Each Cache Lake Food item is packaged in a small sealed plastic bag. This size was nice for packing, but cooking in or eating out of the package is not the way to go! Only one of the meals, the Wild Rice Vegetable Salad, required two pots. The instructions stated to put the contents of the vegetable packet in a second container and then add some of the boiling water to it, while the rice continued to cook in the main pot. Then the contents of both containers were combined at the end. It seems to me this switching, dipping and pouring could be eliminated. I could have just used one pot, adding the vegetable packet at some point near the end.
Some background information for the test, the weapons of choice were a MSR Superfly stove, MSR Blacklite cook set, Snow Peak Spork, and an EMS Lexan spoon. All meals were prepared as a lunch time meal after a couple of miles of morning hiking. Breakfast for the day consisted of two servings of instant oatmeal. I managed not to snack during the morning hike!
I wasn't exactly sure how to handle the serving size, since I think serving size is very user dependent. Anyway, since I am a solo hiker, I prepared the entire contents of all the meals except one, the Creamy Wild Rice Asparagus Soup, which I repackaged into two single servings. The serving size estimate of the Wild Rice Vegetable Salad seemed small as it was easily consumed in one sitting. The Wild Rice Vegetable Soup and Minnesota Minestrone, however, could not be finished. I estimate about an eighth of a portion was left, wasteful for me but a bonus for my four-legged companion! The meals were all filling.
All food, well except for one, was prepared according to the instructions provided on the label. Interestingly enough, the instructions for the Chicken Breast Patties required the use of a microwave or toaster oven. Neither of which I carry, so I just chose to break the patties up in bite size chunks and toss the chunks in with the soup to heat through. The labels also provide all the nutritional information for those who get into that stuff. I'm not a calorie counter. I go for ease of preparation, taste and minimal cleanup. All the meals were prepared in about 30 minutes which worked out well for me.
I found the taste of all the Cache Lake Food meals to be quite good, nothing was over spiced or bland. The Minnesota Minestrone was a bit on the salty side. According to the label, it had the most Sodium of all the meals I tested. The Chicken Breast Patties did in fact taste like chicken, and were a nice addition to the soups!
Clean up involved a little warm water, couple of light strokes with a small green scouring pad and wiping dry with a pack towel. Of course having a dog around helped too!
I was very pleased with the Cache Lake Foods. The tested meals were easy to prepare, had a tasty flavor and did not create a mess in the process. I would recommend that solo hikers divide the servings beforehand to minimize waste and cut down on the water per meal (just under 4 cups on average) needs. Thanks for the chance to test another great item.
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