Topic: Best Backpacking Food of 2023 (Read 43 times)
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If Stowaway Gourmet is restaurant food quality, Pinnacle is Trader Joe’s quality, which tastes like a delicious treat in the backcountry. The Italian Sausage and Zesty Tomato Sauce with Farfalle Pasta, and Parmesan was a perfectly filling meal and tasted like a weeknight dinner I might make for myself at home. However, the sodium was 68 percent of the daily value. I had the Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits and Herbed Sausage Gravy for breakfast and while it was also delicious, it was 55 percent of my daily sodium intake, meaning I was topped out after two meals. Some of the biscuits stayed crispy for a welco*e texture change; I only wish it had more jalapeno as the spice was very mild.
Pinnacle backpacking food is sold in either the Omnidegradable bags or the retort bags. The Omnidegradable version is co*postable, making it great for the environment but less capable of preserving its contents; these meals are only good for a year. The Retort bags aren’t co*postable, meaning they are more rugged and able to stand up to poor conditions on a long trip. These bags are also wide and shallow allowing for better access with a normal length spork making preparation easier so you can properly stir.
The creativity and attention to detail in these meals is amazing. The Mango Curry Chicken Salad tastes like it’s from a deli and the All-American Burger Works was a fan favorite. Both include a separate bag containing condiment packets and are made of the ingredients and flavors we actually crave on trail. Think about the amount of times you wanted a fresh salad for lunch or craved a burger on trail. And since Packit Gourmet uses whole, quality ingredients, the nutritional value is co*parable to the real thing.
Packit Gourmet also sells a Happy Hour Queso Rico Dip and Happy Hour Pico de Gallo that were tasty and unique. Celebrating happy hour on trail with treats like these is a real morale boost. I would reco*mend heating the queso in a pot because it cools off too much in the bag as it rehydrates. The salsa looked and tasted like real salsa. Both bags were difficult to get chips in and out of though.
These gluten-free, plant-based meals are a great protein-rich option for vegans and vegetarians, but were hit and miss in terms of flavor. Our testers thought that the Morning Glory Bowl was rich and dense—too dense to finish, as it turned out. Others had too much going on, possibly being over seasoned. One tester described it as a flavor journey, discovering new ingredients with every bite. If you’re sick of mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, this is a good way to shake up your routine. The Green Tamale Pie was one of our favorites, with a good flavor, giving you what you want in a tamale with a surprisingly tasty cornbread topping.
The meals rehydrated well, and the bags are also Omindegradable meaning the shelf life is one year and the packaging is co*postable. Fernweh’s backpacking food is a great sustainable option for those looking for new and creative flavor profiles that allow for dietary restrictions. The calorie count and protein content are understandably lower, and testers said they’d like more fat and substance to keep them energized.
While a lot of these meals are online only or sold in specific retail locations, Backpacker’s Pantry is stocked at REI and ranges from $7 to $13. The meals list the serving size as two, which may be accurate for relaxed days, but if you’re hiking a lot it’s easy to eat the entire package yourself. If it’s your first time eating Backpacker’s Pantry, play it safe and assume everyone will need their own meal.
As far as taste goes, the food can be hit or miss. While international flavors abound in backpacking food, when it co*es to Backpacker’s Pantry I would reco*mend sticking with the Western classics like the Three Cheese Mac and Cheese and Lasagna. The seasoning in the Pad Thai and Chicken Larb are off and don’t taste as good. The Pad Thai didn’t taste like Pad Thai, just nondescript Asian noodles with unpleasantly funky flavor. The Chicken Larb was overwhelmingly seasoned, especially with mint giving the impression that you’re eating ground chicken mixed with toothpaste.
The sodium levels in Backpacker’s Pantry vary with some meals containing as much as 1,750 milligrams. The prep time is reasonable and reco*mends stirring halfway through which I think helps make sure the entire meal rehydrates. With a lot of calories and protein, these are good for replenishing after a long day on the trail.
Good to Go meals are preservative-free, gluten-free, and lower in sodium. Some can also be rather bland. But this means that Good to Go meals were easier to digest than others. The Good to go options weren’t the best tasting, but they don’t make you unco*fortable afterwards. There are also a lot of vegan, vegetarian, and pescatarian options. All Good to Go meals are gluten-free so if you have a sensitivity or intolerance, you won’t have to worry about grabbing the right bag or someone eating the only gluten-free option. These should be stirred thoroughly to dig the seasoning off the bottom.
The calories and protein aren’t as high as other meals so I wouldn’t rely on just one serving after a long day. The Chicken Pho was a nice soup option, but OL staff writer Laura Lancaster had another meal as well to feel full. I split the Backpacker’s Pantry Three Cheese Mac and Cheese and the Good to Go single-serving Thai Curry with one tester for lunch on our longest day and it shows how backpacking food serving sizes can’t be trusted. Two people were only full after splitting technically three servings. So Backpacker’s Pantry isn’t enough for two people and Good to Go’s single-serving isn’t enough for one.
Alpen Fuel makes decadent breakfast granolas that are high in calories, sugar, and flavor. Packaged granola might sound like a scam at first (we were confused). But after eating one, this is above and beyond grocery store granola. Eating these every morning would be too much for me, but if you like a sweet and filling jumpstart to the day, these are perfect. Patrice relished the Chocolate Strawberry Granola Breakfast but the rest of us found it overly sweet. Patrice asked, “Am I the only one that likes chocolate in the morning?” And I think she is. I loved the Caramel Apple Granola, but couldn’t finish it and ended up feeling hungry later.
Alpen Fuel backpacking food has strong flavors, but if you can finish an entire bag, it’ll keep you full and energized for a long time. The high calorie count, protein, and fiber is a nutritional start to a long day. And if you’re going to have a lot of sugar, might as well do it first thing in the morning to get moving. They can be rehydrated cold or hot depending on your mood, the weather, and which flavor you have. For instance, I think the Lemon Berry Granola makes a great cold cereal while the Caramel Apple Granola tasted like apple pie when hot.
The Peak Refuel meals taste great and include a lot of real meat. These calorie- and protein-dense meals are designed for two people but after hiking for 19 miles I easily ate the entire Chicken Pesto Pasta by myself. I would reco*mend these for big days when you want a hearty refuel, as the name suggests. The Biscuits and Sausage Gravy makes a highly filling and meaty breakfast to fuel a long day or as an indulgence later in your trip.
We did run into an issue where these meals took longer to rehydrate than the package stated. While it doesn’t sound like a big deal now, wait until you’re starving and counting down the seconds to dinner time. However if you’re looking for performance co*fort food, Peak Refuel is ideal. But just like real diner food, these meals are very high in sodium. But they kept people full until the next meal.
As much as we love tuna and chicken packets, sometimes you just need to switch up your protein add-ons. These packets of dried pulled pork are a great way to add extra protein to almost any dish. Immediately I think of adding pulled pork to Packit Gourmet’s queso dip or topping Immi’s high-protein ramen with sriracha pulled pork. Add it to mac and cheese, burritos, and eggs for better meals and a protein boost. The pork is very dry so I wouldn’t snack on it plain. But if you add some bbq sauce and a pickle, I think you could happily spork this out of the package.
One tester tried the Carolina BBQ Shredz on Backpacker’s Pantry Three Cheese Mac and Cheese and Good to Go’s Thai Curry with success, so it seems the options are endless. At under 3 ounces including packaging and at least two servings per package, it’s definitely worth upping your protein in the backcountry with these.
Immi’s ramen is higher in protein, lower in sodium, and tastier than other instant ramen brands. While the package says to boil the noodles for 8 minutes, our testers simply added them to boiling water and turned off the heat to wait, and the noodles cooked just fine. If you’re stopping for lunch on a cold day, this is a gr