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Good To-Go Chicken Gumbo Dehydrated Backpacking Meal Review

Good To-Go's Chicken Gumbo is their latest dehydrated backpacking taste sensation
Good To-Go’s Chicken Gumbo is their latest dehydrated backpacking and camping meal taste sensation

Good To-Go’s latest dehydrated camping meal is a savory New Orleans Style Chicken Gumbo made with okra, chicken, and rice with a mild kick.It’s gluten free and takes just 15 minutes to rehydrate in the bag. The spice comes from smoked paprika powder, ancho chili powder, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, but it’s really not hot, just flavorful.

Chicken Gumbo
Chicken Gumbo

The Chicken Gumbo single serving size only has 330 calories, but like all of Good To-Go’s dehydrated meals, it generates extra sauce, which you can fortify with extra ingredients. I usually cook an additional cup of instant rice on the side and mix it in with Good To-Go’s Thai Curry, Indian Vegetable Korma, and Korean Bibimbap meals to add extra calories and bulk to my dinners. You can also buy their 2-serving packages if mixing in additional ingredients is too much work to contemplate, but their sauce is just so fabulous that my added rice makes sure that not a drop is wasted.

About Good To-Go

If you’re not familiar with Good To-Go’s camping and backpacking meals, I’d encourage you to try them out. They’re basically the equivalent of eating ethnic takeout on the trail, which can be a nice change of pace from the freeze-dried/ salt-packed Americana sold by Mountain House and the other US camping and prepper food giants. Owned and operated by a husband and wife team from Maine, they’re the foodie equivalent of a cottage gear manufacturer, although their products are a lot less durable because they get eaten so quickly!

Choose from a wide selection of yummy meals:

Disclosure: Good To-Go provided the author with a sample meal for this review.

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14 comments

  1. Love their meals! To me, it’s worth the extra cost to change up meals on the trail from time to time. My favorite is the Thai Yellow Curry!

  2. They’re just GOOD! I’ve been adding chicken to the herbed mushroom risotto.

  3. Good-to-Go meals are my favorite, bar none. I could eat their Marinara with Penne almost every night on the trail, and their Smoked Three Bean Chili is fabulous with rice or quinoa. I always cook them a bit in a pot before letting them sit for the usual amount of time because I do this with all dehydrated food. It makes it taste much better, and the beans are always cooked through.

  4. Turns out you can visit their store front in Kittery, ME. Hoping to stop by soon and pick some up.

  5. Love love LOVE Good to Go meals. I do find that they don’t always rehydrate quite as throughly as I would like… maybe it’s the effect of a few thousand feet of altitude. Phil, any pro tips for ensuring complete rehydration of these (and other) freeze dried meals? (I mean, beyond simmering in a pot?)

    Tangentially: packets of red chili peppers from local pizzeria are a godsend for spicing up any trail meal. Bear spray also works in a pinch ;-)

  6. I’ll have to try them out, another great company is Pack it Gourmet, they have some delicious meals

  7. I have Lyme Disease and cannot eat gluten or corn. Good to Go Foods rock for me. Yes, I find you need to stir the meals half way through and cook a bit longer. Thai Curry is fabulous. Cannot wait to try the Gumbo!!!

  8. I had the Pad Thai and Thai Curry on a recent two night trip. They were both very good, but probably not a good choice for anyone that is averse to spicy food.

  9. These folks make some good stuff! Just had some of their chili (with caramelized onion!) for the first time on my Pemi Loop hike. Just as good as the other meals from them that i’ve tried. A lot of these kinds of pre-packaged trail meals need some jazzing up to feel complete and satisfying—tuna packet or some extra veggies (check out Just Veggies), or extra seasoning—but these are good all on their own. I do find that they benefit from a little extra cooking than the package recommends.

    Kind of wish they’d make single-portion packs for solo hikers, though. Manufacturers often exaggerate how much a “portion” is, but these are solid meals for two people, unless both people are especially large and/or ravenous. But, carrying a small, sealable container, a solo hiker can have leftovers for lunch the next day.

  10. Based on these glowing reviews, I tried the Chicken Gumbo on my three less-than-discriminating backpacking buddies. We all agreed this was the worst dehydrated meal we’ve ever tried to consume. Totally inedible – terrible taste, ocre that was rubbery (after giving it extra reheating time) and tough rice. Our conclusion is that folks from Maine shouldn’t attempt to cook creole!

  11. Have eaten lots of FZD foods over the years. The Gumbo is awful. All heat, no discernible or pleasurable flavor. Dreadful, period.

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