Bushka’s Kitchen Backcountry Meals

On a trip to Olympic National Park, I decided to buy our food after the plane landed at our destination to save on weight. My friend Lagena and I cleared out the Aberdeen, Washington, Walmart of its freeze-dried meals. Unfortunately, we only had three option. And so we had the same subpar meals for seven days. But just because you spend time in the backcountry, doesn’t mean you have to substitute taste. Bushka’s Kitchen understand this.

I had the chance to review Bushka’s Kitchen on a recent backpacking trip. Bushka’s Kitchen did provide samples in order to review at no cost, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. You can visit their website here.

The mission of Bushka’s Kitchen is simple: create ready to eat freeze-dried meals and dehydrated snacks that don’t suck.

It seems too simple to be possible, but I’ve had a lot of flavorless backcountry meals and snacks.

My first impression of Bushka’s Kitchen was that I really liked that they use wholesome and real ingredients. Usually when I think of freeze-dried meals, I think of “space food” or some form of food I ate as a toddler – mac and cheese, chili mac, or lasagna.

I do not think of quinoa pasta, zesty avocado sauce, zucchini, and fennel. And yes, that’s a meal I ate in the middle of the backcountry and not at a new hip downtown restaurant.

This is the Zesty Zoodles meal, and it is extremely tasty. When I opened the pouch, I noticed right away that there were big chunks of zucchini. It was like I had made it at home instead of the smaller piece you normally get with prepackaged food.

I really loved the unique blend of flavors, as I had not had anything quite like it before. The lemon and the tomato really popped in my mouth.

With 19 grams of protein, this vegan backcountry option really filled me up after a day of backpacking. I also really liked that it isn’t full of sodium, having only 330 grams. And it has no cholesterol.

Bushka’s Kitchen has vegetarian, vegan, and meaty options.

Although I am not a vegan, I do like a good plant-based meal. The Zesty Zoodles are a great option for meatless Monday or if you are just not in the mood for meat.

But if you are in a carnivorous mood, the Hearty Harvest Bowl is also a great option for the backcountry. I don’t think I’ve had any kind of packaged food with as much meat as the Hearty Harvest Bowl came with. It was so good. Again, I felt like I had made it at home myself, not skimping on ingredients.

The Hearty Harvest Bowl is wild rice, pork, and apples, with roasted Brussel sprouts and caramelized onions. And like the Zesty Zoodles, the ingredients are not chopped small and smashed together as you expect from packaged foods. They were big, chunky, and hearty as if I had made it at home in my kitchen.

Other meals Bushka’s Kitchen offers include, Unstuffed Italian Pepper and Citrus Chia Morning Bowl.

Another aspect of Bushka’s Kitchen that really impressed me, is that they are ready in only three minutes.

While testing the meals on my backpacking trip, my friends were all quite envious as some of them had to wait up to 20 minutes before theirs were ready.

If you are exhausted and starving after hiking all day and then setting up camp, you the know how impatient you can get waiting on your food to cook. Three minutes is heavenly.

With a price point between $10-$13, they are about the average cost of a dinner out. I would recommend this product to anyone who wants tasty filling meals in the backcountry or at home when you simply don’t want to cook.

To shop Bushka’s Kitchen and read more about them, click here

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