Meat Entrées

Featured review by Horn Rimmed Hiker

BUY THIS. A comfort food staple, near-and-dear to me (my mom packed it in a thermos for my school lunches) that Mountain House nails. Whether or not you miss home on the trail, you do miss home-cooked meals, and if you tasted this one blindfolded, you'd swear you were at the family dining table. A simple combination of ground beef, red chili beans, and elbow macaroni is married well with a chili sauce that has a spicy kick. Widely reviewed as one of the best meals MH has to offer, I'd place myself in agreement with the majority and say this one knocks it out of the park.

PACKAGING Par for the Mountain House course: practically bulletproof, very lightweight for a two-portion meal (4.80 ounces), and the top flap folds down easily to minimize the volume this will take up in a pack.  I've read reviews ranking this among the top three Mountain House meals, and I wanted to see if it lived up to the hype, and try it for myself.  Here's a shot of the 2-serving bag: INGREDIENTS AND NUTRITION FACTS PREP AND COOKING All I need to cook this is a stove and small pot: boil 2 cups (or 16 ounces) of water, pour it inside the re-sealable pouch, and let it sit for 8-9 minutes.  Contents prior to re-hydration:   TIP: let this one rest inside the bag a little longer than the 8-9 minutes MH suggests.

Read more: Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef reviews (11)

Reviewed by LoneStranger

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 & Ingredients:  . In the interests of science we followed the instructions as closely as possible for a field test. We used the measuring lines on Frau Stranger's mug to get close to the requested amount of water and let the meal soak for a few minutes longer than the 15 minutes asked.

Read more: Good To-Go Chicken Gumbo review (1)

Reviewed by JWatson

This is a serious, and seriously good, breakfast—one of my absolute go-to's.

I love this meal. It's almost as good as a good restaurant biscuits and gravy—much better than some of the sad, heavy, gloopy stuff I've had at less-reputable diners, ha ha.    camera fogged up with steam, ha ha Preparation and Taste:I followed the package directions; 1 and 1/3 cups boiling water, stand 10 minutes. I also followed their "pro tip" and crumbled up the biscuits before adding the water. I my opinion, this may (???) have been an error? I want to try this again, but next time I want to crumble the biscuits on top of the stirred sauce mixture before closing the bag and letting it sit.

Read more: Peak Refuel Biscuits & Sausage Gravy review (1)

Featured review by Go Time! (Jesse Maloney)

Excellent flavor and texture from a freeze dried meal. The price point is a bit heavy considering I might be able to take a spur trail to the nearest restaurant and buy a fully cooked meal from a wait staff for the same price.

Taste: Tastes really good. The sauce is creamy and smooth. The meat reconstitutes well enough. The noodles are soft but not lumpy. Some might find it a bit heavy on sodium, but I like my food salty. Prep: Just add boiling water and wait about 5 to 7 min. Easy enough. Creates a good consistency throughout Satiety: 2 servings per packet and really, it does make 2 servings. Two people could have a sensible meal from one packet. If you are a big eater, you might want to test one out before you go on a trip to see if it matches your volume preference.

Read more: Mountain House Beef Stroganoff with Noodles reviews (14)

Featured review by Horn Rimmed Hiker

One of the most hyped and least flavorful meals from Mountain House, lacking the signature and bold Italian herbs and seasonings that set that style of cuisine apart. If Chef Boyardee could be dehydrated and put in a bag instead of a can, it probably would taste much the same as this dish. The only thing it has on the Chef? Cheese. Trouble is, it sticks so much to your utensil it winds up being more of a headache than a garnish. Not good, not bad, and still edible, it got the job done. Sorry, folks, but this one just wasn't for me.

For me, there're some high standards when it comes to lasagna: my mother makes the best I've ever eaten (homemade or restaurant-made), and my girlfriend comes from an Italian family that's skilled in the kitchen. You could say MH had the odds stacked against them even before I plunged my spoon into the freezer bag, but I gave this meal the same honest chance I'd give to another. I hate, hate, HATE not liking a meal — trust me, because neither does my stomach — but this one just wasn't the delicious Italian classic-in-a-bag I was expecting.

Read more: Mountain House Lasagna with Meat Sauce reviews (14)

Reviewed by LoneStranger

Next Mile Meals are made low carb for ketogenic dieters, but omnivores will appreciate them too. The Italian Meatball Dinner has a lot more than meat going for it with vegetables, cheese, and most importantly, lots of great flavor.

Next Mile Meals specializes in low carb meals for the ketogenic adventurer because it grew out of one hiker's attempt to stay on the diet while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail back in 2017. The meals she made for her hike were well reviewed by other hikers along the trail mooching bites. After the hike those meals were tweaked into the products they sell today. I'll be reviewing a few of their meals over the next few weeks including a Buffalo Ranch Chicken dinner and a Denver Omelette breakfast, but today we'll dig into the Italian Meatball Dinner.

Read more: Next Mile Meals Italian Meatball review (1)

Reviewed by LoneStranger

Next Mile Meals are made low carb for folks following a ketogenic diet, but omnivores will appreciate them too. The Buffalo Ranch Chicken Dinner has a lot of meat swimming in a flavorful, but not overly spicy sauce. Bits of celery and peppers add nicely to the solidly meaty meal.

Next Mile Meals specializes in low-carb meals for the ketogenic adventurer because it grew out of one hiker's attempt to stay on the diet while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail back in 2017. The meals she made for her hike were well reviewed by other hikers along the trail mooching bites. After the hike those meals were tweaked into the products they sell today. I reviewed their Italian Meatball dinner a while back and will be covering their Denver Omelette breakfast soon, but today we'll take a look at the Buffalo Ranch Chicken dinner.

Read more: Next Mile Meals Buffalo Ranch Chicken review (1)

Featured review by Alpine1

A Hit.

This brand was new to me so I tried an entree on a recent backpack. I have used a competitor for decades (Mountain House). Similar preparation...just add water, stir, wait ten minutes, and eat out of the pouch. I loved the taste and texture of the Peak Refuel Sweet Pork & Rice. It's definitely sweet, but also has some heat. I liked the balance. Each major ingredient was clearly distinguishable (chunks of tasty pork were a nice surprise), and not as much of a mush as MH can be. PR items are only available in 2-person sizes, whereas some MH items are available also in a 1-person size, and a vacuum-packed ProPak version.

Read more: Peak Refuel Sweet Pork & Rice reviews (2)

Featured review by JWatson

An excellent curry. Just straight up good, filling, solid quality.

Another curry, this time from Peak Refuel (which is fast becoming my go-to freeze-dried favorite).  Preparation, Nutrition and Satiety: Followed the directions on the bag: 1 and 1/3 cups boiling water and a 10-minute rehydration (with an extra stir in the middle, just for giggles).Rice and chicken and carrot chunks rehydrated fully, everything tender and flavorful. I think it could possibly have used a couple more tablespoons of water just to make the sauce a wee bit saucier, but that's probably a personal preference.

Read more: Peak Refuel Chicken Coconut Curry reviews (2)

Reviewed by Lora L

Flavor. That is the most important part! While on a recent 3-day/2-night backpacking trip, one very skeptical friend of "eating out of a bag" actually enjoyed this dinner! And second, the amount of water needed was right on, which seems to be a frequent challenge with some meals.

So, this one will be in my pack again. And again. It even pleasantly surprised my dear hiking partner, who was extremely skeptical of eating any of "that fake trail food you do". And to be fair, there are some camp meals that are light on the flavor department, or some that I've tried that end up soup, even after diligently following the directions and measuring and timing to the "T". We did a three-day, two-night backcountry, and low enough miles that we were indulging in hot coffee and breakfast, and then hot meals for dinner as well every day.

Read more: Peak Refuel Homestyle Chicken & Rice review (1)