Test Report by Sheila Morrissey

PEAK CAMP'N TRAIL

Initial Report - January 22, 2008
Long-Term Report - Available May 2008

Initial Report: January 22, 2008

TESTER BIOGRAPHY
Name: Sheila Morrissey
Age: 27
Gender: Female
Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.7 m)
Weight: 155 lb (70 kg)
Email Address: geosheila(at)yahoo(dot)com
City, State, Country: Goleta, California, USA

BACKPACKING BACKGROUND
I have been backpacking since 2005. Most of my trips have been from one to three nights in length on trails in the Sierra Nevada or Los Padres National Forest. My pack typically weighs around 25 lb (11 kg), including consumables.

PRODUCT INFORMATION
Manufacturer: Peak Camp'n Trail
Year of Manufacture: 2007
Manufacturer’s Website: http://www.campntrail.com

Vegetarian Savory Chicken & Brown Rice Dinner
Listed Weight: 4 oz (113 g)
Measured Weight: 4.0 oz (113 g)
MSRP: US$ 3.99
Servings: 3
Listed Ingredients: Pre-cooked enriched long grain rice, seasoning: (maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, dehydrated vegetables [onion, parsley], salt, spices, torula yeast, natural flavors, and no more than 2% calcium silicate added to prevent caking), dehydrated vegetables (broccoli, peas, carrots, celery, tomatoes, onions, garlic), textured wheat protein (wheat gluten, wheat starch, phosphate, soybean oil, caramel, antioxidant).
Directions: Add 1 cup of boiling water to the ingredients. Stir. Seal bag and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir and serve.

Back Country Beans
Listed Weight: 4 oz (113 g)
Measured Weight: 4.4 oz (125 g)
MSRP: US$ 2.99
Servings: 3
Listed Ingredients: Pinto beans, partially hydrogenated corn oil (with TBHQ to preserve freshness), salt.
Directions: Add 1 cup of boiling water to the ingredients. Stir. Seal bag and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir and serve.

Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup
Listed Weight: 4 oz (113 g)
Measured Weight: 4.0 oz (113 g)
MSRP: US$ 2.99
Servings: 3
Listed Ingredients: Egg noodles (enriched durum flour, whole egg solids), seasoning [maltodextrin, salt, vegetarian chicken flavor (autolyzed yeast extract, dried onion, natural flavor, turmuric), dehydrated vegetables (onion, mushrooms, garlic, parsley), spices, turmeric, and no more than 2% calcium silicate added to prevent caking], textured soy flour, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, salt, autolyzed yeast extract, hydrolyzed corn protein, natural flavoring, thiamine hydrochloride, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate.
Directions: Add 1 cup of boiling water to the ingredients. Stir. Seal bag and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Stir and serve.

Vegetarian Chicken & Rice Casserole
Listed Weight: 4 oz (113 g)
Measured Weight: 4.1 oz (116 g)
MSRP: US$ 3.99
Servings: 3
Listed Ingredients: Pre-cooked enriched long grain rice, seasoning: (maltodextrin, autolyzed yeast extract, dehydrated vegetables [onion, parsley, muchroom, garlic, celery], salt, spices, torula yeast, oil [soybean, sunflower], turmeric, natural flavors, and no more than 2% calcium silicate added to prevent caking), dehydrated vegetables (broccoli, peas, carrots, celery, tomatoes, onions, garlic), textured wheat protein (wheat gluten, wheat starch, phosphate, soybean oil, caramel, antioxidant).
Directions: Add 1 cup of boiling water to the ingredients. Stir. Seal bag and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir and serve.

Vegetarian Sweet Chicken Teriyaki with Rice & Vegetables
Listed Weight: 4 oz (113 g)
Measured Weight: 4.4 oz (115 g)
MSRP: US$ 3.99
Servings: 3
Listed Ingredients: Pre-cooked enriched long grain rice, seasoning: (honey*, [refinery syrup, honey], fructose, salt, soy sauce* [(wheat, soybeans, salt), maltodextrine, salt], dextrose, natural and artificial flavors, spices, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, and no more than 2% calcium silicate added to prevent caking, dehydrated vegetables (broccoli, peas, carrots, celery, tomatoes, onions, garlic), textured wheat protein (wheat gluten, wheat starch, phosphate, soybean oil, caramel, antioxidant). *Dehydrated
Directions: Add 1 cup of boiling water to the ingredients. Stir. Seal bag and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Stir and serve.

Campfire Chili
Listed Weight: 4 oz (113 g)
Measured Weight: 4.1 oz (116 g)
MSRP: US$ 2.99
Servings: 2
Listed Ingredients: Dehydrated pinto beans (pinto beans, partially hydrogenated corn oil [with tbhq to preserve freshness], salt); seasoning (spices, maltodextrin, salt, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated onion, yeast extract, sugar, flavor [corn oil, spices, paprika], partially hydrogenated soybean oil, and spice extractive).
Directions: Add 1 cup of boiling water to the ingredients. Stir. Seal bag and let stand for 15-20 minutes. Stir and serve.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Peak Camp'n Trail packaged meals are advertised to be nutritious, convenient and lightweight. The meals are all vegetarian, even the ones with "chicken" in the name. Each meal has two to three servings and is prepared by adding boiling water to the pouch. All of the meals come in identical sealable and standing foil pouches that have written on them, "Prepare in pouch instructions: 1. Tear open pouch at tear notch. 2. Carefully add boiling water as directed to ingredients. 3. Stir and seal. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. Stir and serve." There is also a reminder to "please keep our environment clean and pack out any trash." The name of each meal is printed on stickers on the front and back of the pouch. The sticker on the back also has nutrition facts, ingredients and directions.

INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
From my first peek at the Camp'n Trail website, I didn't actually realize these were going to all be vegetarian meals. I did realize it before I received these meals though and am actually glad to be testing vegetarian meals because, even though I'm not a vegetarian, rehydrated chunks of meat can sometimes be unappealling for me. Reading through the ingredients lists on these meals, I imagine I'll like them. Three of the meals (Vegetarian Savory Chicken & Brown Rice Dinner, Vegetarian Chicken & Rice Casserole, and Vegetarian Sweet Chicken Teriyaki with Rice & Vegetables) seem to have very similar ingredients lists, so I wonder how similar these meals will taste. I'm most looking forward to trying the Campfire Chili.

Though I don't have a problem with this, I was a little surprised to see so many ingredients that I don't recognize, added flavors and preservatives in the ingredients lists just because I've seen other companies moving toward using more natural ingredients and forgoing the preservatives.

I noticed that although all of the bags say to let boiling water sit in the pouch for 5-10 minutes, the directions on the stickers don't all repeat this same cook time. The Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup is supposed to stand for 10-15 minutes and the Campfire Chili is supposed to stand for 15-20 minutes. I'm concerned that my boiling water might cool too quickly for these two meals and I hope that doesn't result in dinners that aren't entirely rehydrated.

The pouches that the meals came in seem to stand well on their own, so I hope that holds true when I add the boiling water and leave them to stand. I was really glad to see that these pouches are just big enough for the food they contain and the boiling water that I will add. It seems many other companies' dehydrated meals come in oversized pouches that result in a lot of unnecessary waste. I'm guessing these short pouches will also be pretty easy to eat from.

REMARKS
This concludes my Initial Report. Thank you to Peak Camp'n Trail and BackpackGearTest.org for providing me with the opportunity to test these meals.

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