Heather's Choice Experience

[mrgreen]

I've eaten the meals from Heather's Choice a few times in the last year, I know some aren't fans of her spices- but I don't mind that. My issue is with how they rehydrate, and the texture. On a recent 3 day trip I used HC for each meal. I've found that if rehydrated in the bag (following instructions and timed) they are pretty crunchy. The best way seems to be in the pot, with frequent stirring. I don't know about you, but I find that's a pain in the neck.

Oh, and when I tried opening the bag to stir frequently it cooled too quick.

Anyone else notice this, or is it just my luck?

 

[durangobrad]

I've eaten the meals from Heather's Choice a few times in the last year, I know some aren't fans of her spices- but I don't mind that. My issue is with how they rehydrate, and the texture. On a recent 3 day trip I used HC for each meal. I've found that if rehydrated in the bag (following instructions and timed) they are pretty crunchy. The best way seems to be in the pot, with frequent stirring. I don't know about you, but I find that's a pain in the neck.

Oh, and when I tried opening the bag to stir frequently it cooled too quick.

Anyone else notice this, or is it just my luck?

I dont have experience with Heathers choice but I do this with others. Leave the bag closed but squeeze it around every now and then so that you are sort of stirring and mixing it without the loss of heat.

 

[AdamW]

Had this with my DIY meals and also Hawk Vittles. Wait longer and shake the back around or "knead" it as durangobrad mentioned. Makes a big difference in the end result in my experience. Nothing worse than looking forward to a hot meal all day then chewing it like hard candy.

 

[go4thegusto]

Hate to bash Heather, I have read articles about her and she is a great person. That said, we ordered and tried some meals on an archery elk hunt this year and they were awful. My wife is a gourmet cook, so I am used to high end seasonings and food. Heathers spices are too strong, out of balance, and poorly orchestrated. Seems to me she is trying way too hard to be gourmet and the result is off.

Some of the buckwheat breakfasts we had to choke down, the salmon chowder was barely OK.

Set up camp exhausted one night and cooked an HC meal. Don't remember which one and don't see much on the website. The first time in my life I dumped my food in the bushes and then cooked up a Mountain House. So did my partner.

The Packaroons are great.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

Hate to bash Heather, I have read articles about her and she is a great person. That said, we ordered and tried some meals on an archery elk hunt this year and they were awful. My wife is a gourmet cook, so I am used to high end seasonings and food. Heathers spices are too strong, out of balance, and poorly orchestrated. Seems to me she is trying way too hard to be gourmet and the result is off.

Some of the buckwheat breakfasts we had to choke down, the salmon chowder was barely OK.

Set up camp exhausted one night and cooked an HC meal. Don't remember which one and don't see much on the website. The first time in my life I dumped my food in the bushes and then cooked up a Mountain House. So did my partner.

The Packaroons are great.

My dad felt the same way this year. Personally I love some of it, others I can't eat. Hard to argue with how much better her recipes' macro nutrients are though, she does deserve credit for bringing a good product to market.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GFY]

For less than $100 you can buy a decent dehydrator, make your leftovers into your own meals or just make some meals to dehydrate, and have them taste however you want. I switched to this a few years ago and have never looked back. This is much less expensive than buying "backpacking" food that doesn't taste worth a shit and you can generally package your meals in much smaller sizes than say a Mountain House package.

 

[RyanC]

My experience was quite different as I think Heathers Choice meals are the best I've tried in the backcountry. In the past I've used Mountain House, Hawk Vittles, Backpackers Pantry, and Alpine Aire. HC meals are packed with macros that others miss which had me feeling great day after day. The one meal I didn't care for was the Ethiopian Dora Wat, but all the others I like, especially the breakfasts. It is difficult to get a good quick breakfast with a high content of protein and calorie count.

I will say one thing that helped me to get the right consistency in the meal was to use a cozy that I made out of reflectix insulation. I drop the meal bag inside once I pour in the boiling water and it keeps my meal hot for the full 15-20 minutes and only weighs 1 oz.

Ryan

 

[steveo]

I ate one of their meals this year and it was the worst I have ever eaten. It did not rehydrate, especially the meat and flavor was not good. I did not eat the other 2 meals and went back to MH.

 

[Yooper]

I really wanted to like the HC meals as well as I support her message and what she's trying to do, but I just couldn't. The buckwheat breakfasts all had a real sour taste to me and the entrees were marginal at best. Maybe it's just my palate, but I can't justify them for future trips.

 

[Brendan]

I loved every meal I tried. Yes, some of them need extra time to re-hydrate, but much better in my book than any of the other freeze dried options.

 

[Ironmerganser]

Yeah....I REALLY wanted to like the HC meals.....but after two hunts of trying them and actually being jealous of my partners MH meals......I can't do the HC meals any more. Great gal with a great message......but I will stick with MH or home made meals.....

 

[rhunter424]

It says a lot when you're tired and hungry yet still won't eat it.

The best macro nutrients are the ones in your stomach. Not in the bushes.

MH is my go-to. Tried ordering HC a long time ago but the items were out of stock. I'll consider it a sign

 

[mfolch]

Well, I had the opposite experience. Just gave it a full 20 minutes and it rehydrated for me perfectly. And, with the exception of the salmon chowder, which in my opinion is undifferentiated from bile in terms of texture, color, and flavor, I thought her meals worlds beyond the competition. I usually would rather starve than eat camp food, but I came back each night looking forward to the chilis and duru wat (or whatever it's called).

 

[mrgreen]

And, with the exception of the salmon chowder, which in my opinion is undifferentiated from bile in terms of texture, color, and flavor, I thought her meals worlds beyond the competition.

Damn I just spit coffee all over. Ha! Thanks for the laugh. My issue isn't the taste (but, I'm not about to try rehydrated salmon) just the uneven rehydration. It never occurred to me that 'smooshing' the bag and using a cozy should solve my problem. I guess I was too tired and hungry.

My best camping menu is a combination of Heathers and Mary Jane's Outpost meals.

 

[Heather's Choice]

Hey Gentlemen! This is Heather from Heather's Choice. I really appreciate the comments and feedback, this is all very very helpful for perfecting our meals and snacks.

I'm hoping I can address some of the posted concerns, and hopefully remedy some of the problems you guys were having with the meals.

For starters, any of you who did not have a positive experience with the product, please know that we offer full refunds if you were not in love with our food. I started Heather's Choice with the intention of providing healthy, delicious, lightweight food for backcountry trips. If I made you a meal that you didn't care for, I will happily exchange it for something else, or issue you a full refund. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected], and I appreciate you giving us a shot!

@go4thegusto I'm very very sorry to hear that you and your wife didn't care for the meals. I am not a professionally trained chef, and I am sure there is a lot for me to learn in terms of flavor melding and spice. All of the Heather's Choice meals are dinners that I would make for you if you were a guest in my home. We make Dark Chocolate Chili at least once per month at home, and the Ethiopian Doro Wat is one of our all time favorite hot, spicy dinners. If the meals are not to your liking, again I sincerely apologize and would love your specific feedback on the flavors. I'm all for making improvements!

In regards to the rehydration, you all are absolutely right that dehydrated food does take longer to rehydrate than freeze dried. The reason for this is because dehydrated food is much more dense than freeze dried. I find this to be a bit of a trade off; the food packs down smaller, it just takes an extra few minutes to rehydrate fully. On our new packaging, we also recommend adding 10 ounces hot water to each dinner meal, and maybe this measurement will help with the rehydrating the food fully as well.

@GFY you are spot on, purchasing a food dehydrator and drying your leftovers is a great way to go. That is how we got started! For anyone who does not have a dehydrator, or the time to dedicate to cooking, dehydrating and packaging their own meals and snacks, hopefully Heather's Choice can be a solution.

@rhunter I'm sorry you weren't able to order our products when you visited our site. All of products are made by hand, so we have been struggling to keep up with demand. By investing in additional dehydrators and hiring some more helping hands, we hope to keep a steady supply of our meals in stock.

Again, I appreciate the honest, thorough feedback from all of you. I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion, and if any of you who weren't satisfied with the meals would like a full refund, please do not hesitate to contact me. My mission is to provide good food for adventures, and if I have missed the mark for any of you, I truly apologize. We are always working to refine our products, and your input is invaluable for helping us to improve.

Thank you all so much for your continued support!

Heather

 

[mrgreen]

Hey Heather, thanks for weighing in. What're your thoughts on manipulating ('smooshing') the bag and using a reflectix cozy?

 

[endorice]

For less than $100 you can buy a decent dehydrator, make your leftovers into your own meals or just make some meals to dehydrate, and have them taste however you want. I switched to this a few years ago and have never looked back. This is much less expensive than buying "backpacking" food that doesn't taste worth a shit and you can generally package your meals in much smaller sizes than say a Mountain House package.

What source do you all use for purchasing zip-style bags for your DIY meals?

 

[mrgreen]

What source do you all use for purchasing zip-style bags for your DIY meals?

I use Weston Vac Zipper bags. They vacuum seal and can zip-lok after you tear the heat seal open.

 

[Bulldawg]

What source do you all use for purchasing zip-style bags for your DIY meals?

Cabelas also has zip loc vacuum bags, I've had some good luck with those this year.

My experience was quite different as I think Heathers Choice meals are the best I've tried in the backcountry. In the past I've used Mountain House, Hawk Vittles, Backpackers Pantry, and Alpine Aire. HC meals are packed with macros that others miss which had me feeling great day after day. The one meal I didn't care for was the Ethiopian Dora Wat, but all the others I like, especially the breakfasts. It is difficult to get a good quick breakfast with a high content of protein and calorie count.

I will say one thing that helped me to get the right consistency in the meal was to use a cozy that I made out of reflectix insulation. I drop the meal bag inside once I pour in the boiling water and it keeps my meal hot for the full 15-20 minutes and only weighs 1 oz.

Ryan

I had the exact opposite impression! I like the Doro wat the most!



I have liked all but maybe one entree and there was one flavor of the buckwheat breakfast that wasn't my favorite but the rest were pretty good. I ordered a few this year as some hunts started to stack up and I didn't have time to dehydrate my own and I ran out of my stash. One plus was that they arrived to my house very quickly so ordering last minute I was able to throw in the pack and go.

My routine when I get back to camp is drop the pack, fire up the stove and get the food rehydrating. I put a little extra water in the bag and put right into a cozy and massage around a bit every so often. Then I start unloading and getting camp in order and let the food rehydrate for a while. Typically I let it go longer than the advised 20 minutes. But the cozy has been keeping my meals and Heathers meals warm until I'm done eating so that has been nice.

Heather, I will say sometimes the spicyness can be a little much for me and I think I've heard of a few folks saying that too.

 

[Hall256]

Heather, What is the chance you are expanding your meal line in the future? Since listening to your talk with Brian on the Gritty Bowmen, I have been wanting to try your meals, I just get hung up on the options. Much to the chagrin of my wife , I like rather simple food, so options like Cherry chili and Doro Wat, while probably pretty tasty at home, seem very off for a rehydrated meal after a long day. Hopefully as your business grows, so to will your offerings.

Shaun