I've been battling my way through some handy-sized pouched meals with a view to assessing their suitability as day-hiking food. There's a good range of options, including veggie meals. As you can see, they're supposed to be microwaved, but I've been treating then as boil-in-the-bag meals and they do reheat very well. The packaging fits neatly into the Jetboil mug and doesn't to taint or tinge the boiling water, so I'm finding it OK to use just the one Jetboil burn for both a hot snack and a brew. Each pack contains 200g of whatever, so it's one for a snack or two (or one with something else) for a meal.
The results? Well, they're not exactly gourmet meals but they are quite tasty and filling. The Bombay Potatoes are rather odd, being in a tomato-based sauce which makes it a curious concoction, but it's still good to eat. Overall the contents of the range are not bad considering the prices (49p to 99p according to the current offer). There is plenty of variety to choose from, this is just a small sample of what's on offer:
Tomorrow I'll have the pleasure of testing either the Vegetable Chilli or the Meatballs & Vegetables in Gravy.
You'll notice that I've blanked-out the retailer's name. That's because they've not been bothered to reply to my requests for further information regarding these products. Seems like some businesses don't care much for free publicity.
THE SMALL(ish) PRINT... (updated 23/07/2016)
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Interesting, I use a mix of ramen, ready-made noodles, Travellunch and Trek n' Eat for my trips, and I find the ready made stuff is often as good as the "trail grub" stuff, for a fraction of the price. Real Turmat are in a different league, though, but at 8€ a pop its bloody expensive. I'll need to visit the local Supermarket and see if there's new stuff available =)
I hear what you say about the cost of "proper" outdoor foods, Hendrik - for years I used pouches and ration-packs from http://www.expeditionfoods.com/freeze-dried.html but eventually went over to home-dehydrated food to cut the cost and to permit more variety (my better-half is a fussy veggie). That said, I now only take the dried lightweight meals for multi-day trips - for one-dayers when I'm guaranteed a proper evening meal back at base I'm happy to carry "wet" food for light lunches.
will have to try some similar products soon when I get walking again.....Like Henrik (& many others) I eat Ramen a lot on the trail although I try to get freeze or dehydrated veggies whenever possible to make them more interesting. Those expensive dehydrated ones are out of my league too!
I have found that some 'ready' soups and packet meals have a similar taste maybe in the same additives? I am no expert but they remind me of a food poisoning session encountered in Scotland a couple of years ago. YUK. 😕
Baz Carter has some good trail food ideas too
best of luck
If they actually look like the pictures on the packet I couldn't bring myself to eat them.
This dehydrated stuff is ok if youre off for a week trek but for a coupla nights get some proper 'Look what we found' nosh. The Herdwick lamb one is the dogs.
@andy - Agreed, some cheap packs can be a bit "samey", usually down to the use of a standard sauce.
@Mike Bell - Mike, they taste better than they look, and they taste much better than mushrooms 😈
A piece of worn out boot liner would taste better than a mushroom.
Stools of the Devil they are... 😈