The Backpacking Kit - 18Ct Premium Lightweight Meals

I bought this package for a 5-night backpacking trip and was extremely pleased with the quality and quantity. I'm a health-conscious foodie and outdoors enthusiast, and I refuse to sacrifice eating delicious, healthy meals just because I'm in the backcountry. The veggies were extremely fragrant and tasted wonderful, my trip mates with their factory-produced, pre-packaged meals were super jealous. I mixed and matched the items in this package (plus some additional outside ingredients as noted) to create the following meals: -Mexican-style bean and veggie blend: black and pinto beans, potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, and onions. (Outside ingredients: corn tortillas, fresh avocados, herbs and spices, and dehydrated egg mix for a tortilla breakfast soup) -Italian white bean and vegetable soup: white beans, green beans, onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers, peas, and cabbage. (Outside ingredients: dry pesto sauce mix packet from Safeway, sun dried tomatoes, herbs & spices.) -Creole red beans and rice: red beans, bell peppers, celery, onion, corn, tomatoes. (Outside ingredients: minute brown rice, herbs & spices) -Deluxe vegetable ramen: cabbage, peas, green beans, carrots. (Outside ingredients: instant ramen package, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried nori, wakame, kombu, and dulse seaweeds) -Indian-style curried veggies and lentils: lentils, carrots, potatoes, green beans, peas. (Outside ingredients: curry powder, minute brown rice.) I really enjoyed mixing and matching the ingredients to make my meal plan for the week and the package included enough for 2 people (breakfasts and dinners, that is) for a 5-night trip like mine. Would definitely order again and recommend to all vegetable loving backpackers.

foods good, needs to be cooked a little longer and a little more water than recipes indicate for my taste though.

I love how clean and simple this food is. So many backpacking/camping meals are filled with nasty chemicals and additives; there is a definite shortage of clean camping food on the market. This is it- simple bags of ONE ingredient each. If you want to make meals out of it, you must combine ingredients yourself, but at least you know it's not going to make you sick or give you cancer. I do strongly recommend supplementing the meals you create with seasonings. Eating this stuff without seasoning is less than thrilling, but a little bit of spice, hot sauce, or just salt & pepper goes a long way to making this food delicious. If you're hiking or doing other high-energy activities, I recommend supplementing these meals with noodles or rice. This is primarily veggies and beans, which are great, but not enough for sustaining high energy levels. Overall, I LOVE the taste and ease of preparation, and I will definitely be a repeat customer.

This is my second box. I used this product on my first bike tour. I was going through remote areas without any services or grocery stores. It's light weight and I was able to pack three weeks of food with me without taking up too much space or adding too much weight. The corn no matter what was always a bit too chewy. Everything else though cooked up well. What I did was throw together what I wanted into a pot with water when I arrived at camp and let them soak for a bit before cooking them up. I brought along my favorite spices to flavor the meals. Key is to add a little olive oil too. Economical and easy way to eat healthy meals and get your veggies.

I got these because I was tired of buying whole bunches of celery, etc., when we ordinarily only need a little bit. Even when buying canned foods, we'd end up throwing out expired foods, when we just needed smaller amounts on hand for longer term storage to use in soups, casseroles, recipes, etc. For us, this solution is perfect. These are pricey, but for us, no more expensive than driving back and forth to the store, having to purchase more than we can use, then throwing it out.

I got this product for my girlfriend for her birthday, and we were very happy with the food. We took the cabbage, onions, celery, potatoes, and carrots with us on our last camping trip, and it was so nice to have hot and hearty food for supper after hiking all day. Additionally, since I was the pack mule, I was happy because the dried food added little noticeable weight to my pack. I cannot recommend this product enough. Some things to note: 1) Since these foods are dried, they use up a considerable amount of water and take a bit of time to cook; however, we figured out that this can be remedied by cooking the product in a pot with a lid on. 2) A little goes a long way. Unless you have a big pot, you should only need a couple of tablespoons of each item you are adding to your dish. Next time, we plan on measuring our ingredients before the trip and mixing them together in separate bags. 3) You only get the vegetables; seasoning is up to you. We plan to alleviate this issue by adding seasoning to our premixed bags of the vegetables. (see number 2)

I bought this to take on a trip as a way to make my own vegan soups and stews. I tried every type dry (I like to snack on dehydrated veggies). Nothing was too hard to eat, and simmered for a few minutes everything was perfect. The taste of the beans and veggies together hardly needed salt, really a lot of flavor. I tend to eat more than the servings suggested, but it is a lot of food for the price. My only complaint (and its minor) is that two bags of carrots are included and I would rather have an extra protein. But, its not a big deal. Overall, I would highly recommend this!

This product is excellent. I first saw it hiking the Application Trail going thru Franklin, North Carolina at a Hiking Hostel. While I didn't buy it then, after dehydrated my own veggies and fruits, I thought for this year's hike I would try this out. My wife was shocked at the amount and variety of commonly used kitchen items in this box. I had to get her to pledge a "hands off" while I was out hiking so these products would make it me in bounce boxes via USPS. This box comes with recipes and you can make your own meals. I soak them in my cup for a while before boiling water. I then put the veggies into a Ziploc Freezer bag with the boiling water and wait 10-minutes. They are acceptably reconstituted. I made a square ziploc cozie out of an old window shade and 100-mile-an-hour tape to fit the bags. This allows me to stand up the bags and have some insulation for both reheating once the water is inside and to hold it without getting burned. I would highly recommend Harmony House Foods for backpacking, camping or home use. Make your own recipies. I bought number 10 cans of freeze dried beef and chicken (avail on Amazon), and make my meals. I put everything in the freezer until needed for hiking and then mail out 10-days before arrival at a destination. Best thing to do is put it in a Freezer Ziploc, and the Vaccum Seal it with the heavy duty plastic to get a good seal. Also put little packets for freshness like you find in other commercially available foods like beef jerkies, freeze dried meals, etc. Happy Trails