Enertia Trail Foods Taste Test

“Finally, after about 4 weeks, I got through all of the meals in my sample pack I ordered from Enertia ($55 I think). People at the office looked at me funny every day at lunch. My family thought I was some kind of weirdo. So I guess I have to post my opinions (heck, everybody else posts their opinions - why not me?). In general, everything was edible. I liked the dinner-oriented dishes more than the breakfast-ish ones. Listed below are my ratings (out of 10) and whatever comments I wrote to myself on the little instruction card after eating each thing. I may have misplaced one or more of the cards, so you're on your own if I missed anything. Also, please note that I prepared everything at home on the stove or at the office using the microwave - your results may vary.

I divided things into Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner, but, of course, there's no law you can't have a dinner item for breakfast, etc.

Breakfast-ish Items

Blue Mountain Bear Mush
5/10; Bland, even with sugar and milk. Cous-cous stuck together with butter, raisins.

Sierra Scramble
5/10; Just didn't taste very good. Hard to blend with water - had to use a whisk.

Mountain Morning Oatmeal
6/10; Good texture; not a sunflower seed fan; good raisins!

Breakfast Maple Bulgar
6/10; Bland taste; filling but boring.

Cherokee Cinnamon Rice
8/10; Very good - added sugar to make even better.

Lunch-ish Items

Peanut Butter Squeezer
10/10; ...and I don't even like peanut butter that much!

Cheddar Cheese Squeezer
6/10; OK, but not that great.

Jalapeno Cheese Squeezer
7/10; If you're going to squeeze cheeze out of a plastic tube, might as well make it spicy.

Dinner-ish Items

Shenandoah Soup
5/10; Not that good; weird crunchy texture.

San Juan Stroganoff
7/10; Good, but why celery? Beef gravy tasted kind of fake.

Max Patch Mac & Cheese
7/10; Fine; nothing too exciting.

Switchback Spaghetti
7/10; Hard to screw up spaghetti. Fine, nothing special.

Allegheny Alfredo Noodles
7/10; Very edible; added the pepper.

Mackenzie Chowder
8/10; Liked the potatoes; added the pepper - could've used more pepper.

Parker Pass Potatoes
8/10; Very tasty. Added the salt & pepper. More water would be OK.

Slickrock Beans
8/10; Very tasty, and texture is hearty. used about a half cup more water than instructions say.

Rainier Rice
9/10; Excellent. Bland at first, added pepper - still bland. Added some crushed red pepper - perfect!

El Capitan 3 Bean Chili
10/10; Super! No additional spices needed.

Moosilauke Goulash
10/10; Best of the bunch - great! Spicy, even without the pepper. Nice texture.

Dessert

Grand Canyon Cheesecake
5/10; Tasted fake. More like pudding. Edible.

So I guess the important point is that it was all edible. If you haven't tried their stuff, I would recommend just going ahead and getting the sample pack and using it on the trail - you won't go hungry.”

“I agree with almost all of your assessments except for the breakfasts.

I thought all the breakfasts sucked.”

“Yeah, One thing I forgot to mention is a disclaimer that I'm one of the least picky eaters I know - I'm easily satisfied. So you may have to adjust the ratings based on how normal you are. Also, I don't plan to order anything scoring a 7 or less on my own rating scale.”

“I took 12 dinners with me on Isle Royal last week, the only dinner I didn't care much for was the Slickrock Beans. I plan on using the others probably 3/4 of the time.

The only breakfast I ever tried was the bear mush. It was ok, but I'll stick to instant oatmeal.

Glad to see you take the time to test them and share your findings.”

“For the most part, I really like these foods. The Bulgar I found to be interesting, as with most of the dishs. I used the powered maple surup to liven things up with that dish. Max Patch I thought ruled, but I'm a sucker for anything Mac on the trail (anybody used the Easy Mac and Cheese from Kraft that come in the seperated packages? YUMMM and easy to make). TheBear Mush was pretty good. I haven tried them all. I still have some that I will be using real soon. What I didn't like was there Energy Bar. Had the Vanilla. Two bites and it hit the garbage! I'll stick to Cliffs or Lunas for that department for now.

For the most part, I liked there prices and service. I placed my order on a Saturday afternoon and got my order on Monday! There food doesn't taste funny like Mountain House and Co. taste, though bringing along some spices from home can really finish some of these dishes off!”

“Oops, I forgot to mention the energy bar. I had the cherry flavored one. It sucked. Clif and Power for me, too. Also, for those of us who usually have a cup of coffee in the afternoon, Clif now has bars with caffeine - I tried one, it was good!”

“thanks for your opinion and the work you went too.I use this stuff and your rating are same as mine would be.”

“The Switchback Spaghetti was a little bitter. It also needs a little more water added than the instructions call for to completely dissolve the sauce.

The Parker Pass Potatoes have a little too much Sage or Oregano? They definitely needed salt and pepper.

The Grand Canyon Cheesecake was really good but I agree that it was more like a pudding. It would be just a little better with a little jam or blue berries added to it.

Overall, I'm impressed with how filling they are for their weight and they still taste better than freeze-dried stuff.”

“I have tried the Easy Mac - liked it. Ordered a test batch from Enertia this week. I'll post results at some point. Thanks for the reviews!”

“I like Enertia Trail Foods meals better than most dehydrated meals. I especially like the Breakfast Maple Bulgar. I've also tried the Switchback Spaghetti, San Juan Stroganoff, Allegheny Alfredo Noodles, and Max Patch Mac & Cheese and liked them all. I'm going to continue to purchase my backpacking food from Enertia Trail Foods because they taste good, are easy to prepare and come in good size single-serving meals.”

“Here I go again about Enertia...

Compared to the krap I've eaten on the trail, I like the Enertia meals. They are the right size for me, the price is right, and they are easy to prepare. I also like the quality of the ingredients and the packaging. You can eat out of the packaging and it stands up without having to hold it.

I've noticed that if I taste test at home, it doesn't taste nearly as good as it does on the trail!! LOL

I will say that I need extra seasoning for most of the meals, and that I haven't found the perfect trail food yet. As a matter of fact, I've just about given up on cooking during hikes longer than 2 days.”

“Eating can be a real hassle on the trail. I am going to stop completely.

No more food. Food is bad. I will sustain myself with my ego.”

“Hey with a liquid diet you can leave the tp and shovel at home as well! :)”

“Enertia Foods Update....

First of all, I still use these meals on the trial if I cook. The only meal that doesn't agree with me is the 3-Bean Chili...just ask my wife.

A few weeks ago I was preparing the spaghetti meal and noticed that the cheese package had been left out. I e-mailed Enertia and they sent me a replacement meal and a free "Grand Canyon Cheesecake" to try.

Me and a few folks here at work just tried the cheesecake. I agree with the previous posts about it tasting like pudding. BUT, I must say that it was good enough for the trail...especially if you want something sweet. The crunchy cookie/almond topping was good also.

I give the cheesecake a thumbs up!”

“I think the Moosilauke Goulash is the best.”

“Their radish jelly on straw muffin sucks.”

“Thanks for all the posts. I enjoyed all the comments and evaluations of these food packets. Some of them sound tempting to me. And they could save me one to two ounces per dinner, and perhaps more, if their packages are lighter. But the cost would be about three times what I pay for the Lipton, Knorr and other meals that I pick up in supermarkets.”

“I usually take along some dehydrated hamburger to add to the meals. For me, the meals are very filling. About 2 cups in size.

I've recently started eating out of the bag also - I hate washing pots.”

“I usually take along some dehydrated hamburger to add to the meals. For me, the meals are very filling. About 2 cups in size.

I've recently started eating out of the bag also - I hate washing pots.”

“Props to the good folks at Enertia! They just donated 4 meals for my backpacking class, which I'll use to demonstrate cooking using a variety of stoves, and let the newbies know what dehydrated meals taste like.”

“Yep, their customer service is great.”

“I just got mine and am looking forward to trying it out on the snowshoe trip in the Sierra's this weekend. I'll post my thoughts on this when I get home.”

“i've had a couple....pretty good! no pots to wash. :)

tarabull and sass save the big zip bags they come in, and re-use them for their own dehydrated food.”

“tahoe - I would suggest that you might want to take something like Mrs. Dash or something along those lines. Some of the dishes are a little bland, but very good, none the less! I highly recommend them!”

“I'm not a veggie so I need to remember to bring some tuna or something with the Enertia meals - at least for dinner.”

“I looked at their website and couldn't find the lunch bars. Do they still make those? I was hoping for an alternative to the ubiquitous tuna lunch pack...

The entrees look really good,; I'm going to order a few and try them out at the Sipsey next month.”

“Alleghany Alfredo Noodles (3.5 oz, 410 calories)- Yum
Max Patch Mac N Cheese (4 oz, 420 calories) - Yum
Ranier Rice (3.5 oz, 380 calories) - Yum
Moosilauke Goulash (4 oz, 410 calories)
Blue Mountain Bear Mush* (5 oz, 580 calories) - Yum

*The Bear Mush is a breakfast. I think it's very tasty. The cook-in-pouch directions are a bit time consuming in comparison to instant oatmeal. And, it's a bit heavier. But, it's really yummy and is packed w/ 580 calories.

For the last several months and from now on, the only dehydrated or freeze-dried meals I will carry on the trail are the ones from Enertia. Anything else will be something I've made from home.”

“Gee I am glad this tread came back to the top.

The Enertia Trail food people are friends of mine. They are really cool people and are going to be one of the judges at the TC3 cookoff this year...

I love their food and do sell it in my store.

My favorite is the Cherokee Cinnamon Rice

I do like the squeeze cheeses you can add them to anything...

Later
Barbara”

“what Tara said!

The El Captain 3 Bean Chili is AWSOME as well!”

“I like the Alleghany Alfredo. I'm going to eat the cheescake here in a little bit.”

“Yes! Cherokee Cinnamon Rice! On a recent winter camping trip, I doubled the amount of water (approx.) to make it more soupy - good for additional (warm) hydration.”

“I just got another shipment of this stuff in on Friday and I opened up the Grand Canyon Cheescake and had it for breakfast this morning.

Man, It was awesome!!!”

“An Enertia person will be a judge this year? Cool! That adds some challenge to this! I'll win! Ha-Ha-ha!”

“I'm a big fan of Enertia Trail Foods. I've been a customer for a few years now.

I agree with Tarabull, I eat Enertia or buy something from the grocery store and make it at home!

SuperTroll is the one that introduced them to me... ;)”

“I've been ordering my backpacking food from Entertia for a while now - it's easy and pretty good.”

“but I wish they would come out with some new meals.”

“wingding-They are actually going to send us 3 new meals to see our opinion of them. Then after that, a few weeks later they should be out on the market.”

“I am really happy to hear that they are finally coming out with a few new meals. I have been eating their meals for three years on backpacking trips...it is getting to the point where none of them seem appetizing anymore so I've been substituting other products. They are a great product but those of us who spend so much time in the bush need variety.”

“no comment.”

“Tilt, I would LOVE to hear what you could come up with that one. When people put the ball in the middle of the plate you just need to swing.”

“LOL @ Tilt !!!”

“Just how suicidal do you think I am? LOL”

“bbinkley:

great to hear that they will have some new meals online.”

“Hopefully, I'll have pics and the ingredients here in a couple of weeks.”

“those of us who spend so much time in the bush need variety

I couldnt have said it better myself :}”

“LMAO”

“I'll have the 3 NEW Enertia meals available Monday the 19th. Here they are:

Beartooth Beans: Navy Beans and Smoked Ham TVP in a rich Pepper Gravy with Onions, Red Pepper, and Cabbage.

Silverton Scallops: Classic Smoked Ham TVP, Potato and Onion Scallops with a white Pepper Gravy.

Wind River Cheesecake: No cook cheescake with Sweetened Blueberries”

“Sounds tasty. I'd like to try the Silverton Scallops.”

“Does anyone else find their foods just a tad too spicy? Last trip out I had their Switchback Spaghetti, very good, like all their stuff, but I had to drink a gallon of water afterwards to cool down my throat!”

“LOL..i'm a pretty picky eater. I told him I could sell more if he would have a picky eaters section for kids and for picky adults like me.”