Meat Entrées

Recent Meat Entrée Reviews

Backpacker's Pantry Chicken Larb

A tasty rendering of a traditional spicy southeast Asian chicken and rice meal, well worth stocking up on. Larb: a Laotian or Thai spicy salad consisting of ground, chopped, or minced meat and vegetables. I've never encountered this dish before, and after trying Backpacker's Pantry's take this previous lack of experience saddens me.  I was intrigued by the idea of mint as part of a main dish. How strong would that flavor be? How would it balance with the garlic and the chilis? Nutrition info: Gluten-free… Full review

Mountain House Chicken Fajita Bowl

A decent option for a long trip, for the sake of variety. Ah, good old Mountain House. They do things pretty well right. This is yet another of their basic, satisfying, plainly acceptable meals. Not too spicy, not too salty, reasonably flavorful with identifiable ingredients. It's nothing to write home about—which really makes it difficult to write a review. Interspersed with other, more "interesting" meals, I can see this making a nice change. Or for those with finicky palates, if they needed… Full review

Stowaway Gourmet Miso Salmon Okayu

A tasty, unusual freeze-dried meal. Labeled as a breakfast item, this was thoroughly enjoyable as a midday, mid-hike meal. The salmon presented as large, hugely flavorable chunks of meat that fully rehydrated. Green onion and seaweed were readily identifiable. The miso was pleasantly salty, although just a little overwhelming by the end of the meal. And glory of glories, my gut did not perform its usual objections to a large portion of tofu! My main complaint, however, still resides with the tofu. Full review

Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef

Here's an easy to prepare hot meal to enjoy while out on the trail, it's the Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef. Mountain House makes many freeze-dried meals, but this is one of my favorites. Here's my how-to-prepare video review of the Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef. This is a tasty, easy to prepare meal that really warms you up on a cold day. Please check out my video review below: ...or at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-s4jduehBI Full review

Good To-Go Chicken Gumbo

Good To-Go's Chicken Gumbo was amazingly gumbo-like. Delicious spicy chicken and rice with lots of okra that provided flavor and texture hard to imagine in a backpacking meal.   Maine made and field tested in Baxter State Park We packed along a few bonus meals on our Baxter trips this year. One was this double portion of Good To-Go's Chicken Gumbo which we shared as a late lunch after making camp on a short hiking day. We both were happy about how that turned out so let's dig into the review. Instructions… Full review

AlpineAire Spicy Sausage Bolognese

Good portion, but not very exciting to eat. Functional if you are hungry. It just didn't live up to expectations.   Another mid-trip on-trail review, so please pardon the format.    This meal sounded good on the label, but was not very joyful in camp. Filled the belly, but not with happiness.  Instructions & Ingredients:     I tried using the EZ fill method and regretted it. Use the full 2 cups of water.      Dining Experience:    It looked and smelled promising when I opened the… Full review

Backpacker's Pantry Mashed Potatoes & Gravy with Beef

Simple, satisfying food that is exactly what the label says. Tasty goo! Mashed Potatoes & Gravy with Beef Needed a few extra meals and grabbed one of these. Posting this mid-trip so apologies for the rough format.   Instructions & Ingredients:   I gave it the 2 cups of water it asked for, mixing well and letting it sit for over 20 minutes. It was perfect with goo and meat but no crunch. The package was a great insulator keeping the goo hot . Nutrition:   Dining Experience:    Dry it… Full review

Stowaway Gourmet Las Pollos Hermanas

Spicy! Right. Another dish from Stowaway Gourmet. Another dayhike, with this meal eaten for the express purpose of testing things before serious backpacking begins. Down to business. Las Pollos Hermanas: Chicken Sisters. One expects chicken. One gets...chicken. Big, identifiable, flavorful chunks of chicken. And spice. So much spice. Just only barely this side of too much spice. And I like spicy food. Actually, it wasn't that spicy, but it was spicy enough that it was difficult to differentiate… Full review

Backpacker's Pantry Mashed Potatoes & Gravy with Beef

Quick and easy, surefire side dish or light dinner. Once again, in search of the perfect mashed potato breakfast meal, I returned to Backpacker's Pantry. Their past offerings have been stellar. Would this be a repeat? Sadly, no. Rehydration, even of the beef chunks, was a breeze. It's never a guarantee that red meat will actually or fully rehydrate, but this did. The mash was, as ever from BP, excellent. But the gravy...something ain't right, there. I mean, it's a beef gravy, so the overall brown… Full review