Wouldn’t it be great if you could get take-out asian food delivered to your campsite on backpacking trips that has some kick to it and tastes fresh?
Now you can. The gourmet dehydrated backpacking food company Good To-Go has added two more gluten-free meals to their backcountry dinner menu:
I tried them out on a two-night backpacking trip and they’re both great.
Good To-Go’s Pad Thai contains rice noodles, bean sprouts, carrots, lime, eggs, peanut butter, and shrimp sauce and tastes exactly like the Pad Thai you’d get at a Thai restaurant.
Their new dehydrated Indian Vegetable Korma meal is also delicious, containing numerous spices, braised vegetables, and basmati rice. Moderately spiced, it tastes freshly made and has a lingering kick.
The only down side is that G00d To-Go meals take 20 minutes to rehydrate and that the single serving packages aren’t really enough for one meal. While Good To-Go sells larger two serving packages, I stretch their single serving meals by eating them with a cup of minute rice that I rehydrate separately and then mix into the Good To-Go package. The single serving packages have enough extra sauce in them that it covers the extra rice and provides me with enough food to feel completely satisfied.
Disclosure: Good To-Go provided Philip Werner with sample meals for this review.
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Sometimes if I drive to the trailhead after work on Friday, I’ll pick up thai takeout to bring in for the first night or even a whopper value meal. Lots of garbage to pack out though. Nice tip about bringing some extra rice to top off some of the lighter dehydrated meals.
I had Asian or Indian food in 50 percent of my mail drops.
Thank you for a good review, what is of importance to me these days is the amount of Salt in these products and actual Serving Size and how much I am paying for a single Serving.
Some of my recently used products left me thirsty, hungry and feeling foolish for having spent $5 – $6. dollars for less than a cup size portion. The Industry knows because Backpackers have been complaining for 40 years that I am aware of that their “Serving Size” is very inadequate for refueling a Hiker who has be humping Hills all day. That is one of the reasons the Military developed the current MRE with over 2,000 Calories in one Packet. You need to refuel at that level if your are to sustain your energy level. I know coming off the John Muir Trail 20 years ago we hit that Resturant in Bishop and the amount of food I personally devoured amazed me.. I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner at one sitting plus Dessert…
I have found that there are over 50 products now on store shelves from Potatoes to Meat that can be used to assemble your own meals. Sure it takes some time but I enjoy the “hunt” per se and mixing an matching. Condiments to flavor the meals are also available. Right now I am dehydrating 5 pounds of Strawberries which I found on Sale so you can also create your own from Fresh. But do not dehydrate Broccoli at the same time your drying Strawberries…. I have had some success with dehydrating my own homemade Chili, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy with Beef or Chicken or Turkey and Mixed Vegetables from my Garden as well as the fruit from my 22 semi-dwarf fruit trees. I also have two Almonds and two Hazelnuts which I hope will bear in the next two eyars so I do not have to buy expensive Nuts, which are my favorites.. I also like bulk products and meals from Packit Gourment too…Thanks for sharing…
That seems like a good idea – convert your own recipes to dehydrated.
I agree that both the extraordinary salt levels and the varying sizing are a problem. If a manufacturer thinks you need a ton of salt (~1,000mg+), then they should put it in a packet and let us adjust it by mixing it ourselves. You can’t unsalt food as easily as you salt it.
My workaround is I almost always take the meals out of the bags at home and then add other items to them to get the right mix and serving size for me. Then I repackage them with a Foodsaver, putting in any other ingredients and condiments I want.
I mix meals like Good To Go, Outdoor Herbivore, or Mary Jane’s with additional dehydrated veggies, meats, etc, and add any other ingredients and condiments I want (olive oil, hot sauce, spices, etc.) into the package. I get the balance and proportion I want.
This also does stretch the dollar cost a bit by adding bulk or store sale purchases to the meals.
I make Pad Thai and dehydrate it for the trail. Turns out fantastic! My favorite trail food. Now if I could just figure out how to dehydrate pizza! ;)
Do you have the recipe handy? I have been preparing all mine using Hungry Hammock Hanger’s recipes?.
I love their meals. They are my preferred trail dinner in the last few years. I am excited to try the new varieties. My wife does well with the single serving size. I always eat a 2 serving package and it really fills me up.
Looking forward to trying these new meals. I love the Thai curry meal. It’s quite a treat on the trail.
I recently stumbled on a food product in a local Asian grocery store and I’m wondering if anyone has any experience using it to prepare home-made dehydrated dinners. It’s called either “Sook” or “Suk,” depending, I suppose, on how the Thai characters are transposed to roman letters. Sook is dried and very finely shredded pork. From what I gather, it might be a condiment to sprinkle on a dish or it might be something that’s made to be rehydrated. I’m a bit concerned about eating pork that isn’t adequately cooked, but, if this stuff is rendered safe with boiling water, I can see some great home-made, tasty, and convenient backpacking food.
I love Pad Thai and have made my own for trail use–not the quality I’d get at a restaurant, but after hiking all day it tastes pretty good!
Backpacker also does a Pad Thai meal in two serving that has alot more cal per weight ratio. It tastes very good as well. I eat alot and it always feels me up. I will deff be trying this one to compare the two together. Thanks for the review
Philip, when you rehydrate the rice, is there much (or any) cleanup? I hate cleanup, especially if it means lighting another piece of Esbit to heat more water.
There’s a little starch left over on the sides of the pot, but it’s easy to rinse out. I do sometimes use a second esbit cube to make after-dinner herb tea and that’s usually enough to clean the pot without any scrubbing. It’s just like making instant rice at home. Same exact stuff.
Glad to see they’re adding menu items – more options are always good. My experience has been that their meals rehydrate poorly.
You just have to be patient and wait the entire 20 minutes.
I know how to follow directions, thanks.
Shouldn’t you also disclose that Good to Go sponsors your newsletter? Or maybe not even review the products of sponsors?
I don’t have any sponsors (on purpose) and Good to Go doesn’t pay me an advertising fee to appear in my newsletter. What I should do is update the section of my newsletter that says they are a sponsor – it’s outdated and incorrect. Thanks for reminding me. I terminated the sponsorships I did have a few years ago because I felt it could introduce bias into my product reviews.
Ok this latest exchange caused me to reply by saying that (1) this blog is pretty damned informative, (2) nearly every post also attempts to inform the readers about the connection between the author and the topic, eg the product reviewed, and (3) I only wish other posters on the internet were as conscientious. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the clarification. I’ve read your blog for a while, but I just started getting the newsletter. Seeing the link for the review of Good To-Go, followed by the “Please Support Our Newsletter Sponsors” with a link to Good To-Go was a little disconcerting. Mainly, I agree with Geoff.
No worries. You were right to question it. I’ve changed the newsletter heading to something that’s more transparent and accurate.
Has anyone dehydrated Indian fresh cheese (paneer)?
I have’t dehydrated it, but I have left it out to dry overnight then put it in a Foodsaver bag.
It works, but isn’t going to really last especially long that way. It was fine for a weekend trip.
I don’t see any reason you couldn’t dehydrate it: in fact, it should work better than European style cultured cheeses due to its high water content. It’s basically pressed curds: dehydrating just goes further it reducing the water content. I wonder if it would retain its shape well?
It would be the perfect thing to add to Indian or Thai style package meals.
Paneer can be dehydrated but when re hydrated it is not in same form. it gets separated due to lack of water and becomes like a blob. can be used to make Paneer bhurji .
If anyone finds a way to do paneer let me know as we are in to dehydrating ready to eat business and would love to introduce paneer items
Well good to go seems to have figured it out….
Does cheese not spoil on trail?
Not if you eat it fast enough
I tried their Smoked Three Bean Chili this weekend. It really lacked bold flavors and for the price, not worth trying again. I think I’ll buy a can of Beanie-Weenie for my next trip. :)