Mountain food try it before! Looking at you Peak Refuel

[PredatoronthePrairie]

From an outside perspective.

To me it seems like one group grew up eating school lunches, the other, their parents packed their lunches.

 

[Buffinnut]

Why is it that I never hear anything on here about backpackers pantry? I had a few of their meals and was really happy with them. They take more water than a peak refuel but that's ok if you have a close enough source

 

[Ten Bears]

The Peak Chili mac is one of the worst meals I have ever ate period. It was so bad it made me mad.

Did the Off Grid meals this year, not a bad one in the bunch. Actually looked forward to eating the quail tinga tacos.

Backpackers Pantry is dehydrated barf. Back when it was MH or BP as your options it wasn’t even close for me. MH tastes infinitely better.

Packit Gourmet and Wild Zora have a couple decent offerings also.

 

[fmyth]

True. The sweet pork and rice was wayyy to sweet. I like the home style chicken and rice. Something I found was they all need a touch more water and an extra 5 mins or so to steep. One thing for certain, if the Peak doesn't do it for you, Mountain House surely won't

I was going to order the Sweet Pork and Rice but noticed that brown sugar was the second ingredient listed so took a look at the nutrition label and saw that it contained 86 grams of added sugar.

 

[Josh_]

I have not had a Peak meal I wouldn't eat, all have been ok to great, but I am not picky at all. The biggest issue is they usually need more water and time than what is called for on the package or you end up with hard bits in there.

 

[Poser]

I have not had a Peak meal I wouldn't eat, all have been ok to great, but I am not picky at all. The biggest issue is they usually need more water and time than what is called for on the package or you end up with hard bits in there.

You should at least be compensating for an extra minute for thousand feet above sea level with your hydration times. Since I’m often above 10k, I usually just double the rehydration times. Really, the longer you can wait, the better. If you have 45 minutes to spare, your meal quality will only improve. With an simulated ouch and the heat off of 2 meals, your meal will still be steaming hot.

 

[Jeff_Gibbons]

Good reminder. I also learned that the hard way. One adder idea for the group. Find the packaged hot sauce (tapatio or cholula ) and bring those. Hot sauce helps cover the taste of lesser dishes well.

 

[mtwarden]

definitely need more water than listed AND a few more minutes than 10

I do like they are calorie rich for the weight and a little more protein than most

flavor wise they are definitely not up Packit Gourmet (the best I've tried), but Packit Gourmet is a little shy in the calorie department

I also like the chicken and rice from PR- I add a small pack of chicken chunks makes it better yet
the Elk Ragu was good, but might have been just a "special edition"
the bison mashers need WAY more water than called for and even then- meh
the beef stroganoff is pretty good
I have a couple of the Chili Mac that I haven't tried, sounds like I'm in for a treat

all in all, I don't think they re too bad- not the best tasting, but not bad either AND I really like they are packed with calories

 

[KD32]

I suspect that they burnt, or over cooked, a batch. Last year was first time I ran the Peak meals, enjoyed them all, with beef chili Mac being my favorite. This year, my first night’s meal in the backcountry was a beef chili Mac from a newer batch, and it tasted burnt. Bad enough that if I had an extra meal with me, I would have thrown it out. Choked it down, and other than a few burps with charcoal undertones, no negative side effects. Perhaps the meal provided some good fortune, as I killed a nice 6x6 the next morning. After a long day of hauling meat, got back to the truck around midnight. The bison ranch mashers tasted awesome, & the high calorie count was what I needed after a day like that. When I got home, I reached out to Peak, and they sent replacements for the remaining beef chili mac meals from that same batch. They included a return label to send back the suspected “bad” ones. Most businesses will run into a quality control issue sooner or later, more likely during times of rapid growth. What matters is how they handle those issues. Can’t ask for more than a company that stands behind their product. As long as this remains an isolated incident for me, will continue to run their meals, as their nutritional content is preferable to most other options (not speaking about their entire menu, have specifically avoided those options with a bunch of added sugar).

 

[NDGuy]

Did the Off Grid meals this year, not a bad one in the bunch.

Oh God forgot about these clowns. That thread awhile back of everyone's orders being like months late made me have zero interest in giving them my money. For $15 a meal is it really worth it?

 

[Drenalin]

I like the Peak meals, but based on what I've read on Rokslide I stayed away from the Sweet Pork and the Chili Mac. The Chicken Alfredo and Chicken Pesto are pretty good. The Heathers Choice meals are not as bad as I'd heard, but not nearly as good the Peak meals. At least they're edible, and I do like how low bulk they are compared to Peak.

 

[Ten Bears]

Oh God forgot about these clowns. That thread awhile back of everyone's orders being like months late made me have zero interest in giving them my money. For $15 a meal is it really worth it?

yeah I got screwed by them the first year they got rolling. But it’s basically a one man operation so I gave Spencer another shot. You simply check the site on wednesday’s and what’s in stock gets shipped. pretty easy this time around.

As to the price, I would rather pay a little extra to not have rot gut.

 

[weatherbow21]

I've had good experience with Peak but haven't tried the chili mac or sweet pork meals.

My experience with Off Grid has been iffy, some good, some not. The bison fajitas was was more spicy than I'd prefer on a backpack hunt, their curry dish was weird, edible but I wouldn't buy it again. Quail tinga tacos was ok but I've had a mountain house chicken fajita that I thought was considerably better. Their breakfast scramble though was really great. I'm glad they're switched from the gluten free noodles, the first batch I bought the noodles just all turned to mush.

It can be hard to find reviews on anything you can trust really, its frustrating to see posts on instagram or even on here where people rave about a product and in reality its hard for you to even choke down.

 

[RogerNH]

I bought the Chad Mendes Elk Ragu and the Strawberry Granola. The Elk Ragu was OK but the vegetables they chose to put in it were disgusting. I hate celery and they LOADED the bag with it. The texture of the celery and carrots were very off-putting. I ate the pasta and meat and it was fine. The sauce was pretty bland and needed salt. The strawberry granola was pretty good but there wasn't much in the bag. I'll try the other flavors though but wouldn't buy the Elk Ragu or granola again. The Elk Ragu was a limited run and I don't think it's for sale anymore.

 

[twall13]

I'm surprised to see so many say the Peak Refuel meals need more water. That is something I've been really impressed with on their meals. I like the low amount of water required and the food consistency always seems right on with Peak Refuel compared to the Mountain House I'm used to that usually ends up soupy or with hard chunks. I typically wrap my sleeping quilt around it and give it a few extra minutes to rehydrate (especially when at higher elevation) and it's always been a great result with the food consistency/rehydration on the Peak Meals. I haven't tried all of their flavors yet but it's been consistent across all that I have tried except the breakfast granola. To me that could use less water but that's more personal preference than anything.

I didn't care for the Peak Refuel Chili Mac but the water ratio seemed right. I'm just not really a Chili Mac fan of any kind. The beef pasta marinara, chicken alfredo pasta and chicken pesto pasta are all great. Writing that out I guess I like pasta? Chicken pesto pasta I'd eat at home without hesitation, it's my favorite all time freeze dried meal at this point. I like the calorie count and protein of their meals so I'll certainly be buying more from Peak Refuel.

I really, really like Off Grid's breakfasts but have had some mixed results with their dinners. None that I haven't been able to finish but none stood out as amazing to me either. I still have a few I need to test out so the verdict is still out on their dinners at this point. The backpackers pantry meal I tried made my stomach sick after only a few bites and that's as far as I got on that nasty meal. It kind if turned me off on that brand though I should likely give another flavor a try at some point as I know not all flavors are for everyone.

I will say that alot of these meals require tortillas for me. Typically if they have rice I want a tortilla. Breakfast scrambles are better with a tortilla as well. I plan on packing two tortillas per meal that I think warrants their use.

Any way you look at it, I'm glad we are getting more options than what we had 5-10 years ago. I still use a few select meals from Mountain house but I'm glad they aren't my only option at this point.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Z Barebow]

I became a huge fan of Peak Refuel this year. I have used MH since 1998. The first Peak meal I had was the Chicken Pesto. I thought it was best back country freeze dried meal I have ever eaten. Better than some restaurant meals.

I did found the amount of water and rehydration times were a little conservative. I made sure I added a little more water, that it was boiling, and I wrapped my puffy around it while it rehydrated. The weight to calorie ratio is better than MH. Much better in some cases. Try eating 900-1000 calories worth of MH. You would look like a blow fish from the bloating. Although nothing measured up to the chicken pesto, the other meals were good also.

I will still eat MH, but I will definitely be watching for Black Friday deals on Peak.

 

[TFrank]

Just throwing it out there again as its been said before. TRY YOUR FOOD BEFORE YOU GET ON THE MOUNTAIN!!

Bought into the hype on the Peak Refuel meals and bought a few cases from Black Ovis for our group before our big hunt in the Frank this year. Well some of the them were good (looking at you chicken teriyaki) but have to say more then half the flavors were not great but at least edible but two of them were downright some of the worst things I've ever had the misfortune to try and eat (chilli mac and homestyle chicken and rice).

Wanted to put it out there since I'd seen a lot of guys come on here and sing to the heavens how amazing Peak meals are but its a reminder that everyone's taste buds are different and you want to find that out before you get up on the mountain miles from your truck.

I'll be going back to mountain house while I sample around others.

good luck to everyone who still got tags and trip coming up.

Yeah for sure. There isn’t any brand of meals where I like everything they offer. Trying to get some real turmat to try. Can’t seem to find anything that ships to the US

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I like the peak meals, the stroganoff is my favorite, I also like the chicken pesto Alfredo but it absolutely takes more water and time otherwise it’s crunchy.

 

[Fallow120]

I’m just here to pick up tips for myself, but mountain house has never been a problem so far for me. But my 2 cents is to skip the fancy meals and just get Knorr pasta sides, some spam foil packs to add salt and protein. Carry one ultralight pan and stove for heating water and eating from. And a reusable plastic spork.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[simpy16]

Nice thread to come across. I guess my thinking has paid off as I bought a variety pack of Peak meals from Black Ovis and was going to work through eating them from time to time to see what I like and don't like before buying stuff to take into the backcountry. I cooked the Chili Mac on a skiing day for my 5 year old and she basically ate the whole thing!! She is super picky and she really liked it, I had a few bites and didnt mind it, I would add it to my meal list this fall.

Can someone tell me more about their experience with Heather's Choice meals. I have all the packaroons and think they are amazing. I was going to by the chili and maybe the salmon chowder but want to hear what everyone is saying as to why they are not good.