and peel them. Then smash the avocados with a fork and add some pepper, salt and a litte bit of lemon juice. Cut the cucumber and tomatoes into small slices. Put everything in a big bowl and add the corn. Have a little chat with your neighbour who’s also cooking. Wait until the pasta is al dente, and then combine it with the avocado sauce, and the veggies. The only thing left to do now is search for a buddy, because this recipe is for two people. Take some plates, and your meal is ready to be served. Oh, and don’t forget to clean your stuff, because the hostel staff is watching you. Enjoy your meal. This pasta is everything you avo wanted!

2. Tortilla Con Dia

By Zora Klaasen 

Ingredients

Serves: 4 people as a main course - 6 persons as a small dish - 8 persons as a side dish

Time: Around 1 hour up to 1/4 hours, this includes the preparation

Main Ingredients:

3-4 Yukon Gold potatoes (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds)

1 or 2 onion (s)

1 cup olive oil

6 XL eggs or 7 L eggs

Preparation

1. Prepare tomatoes & onions. Peel the potatoes and onion(s) and slice them very thinly. 

2. Cook the potatoes and onions: heat in oil for around 3 minutes. Add potatoes in layers and reduce the heat to medium/low. Cook for 15 minutes, and flip so they are cooked evenly. The potatoes will be done when they are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. They should NOT get brown or fall apart while flipping.

Drain the potatoes & onions: transfer the potatoes and onions to a colander set over a bowl and drain them. Go make an optional salad now or start cracking those eggs.

Make the tortilla batter

In the bottom of a large bowl, lightly whisk eggs with a couple of good piches of salt & ground pepper. Stir in the drained potatoes and onions. Let them soak together for around 10 minutes: this makes the difference in how well the tortilla will stay together. If you are in a rush it's not going to ruin the dish if you skip this part, but I would not reccommend it. 

Cook the tortilla

Add 2 tablespoons of the drained cooking oil (medium-high heat). Pour the potato mixture into a skillet and flatten the potatoes with a spatula until they're even. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, move and shimmy the skillet. Also nudge the egg around, this way it will run underneath as well letting the tortilla cook undisturbed until the top is wet but not very runny, and it is golden underneath.

Loosen the tortilla with a spatula the slide it onto a large dinner plate. With your hands in the pot holders, invert the skillet over the plate, and flip it back into the skillet (be careful). Shake the skillet to straighten the tortilla and use a spatula to gently tuck the edges back under (if needed).

Return the skillet to the stove and cook the tortilla to taste, another 2/3 minutes it you like an ever-so-slightly loose center. 

Serve

Hot or cold, whatever is desired. Slice or leave it as a whole (a whole tortilla looks better).

3. Kings Toast

By Mathieu Donders

Kitchen tools: Oil, Knife, Frying pan (additional toast machine if one is available)

Recipes: - 3 slices of bread (If you want 1 Kings toast)

-               Cheese slices

-               Ham slices

-               Lettuce

-               Sliced tomato

-               Additional spices/flavouring, or sauces

If you have a toast machine you put the three slices of bread in there to get roasted. If not, you can use the frying pan to roast your bread. There is one slice of toast on top, one on bottom and one in the middle. Before you put in the ingredients it is optional to also put the ham in the frying pan. Between the middle and top toast is some ham, cheese and tomato slices. Between the middle and bottom toast is some ham and the lettuce. It is optional, but recommended to put the finished Kings toast in the frying pan afterwards to get some molten cheese and a warmer breakfast. It is optional to put some salt, pepper or different kinds of sauces on the finished Kings toast.

4. One Pot Spinach Pasta

 By Koen van Gaalen

It’s always a challenge to spend as little money as possible on a healthy meal. Especially when you see other hostel guests eating a cheap burger, it’s hard to resist the temptation. 

However, in the back of your mind you know you don’t always want a burger. Here is the alternative. We've helped you find an easy solution that will only take you 20 minutes. Besides, it is very cheap. For only $3,50 you can have this meal. 

1. Cook pasta until almost al dente, or for 1-2 minutes less than the recommended cook time. Drain pasta and set aside.

2. Add chicken, salt, and pepper. Brown chicken, making sure to cook through. Set chicken aside.

3. Heat up crushed tomatoes, stirring for a few minutes.

4. Add cream to the crushed tomatoes, stirring until incorporated.

5. Add spinach and stir until the spinach cooks down and incorporates.

6. Add chicken and pasta until pasta is evenly coated.

7. If preferred you can use some parmesan cheese for the finish in touch

5. Super Easy Delicious Potato Gratin

By Nadine

What you need: The only things you need for this awesome backpacker dish is a microwave, potatoes and your preferred topping (for example salami and cheese)!

How it works: Just wash a big potato (or two small ones) and put it on a plate.

Then stick the potato a few times with a fork.

Put it in the microwave for about 10 minutes. (the potato has to be cooked when you take it out)

Add your toppings like for example salami and cheese and put it back into the microwave for 2 minutes! 

Enjoy your very individual super easy backpacker dish!

The best thing about this recipe is that you can add whatever topping you like! From tuna to sausage or vegetables, only your fantasy sets the limits! One ingredient that shouldn’t be missing though is cheese! And if you want an extra flavour-kick add some butter.