OVERLAND JOURNAL FALL 201957A
s evaluators,weoftencomeintoa testwithprecon-
ceivednotionsastohow theevaluationsmightgo,
and forthisone,I was convincedit wouldbeclinical,and
honestly,quiteboring.Fortunately,learningaboutdehydrat-
ing,freeze-drying,andthehistoryoftheseinterestingcom-
panies provedtobetimewellspent.Thetastetestingwith
theteamwasalsoanexerciseinhilarity,withmuchlaughter;
Atlasis lookingforwardtothenextone.Thiscombinationof
structured,objectivetestingandchartingwasnearlyperfectly
balancedbythebroadsampleoffivesubjectivejudges.There
wasonlyonemeal(chickenpiccata)wherethegroupdevi-
atedmarkedly.Forthemostpart,it wasobviouswhichmeals
werereallygood,andwhichwerejusttolerable.Asoverland-
ers,wecertainlygetremote,butthefooddoesn’tneedtobe
awfulorevenokay.Fortunately,thereareclearwinners.
FortheValue Award,thereis onlyone contender,and
thatis TastyBite’stikkamasala,whichis deliciousandcan
bepurchasedinbulkforaslittleas$3perpackage.Theprice
is evenmoreimpressivewhenthequalityoftheingredients
are considered,althoughmostare not organic.Theentrées
canalsobechosenfornutritiongoals:higherproteinfrom
theirMadraslentilsortherichnessofmushroommasalawith
garlicbrownrice.Thesemealshavebeena stapleofminefor
nearlya decadeandhaveneverdisappointed.
Thenextmostvalue-orientedoptionis theOutdoorHer-
bivore,whichis worthmentioningasa dehydratedandex-
tremelyhealthyalternative.I usedthesemealsona multi-day
backpackingtripinCombRidgeinSouthernUtah,andap-
preciatedthequalityoftheingredients.
TheEditor’sChoiceAwardcamedowntoGoodTo-Go
and Patagonia,withsome considerationtowardTastyBite,
butit wasultimatelyeliminatedduetotheshorter(andmore
temperaturesensitive)shelflife.ForPatagonia’sfirsteffortin
shelf-stablemeals,theresultsareimpressive,particularlythe
availabilityofpackagedproteins,allorganicingredients,and
thelackofadditivesandpreservatives.Forthetravelerthat
demands organic ingredients,this is yourchampion.Even
withallofthesepositives,theoveralltasteratingwaswellbe-
hindthewinner,GoodTo-Go.GoodTo-Gocreatesa perfect
balanceofexceptionalflavor,qualityingredients,kitschyand
thoughtfulpackaging,andsufficientcalorieload.Theoverall
rating oftheThai Currywas8.9 outof10,withonlyone
evaluatorgivinga 7 andthreegiving9.5orhigher.It wasthe
onlydishthateveryevaluatorfinished,witha fewgoingback
forseconds.Myonlycomplaintis thelowerproteincontent
andthelongercooktime,butintheend,it didencourageus
alltocontemplatehowbigtheuniverseis, a great campfire
conversation at the end of a dusty trail.
CONCLUSIONS
Clockwise from top: Sarah created the comprehensive testing
scoresheetsand compiledthe datainto the chart.Altaswas particu-
larly fondof Patagonia’ssalmon.How food looks on the plate influ-
ences our impressions as eaters.EDITOR’SNOTEAnytimewe encounteran anomalyin our testing,we
try to validate the results through additional evaluation. Due to
Backpacker’sPantryhighscorein onlinereviews,in contrastto our
in-house testing, we decided to order a different flavor, chicken
vindaloo.This mealwas notablybetterin spiceand overallpalatability,
but the chickenbits wereoverlychewyand with limitedtaste.The
curry wasstrong, and the rice nicely cooked. At least with the
Backpacker’sPantrybrand,the edibilityof the mealsvarieswidely.
While somewhat better than the chicken piccata, the additional
testing would not have influenced the overall scoring.