For years, I’ve been a grocery store prepper. Meaning, I don’t invest a ton of money into freeze-dried meals and the like. Instead, I’d mostly focus on shelf-stable options found at Piggly Wiggly or Aldi, things like canned soup and pouch meats. Backpacker’s Pantry recently sent me some samples of their meals to try, and I have to say that I’m impressed.
One rule of mine that I follow is that I don’t try new-to-me foods on the trail whenever possible. The last thing anyone wants is case of the trots when the nearest actual toilet is miles away. Instead, I always make it at home first. This allows me to test drive the food in a controlled environment.
Let’s take a look at one of the Backpacker’s Pantry meals.
Mashed Potatoes & Gravy with Beef
I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for mashed potatoes and gravy. It’s one of my favorite comfort foods. Add in some chipped beef and I’m a happy guy. So when I spotted this one among the meals Backpacker’s Pantry sent, it went to the top of the list.
For those not familiar with these sorts of meals, prep is nothing more than boiling some water and dumping it into the pouch. The food is then eaten directly from the pouch. This is one of the reasons why they’re popular amongst campers, hikers, and preppers. The meals are simple and easy.
Opening the pouch revealed what looked to be a pile of standard instant potatoes with some small chunks of beef jerky here and there.
Per the instructions, I added two cups of boiling water and stirred the contents with my MSR Titan Long Spoon. It looked like watery muck at that point. I sealed the pouch and waited eight minutes.
Side note — something I’ve learned is that if you’re going to use pouched meals like this, it pays to have a long utensil, like the aforementioned Titan Long Spoon. The pouches are deceptively deep and you need something with a long handle to reach all the corners. I like this one because it’s titanium and weighs 0.7-ounce, so it isn’t even noticeable in my kit.
At that point, I opened the pouch, stirred the contents again, and sealed it back up for another seven minutes. I did not put the pouch into any sort of insulated container while the food was rehydrating. I just left it sitting on my kitchen counter.
At the end of the wait time, I opened the pouch. The first thing I noticed was the smell of beef coming from the food inside. It smelled wonderful! I stirred it up a bit, then dug in. The taste was amazing. It was like something I’d have cooked myself on the stovetop.
Yeah, it’s instant mashed potatoes, but they were perfectly prepared. I didn’t come across any lumps or dry spots. The beef was tender and had rehydrated very well. Despite sitting on the counter for a solid 15 minutes, everything was piping hot, too.
There was quite a bit of food in the pouch and I was stuffed by the time I’d finished it all. This is a single-serving package but I could see two people sharing it and splitting a small side to make for a great meal for two. Three hours later, I still felt plenty full.
Meal Specs
The dry weight of this Backpacker’s Pantry meal is 3.1 ounces. It provides 330 calories and 16 grams of protein. It’s also gluten free, for those for whom that’s important. It is a little high in sodium with 1,570 milligrams (68% of the recommended daily value).
The package is about 7.75 inches across and 6.75 inches tall, maybe an inch thick before you open it. The pleated bottom will bellow out so that you can stand the meal upright while it rehydrates.
Overall Recommendation
While I’m not entirely sold on filling your pack with freeze-dried meals for camping or bug out purposes, due to the expense if nothing else, I’ll tell you what. You could do far worse than adding some of the Backpacker’s Pantry options to the load out. The taste is outstanding and the meal was very filling. I rate it a solid 10/10.
They have a wide variety of meals, ranging from breakfast scrambles to calorie-heavy dinners, even desserts like crème brulée and dark chocolate cheesecake. Check out all of their offerings here at BackpackersPantry.com.
