Backpacking Light staff are known to do almost anything to satisfy our subscribers' thirst for knowledge about lightweight backcountry travel. We'll freeze our tushes off in sleeping bags with optimistic temperature ratings, we'll trek up mountains in a self-created sauna wearing a jacket that claims to be breathable, and - at Outdoor Retailer Markets - we'll forgo sleep and bathroom breaks, suffer hand cramps from note taking and typing, and this year, even eat food we don't like. All in the quest for real knowledge.
For the second Outdoor Retailer Market in a row, Backpacking Light staff (Mike, Ryan, Carol, Matt, Vic, Don, and Alan) offer their widely varying opinions on food. This show we tackled eight dried and freeze dried backpacking entrées from four companies. We added a new score to our "Would I Take It Backpacking" category - zero. Yes, some of our testers had vey strong opinions about certain offerings. Three entrées emerged in the top three places, significantly separated from the rest of the pack.
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Backpacking Food Taste Test: Entrées (Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2005)
Were these Entrees only selected by participants at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market?
I am surprised some of Mountain House products were not reviewed.
Most of the MH items only require adding water into their existing container. Their Chicken Teriyaki with Rice and their Lasagna with Meat sauce are great!
What about Mary Jane’s Farm? By far the best I’ve ever tasted.
We selcted items that were either new for the Outdoor Retailer Show Summer Market or had been substantially re-formulated.
On a practical level we kept the numbers down to a reasonable size so we wouldn’t overload our taste buds. There’s no doubt we could have sampled many more meals, but there just wasn’t time.
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