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A Review by Section Hiker!
Good-to-Go Gourmet Dehydrated Camping Meals
Good-to-Go is a new gourmet camping food company that’s on a mission to create the best tasting and nutritious dehydrated camping meals available today. Based in Maine, they bring a Down Home sensibility to their dehydrated meals which are gluten-free and available as vegetarian or pescatarian entrees.
My wife and I tried three Good-to-Go meals this weekend while car camping in New Hampshire and enjoyed them thoroughly. Their Thai Curry (my favorite) has a real kick to it, the Smoked Three Bean Chili is filling and has an excellent smokey aftertaste, and the Herbed Mushroom Risotto is smooth and creamy. Once rehydrated, you really wouldn’t know that these meals were rehydrated from a bag and not cooked fresh.
Unlike many other dehydrated meals, it’s not necessary to add extra boiling water (beyond that specified in the instructions)to these meals to get them to rehydrate properly (1.25 cups per bag), although they do take 20 minutes to fully rehydrate. This is considerably longer than many other dehydrated camping meals, but it’s well worth the wait. The added rehydration time means that Good-to-Go can dehydrate more elaborate and complex recipes and use more natural and healthy ingredients than other prepared food manufactures, which means a better tasting food experience!
Once you add boiling water to each meal, you will want to keep them warm in an insulated food cozy while they rehydrate, so make sure to pack one on your trip. In terms of portion size, my wife found that three packages fed two people for dinner, without any left overs, as you can see below!
Good-to-Go meals are available from Eastern Mountain Sports, but only in stores at this point and not online (Correction: You can buy them online at Goodto-go.com, but their online store is hard to navigate. Click on “serving size” on the product page, which will allow you to add a product to your cart.)
However, given how delicious they are, I expect their meals to become more widely available as the company develops a greater customer following.
Disclosure: Good-to-Go provided Philip Werner (SectionHiker.com) with free samples of these meals for this review.
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Military Times Suggests Good To-Go for Camping!
Bring Everything! Car Camping with GearScout.
Good To-Go Meals $5.75- $9.75 ⬆
Getting back to camp after a long day of hiking means you might not want to cook a full meal. This is your opportunity to be the camp hero and pull out a few meals from Good To-Go. Don’t think freeze dried MRE; think Michelin rated trail food. This isn’t some astroturffed multinational corporation looking to dump high margin regenerated cornbiotics into your gullet. Good To-Go is a little company from Maine that was recently started by nationally known chef and restaurateur Jennifer Scism. Her interest in food has taken her around the world and lead to the development of recipes that taste great, provide excellent nutrition and rehydrate well. All her recipes skip transfats, cholesterol and preservatives while keeping sodium in check.I tore into their Three Bean Chili on a recent trip and was surprised to see the unappetizing mixture of crumbs and powder turn into a bouquet of delicate aromas and flavor. The tomatoes, and onion were reserved while the rich small red beans, black beans and navy beans delivered their nutritional cargo. The garlic, chili powders and paprika were dominant but not overwhelming. Definitely paired well with a red wine, Yuengling or a recent vintage water, whichever is handy.
Good: You can pronounce and recognize every ingredient. Tastes far better than trail food should. Cooks in its own container in minutes using only hot water.
Meh: Menu is limited to three vegetarian meals at the moment; Smoked Three Bean Chili, Herbed Mushroom Risotto and Thai Curry. Cavemen might be tempted to add Tobasco.
Bonus: Scism’s culinary team from her Greenwich Village, NY restaurant was the first to beat Chef Mario Batali on the Iron Chef TV show back in 2004.
See more at: http://blogs.militarytimes.com/gearscout/2014/08/19/bring-everything/?repeat=w3tc -
Beyond Outdoor Retailer with Good To-Go
Trail Run With Best Friends Animal Society & Partners At OR
Aug 09th 2014
It’s that time of year when Outdoor Retailer is upon us. We were invited to test some gear on a trail run at Memory Grove with shelter dogs from Best Friends Animal Shelter. Sadly due to rain and lightning the dogs didn’t get to join us. We did however get to try out some awesome gear including running shoes from local company Altra Running.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was the samples of backpacking food from Good To Go. Founded by Chef Jennifer Scism- co-owner of New York restaurant Annisa, she wanted healthy backpacking food that actually tastes like food. Winner of the Iron Chef against Mario Batali she is no stranger to cooking challenges. The result: her gluten free pasta was incredible. With more calories and half the sodium of other brands this is definitely a brand worth trying for your next backpacking adventure.
See more at: http://www.saltlakemagazine.com/blog/2014/08/09/trail-run-with-best-friends-animal-society-parnters-at-or/
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Seattle Backpacker Magazine Likes Us Too!
“What am I packing for food?” This is the age-old question I dread answering whenever I’m gearing up to go out into the backcountry. Inevitably, I end up having to make the choice between going light, but slurping down burnt semi-coagulated re-hydrated glop that only resembles the fare printed on the packaging if I use my imagination, or I carry non-freeze dried food (read: HEAVY), but have to bring twice as much food to compensate for the extra effort to carry it. If I had a dime for every time I have asked myself, “Wouldn’t it be nice to actually enjoy lightweight backpacking food?” I could afford a llama that would carry steaks, eggs and a cast iron skillets into the backcountry for me. Well, the folks at Good To-Go may have created the Shangri-La of lightweight dehydrated backpacking meals (and saved a poor llama from a lifetime of grueling work, too).
They currently have three menu items (with more in the works). However, with offerings such as Smoked Three Bean Chili, Thai Curry (my favorite), and Herbed Mushroom Risotto, you could probably eat them for a week or two straight and not regret it.Thoughts
- All three of the menu offerings from Good To-Go passed the most important part of this test: they are exceptionally tasty.
- The no-nonsense ingredients list. Everything on the ingredients label I can pronounce and I don’t need a Ph.D. in chemical engineering to decipher!
- My pet peeve with other dehydrated freeze-dried backpacking meals is that the amount of water needed to hydrate is NEVER right – it’s either soupy or crunchy. Not so with Good To-Go. Also, the timing for preparing is spot on; another area where other dehydrated meals are open to interpretation: altitude, the hardness of the water, how hungry you are and other unmentioned, yet to be discovered, variables.
- The meals are available in both single and double servings. I thought the single serving sizes were perfect for lunch and the double serving sizes were more suitable for sharing or for dinner.
I am excited to see what other non-GMO menu items Good To-Go will come up with as I really enjoyed all of their current offerings. On your next overnight excursion, I would highly recommend you check out Good To-Go. They are only currently available on the East Coast, but you can order them from www.goodto-go.com directly.See more at: http://seattlebackpackersmagazine.com/good-to-go-backpacking-meals-review/
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Thanks Vermont Sports Magazine!
Gear & Beer: Outdoor Research Helium HD Jacket, Good To-Go Dehydrated Gourmet Meals, Wolaver’s Organic Wildflower Wheat
Good To-Go Dehydrated Gourmet Meals
If you’ve ever tried to dehydrate your own meals for a healthy alternative to the lightweight packaged options available out there, you’ve probably run into a few challenges. It can be tough enough to get your plans and gear dialed in, never mind the time and testing required to prepare a nutritious feast that won’t break the bank — or your back. The creators of Good To-Go, a chef and an outdoors enthusiast, recognized this struggle and created a line of three gourmet recipes dehydrated to enjoy during their own adventures.
The ingredients in the Herbed Mushroom Risotto (classic risotto with sautéed mushrooms and basil pesto), Smoked Three Bean Chili (traditional chili with corn and caramelized onions) and Thai Curry (spicy yellow coconut curry with vegetables and jasmine rice) read like descriptions on a menu and include items like white wine, extra virgin olive oil and lemongrass. You won’t find any preservatives or unnecessary additives, just a list of pronounceable and recognizable ingredients you can find in most grocery stores.
Each of the favors are gluten free and the risotto and chili are vegetarian, while the curry is pescatarian. The meals are easy to make and come in single or double serving packets. After adding the recommended amount of boiling water to my first meal, then waiting the recommended cook time, I decided to make my next meals with slightly less liquid and a longer wait to allow the water to fully rehydrate the veggies. My first meal was a little underdone, but the following two turned out great, with only a slight crunch left in the stubborn peas. The combination of spices and natural ingredients in the Good To-Go recipes were satisfying and also had a great flavor.
It’s nice to have a convenient product to bring on the trail that is also mindful and tasty. Good To-Go is based in Maine and can be found at many local outdoor retailers, according to the location search tool on their website. $5.75-$6.75 for single serving packets and $9.75-$10.75 for double servings.
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Good To-Go goes to OR!!
It’s Good To-Go’s first OR Show! It’s hard to believe how quickly we have made it to this place! When the idea came to partner with Jetboil at the show, we were humbled, so how could we say no?!
So what is OR? Well, Outdoor Retailer, more commonly known as OR, is what every rep and vendor looks forward to twice a year. There is so much cool product & gear, some new, some “old,” and everyone wants their hands on it. Not only that, there are demos galore, trainings, and many other networking avenues to be had.
For example, Kate, our amazing PR manager with Revolution House Media, thought it would be great to team up with Ruffwear, Ibex, Altra shoes, and Go-Lite for a fun 5k run with dogs from a local animal shelter. So Tuesday evening we are venturing out and hope we can keep up with the dogs! Plus, our reward at the end is Jen serving up our new entrée – Marinara with Penne! Yum!
The actual show is going to be huge – literally and figuratively! By that, we mean it being a mind overload, but in a good way. With this golden opportunity, we can’t wait to hand out samples of Good To-Go meals and meet with all the amazing reps. Jetboil asked in return for a little space at their booth where Chef Jen would do a cooking demonstration on their new stove – so look out OR, you are in for a real treat!
Real food. Real adventure.
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