Worst freeze dried meal

Just had the worst. Alpineaire - Southwestern mana and beef. Stay away from this crap. Nothings worse than a crappy meal in the backcountry

We either do our own, use combinations of packaged off-the-shelf products, or rely on the higher end makers of trail food. We've had a number of really bad meals from the more well known brands, and the salt content on all of them is off the charts. Our favorite is Packit Gourmet that has been mentioned in several recent posts. Haven't had a single bad thing, and in fact, absolutely loved some of them; and look forward to dinner with great relish after a tough day! I guess more than just great music comes out of Austin. Another good company is Hawk Vittles, though we've tried them less.

Over the course of the year, I will usually buy the meals that I plan to take and try them at home. Obviously, it tastes a little worse at home than on the trail, but it does give me a good idea on what I like and don't like. Everyone likes different stuff, so even though you don't like that one particular one, doesn't mean that others won't.

Let me give you an example...I don't like the taste and smell of coffee. My guess is that I am alone in this. Well, I know some who share this distaste, but we are a very small minority.

Alpineaire - Southwestern mana and beef...I guess that's Beef & beans with corn meal?? I had a pretty same experience with this... kinda gross!

I haven't had that exact one, but I definitely haven't preferred the Alpineaire meals I have had.

Ive really been enjoying the Pack It Gourmet and Trailtopia ones. Man, they have come a long way. I think you still need some tweaking (spices, string cheese, tortillas, etc) but they have been tasty. And Mountain House still has a couple of my favorites (biscuits and gravy and Stroganoff). I repackage them in smaller bags with a FoodSaver and just bring 1 or 2 of the original manufacturer freeze dried meal ziplock food bags and reuse them.