I had some Blå Band sample dried meals in the cupboard for review and this week’s trip came along at the right time, the expiry date wasn’t too far away.
Lots of leftover gear from my days at Walkhighlands, I’ll be doing some of it on here when I can be arsed.
The bags I like, a shallow shape that’s easy to fill as you can see the markings inside easy enough, they sit nice and stable with a wide-ish base and you don’t get your gloves covered in dinner as even the shortest of sporks can reach in without receiving a saucy finger. They say the packaging insulates as well, I dunno though, it’s thick with a reflective inner but nothing too fancy in the material or construction that I can see.
Instructions for rehydrating the contents are easy enough, the decilitres water measurement was amusing, don’t think I’ve seen that on anything since I was at school. I stuck to the stated prep times on both meals with the bags wrapped up in my sleeping bag hood and they were indeed fully softened, hydrated and still warm enough to be enjoyed rather than tolerated.
Dinner was Wilderness Stew which is mainly reindeer chunks in rice. This was genuinely tasty, the chunks were big enough to have a wee bit of chewing and small enough to fully hydrate. There was texture all the way through and recognisable bits of veg were evident on my spoon. With McK’s triangle oatcakes, I was rather happy with dinner.
Breakfast was Apple Cinnamon Porridge, soft, warm and tasteless. It had a decent texture, no dry flakes were found after the correct prep time, but despite having all the things I like advertised as being in it, all I could taste were oats. Fine if that’s what you’re after, but on a camp morning I need a little sparkle to get my feet into cold socks.
Prices vary, in the Green Welly we spotted that these could be had for nearly £9, on the distributors site they sell direct for £6.75 for the reindeer and £5.75 for the oats.
It’s a lot of money for convenience, but the weight is good as is the prep results. I would be tempted by the stew again, I really liked that. But Quakers Oats So Simple are a fiver for four pots and they’re awesome, plus the little pot is actually a great rubbish bin at camp in in my pack – something I’ll get back to, meant to talk about this years ago.
