Hiking food taste test - 4 friends eat 18 meals and we score them on taste. Best backpacking meals.
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
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Score Food
5.0 Coconut Ginger Chicken (On Track Meals) ontrackmeals.c...
4.5 Beef Bourguignon (Outdoor Gourmet) bit.ly/beefbog
4.4 Chocolate Cake Pudding (Real Meals) bit.ly/3vOSVvg
4.0 Indian Chicken Pilaf (Campers Pantry) collabs.shop/e...
3.9 Beetroot and carrot salad (Real Meals) bit.ly/49AcFQX
3.4 Whiskey Ice Cream (Campers Pantry) collabs.shop/t...
3.3 Indian Curry (Radix) collabs.shop/b...
3.1 Moroccan Pumpkin soup (Feed the Hike) bit.ly/3xC4Ay4
3.1 Beef Bolognese (On Track Meals) ontrackmeals.c...
3.1 Mexican chicken (Back Country Cuisine) bit.ly/mexchick
3.0 Mexican Chilli (Radix) collabs.shop/b...
2.6 Creamy zucchini and Spinach Risotto (Feed the Hike) bit.ly/3xwdOvD
2.6 Chicken Cacciatore(Campers Pantry) collabs.shop/4...
2.6 Beef Casserole (Go native) collabs.shop/w...
2.4 Pasta Bolognese Ragu (Strive) collabs.shop/c...
1.9 Dal Makhani (Real Meals) bit.ly/3Q2DQx3
0.9 Spaghetti Bolognaise (Back Country Cuisine) bit.ly/3xAdT1k
I’ll be doing individual videos on some of the foods i love including
Real meals
Radix
On track meals
Campers pantry
Feed the hike
Food is an extremely personal choice so I have decided to do a review on every hiking meal I could get my hands on here in Australia and New Zealand.
I’m realising more and more that a delicious meal can enhance my enjoyment of wild places. I love backpacking with delicious and nutritious food.
Things to consider when buying food
Price - the price of these products can really add up, especially if you are eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner over several days. That's why I tend to prefer to pack my own breakfast (eg muesli) and lunch and focus on hiking meals for dinner only.
Nutrition - Some products on the market are pushing the boundaries for nutrition and many have this at the forefront when making their food. Nutrition is especially important on longer trails to ensure you are able to maintain the rigours of multi day hiking.
Will they fill you up/ provide enough energy - if you can find out how many calories or grams the food will make when rehydrated. This will give you an indication of how filling it will be and will help you ensure you are packing enough food to fuel you.
Weight - this is one of the huge benefits of dehydrated and freeze dried meals. They tend to be much lighter than other options. But you also need to look at the calories or grams of food as not all brands ‘serve 1’ are created equal.
Availability of water at camp -if there is no water in camp and you have to carry it in there is no weight saving to be made from dehydrated or freeze dried meals and MREs may be a good option.
Taste - I feel the joy of hiking and your nature connection can be amplified with delicious food and I am enjoying making this a priority.
How quick/hard are they to prepare? Do they take a long time to prepare, do they leave a messy bowl that is hard to clean? On long hard hikes I love just throwing hot water in a prepackaged meal, waiting 5 minutes before eating and then having no cook pots or bowls to clean up. On more leisurely hikes I enjoy the process of cooking a beautiful meal.
Can you recycle or reuse the packaging or are you left with a mountain of rubbish at the end of a hike.
Diversity of food choices - if you find a brand you love its great if they have lots of options so that you are not stuck eating the same 3 meals over a 10 day hike. Many brands are also branching out to snacks, breakfasts and lunches.
Of the three main options available all have their pros and cons
Three main options (more on these below)
Ready to Eat Meals (MRE)
Dehydrated
Freeze Dry
Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my code I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks
Thanks for all the amazing comments on this vid. A few things to add. If you buy real meals and you live in Australia don’t buy pork. Customs took my pork meals. Also a friend put me into the YUKA app where you scan the barcode of different product labels and analyzes the health of the ingredients. I haven’t scanned all the foods but campers pantry meals were rated excellent while some of my back country meals rated poor with several hazardous additives (mostly food colour linked to neurotoxicity and learning and memory deficits, and to contribute to the development of some cancers). I’ll try to scan more of the foods. Anyway it’s a brilliant app that is super useful even just to look at protein etc.
Awesome idea and execution Kate! Thanks so much for putting together.
I would have thought you'd have a plethora of headlamps and camp lanterns to put to work!
Thanks a bunch Lisa. Haha I did go looking in a flurry but was a bit too flustered to find it hahaha. I’m not the world’s best chef.
Feed the hike is such an amazing plant based option, their potato soup and mushroom risotto is my fave!! Great to learn about some of the other options in this vid too though, thanks Kate!!
I agree. I wish I could have done all the meals from them. I love the vegan butter chicken and I’m normally not a fan of fake meat. I think next time I want to do perhaps the highest rated three foods from each brand.
This is such a great idea! Loved this video
Thanks so much. Was a lot more work than I imagined it would be. Haha
Excellent timing. I’m walking the Larapinta trail in June so this is super helpful info. Thanks Kate!!
Oh how amazing. Such a beautiful trail. Happy hiking
Absolutely loved this video Kate! You all had me laughing! The best line was where you referred to cooking in the dark. “It’s kinda good in the dark, it’s realistic hey?” Spot on
Forgot to add Well Done Tasting team!!
Just had another thought. (Yep that’s the sound of my brain you hear lol). When you’re making your own dehydrated meals, if you weigh the meal before dehydrating and then weigh it again after, the difference in grams will equal exactly how much water to add (ie 1gram = 1mL of water), with maybe 1 plus mL allowed for steam?
Thanks a lot. And yes re weight. But that would require me to be organised hahaha. Thanks for the great comments. Love it
Thanks for all the effort ❤ it was really helpful so I didn’t have to buy them all myself to find out some new flavours to try.
Glad it was helpful! Happy hiking
This is an awesome idea. It shows how much personal tastes play a role in the choices.
Thanks mate yeah was so interesting to see the variation.
Radix Indian Curry or Falafel 800kcal x 2 + 500gm Couscous + 2 packs of crushed 2 Min Noodles + BackCountry Mixed Veges + Back Country Mince + 5 tsp mild Curry powder + 5 tsp Green Herb Stock all mixed, put in ziplock bags and you've got 6 to 8 days of amazing meals. Add peanut butter when you add hot water. Try it, you won't regret it.
So cool. Sounds like an epic combo. Cheers
@KateGrarock it was my go to for Te Araroa, way cheaper than eating fully prepared meals and has everything you need. I live in the same city Back Country is made and I really wish they'd listen to some of the reviews on their long time classics like Spag Bol and the bland Creamy Carbonara. They are all low sodium which is fine but we don't want to have to carry salt every time either. They should add a sachet to each pack perhaps.
@@robtwizelcleary8344 great point. Yeah radix is so amazing especially on epic trails like that one.
What a fantastic idea, thank you Kate and also the taste testers for their reviews, love it, and so helpful!
Thanks a bunch. Will pass on your comments to the taste testers. 😀
Oh my goodness your friends deserve a medal for doing that...... My favourite one I order from the UK called Expedition Foods....Mac n Cheese , Vegetable Tikka with Rice and Fish and Potato In Parsley Sauce are my favourite. For a long trip it's worth waiting a couple of weeks for delivery..
Thanks a lot mate. Yeah there were a few rumbling bellies that night. Oh great info re further afield brands. Thanks
We loved this review. Thanks for putting it together. Good to hear about some other options.
Thanks a lot. It was really fun.
Such a great comparison! I’ve recently discovered SPHiker meals and the ones I’ve tried are really good. Local to me too so dbl win 🙌
Wow thanks. I’d never heard of them. They look amazing. Love the 100% Home Compostable Packaging. Cheers. I’ll have to try them.
Absolutely fantastic idea, love it! 👏👏
Thanks a lot mate.
Thanks Kate and friends. That was really useful. I have to say I have never had a Backcountry meal that I have like so not surprised by that result. Interesting results for Radix. They are all very ‘samey” in terms of texture and taste but they are nice and fulfilling. Their breakfasts are also very nice and I agree that the dinners are like a dinner muesli (great description!). Shame I watched this after I put my order in for the Larapinta trail meals as I would have chosen a few others based on this video.
Thanks mate. I really appreciate the kind words. Happy hiking on the Larapinta that’s so bloody exciting
I recently ate a backcountry gluten free chocolate brownie pudding. It was delicious, too big a serve for one and tasted like it had just come out of the oven.
So cool. Thanks for sharing
Great video, thanks Kate. Have wondered about some of those meals, thanks to the tasters for taking some hits! Might I recommend the Outdoor Gourmet Mediterranean Lamb and olives, it's the best meal I've had in 40 years of bushwalking.
Thanks a bunch mate. Love love love recommendations. Cheers.
Great video! On Track Meals being wet & heavier are a great meal option to have in a food drop box on long multi week trips…a real meal for when you know you’ll be camped at the food drop box & you’ve got plenty gas or can boil water on a fire to reheat. I used On Track for my food drop box dinners on AAWT. I usually dehydrate my own food but there’s a place for freeze dry for sure. I stick to vegetarian freeze dried meals…the meat options always taste like playdoh to me.
Totally mate. Yeah the meat can be rough hey. Love the idea of food drop for on track. I’m off on a 5 day and taking on track for the first day lunch and dinner. So nice to have a delicious option hey. Happy hiking
Great video!! I hike with my 12yo son and a firm favourite for us is the foods made by Three Capes Gear and Gourmet. Kind of like home made food.
Back Country and Campers Pantry tend to be passable, but more mass produced kind of quality and taste. Though their deserts are not too bad.
Oh cool thanks for the suggestion. I’ll check them out. Yes I really agree re OG and BCC. The meat sponge 🧽 freaks me out
I used to think campers pantry was the same but I got them confused. I love the meat in CP and think they are a much better product.
Awesome video Kate - really helpful stuff!
Thanks mate. Happy hiking
I loved the idea and was great to see so many brands on display.
Thanks mate. Was so fun to make
@@KateGrarock I am a new fan of yours and am exstatic to meet a fellow rainbow'er, I have so many questions to ask. Some being how your Mo is holding up, as I've been struggling to find a pack that will suit me and your Mo looks great and has many features I have been looking for.
@@JohnnyRumpassBuns haha took me a sec to read that correctly haha thought you said I had a moustache. I love my atom pack. it’s the atom 40+ custom I can’t remember why I went with that over the mo. I bloody love it. Love the small internal frame and I’ve smashed that pack though heaps of burnt Aussie bush and slid down so much rock and not a hole on it. Love the pack. I’ve also been eying off never packs and wilderness thread works is you are looking for something closer to home and orange brown can apparently get some pretty bold colour too
Legend! I just bought a few different meals I’d not tried from Strive & can’t remember the other brand. But I didn’t realise we had more variety of brands to choose from.
It’s exciting hey. So good to see some
Great Australian made ones hey. Strive looks so good in the bag hey.
Lookout Masterchef! Well done Kate. I like the Radix meals, for taste and ingredients. Have thought about buying freeze dried proteins and drying some vegies, some fresh vegies to make my own meals. That should bring my costs down but more work.
Absolutely. I agree. Campers pantry also make some great meat in bulk and veg. Happy hiking. Thanks for watching
Awesome video. One of your best yet 👌
Thanks a ton! I really appreciate it.
We usually dehydrate our own meals, but that's not possible when flying from NZ to Australia. So great to get some solid recommendations - thanks to the four testers! Relying on prepackaged dehy meals seems a bit hit and miss and they are quite expensive, so I'm keen to also experiment with dehy ingredients we can readily access from Asian or Indian shops once we arrive in Aus. So far, a spicy noodle and seaweed dish I created probably gets a score of 2/5.
Haha 2/5 is a bit rough. Yeah international travel is really hard. Let me know if you find any gems.
Love your work, one day I’ll bump into you on one of your epic hikes out there. Awesome video and great idea but….. my go to meals are “Alps & Amici Foodstore” from Tasmania. Expensive like $25 a meal but… OMG …. Five star stuff always begging for more…. Try their Chicken & Bacon & white wine or chicken & Spinach curry.
Oh wow so good thanks for the intel. Always looking for something special. See you on the trail. Happy hiking
Well done Kate and tasting team. Very useful to get more idea of the range of meals out there as well as variation in individual taste. I would have expected a lot of middle of the road reviews, and i guess there were, but it's interesting to see some are conspicuously better and worse.
I tried a freeze dry meal on one of my first overnight trips and it was so nasty I stubbornly boycotted them for about 30 years. I recently relented and was pleasantly surprised how far they have come (Strive butter chicken, about 3.5 on your scale).
Go well and well fed on your next adventure!
Totally mate. The rubbish food of 7-10 years ago is what got me into dehydrating my own. It’s been nice to be pleasantly surprised but what’s around now. It would be cool to re do the vid with the best from each brand (hard to choose) but I did wish I’d picked a few different ones from a couple of brands to allow them to shine more.
Cheers Kate. Do you have a couple of favourites, say Radix and Camper's Pantry, to recommend or would that be stealing thunder from future videos?
@@motchev not at all. I like the Mexican beans and chicken pilaf from campers pantry and from radix I like the Indian curry and perri perri. I’m not super into the radix breakfast they have a sweetener that I’m not keen on but one of my mates raves about them. I do love radix protein
Im quite surprised by the difference in scoring between the outdoor gourmet company and back country cuisine as they are both made by the same company. Although I havent tried the gourmet company meals. Real meals is made just down the road from me and their Sri Lankan curry is great, ive been meaning to try the lasagna from their new youth meals range.
Yeah it’s weird hey. I’m jealous you are so close. Thay are bloody amazing
Oof! Such a huge effort from the eaters and the cook! 313ml of water though? Unless it's very approximately a cup, I'm not doing that on trail!
Haha totally and lest be honest making 18 meals I had a couple of beers and the lack of light the reading and measuring got a little loose.
But they had a few wines, so it all evens out 🤣
@@ingridmccarthy0707 hahaha absolutely
Such a great idea for a vid! I really wish we could get a wider range of foods in Aus, I am always wanting to try what the US youtubers are eating 😆. I knew the Back Country Spag Bog would be poorly rated, I had it on a multiday hike and literally wanted to cry. So disappointing. I was hoping you'd do more of the pastas though, maybe next time you do this ;). I find these things really hard, I have sensory issues with food and can't tolerate much spice, especially if I'm dehydrated. Radix calls things mild that I find spicy 😕. Will look up Feed the Hike and Real Meals as I hadn't heard of them, thanks!
So glad it could help. Campers pantry do a nice simple bolognaise. Yeah I was just watching a USA vid the other day and it looked so good. I think things are getting better here slowly. Sorry to hear about you sad spaghetti.
Such a cool idea!
Thanks. Happy hiking
Fantastic video. Having a panel was a really great idea as it aggregates out personal bias. I feel like this can be trusted a lot more than a single person reviewing it as a result. I'm intrigued by On Track Meals scoring so highly but the weight disadvantage puts me off a bit... will have to consider it on some shorter hikes.
I had Indian Chicken Pilaf on my most recent hike and it was a favourite. Good to see my least favourite (Backcountry) score terribly and to know it's not just me!
Haha totally. Was cool seeing how Deb deviated a lot from the others. Yes backcountry does very bad things to my constitution the meat sponge 🧽 has me gagging like I’m eating boiled eel hahaha
@@KateGrarock oh, the meat sponge! Yeah I've called it edible foam before. It's a wonder that of all the hiking foods they have the best distribution because they are almost always the worst!
Before becoming a vegetarian, Mark once had the Backcountry Cooked Breakfast. It looked like someone got eggs, bacon, sausages and hash browns and put it in a blender. Just so unappetising.
@@thelongwaysbetter haha totally. Well at least their food sent me on the path to dehydrating my own.
I will only use strive meals and love them so much. Yes there is more cooking involved but it tastes like real food. The bol ragu is not their best dish. Butter chicken and garlic mushroom pasta are out of this world. The outdoor gourmet do delicious meals but as a solo hiker the 2 person serving just doesnt work for me
Thanks for sharing!! Yeah I find the outdoor g weird calories. Don’t work for one or two. Love strive.
Although the Outdoor Gourmet Company was mentioned as being the most expensive, all their meals serve 2 unlike the others. I have found it usually works out the most economical option for 2 hikers sharing.
Yeah it’s really important to look at calories hey. Some meals are super lite and others high. I find the small size from these guys way way to small so got the medium. But we are all different. When doing big days I need 2500-3000 calories.
@@KateGrarock Good point. I should pay more attention to calories especially for longer multi day trips. The number of calories for their “serves 2” is the equivalent of a single serve for other companies for example the Campers Pantry range.
Great video by the way.
@@jamesb7563 totally. But some people only need a small meal so I guess it’s good everyone is covered. But yeah would be sad to sit at camp hungry. I’ve done it and it’s not fun 😀
@@KateGrarock I can’t find anything from The Outdoor Gourmet company that is smaller than their “serves 2” dinners do you have a link?
I think I’m confusing myself, the actual per sever number of calories for Outdoor Gourmet company “serves 2” is pretty similar and comparable to other options I have seen about 400 or less, it’s just it’s a double serve in their packet.
Interestingly I have just found out Backcounty Cuisine makes Outdoor Gourmet company meals, I wonder if it was a strategic business option knowing people aren’t such a fan of Backcountry cuisine?!
Best execution of this type of video, well done Kate. Not surprised at the worst rated one haha
Thanks a lot. I appreciate that. Was a lot more challenging than I expected but overall was a lot of fun. Cheers
Missed the best Real Meal Sri Lankan Curry! Thanks for the reviews though 😊
Oh cool thanks. Yeah I was a bit sad I ate the Mexican real meals on a separate vid. Great info re the curry. Cheers
We tried the Curry at home first, if I hadn't made it myself I would not have known it was a freeze dried meal! I can't eat very much, so usually share 1 with my partner and make some couscous with vege stock or a vege soup mix packet to go with it 😋
@@michelleburt4198 yeah real meals is so bloody good. Wish they had an Australian distributer
Ta Kate…where did you buy the Real Meal Chocolate Pudding presumably in Australia?
I went on to NZ site. Postage is a bit crap but having just sent someone something there it’s expensive. Happy hiking. Don’t buy pork things as customs took mine
Could only imagine how how their stomachs felt a few hours after this 😂
yes there were a few complains that evening
The best one you didn't try, you have to try Real Meals lasagne ❤ I was in heaven with that one lol
Who did you buy through to get the Real Meals in Australia?
Oh yes I love that one. I ate it on a trip. I got it through the nz online shop.
Thanks heaps, I wasn't sure if they posted to Australia 😁
@@debs_hiking_journeyyep. Just don’t get anything with pork. Customs took mine. They hide pork in a few meals
Thanks heaps Kate for your help 😊 you never know I might see you on a trail one day, I said that to Caro once and we did bump into each other lol
@@debs_hiking_journeyhaha that’s cool. Maybe you will bump into both me and Caro hiking 😊
Oh my goodness your friends deserve a medal for doing that...... My favourite one I order from the UK called Expedition Foods....Mac n Cheese , Vegetable Tikka with Rice and Fish and Potato In Parsley Sauce are my favourite. For a long trip it's worth waiting a couple of weeks for delivery..
Thanks for sharing!!