Are You an Outdoor Herbivore?

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Submitted by damien on

When we head out on our backpacking trips we usually make our own food rather than buy pre-packaged products (you can find some of our recipes here). Given our preferred diet (vegan), a couple of food intolerances, and the fact that we don't have a limitless budget, it really is the best option for us. Our family can eat out for the same price as it costs us to buy a round of freeze-dried meals - not exactly economical! I am also not a fan of all the waste generated by most backpacker meals, there has got to be a better way to package those things.

Last weekend's backpacking trip included a few product tests,
including minimalist footwear for my upcomig series on BackpackingLight
and some trail food from Outdoor Herbivore on my Bushcooker LT III.

Occasionally however we will splurge. The last time we went for a splurge I looked around for something healthy but almost went into shock when I saw the price tags. In the end we had to compromise considerably on our usual healthy fare to keep things on a reasonable budget.

About a month ago I met Kim and her cool new company on Twitter: Outdoor Herbivore - a vegetarian camp food company based out of North Carolina. After perusing her website for a few minutes I quickly decided that next time I buy backpacking food, this is where I am going to get it.

Outdoor Herbivore makes vegetarian and vegan meals using whole foods, whole grains, and no artificial flavorings or preservatives. Most of their ingredients are organic, they use much less packaging than the big companies, and to top it all off their prices are very reasonable. The last time I looked at Backpackers Pantry organic meals they cost almost $8 - $10 each for about 300 calories of food and way too many ingredients. Outdoor Herbivore meals are priced in the $5 - $6 range, have around 600 calories each (depending on the meal) and much better ingredients.

I asked Kim if she would be interested in sending us a sample for review and she agreed. Next came our requirements: we preferred vegan and wanted something both wheat and corn free. For most backpacking food companies there are exactly zero items on the menu that would qualify. For Outdoor Herbivore it was no problem, we were sent three meals that met our requirements, and I am sure there are many more that would qualify. Note: their food is processed in a facility that processes wheat, soy and nuts, so if you are really allergic to one of those, you may need to look elsewhere.

Lickety-Split Lentils - This one was our family's favorite of the two entrees we tested.
It has a little bite and tons of flavor accented by crunchy peanuts. Delicious!
Naked Freckle Burrito - A multi-purpose meal, this one is designed to be eaten
as either a soup (just add extra water), a filling for a tortilla, or on it's own.
Although not as flavorful as the lentils, it was yummy and filling.
Apple Quinoa Oatmeal - This one is perfect for breakfast, although we found it
works equally well for dessert. Absolutely delicious, with big chunks of apple,
and whole grains.

We like the packaging - the meals come in little ziploc-style bags that can be cleaned and re-used (if you are into that sort of thing). Cooking was easy too. Of the three meals we tried all that was required was to boil water, add the package contents, stir, and let sit for 10 minutes.

In addition to creating great food Outdoor Herbivore has some other products and services for long distance hikers. They sell a sprouting kit that allows hikers to make bean sprouts and greens while on the trail. While not practical for shorter durations, these kits make sense for longer trips and thru-hikes allowing more options for fresh vegetable matter. As a service they will ship food to over 100 locations along the AT, and they offer discounts for large orders.

And the verdict is...

A unanimous 5 thumbs-up for Outdoor Herbivore from our discerning backpackers!
Our entire family really enjoyed these meals. Believe me, finding food that
everyone can agree on can be a challenge, but nobody in our family disliked any of
the samples we tried.

Win Your Next Backpacking Meal!

Outdoor Herbivore has offered to supply one backpacker with their next meal for free. All you have to do to qualify is leave a comment. The cut-off date for comments will be midnight on Sunday August 15th. We will then randomly pick one lucky winner and send them a free meal!

Update 17/08/10: Congratulations to Kate who was selected as our winner! Enjoy your meal, and stop  afterwards to let us know what you thought of it!

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Comments

Outdoor Herbivore

I'm not a vegan, however, I am gluten intolerant and the pictures of these meals looked yummy. Its nice to know that someone can produce a specialty item and a loan doesn't need to be taken out to afford it.

yum!

It's nice to know there are new companies springing up to meet such demands for better quality backpacking food! I'll have to check out the website!
In the mean time, that apple quinoa oatmeal looks SO GOOD!

It's hard to find good

It's hard to find good backpacking food that doesn't cost an arm and leg, and I don't have any food intolerances! It's exciting to see someone producing good quality food for a reasonable price.

I have eaten to many bad trail meals!

It is true, I spent 3 years as a Wilderness Trip Leader, and I really don't know what half of the food was, but it was gross. I would LOVE to be able to try this delicious looking trail meal and tell all of my friends about it!

Ah, a new sorce for packing food, HOW SWEET IT IS!!!

I'm so excited to here about Outdoor Herbivore. I've got an 8 4k trip planned for September and I was wondering what I was going to do about eating on trail. This is perfect and it looks like the packages are relatively small and will pack well. Thanks for the review and the vittles.

Good Idea

Looks good. I'm not vegan but I stopped buying commercial backpacking foods a long time ago for many of the same reasons. I've found that most of them just taste bad and give you gas! I make most of the food that we take on trips and I spend far less than my friends and I eat much better.

I love the idea of sprouting while backpacking!

Would love the option!

I'd love to try the lentils! I read an article once about a fast food chain offering vegetarian hamburgers and how some folks thought that was ridiculous but another person explained that there are "part time vegetarians" out there. I think I qualify for that. I eat way less meat then the average US citizen and enjoy incorporating vegetarian and sometimes vegan meals into my diet. I'm interested in light weight food that can still provide enough energy to power my backpacking / climbing trips.

Outdoor Herbivore!

I think it's special that their name rhymes, but extra special that veg-heads can get great trail meals at great prices. I'm excited to try their wares. Thanks for the post.

We had a great local company

We had a great local company that made tasty food with reasonable packages and real food ingredients. But they shut down a couple of years ago.
I have been getting some of my backpack foods from http://maryjanesoutpost.org . They carry them at Mountain Equipment Coop. They have some tasty foods and some of them might meet your criteria. Mostly I make my own camping food.

Great tip

Hey, thanks for the tip, that company also looks like they have some great products there. Maybe at some point I should create a resource section of this site dedicated to healthy, enviornmentally friendly trail food recipes and manufacturers.

These look great! My husband

These look great! My husband has to watch what he eats because of many migraine triggers. Getting one of those nasty headaches while backpacking would NOT be fun. We are getting ready for a BP adventure so this is just in the nick of time! I hope we win and that it gets here soon! Thanks for doing this.

P.S. When I was in Virginia,

P.S. When I was in Virginia, hiking up in the Cascades, I noticed a lady on the trail wearing shoes exactly like Damien is wearing in this photo!! I didn't talk to her, but she saw me looking at her shoes. I should've said something but I didn't. I was just thinking of your family and how I'd never seen shoes like that anywhere else before (except your blog) :0)

Getting more common

Yeah, they are definitely getting more common that's for sure. You can expect to see a lot more shoes like those (and other brands) in the future. The minimalist message is now going a lot more mainstream.

I did comment before but it

I did comment before but it didn't show up, hence the P.S. out of sequence. :0) Anyway, I am happy to be here before the give-away is over. Even if I don't win, I'll be checking out this company! Thanks to your family, we are discussing monthly back-packing/camping trips with our family. We do hikes and sometimes we camp, but mostly we stick close to home, so we can go back home at the end of the day. We do this because of our little one...we were waiting for her to get a bit older (she's not quite 3 yet...) But still, I think we could handle a once-a-month trip. Thank you for the inspiration you have given us to get out there and love nature and live in nature, surrounded by God's beauty.

Thanks!

Thanks so much Jenn for the kind words, that's what encourages us to keep doing this blogging thing!

For our family, we do our one day a week trip close to home so that we are back home at the end of the day. We also try to do a one weekend a month trip as well (some longer duration than others). The real challenge has been learning how to keep doing this throughout the winter. We aren't quite there yet, but we are working towards it. At this point in our lives that is about as much as we can handle and still keep everything else running smoothly. At some point I think I will write a post about our weekend trip philosophy as well, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

awesome!

I too am disgusted by the lack of good food. the ones here in Boating Camping Fishing seem to be mostly "brown salt". which is not as good as it sounds.

I wonder if this lady ships overseas?

Cheers!
Enjoy!
J

This company looks fantastic!

This company looks fantastic! Our vegetarian family is always looking for simpler outdoor food options, and these meals look delicious. At these prices, I'd even keep a few in the car for long distance car trips for a quick hot meal (we've been known to cook on the side of the road in a few snowstorms!).

BTW: my husband is super intrigued by Damien's shoes! :)

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