At some point on the road, food will become fuel and you will not be able to count the number of tortillas you have eaten. Try to change it (corn tortillas and tuna... peanut butter and jelly tortillas... tortillas and cream cheese...), in the end "Never want to see tortillas again" becomes a completely healthy and understandable state of mind. The same goes for our old friend bagels, we have inhaled metric tons of mixed biscuits in the past few years. Our solution: from time to time, give yourself some next-level dehydration camping meals.
This year we have been testing, tasting and loving all kinds of dehydrated foods, and decided to share some of our top choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also have some of our favorite pre-packaged backpack stable snacks to add some extra flavor and variety to your regular camping food rotation.
On some mornings, you want completely spread bacon and eggs and extra cheese, while on other mornings, you want some light food. This is why we like Backpacker's Pantry hot cereal, which is a healthy blend of granola, organic blueberries, coconut and almonds, plus a little brown sugar for added sweetness. The most impressive thing about this quick and easy meal is that it still provides lasting energy and contains 620 calories per serving, partly because each bag contains dehydrated butter and whole milk. It is also delicious when eaten cold, and if you happen to run out of boiling water for fuel, this makes it a godsend on the road.
Heather's Choice is a backpacking food company based in Anchorage, Alaska, specializing in energetic meals made from hearty ingredients. So far, our favorite is this smoked salmon chowder, which contains a lot of wild-caught sockeye salmon, potatoes, celery and carrots. This is hearty enough for dinner, but it can also make you want to sit down and enjoy a decadent dinner. A serving of this chowder provides up to 39 grams of protein and a total of 490 calories of lasting energy. The advantage of Heather's Choice is that each bag has a convenient measuring scale on the side, so there is no need to guess the right amount of water during the pouring process.
Good To-Go is known for bringing gourmet flavors to the dehydrated camping meal scene. Good To-Go was created by professional chef, restaurateur and Iron Chef champion Jennifer Scism, and its dining options read like the menu of a multicultural four-star restaurant, including everything from Cuban rice bowls to Korean bibimbap. Our favorite right now is their mushroom risotto, which is a thick and creamy delicacy filled with rich creamy mushrooms and basil pesto. Good To-Go’s dehydrated camp meal usually requires more waiting time than the average bagged meal (for example, risotto takes about 20 minutes), but my God is worth the wait.
Although we certainly appreciate quick and easy snacks such as hard meats and cheeses, jerky and GORP (for the layman, this is a good old raisin and peanut), sometimes you have to treat yourself with something special. Although people may be eager to eat the most unhealthy snacks known to man, we have some of the most popular snacks this year. They are free of all the refined sugars and preservatives that plague your typical outdoor cuisine.
Since their introduction into the Hawaiian Islands in the late 1800s, the Axis Deer population has grown rapidly. In fact, their numbers are now a serious threat to the fragile native plant and animal ecosystems on the island. Fortunately, the people of Maui Nui Venison manage this invasive species through humane fishing, and their efforts are now supported by Patagonian regulations. The collaboration produced these delicious smoked sausage chains, lightly seasoned with juniper, black pepper, and mustard seeds to create a snack that tastes as good as it tastes. If you want to upgrade your standard hard meat and cheese snack options, this is by far our favorite alternative.
When we choose energy snacks outdoors, calories are usually the driving factor. That, and convenient. If we say that we didn't put a bag of sticky worms on the trail at any time, then we are lying, which is why we are devoted fans of the only dried fruit as a substitute for sweets from time to time. So far, their organic mango is half our favorite choice this year. Due to the natural sugar content of mangoes, each serving contains about 130 calories of fast energy, which means that each 8-ounce bag contains only 800 calories. They also contain a lot of potassium, so you can add electrolytes while eating snacks to help prevent muscle cramps when hiking, biking, or boating.
If you have never eaten meat sauce before, you have missed it. We like to think of it as a substitute for premium beef jerky. Biltong is made by air-drying seasoned steaks, and then each steak is cut into edible sizes. It contains no nitrates, no sugar, and no artificial ingredients at all, so it is as healthy as storable meat. Bitong is a bit more tender than jerky because it is cut from a real steak board, so every bite is a little different. Some are thick and soft, and some are thin and chewy. Each pack has a small amount of fat left on the edges, which is a real treat. Our current favorite is Kalahari's rosemary truffle variety, although because the taste of the meat is really the protagonist of the show, you can't miss any of them.
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