Hiking food taste test – 4 friends eat 18 meals and we score them on taste.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me on Patreon and YouTube Memberships!
If you’d like to become a Patron and support my channel, click here: https://www.patreon.com/kategrarock

Here is a link to my Hiking Food Guide https://www.kategrarock.com/products/hiking-food-guide

DISCOUNT CODES Try them for yourself
Radix 10% Discount Code KATEHIKE
Campers Pantry 10% discount Code KATEGRAROCK
On Track Meals 10% code ‘KATE10OFF’
Strive 10% discount though Ultralight hiker use code ‘KATEGRAROCK’
Feed the Hike 5% code ‘KATE.G.5%’
Go Native 10% though Adventure co Code ‘KATEGRAROCK’

Score Food
5.0 Coconut Ginger Chicken (On Track Meals) https://ontrackmeals.com/qyuwa6
4.5 Beef Bourguignon (Outdoor Gourmet) https://bit.ly/beefbog
4.4 Chocolate Cake Pudding (Real Meals) https://bit.ly/3vOSVvg
4.0 Indian Chicken Pilaf (Campers Pantry) https://collabs.shop/ejqpfq
3.9 Beetroot and carrot salad (Real Meals) https://bit.ly/49AcFQX
3.4 Whiskey Ice Cream (Campers Pantry) https://collabs.shop/txua6d
3.3 Indian Curry (Radix) https://collabs.shop/bzuytk
3.1 Moroccan Pumpkin soup (Feed the Hike) https://bit.ly/3xC4Ay4
3.1 Beef Bolognese (On Track Meals) https://ontrackmeals.com/5fggyf
3.1 Mexican chicken (Back Country Cuisine) https://bit.ly/mexchick
3.0 Mexican Chilli (Radix) https://collabs.shop/bzuytk
2.6 Creamy zucchini and Spinach Risotto (Feed the Hike) https://bit.ly/3xwdOvD
2.6 Chicken Cacciatore(Campers Pantry) https://collabs.shop/4sjzpw
2.6 Beef Casserole (Go native) https://collabs.shop/wav0xh
2.4 Pasta Bolognese Ragu (Strive) https://collabs.shop/cefsdg
1.9 Dal Makhani (Real Meals) https://bit.ly/3Q2DQx3
0.9 Spaghetti Bolognaise (Back Country Cuisine) https://bit.ly/3xAdT1k

I’ll be doing individual videos on some of the foods i love including
Real meals
Radix
On track meals
Campers pantry
Feed the hike

Food is an extremely personal choice so I have decided to do a review on every hiking meal I could get my hands on here in Australia and New Zealand.

I’m realising more and more that a delicious meal can enhance my enjoyment of wild places. I love backpacking with delicious and nutritious food.

Things to consider when buying food
Price – the price of these products can really add up, especially if you are eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner over several days. That’s why I tend to prefer to pack my own breakfast (eg muesli) and lunch and focus on hiking meals for dinner only.
Nutrition – Some products on the market are pushing the boundaries for nutrition and many have this at the forefront when making their food. Nutrition is especially important on longer trails to ensure you are able to maintain the rigours of multi day hiking.
Will they fill you up/ provide enough energy – if you can find out how many calories or grams the food will make when rehydrated. This will give you an indication of how filling it will be and will help you ensure you are packing enough food to fuel you.
Weight – this is one of the huge benefits of dehydrated and freeze dried meals. They tend to be much lighter than other options. But you also need to look at the calories or grams of food as not all brands ‘serve 1’ are created equal.
Availability of water at camp -if there is no water in camp and you have to carry it in there is no weight saving to be made from dehydrated or freeze dried meals and MREs may be a good option.
Taste – I feel the joy of hiking and your nature connection can be amplified with delicious food and I am enjoying making this a priority.
How quick/hard are they to prepare? Do they take a long time to prepare, do they leave a messy bowl that is hard to clean? On long hard hikes I love just throwing hot water in a prepackaged meal, waiting 5 minutes before eating and then having no cook pots or bowls to clean up. On more leisurely hikes I enjoy the process of cooking a beautiful meal.
Can you recycle or reuse the packaging or are you left with a mountain of rubbish at the end of a hike.
Diversity of food choices – if you find a brand you love its great if they have lots of options so that you are not stuck eating the same 3 meals over a 10 day hike. Many brands are also branching out to snacks, breakfasts and lunches.

Of the three main options available all have their pros and cons
Three main options (more on these below)
Ready to Eat Meals (MRE)
Dehydrated
Freeze Dry

Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my code I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks

I really like this one like I think this
is my favorite so far I’d probably cry
yeah like honestly if that’s the thing
that I’d packed yeah and I got to the
campsite you tried this Terri that’s the
first one I’ve eaten where I don’t want
to finish
it I love it guys so going from this
inedible Mass to that it’s like well
anything is going to be this was the
course I was most excited for it is the
course I’ve been most it is absolute
yeah yeah
good day I’m Kate gr how are you I’ve
been prepping for a hike and I really
wanted some delicious food while I was
on that hike and that led me down this
wild path of taste testing every brand I
could get my hands on here in Australia
and there’s some absolute crackers and
I’m can’t wait to share them with you
today but we all have different taste
preferences so I thought I’d invite four
of my mates over to try these out and
just have this massive degustation menu
and rate them all I think we’ve got
something like 19 meals here $300 worth
of food hopefully this is helpful for
you guys uh to see what’s available how
hard they are to cook and how delicious
they are to make this I reached out to
all the head honos of these Brands and
asked them what makes your food so
special and I was just blown away by The
Passion of some of the people in the
industry you know most of them are
hikers themselves and they pretty much
got sick of eating crappy food out on
the trail I haven’t been paid to make
this video and I want to present this
food to my friends without them knowing
what brand it is to make it nice and
even playing field um some of these
meals were given to me for free and
others I purchased with my own money
some of the brands have also offered
discount codes so I’ll check their links
to them below so you guys can try them
out I’ve got a food guide on my website
for a few bucks where I go into
dehydrating your own food I do a review
of all these Brands and a bit more
detail and I talk about different meal
ideas for hiking and planning for you
know 2 days 4 days 10 days entree
pumpkin soup woo feed the hike let’s do
it
look at this beautiful suit so four
friends we’ve got Deb we have Claire
Ellen who you might know from my YouTube
lives moderator and my beautiful
girlfriend Elsie uncensored hate it
tastes like would never eat this um
wow this is bloody great you know you
guys don’t know which brands these are
you’re going to score them basic is like
one I can’t eat that two I guess it’s
filling a Hole uh it’s okay but I wish I
didn’t have to eat it for the next three
nights um yum this makes Sunset so much
more enjoyable or lick my bowl I Can’t
Get Enough let’s do it entree Entre I
don’t like that I don’t know I think it
has some complex flavors in
there I mean it’s it’s soup
like y it’s like you know if I was
hiking yeah I I’d be Happ to drink be
satisfi
yeah yeah yeah it’s got nice spices in
it doesn’t it nice and kind of
sweet you know bit of a kick
controversially though I don’t know if
this is maybe better than like a miso
soup or like a cup of soup you know what
I
mean usually have in that circumstance
but maybe if the nutritional value is is
higher it is paired nicely with the um
the orange one yeah I actually I think
so too real meals add 100 Ms of cold
water piece of piss this is a kiwi brand
that looks pretty
good let’s start the
risotto and the cool thing about feed
the hike is like the ingredients list is
just pure real ingredients this is a
beetroot salad oh it’s amazing is this
like reminding anyone of like kind of
like dinner mely
yeah yeah you know what I mean it is
actually the the like sultanas and UMAS
yeah I like the
texture I’m very impressed that you
could have a dehydrated salad I think
like I’m really digging that yeah I
think also this is something that after
like days and days of no fresh food this
I would feel like was a nice fresh
addition if you want a multi-day hip
this would be a good thing to have
in the mix to break up the inevitable
schop that you would be having CU it’s
not at all sty is it uny you know highly
rated on texture that’s a good point I
reckon yeah and even just like the
slight tanginess to it like just brings
another dimension of flavor some of the
dehydrated meals you always then have to
clean your bowl
risoto great I think had I had a little
bit more time I would have thickened it
slightly okay
um not sure about this one I think I
went in thinking yum can’t wait for a
rotto love rotto and I also feel like
rotto is an easy one to dehydrate
there’s kind of no excuses for the
flavors to be bad and to me it tastes
very like yeah it’s not good tastes like
I’m eating a stock cube a stock Cube
that’s what she was about to say yeah
like um like Flavor wise it’s just a
stock C and the rice isn’t
fully as K said that might have been her
fault but yeah still complimented the
chef yeah um I love it I’m it’s like you
know not to be controversial it’s kind
of like um it’s like the guilty pleasure
of a semi gross yeah sure meal like you
would never serve this to anyone
visiting your home for dinner except in
these circumstances maybe yeah um but I
reckon the end of a big day maybe you
want something that’s kind of like salty
coconut ginger piece of pisss on track
meals so this is the wet Foods all you
do is boil up a pot Chuck it in there so
I’ll get that going I did find with
these that I’d use a fair bit more gas
cuz You’ got to have it on the boil for
about 5 minutes to get it warm you can
put it in a pot but once again I prefer
not to get my pot
dirty my friend Aaron and I ate this on
the Sterling ridges walk and it was just
mindboggling so it’ll be interesting to
see if they love this as much as we did
when we’re on the trail cuz I swear food
always tastes better when you’re out on
track this is one of the curries it was
a bit too sloppy to put on a plate
sorry
delicious I really like this one I could
already tell when IED it but I was going
to think it was delicious y I think this
is my favorite so far yeah yeah mhm this
tastes like actual this this ain’t from
you know this ain’t you know the stock
Cube that’s right say like someone I’ve
gone to someone’s house they made a
really nice Curry and they dehydrated it
yeah this is great
yeah I mean what would make it better
it’s like quite good isn’t it yeah it’s
quite good and like a good kick as well
yeah yeah like nice good proper spicy I
feel like it’s like all the other ones
didn’t quite have like complexity of
flavors
yeah this one does this one does yeah
but still a good salt content you know
like I wouldn’t expect better do you
know what I mean yeah neither neither um
what’s like the notes or quote for this
one was this Co was this coconut ginger
chicken yeah like um actual homecooked
meal yeah yeah Indian curry radic
D Indian chicken palaf all right add 190
Ms that’s pretty specific isn’t
it smells
gooda this is why I love freeze dried
you boil some water whack it in give it
a stir enjoy wait 5 minutes cool and
then in cool canas Pantry I normally rip
these off for just so not having rubbish
on the trail so these are cool these
aren’t in as plastic a container I quite
like that whereas all the others tend to
be in plastic containers and it does wig
me out just a bit pull this out I love
this like your mom School major school
lunch flatten that your
little
pan smells good looks
good 300
M
cool put that one in
there oh that smells pretty bloody good
wow so this is the
re what does everyone think about
visuals like which one are you to to
visually I’m most excited to try the
green one same then the then the pillow
I think I’m actually like was most
excited about the D initially um I’m
quickly backtracking on that as I’ve
tasted really into you don’t like the D
I don’t like it it’s a bit
very like mey and like pasty there there
are some okay flavors in there it’s not
as good as our do T guide book with our
dial recipe in it for dehydrating
yourself wait wait is this your dll it’s
not my dll no no no none
of you can’t do that me I think it’s the
texture it’s really stodgy yeah and
pasty yeah very
pasty y um I’m
it definitely no texture but I guess
doesn’t have I don’t know what are
people going for next the I’m eat on a
all right which one we doing next I’m
doing Indian curry that’s the top one
yeah oo I like
that AR there’s too many
um like B bits yeah like I think
I think if you wanted the variety it’s
good but it’s a bit like what is this
why am I CR what my teeth on right now
like the
dinner like a curry shouldn’t be a
denim the salad could
be but I actually um I we Le still like
the damle vibe of it I think I’m a very
textural I like a bit of crunch I
certainly prefer it to the it’s better
than the dll I love the
dll yet again I’m going foresting it’s
the same I’m so glad you’re here to thr
it to
change I feel like ours have all been
very similar ratings interestingly I
think I prefer the flavor of the dll to
the Indian curry but I just buy the
texture Indian curry like the Beats have
given it a flavor the bits have made it
taste a funny way you know yeah not into
those bits well the and I love the
flavor oh I much prefer the um the
Indian curry and I’m now on to the
p and I think we’re going from strength
to
strength this is my favorite that’s my
definitely my favorite
yeah yeah flavor and texture better all
around y really
mhm I mean that’s definitely like the
best meal of the three like I do think
with the doll maybe like cuz I’m you
know of the way we’re eating it it’s a
little bit better than I think it would
be if you were like dinner res served oh
and that’s is whereas this is um a great
meal mhm yep I’m going to Y there we go
I would be happy with this as a full
meal whereas if like yeah if I just had
the dial I’d be like I’d probably cry
yeah like honestly if that’s the thing
that I’d pack yeah and I got to the
campsite and P like I put the water in
and I stirred it up and I put it in my
mouth and I just wanted to spit it out I
would have been like quite sad you’d be
happy to open that up and you’d probably
it for the next three nights that’s it I
would be I’d be fine to have
that um I do think that would improve my
Sunset yes
yes I think that I like controversial
the what was the green one you like the
Indian Le or the I like the Indian
more than the chicken
P I reckon I’m like personal favorite
it’s the doll but it’s it’s gross like I
admit that and I wouldn’t if someone was
like Hey we’re going on a hike together
please organize the food I would not
take this you know what I mean like cuz
it’s it’s not right but Indian chicken
Pila has to be the best meal for me I
like how has vegetables I have to say
I’m really excited about this Trio of
bolog coming up
I think we should switch to the red one
for that oh we
should all right we got back country
strive on track bring to the boil simmer
for 5 minutes rest for 2 minutes okay
that’s not too hard put the cheese over
top that’s cool oh
434 good luck measuring that on the
trail look at that you little noodles
that your meat flavor looks kind of
cool stamp for 5 to 10 to 15 I get it in
with
yes it does not come with the carbs you
just got to bring that on your own I
hope you can see me anyway I’ll just
keep making them I’ll put a spotlight on
the
girls something’s going on with my
strive meal it’s really really really
wet
plop
oh we’ve got contamination here
but I’m sure they can work it out
[Laughter]
bolog I’m going to go bolog first yeah
go the bolog first wait for the cheese
on the
r y you know what it’s fun I quite like
these Flav Sal yeah it’s kind of like
Sal not
salest do you know what I mean what you
say it’s a bolog you expect to get at
zepher
like it’s like which is fine like it’s
kind of like tastes like being on a
plane yeah it’s good for a um good for a
hike mhm but you know
yeah yep I like that one me too okay I’m
doing spaghetti next um that have you
tried this is terrible which one that is
the worst one I’ve tried the spaghetti
bolog is it because I didn’t cook it
enough or
isor flavor terrible like I want I need
to go back to the be B to like my
palette from that that’s the first one
I’ve eaten where I don’t want to finish
it love it guys love it yeah it’s truly
bad isn’t it very bad making me really
yeah it actually tastes tastes like soap
or something no yeah yeah I was going to
say or like a cleaning product or maybe
like a tie a chemical in there yeah like
rubber you’re right it tastes it doesn’t
taste chemically it tastes chemically it
doesn’t taste like like I can’t go back
for a second bite I mean the flavor is
not incredible but I actually reckon you
could improve it a lot by just having a
different past like you just made them a
bit bigger you know what I mean or a bit
less like I don’t know verelli rice
noodle energy you know well yeah it
doesn’t read pasta does it look at it
everything about it is weird are you
guys on to Pasta bolog onto yeah onto
the agu Y um I think it’s pretty
possible to be honest it’s possible but
it’s hard to tell because it’s like it’s
touching the other ones yeah like well
and
[Music]
and also going from this inedible Mass
to that it’s like well anything is going
to be good so that’s right I just I know
I’ve just I can’t trust my senses
anymore I’ve really just got nothing to
say about this one I think like I think
maybe spaghetti Bales is not it’s not
destined for
dehydration I beg to differ you just
make a good bolog andise you just
dehydrate it and you heat it up again
it’s minced meat I don’t know or just it
should be that hot a good bit of like a
no like a bad bit bit of gristle in
the I’m going to bump off
a I just had that as well that every
bite yeah I think we can all agree on
Spaghetti bolog being um inedible y it’s
been the clanger of the
evening this was the course I was most
excited for it is the course I’ve been
most it is Absolut yeah yeah Mexican
chicken all right next
smell
that chicken yeah just going to go in
order yeah I don’t like I’m not loving
this Mexican
chicken I actually don’t mind it really
I love the comparison is that so
interesting
how simar most the way no I’m I’m like
i’ it’s not my favorite but I’m not
going to like you know I feel like it’s
one point away
from the the bolog that we hang on there
was a whale
Mexican you get a bit of um chippies on
top which one corn chips on your chicken
chicken okay well that certainly steps
up just a little it it DS crunch that’s
what it adds that is a that is a w
Factor yeah that does improve it a bit I
like that what the chicken one yeah I
like it isn’t that so interesting I’m a
bit shocked by that yeah me too know
because been quite consistent but here I
am just forging you know off in in dense
Lane yeah
I it would fill a hole was that one of
the fill a hole yeah it would fill a
hole the grainy one mix chil chili okay
this doesn’t look appetizing yeah it
looks dodgier than the others but we’ll
[Music]
see there’s something unsettling about
it for me yeah I think so to there’s a
mixed of textures
but too soft combined with too chewy yes
the softness it’s like yeah I feel
though that like agreeing with that but
I feel like it’s n it seems nourishing I
do like that there’s actual green
on no I think that’s actual vegetable
cuz I just got a chunk that tasted like
a little chunk of egg yeah you know what
actually this is growing on me maybe it
was zucchini if I was eating it at the
end of a long day walk
in I think it would actually really hit
the spot yeah totally you really kind of
wol it down would you yeah to the last
course well before dessert we’ve got
beef B and Yar chicken catori and we got
one of these bad boys this is the first
one we’ve seen go native boom
okay 313 Ms are you kidding me went
everywhere okay this kind of good in the
dark it’s realistic eh oh okay for
that one so this a mashed potato oh cool
okay you can catch a Tor 300 in
here the tree of Stew um it looks good M
oh yum yeah oh hello okay first um great
first taste of this is um yeah positive
I like that there’s a mashed potato with
it me too the effort is and you know
what’s interesting there’s like soft
textures and CR like crunchy textures
both and I find that very nice yeah like
and and also none of them are too soft
like last time
mhm that is good mhm I would say that’s
good I like that i’ say that good I like
it should we move on to chicken catchy
yeah let’s move on it’s really nice the
chicken C Tor after the beef Bing on is
like it’s almost like it feels unfair
for the chicken it’s not a flavorsome
but
it’s what else is in it oh it tastes
strongly of tomato doesn’t it actually
the person who owns that company said
they make them simple because some
people don’t like salt so they encour
yeah oh okay okay I mean I don’t know if
that SKS and you know we got to like
consider you know people’s different
health concerns yes that’s true it’s
true it is true and I’m I’m a real Salt
beend anyway so the difference between
it really makes you kind of realize how
salty everything else like it tastes
true number three yeah going for be Cal
oh
yeah yeah I’m about that
that’s yeah that’s good that’s plain
food Deluxe yeah that is plain food
Delux yep it’s funny cuz I was just not
trusting it based based on its
appearance and you can’t judge it looks
a bit like dog food it like it does yeah
ites but it tastes I think it’s the best
tasting one on the plate oh really I
prefer the B oh no I’m definitely the B
this actually yeah maybe casserole I can
still there’s a bit of an artificial
taste that’s like
getting to me T what there is it some
kind of like bits a bit jellyish in that
y one Y which I’m not in sure like a bit
Yeah jelly like kind of yeah we’re on to
the last meal we’re on to dessert this
is been hard these are ice cream from
canvas Pantry totally excessive but
bloody delicious can’t wait to taste
haven’t tried this one yet it’s real
meals chocolate cake pudding
meals let’s serve it see I think these
I’m going to thoroughly enjoy and we’re
checking on some ice cream for a treat
if there’s sugar how bad can it be you
know oh it’s that free stried ice cream
yeah um so one’s whiskey and one’s uh
what’s the other pepp pudding and then
ice cream or ice cream then pudding I’m
going to go pudding first M like love
the pudding M wow y great
I like it it’s even got like there a bit
of biscuit in there yeah that’s right a
bit of biscuit I was like it tastes like
it’s been baked I wasn’t sure how much
to Stir It versus um just let it sit in
its own I think it’s good little
biscuits in there um oh great yeah I
love that that’s like I would have that
just at home me too yeah it’s very like
luxury isn’t it having a bit of like
delicious if you Whi that out with like
a group of friends I just like yeah the
chocolate pudding was good all around
like texture flavor stuff the thing that
the thing that bumped the pup for me was
like it didn’t taste like it had come
out of a bag it tast like it come out of
a dish from an oven ice cream yeah
trying it the PO one or the um how do we
um I think you as to what is
happening um because it’s obviously not
ice cream I think it is ice cream that
they freeze dyed oh so it’s like a kind
of a viol melt in your mou of mouth sort
of thing we tried rehydrating it the
other day and it was just like a liquid
pool I I mean whichever I don’t know
which is which but I I prefer the white
one which one is that is that the
Leatherwood
whiskey yeah I think that’s a whiskey
one I appreciate sweet the idea but I
reckon I don’t like it you know like I
appreciate you know that someone thought
about this but I don’t want it I
wouldn’t choose
it I don’t want it I reckon i e both of
them actually I like the whiskey one
yeah I like the whiskey one the ice
cream I feel like the flavor was very
high yeah I agree like it was like
almost like the whiskey one especially
almost like restaurant quality whatever
well be good for you guys to know too so
when you go hiking next you be like be I
know we need to watch this to like learn
what all the brands are
[Applause]
brilliant thanks for watching and happy
hiking let me know what your favorite
hiking meal is
[Music]