Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Dinner Time

Dinner time, what are you pulling out of your pack? I rolling with Mountain House, looking to add some variety.

Peak Refuel meals are delicious and wayyy better than MH. I also carry an assortment of condiments like crushed red pepper, tapatio hot sauce, soy sauce and olive oil. Don’t forget the Flask of whiskey.

Depends on weather / temperature, how far I'm hiking, and how many days I'm out.

Most of my trips are hot weather and 1, maybe 2 nights. In the middle of summer, if i'm pushing hard (aka HARD), I'll skip carrying "dinner" 'cause I couldn't keep food down at the end of the day anyway, I'll leave the stove home, pack an extra granola bar, and drink water. On one of those trips I lost 9 pounds in 36 hours and had only regained 2 of it 30 days later so it was not just dehydration. For a slower paced trip, generally in hot weather it's Mountain House. I've tried others and I just don't like them. MH isn't perfect but for me it is the best of the lot. A bit of garlic salt, pepper, and, if I'm eating Italian, some parmesan cheese.

When the weather is cooler, cool enough to not require refrigeration, then the menu expands. Also at such times, the days are shorter, the nights are longer, and it's beneficial to use up some of those dark hours futzing around cooking. Pace on the trail is usually slower so a little extra weight is less bothersome. Times like that, a good steak and 1-2 potatoes to bake is reasonable.

I like MH granola with blueberries and milk. It's a good breakfast option. Because it's eaten cold, it's also a good choice for cold-camp hikes in summer. Other things ... you have to watch labels for refrigeration needs, but if you pick right, cheese, salami, some hard breads, etc pack well. For me those are usually lunch items but they could be dinner, too.

Mountain House for me. Its nice to see the competition, and I might throw a few others, but MH has worked for a long time.

First Mile Meals has some good flavors.

Tobasco is my friend.

Peak is the best out there right now in freeze dried. They don't have a huge variety yet. But it is all better then any of the others in my opinion.

MCH I totally agree. They did just add 6 more new meals. The beef chili mac is awesome. They were out of the new granola when I ordered but I have heard it’s also delicious.

Got them already!

How was the mountain berry granola?

Peak, eh? I went on their website, sounds good, thier thing is more protein, less salt. Ordered the variety pack, Ill try it this weekend

For breakfast/granola I just mix up my own, since it's already dehydrated. I get the lowest sugar content granola they have at Natural Grocers, which is 5 g per 55 g serving, and mix in walnuts, hemp seed, dried fruit, and whatever elecctrolyte powder I have on hand.

Add cold water. It's good if you can wrap your head around lime-flavored granola for breakfast.

Smoke
You won’t be disappointed. That sounds like a great granola idea also. Thanks.

I am not a big granola fan, my buddy takes those he said it is good.

Gotcha. I haven’t tried much granola either. Usually split a breakfast skillet with my buddies and make some breakfast burritos.
Was considering trying the granola though.

I'm a fan of freeze-dried desserts. Some apple crisp or cheesecake is darn good at the end of a tough day.

I've always used Mountain House but that Peak Refuel looks pretty interesting.

Looks like more calories and protein than MH so will have to give them a try.

Thanks, guys!

I would highly recommend taking a peek at PackItGourmet; I haven't bought anything else since trying them out ~ 5 years ago- never thought that dried food could actually taste like real food

ones that I can personally vouch for- Dotties chickens and dumplings (will often add a pack of chunk chicken to it); shepherd's cottage pie; Big Easy Gumbo (often add sliced polish sausage, my wife one time added shrimp as well); Texas State Fair chili (add my own shredded cheese and Frito chili cheese chips)

pack it gourmet

So what Peak Refuel meal packages did you get, and how did they taste?

ElkSlayer
I’ve tried almost all of them. My personal favorites are chicken Alfredo, beef chili mac, beef stroganoff and chicken teriyaki. The sweet pork and rice is very sweet with a lot of sugar and I wasn’t a fan. The breakfast skillet is delicious!!

Haha, ol elkslayer, back for more. Don't forget what happened last time you questioned me little buddy. You made a big deal about how I couldn't have possibly been elk hunting in southwest Coorado when I said I was, calculated my drive times and all that. Your attention to detail and diligence in following me was appreciated, but you were as FOS as a Christmas turkey and wrong on all counts, remember?

Anyway, if you really want to know which packages come in the sampler pack (which I doubt), it's on their website, very simple to look up. They didn't arrive in time for the trip this past weekend so I don't know how they taste yet, I don't typically eat dehydrated food at home but I'm planning to try some this weekend. Check back next week and I'll have an opinion on one or two. I can say that the granola won't be making the cut, too much sugar.at 23 grams per serving. And the beef pasta marinara is questionable too, one serving (half a package) has 75% of the RDA for saturated fat. The chicken dishes are much better on that score.