I would love to dehydrate my own meals for backpacking. But I’m kind of lazy and there are so many good options out there. I recently discovered Good To-Go meals.
When backcountry camping you want to carry the least amount of weight as possible. So freeze-dried or dehydrated meals are perfect because they are much lighter. They are also super easy to cook – all you do is add boiling water – which is also very nice after a long day of hiking.
To visit Good To-Go’s website click here.
Good To-Go meals are dehydrated which makes them a little less like “space food,” like freeze-dried are. But freeze drying takes out more water so dehydrated food is little heavier.
However the extra weight is worth the tasty flavors and the variety of meals they provide. Lasagna and chili are popular flavors for backcountry meals, but Good To-Go has more specialty flavors.
Good To-Go meals include: Mexican Quinoa Bowl, Thai Curry, Herb Mushroom Risotto, Bibimbap, Pad Thai, Smoked Three Bean Chili, Classic Marinara with Penne, and Indian Vegetable Korma. They also have oatmeal and granola for breakfast meals.
I love a lot of flavor in my food so Good To-Go meals are perfect for me. Blame it on my bad sinuses, but I go for something that is different and has a lot of flavor, like Asian or Mexican, over something like baked chicken.
Another aspect that I love is that they are made healthy. Even though they have a long shelf life, there are no preservatives in them. They are also low in sodium, which is something you find a lot of in foods with a long shelf life. For those who do not eat gluten, they are also gluten free. This is for every thing they make, not just certain ones that have no flavor to appease those who want to eat healthy.
The shelf life of Good To-Go meals is between two and four years, so if you are preparing for the zombie apocalypse then your best bet is go with the freeze-dried meals.
The cooking instructions are fun, which I like better than the stiff and boring instructions usually on food. Just to give you an example they don’t tell you to let it stand for five minutes. Instead the instructions say, “Hang out for 20 minutes. Think about how big the universe is.”
I had one snafu when I was about to enjoy the Pad Thai. When you eat these types of backcountry meals, you boil water and pour them into the pouch in which the food came in. You then reseal the pouch and “hang out.” As I was preparing my Pad Thai I had problems tearing the package open. I accidentally tore it below the resealable part, making it impossible to reseal completely.
However, I folded the top down as tight as I could and let it rehydrate. It worked just fine.
I would totally recommend these for any backcountry meal. However if you are a picky eater, you may not find as many choices as you like.
They come in single and double servings, so you can enjoy them with a friend or on a solo trip.
Have you tried these? What did you think? Do you have a favorite flavor?
Food looks good…will check it out Mara
Sometimes I eat them when I just at home and too lazy to cook.