Backpacker's Pantry Drunken Noodles with Chicken

Backpacker's Pantry Drunken Noodles with Chicken brings lots of flavor in a meal that feels like real food. Chicken, noodles, and veggies in a well balanced sauce.

Early in last year's Boundary Loop attempt I had a freezer bagged dinner that I really enjoyed, but was only labeled as "sweet and spicy". It was left over from the previous year so I had no memory of what it was. When I needed to buy a few bags of dinner for a Fall Baxter trip I did some googling and decided this meal was the most likely suspect. 

Ingredients:

Instant Dried Rice Noodles (Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch), Freeze-dried Cooked White Meat Chicken, Tamari Powder (Tamari Soy Sauce (Soybeans, Salt), Maltodextrin), Brown Sugar, Freeze-dried Broccoli, Dried Red Bell Pepper, Dried Carrot, Dehydrated Garlic, Dried Cilantro, Arrowroot Powder, Lemongrass Powder, Dried Green Jalapeno Powder, Crystallized Lime (Citric Acid, Lime Oil, Lime Juice Concentrate).

Nutrition:

•  2 servings per container
• Serving size 67g dry
• Calories/Full Pouch 490
• Total Fat 3.5g / 4% Saturated Fat 1g/ 5% Trans Fat 0g/0%
• Cholesterol 50mg / 17%
• Sodium 1850mg / 80%
• Total Carbs 88g / 32%
• Fiber 6g / 22%
• Total Sugars 16g Including Added Sugar 7g / 14%
• Protein 27g
• Calcium 95mg / 8%
• Iron 3mg / 15%
• Potassium 701mg / 15%

Dining Experience & Satiety:

This was definitely not a bag of goo! Every part of this meal seemed like real food, before and after hydration. The vegetables and meat survived the freeze dry process very well. When wet the veggies sort of melted into the noodles, but the chicken pieces were distinctly chicken in the mouth.

The portion size being rather small the eating ended a bit too soon. I was happy about the experience, but left wanting more. 

Live in the field testing:

Testing Conditions:

Testing of the Backpacker's Pantry Drunken Noodles with Chicken was completed at my Chimney Pond LT after spending the day hitting the summit. Water was collected from the pond, filtered, and boiled in camp. I was really hungry and temperatures were dropping rapidly increasing my appetite. 

Conclusions:

I am pretty sure this was the random dinner I'd had before. It has a very distinctive sauce that balances the heat and the sweet so well that they almost become a single flavor. That alone would make me eat this stuff, but the actual food thing is also a major draw.

The noodles have a wonderful feel to them. Rice noodles are meant to be tender without being mushy and somehow despite drying and rehydrating, these were pretty close to freshly cooked in terms of how they felt.

The chicken also impressed me with the way it felt like actual pieces of chicken. I am too used to the cubes that Mountain House uses because I didn't realize how bad they are until I had these bits of meat.

My only real issue with this meal is the portion size. Eating the whole bag nets you just 490 calories, yet still comes in with almost 2g of sodium. After an admittedly strenuous day of hiking on day five of a "Trip of a Lifetime" loop I was very sad when my spork hit bottom on this dinner. If that was two portions I could easily have eaten a third or maybe even a fourth. As a previous reviewer mentioned, this might make a better lunch than dinner for folks with a hearty appetite.

I'm still a fan and will buy a few of these to mix things up in the rotation on longer trips. With the lower calorie thing it will fit better on shorter duration trips where The Hunger doesn't have time to catch up, but just writing about it makes me drool a bit thinking about the flavor heh.

Background

This was my second time eating this stuff, I think. I've eaten a lot of other stuff too.

Backpacker's Pantry continues its exploration of Asian cuisine in a freeze-dried format, and continues to produce solid meals at a decent price.

Another new offering from Backpacker's Pantry, this one a staple of Thai restaurants everywhere.

Preparation and Taste:
I followed the package directions to the letter: one and a half cups of boiling water, stir; wait 8 minutes, stir; wait 7 minutes, stir, and enjoy.

All ingredients rehydrated fully without becoming waterlogged. The chicken was not crunchy, but the noodles retained texture past mush, and the broccoli was recognizable and flavorful.

The sauce was a bit scant but still tasty, a good balance of sweet and spicy. It was to my palate noticeably sweet without being too much so, nor too spicy. My hiking partner did not notice much in the way of sweetness, but said that it was up there in terms of spicing. I'd call it a restaurant 2-chilies, while my partner put it closer to 3-chilies.

Nutrition and Satiety:
490 calories for the full pouch is maybe a little light for the end of a long day of heavy loads, but it's decent for a mid-day meal on a longer dayhike. The same can be said for the portion size: a little light on its own at the end of the day.  But if you're splitting with someone and they have a bigger meal? That would be perfect.

Sodium is perhaps a little high for such a small meal. 1850mg/80% r.d.a. for the full pouch. Again, if you've been sweating a lot, this isn't absolutely a problem; just something to watch.

88g of carbs and 27g of protein is a good start, but the fat content is a little low for my preferences at a mere 3.5g. Fat is great for long-lasting energy, after all.

Recommendation:
Go ahead and pick this one up if you enjoy spicy Thai food. If you really like spice, bring your own chili flake and go nuts. It won't be in every cache I take on every trip, but it has earned a place in the rotation, especially on trips where I can share it.

Background

Joshua has been hiking, backpacking, and car-camping for more than four decades. He is based primarily in the Pacific Northwest, but has hiked throughout the US, with forays into Hawaii, Canada, and New Zealand.