Backpacking meals update – taste tests

Good point Paul.  Glad my Borbon doesnt do that ;^)  One of the reasons I liked Pinnacle, fla vor prevailed at 10K feet.

I’ll be posting a bunch of reviews starting in January. I have picked up a number of newer brands that I haven’t reviewed before :-)

Looking forwar to it Sarah!  =^D

I just reviewed Poe & Co Folk Foods, and coming up tomorrow is Yum Pouch. Both are vegan friendly.

This awesome.  Bookmarked your blog ;^)

https://trailcooking.com/blog/

The Yumbini beans and rice packs review.  At first I thought they were a little bland, but after a couple bites I rrealized I liked it better than super strong rice and bean flavoring.  They were an 7-8/10 for teast.  But they are $5 a pack, $22 for 4 pack sampler (which is what I got).  Packs are 3.5 oz, about 5″x5″ in size.  So a bit expensive for what it is.

I could have easily eaten 2, making it $10 all of a sudden.  I will probably buy some more to supplement another meal.  Would be good in a tortilla supplemented with cheese, avocado, etc.  These are probbaly in the category of something you could premake yourself.  But as you know, I dont want to premake anything.  There may be other single serve brand options out there as well that arent $5 each.

https://yumbini.com/shop/

These might be more cost effective.  Have tried these before, but flavor wasnt that good or was too strong:

https://tinyurl.com/4a3j6ndz

https://tinyurl.com/36besn3a

I recently reviewed the Bowl & Kettle meals – the grits one is one of the best meals I have ever reviewed! Delicious!

I’ll check the Yumbini out!

I had another Yumbini and it was just meh.  Im going to try some Virgo or Iberia bulk ones – curious to see if there is a notable difference.

I didnt realize the Street Corn n Grits had mushrooms in it!  YGuck.  Mushroom no bueno  ;^T)  Was very mushroomy tasting .  I wish there had been more full corn kernals,  However,  my mushroom-loving wife really liked it.

Stow Away Gourmet:  Drunken Noodles.  Tricky one, because the flavor was really good.  But because I feel the need to rehydrate longer than intructions say they were kind a soggy, and could have rreally used more that just noodles and sauce – I didnt get many of the vegetables thye show in the pictures.  While I usually love Stow Away, this was not my favorite (6/10)  https://www.stowawaygourmet.com/products/drunken-noodles

Stow Away Gourmet:  Butter Chicken.  Just receied it.  REview to follow =^)

Discovered two new companie

Alt Route Meals:  I ordered a sample pack, Small Detour PAck.  Intriguing enough to make me order. So will report back.  https://altroutemeals.com/collections

Cn checkl them out at the 1 hr 7 minute mark at 63 Camp Kitchen, Shower and Bathroom Gear of 2024 at about 1 hr 9 minutes in (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHeL1-lHNFo&t=147s).  Some others

Base Camp Luxefly:  Looks goot.  One with filer mignon was like $28!  But its delicious, Im in.  Will try some.  https://luxeflybasecamp.com/

Can check them out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHeL1-lHNFo&t=147s at about 1 hr 7 min and and 35 second in.

Cya soon

Alt Route Meals:  Hashbrowns.

Not good.  3/10 IMO.

Pinnacle Foods: Jamabalaya, blackened chicken, cajun suasage, rice, bell Peppers.  8/10

Not sure how they dxo it, but another excellent meal!

Stowaway Gourmet:  Chana Masala – Chick Peas, vegetables, yogurt curry sauce in rice.  Veggie Dish.  (8/10)  Veggie wife said 9/10.  Even scraped the pouch!

Like Pinnacle, not sure how they do it.

My current list of faves, and not so:

Pinnacle Foods:
Herb Roasted Chicken and White Cheddar Dumplings (9/10)
Creamy Tuscan Chicken with Penne Pasta (9/10)
Italian Sausage and Zesty Tomato Sauce with Farfalle Pasta, and Parmesan  (8/10)
Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits and Herbed Sausage Gravy (8/10)
Jambalaya w/ blackened chicken, cajun sausage, etc.  (7.5-8/10) – more rice than other stuff, but very good.
Sticky-Teriyaki Chicken with Garlic Asparagus and Coconut Rice (7/10) – not as filling as others
Chipotle Beef Burrito Bowl (7/10) – need some hot sauce/slightly bland

Stowaway Gourmet

Chan Masala (9/10) – very good, even with no meat!
Thai Currey Shrimp (8/10) – Great everything.  Only doenside is only 560 clories
Suasage and Eggs (8/10) – Very good.
Los Pollos Hermanas (8/10).  Super good, lots of meat, chips or tortillas would be good. Spicy!La Pasta Nostra (Trish) (7/10) – Veggie wife liked t
Bison Beer Black Bean Chili (8/10) – filling, bread or sour cream extra cheese maybe?)
Kimchi Jjigae  (5/10) – too fishy for “me” but unique
Josh Rogan  (5/10) Liked flavor but got several grisle pieces I couldnt chew and turned me off

PackIt Gourmet
All American Works Burger  (new name o site) – add onions (8/10)
Dotties Chicken and Dumpling (7/10)
Santa Fe Corn Pudding (6/10)
Sheppards Cottage Pie (6/10)
Trailside Bean Burrito – needs add ons (6/10)
Berry Smoothie (6/10)
Breakfast Parfait – pudding, bread croutons, fudge (6/10)Trailtopia
Pesto Pasta with Hemp Seed Protein (7/10)

Backpackers pantry:  Gave wife tummy issues
Kathmandu Curry (6/10)
Three bean veggie stew. (6/10)
Quuionoa, black beans, rice  (5/10)  low cal and bland.

Alpine Aire
Kung Pao chicken.  (6/10)

Bushka’s Kitchen
Unstuffed pepper (7/10) not quite filling enough but good
Hunter’s Pie (6/10) needs salt
Zesty Noodles in Avocado Sauce (4/5)

Heather’s Choice
Bison Chili (6/10) – slight expected gamey taste of Bison but tasty.
Spinach Curry with Chicken and Rice (6/10) – good, only 540 calories (x2?)
Vegetable Lentil – (6/10) – good but low calorie, brread with it?
Mole Chicken and Rice – 3/10.  Salty with dry aftertaste. Needs something, sour cream, sugar?

Alt-Route:  
Hashbrowns (2/10)

I’m a cardiac patient. Like many of you, I monitor my salt intake. I’m very aware concerning electrolite replacement. As for cardiac meds, I was on a diuretic about 12 years ago. However, I passed out while road cycling at the top of long hill climbs 3 times within 2 weeks. The cardiologist determined the diuretic was the cause. He replaced the diuretic with newer meds. My cardiac numbers have been very good since then. In other words, your cardiologist can replace a diuretic med with newer meds with no real difference in keeping your cardiac numbers in the good range.

Hey Bill.  Thanks for sharing that important info – lots of personalized care options these days as everyones situtation is different.  Definitely dont wait for you annual if you suspect  something can be tweaked.   Bring on the Hill Climbs!

I’ve noticed I get really tired after a few hours in hot weather.

Then, I measured my blood pressure and it was 90.  Which is very low.  That’s why I feel so tired.  And, I get leg cramps at night – hard to stand up to pee in the middle of the night.

Then, I started taking a diuretic and it made things much worse, much more tired and extreme leg cramps.

What’s happening is exercising in hot weather causes you to sweat which removes sodium from the blood which causes BP to drop.  (watch the gear skeptic video about electrolytes).  Diuretic causes sodium to be removed from the blood through the kidneys which has the same effect as sweating.

I talked to cardiologist and PCP about this.  I proposed not taking diuretic if I’m going to do vigorous exercise.  And taking electrolyte if needed.  The PCP was fine with this, but the cardiologist was skeptical, but agreed that whatever I’m doing, if my BP is 120 or below then whatever I’m doing is okay.  He said something about people listening to influencers on the internet, and taking electrolytes, even when they weren’t exercising vigorously in hot weather.

I’m going to take my BP meter on a few trips, especially when it’s warmer, and determine just how much electrolyte I need to take to not get excessively tired, and get leg cramps at night, but keep my BP at a healthy level < 120.

Stoways Gourmet – Lone Star Chili.  This was a 9/10.  I would note that I was at home so I put it in a wide taco shell and added onions, cheese and tomoato.  Would be great in a tortuall wrap as well.  But even just by itself, it tasted vey good!

Alt Meals was hard to have a lot of positive to say on. They were very….. “Hippy Hut” meals to me. As in what I ate back in my youth at the local food co-op. I am not their target audience these days. Lol.

You were lucky.

I could only window shop at the co-ops.

Agree on Hippy Hut, just not very good at all.

Oh great, more to try.

Trial Goods Co:  https://trailgoods.co/collections/meals

and

Beyond Outdoor Meals:  https://gobeyondmeals.com/

Will report back.

Beyond isn’t bad – just know it’s not a small start up ;-) Follow the address. If it is made in Utah, it’s always one of the very large companies – they will run multiple names at the same business park. Doesn’t mean it is bad, but I was bored and started stalking. Lol.

I could only afford it on the days I didn’t buy smokes. lol. But like everything always tasted the same – if Earth had a flavor, that was it. But I was a good Gen X wanna-be hippie….lol