Truly Outdoors: Kitchen and Bedroom Away From Home
Throughout July, we’ll be reviewing a wide array of interesting outdoor items for a section we call Truly Outdoors. Last week, we took a look at a variety of seating options, a hammock, bags, hats, and even a sleeping bag and tent. Today, we continue helping you outfit your campsite or even RV with a compact cooking utensil set and some easy meals.
GSI offers a large line of outdoor cookware, tableware, and chef’s tools. We tested out one of their fairly complete sets, the Kitchen 11, which offers a small but OK cutting board, mediocre towel and scrubbing sponge, and two small squeeze bottles for various liquids (soy sauce, for example). You also get a grater and whisk that were a balance between size and convenience- good enough for scrambling eggs and grating some potatoes, not good for cakes. The salt and pepper shaker is cute, though, and the spatula and spoon are interesting in a way- they telescope, with pop-out handles. Unfortunately, none of the items was particularly durable, or fun to use and though the kit is lightweight, it still manages to pack up at about 28 ounces.
At around $30, it’s an inexpensive way to get your basic kitchen supplies in a decent portable case. You may end up leaving the case at home though, and just taking the things you need. Also, expect to need more items- for instance, the Kitchen 23, which is the same set but comes with a 12-piece cutlery set.
Once you have the tools, you need something to cook… and to eat. We’ve been starving our interns and unleashing them on meals from Backpackers Pantry and Mountain House, in hopes of deciding what camping meals pass the TrulyObscure taste and convenience test. Points off if the meals take too long to make, or are too complicated, and bonus points if the food can be enjoyed with OR without a frostbitten tongue.
Backpackers Pantry offers organic meals, along with single, two-person, and family-sized (four) portions- plus the usual assortment of sides, and even complete meals for four. As with most dehydrated meals, these were mostly of the “just add boiling water and wait thirteen minutes” type, and the pouches remain the vacuum sealed plastic that seems at odds with environmental friendliness. The single-serving Organic Spicy Omelet required a little extra work- slow mixing, cooking over low heat, but was worth the effort. It wasn’t quite as good as making an omelet yourself, but darn decent. The two-person Pad Thai was a bit disappointing- bland, oddly textured, but totally edible, and reasonably satisfying. It was a good change after the Fettucini Alfredo with Chicken, a dish that seemed like a good idea, but failed in execution. Finally, the Organic Lasagna is not really anything of the sort, and serves as a reminder that it is possible to make bad Italian food. At around $8-$10 per serving for the organics, but as low as $2 or so for some of the others, they have a wide range and something for most anyone.
Mountain House, similarly, has a wide range, though a less-than-interesting website. Serving sizes also go from single- to four-person meals, though no complete meals with sides are available. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any organic listings. Prices are in the same, though lower, end of the spectrum, with an entree for two running around $7. We tried an wide variety of samples, and each was more freeze-dried-seeming than the ones from Backpackers Pantry, making the interns curious what dark science could reduce a bag of precooked scrambled eggs and bacon to a crispy, crunchy mass. Unlike others, these pouches come with an odd bonus- an oxygen absorber in each pouch that you have to be aware of. Cooking times varied a bit, from 5 to 9 minutes, and they also offer a Pro-Pak option that reduces the size of the pouch greatly, but are a little bit harder to make as they need extra stirring. We tried Pasta Primavera, Chicken Terriyaki with Rice, Beef Stroganoff with Noodles and the aforementioned eggs… but reviewers were fairly negative, as most items had textural issues and didn’t grab anyone’s tastebuds. The sole dessert on our testing menu, though, their Raspberry Crumble, received thumbs up all around.
