Sampling of Meals

As the fall camping season kicks into high gear as well as the obstacle racing championship season, my life is about to be 100% on the go. With that, I was recently asked if I would like to review a product called Paleo Meals To Go – freeze-dried, paleo meals for camping, hiking or life on the go. The timing could not have been more perfect.

Upon returning to Utah from our summer in the mountains, a package lay at our door from Paleo Meals To Go. The Colorado-based company was started by a mother and son team who were looking for a better alternative when it came to camping food. Colorado being a neighboring state, I enjoy trying out smaller companies and supporting “local”ish companies (the product is made in the USA).   Inside the package

Inside the package was a variety of the freeze-dried meals in both the sweet and savory department. For this review, I focused on two of the products the Palisade Pineapple Mango sweet dish and the savory Bedrock Beef Chili. Additionally, the Apex Fruit Snacks were gone before I was even able to take a picture of them, but who doesn’t like freeze dried fruit, thumbs up on that product.

Palisade Pineapple Mango

The Palisade Pineapple Mango had me at first sight. Seriously, who doesn’t like pineapples, bananas, and mango with flaxseed and coconut! The good thing about Paleo Meals To Go are the ingredients. They keep it simple with real food ingredients, with this dish including 11 ingredients and no preservatives.

Upon opening the bag, it was apparent that real chunks of fruit were not only part of the dish but stood out as a substantial part of the recipe.

Before Water was Added

As with most camp meals, the instructions were straightforward. Heat up the water and put it in the bag and wait about 10-12 minutes. A nice bonus were stove top instructions in case you need a quick meal while traveling or just don’t want to make a full meal.

After about 12 minutes I opened the bag to find a breakfast meal similar to the photo on the cover of the package (although the banana chunks were not nearly as big) and the smell, it was sweet and fruity, just inviting you to take a bite. The taste was as good as the smell. And quickly ate almost half the bowl without thinking about the fact I needed to write a review on the product.

Nutritionally, this Paleo Meal To Go packs a punch and would keep any hiker or outdoors person full for a long time! The meal is high in both carbs and fat in almost a 50:50 ratio. It will keep your engines running even hiking the highest peaks. For those concerned about your carb intake this one meal might be a huge percentage of your day and is worth noting.

The only downside I saw with this meal is it high in sugar. One of the ingredients is coconut sugar. Personally, I am not sure it was needed in the meal as the fruit are already pretty sweet. As well, I am currently looking for foods without added sugar, so I am biased here. But for those not concerned or if you know, you are going to burn a ton of energy in a day it might not be an issue. Otherwise, this is a tasty dish!

Bedrock Beef Chili

I am a huge fan of chili and have tried almost every camp meal chili before; some are hits, but so many are misses, so my expectations were high going into this dish. As with all the Paleo Meals To Go offerings, this chili is freeze dried, gluten-free, milk free, soy free, grain free, and shelf stable.

Before diving into this dish I wanted to see what the freeze dried ingredients looked like. This dish has 11 ingredients as well (if you count the seasonings as one ingredient) and all the ingredients you can easily read the name.

As with the meal before I used my JetBoil to heat up the water and dumped it into the packet and waited for about 15 minutes on this one. After about 15 minutes the meal was hot and ready to eat. The chili was not as thick as past ones I have tried, but the flavor quickly made up for the thinner sauce. Note to self; next time only use 1 1/4 cup of water instead of 1 1/2 cup.

A Hearty Chili

The flavor in this chili was good, and the quality of the products was apparent as you could see the beef chunks and the sweet potatoes still had visible skin on the pieces. It looked like something you might make at home, which in the world of camp foods can be a challenge to find.

Nutritionally, this beef chili was a hearty dish and would be a good end to a long day of hiking, camping, skiing, or other outdoor activity. Again the only downside of this dish was the addition of coconut sugar to the dish to sweeten it again. Something, in my opinion, that wasn’t needed. Although it is worth noting their beef stew does not have any additional added sugar to for future meals that would be my go to.

Overall, again this Paleo Meal To Go was tasty and satisfying. I could see myself looking into their offerings in the future.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received Paleo Meals To Go for free from Paleo Meals To Go in consideration for a gear review. All the observations are my own unbiased opinions.