Even though I love cooking, there are those rare occasions when I’m looking for a quick fix with enough energy to get me through the day. At home this typically means picking up the phone and calling for some take-out, stopping for fast food or throwing a frozen entree into the microwave. Well, my wilderness-exploring friend, the fast food option is available to you in the great outdoors as well. You can boil water, pour it into a bag, wait 5-10 minutes and PRESTO— dinner is served. No muss, no fuss and you don’t even have to do the dishes. Just lick your spoon and belch!
Before the advent of refrigeration technology, dehydration was the most commonly used method for food preservation and it is still used with many food items today. Aside from preservation, dehydration allows a significant reduction in volume and weight— offering huge benefits with respect to the long distance transportation and storage of food.
Making food last longer and reducing bulk are the main concerns outdoor enthusiasts have to consider, especially when planning an expedition where re-supplying is not possible.
A seventeen-foot sea kayak has plenty of storage room for the average paddler packing a 10-day supply of food. However, once trips get into the range of a couple of weeks, you must start asking yourself what is absolutely necessary and what can be left behind to make more room for food? Let’s face it: we need energy to paddle.
Some fellow paddling guides and I prepared a variety of meals offered by the fol- lowing outdoor food companies: Alpine Aire Food, Backpacker’s Pantry, Natural High, Mary Janes Farm, Harvest Foodworks and Soft Path Cuisine. All brands are available at quality outdoor stores.
I have to say that we were blown away by the sheer variety of meals these companies are now producing—I’m sure a testament to their popularity. The variety included more traditional meals such as Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Pasta Salad and your standard soups like Cream of Broccoli. For those who like a little foreign variety, more exotic meals are available, including: Southwestern Smoked Salmon Pasta; Kung Pao Chicken; Santa Fe Pasta; and, winner of the meal-with-the-best- name contest, Barbie’s Dhal. There were also a plethora of appetizers and desserts like Chocolate Brownies, Peach Crumble and Banana’s Foster.
The variety was so huge I let the guides each choose one meal that appealed to them. They prepared it according to the instructions on the package; which in all cases was, “just add water”.
After a grand feast I asked my fellow chefs to speak about what they discovered. It is important to remember that all the meals were prepared following the manufacturers’ instructions to a tee. Here are some of our findings, in no particular order:
- It was of the general opinion that the meals that required a little more preparation and cooking time (i.e. simmered for 10-15 minutes) had more general appeal. This was largely a result of texture—many of the meals that were pro- duced and eaten straight from the bag tended to be a bit crunchy and undercooked. In these cases, most of us agreed, they would have been much better cooked in a pot for a longer period of time rather than just adding water to the bag. Undercooked food can be a serious problem especially dehydrated foods that tend to cause bowel problems: not a particularly enjoyable medical condition on trip.
- In almost all cases the meals tended to, as one guide put it, “smell much better than they actu- ally tasted”. Personally, I think many companies have reduced the amount of salt in their foods expecting you to add your own if necessary.
- The more exotically named meals tended to be more flavourful.
- The proportions indicated were not always satisfactory. Many meals seemed to be pretty slim once they were divided into the 2 or 4 portions recommended on the package.
- We agreed that the major advantages these meals provide are reduced preparation time, reduced bulk, reduced cooking fuel needs and reduced gear needs—one pot. All important advantages when you are going long and hard.
- Food additives and preservatives were also a concern for some paddling gourmets. Some of the ingredient lists included more chemical names than recognizable foods. However, I must say that a number of companies have embraced the organic foods market and their packages are preservative free.
- Finally, the major concern for most of us was the actual expense of these meals. Most of the two-portion entrees run in the $6-10 range and the four-portion entrees in the $8-15 range. It wouldn’t take long to run up a tab on a 14-day trip.
Personally, I don’t think I would eat packaged meals three times a day, for a couple of weeks. However, as a paddler and guide, I would not hesitate to put half a dozen meals into a small dry bag for convenience and emergency purposes.
Tarmo lives in Wawa and guides sea kayak trips on Lake Superior.
This article first appeared in the Fall 2004 issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine. For more great content, subscribe to Adventure Kayak’s print and digital editions here.
