Festival Snack Kit: Why Jerky and Biltong Belong in Your Bag
May 28, 2026
The lineup is set, the tickets are wristbanded, and the weather looks halfway decent. Festival season is here — and unless you fancy queueing forty minutes for an overpriced burger that's gone cold by the time you carry it back to your spot, the food problem is real.
This is where most of us reach for crisps, granola bars, or sweets. Then we crash by 4pm, blame the sun, and wonder why we can't muster the energy for the headliner. There's a smarter option that's been sitting in the snacking aisle the whole time: beef jerky and biltong.
Why dried meat wins the festival test
Festival food has to clear a strange set of hurdles. It has to survive a hot tent or backpack for a full day. It has to actually fill you up between two sets you don't want to miss. And it shouldn't melt, leak, or turn into a crumbly mess at the bottom of your bag.
Jerky and biltong are built for exactly this. Both are gently dried to remove moisture, which is the trick that lets cured meats hang around for months on a shelf without refrigeration. A sealed pouch in your bag will be just as good at 11pm as it was at noon — no cool bag needed.
They're also dense in protein, which is the actual secret weapon at a festival. A 25 g bag of jerky packs roughly the same protein as a small chicken breast, but in a form you can eat one strip at a time while you walk between stages. Compare that to a granola bar, where most of the calories come from sugar that spikes you fast and drops you faster.
Build your festival snack kit
A good kit balances three things: a crowd-pleaser, a flavour kick for when your palate gets bored, and a slower chew for downtime. Here's a starter pack that fits in any backpack pocket.
The crowd-pleaser: Jack Link's Beef Jerky Teriyaki in the 25 g size. Sweet, savoury, no chilli surprises — the bag you can pass around to friends without anyone wincing.
The flavour kick: Indiana Beef Jerky Hot & Sweet. Chilli warmth balanced against a touch of sweetness. The 25 g pouch is festival-sized; the 90 g block is for the camping crew who want to share over a beer at the end of the night.
The slower chew: Jack Link's Biltong Original or Nam Flava Biltong. Biltong is air-dried rather than smoked, with a denser, beefier bite that takes longer to work through. Perfect for the queue between sets, or while you sit on the grass during a quieter act.
If you're packing for a whole group, the Indiana Jerky Mix Pack — 5 Products is the easiest shortcut: five different flavours in one box, so everyone in the camp can grab their preference without anyone arguing over the last bag of teriyaki.
A few festival pro tips
Pack your jerky and biltong in the outside pocket of your backpack, not buried under a hoodie. You'll snack more often when it's easy to reach — and that's the whole point of bringing food you actually trust.
Drink water with it. Cured meat has salt in it, which is genuinely useful when you're sweating through a hot afternoon, but it'll catch up with you if your only fluid intake is beer.
And don't be the person who shows up with one tiny bag for a three-day festival. A few 60 g pouches, a couple of 25 g singles, and one biltong pack will get most people comfortably through a long weekend without ever needing to queue for the food trucks until you actually feel like a hot meal.
Stock the bag before you go
Have a look at the full Jerky Store range and pull together a kit that matches your festival. Light packer? Three single-serve bags. Going hard for the weekend? Throw in a mix pack and a couple of biltong pouches, and you're set.
See you out there.
