Lightweight food options....self heating Omeal range

Omeals....no cook tramping food...

My partner Karen and I tried something new on our tramp on the Rakuira Track, the new range of self heating meals called Omeals. Omeals are a product new to the New Zealand market and are basically like a US military MRE...you have the pouch of wet food, a water activated heating element and an outer bag to contain the meal.

Using them requires no external heating or even hot water as you simply add about a cup of cold water to the pack, add the food & unwrapped heater pack and wait as it chemically heats the food. This means you can potentially eat in the back-country without carrying the extra weight of cooker, gas canister and cooking pot....usually a saving of 500-700gms. 

No cook tramping...forgo the cooker, gas canister and cook pot!!!

There are a variety of meals available for both breakfast and main meals including gluten free and vegetarian versions. These meals are currently only available from Hunting and Fishing stores ($15 per meal) but I could see more shops carrying them as an option if the demand was high enough. 

Review of the meals I have tried from the Omeal range...

We tried a couple of different varieties of these meals including a breakfast option and two of the main meal options. Here is a list of all of the options currently available from Hunting and Fishing stores:

Hashbrown Potato, Oatmeal, Vegetable Stew with Beef, Chicken Creole, South West Chicken, Spaghetti Bolognese, Red Lentils with Beef, Cheese Tortellini with Tomato Sauce and Pasta Fagioli...

Another option: vegetarian Pasta Fagioli

There are a number of other meals but they are not yet available in this country, have a look at my comments on the meals we have tried below..... 

Southwest Style Chicken

We tried these meals as an experiment on the second night of our Rakuira Track walk...I thought it would be a good option after a tiring seven hour day. Karen chose one meal for herself and I chose one for me. My choice was the Southwest Style Chicken....stewed chicken, rice, beans, corn and other vegetables. 

It was well cooked without being over soft and you could clearly make out all of the flavor profiles of his very popular SW American style dish. The sauce is tomato based but was rich and dark with the slightest touch of chilli flavor to it. It was very nice and I would have no problems eating this one again...

Hashbrown Potatoes

We had the Hashbrown Potatoes for breakfast and unlike other all day breakfast options I have tried (Back Country and Mountain House) this one is bloody good. This hashbrown mix is really good and has distinct flavors of potato, onion, green peppers (capsicum) and bacon. It is absolutely beautiful and I have subsequently used it on two further tramping trips.

It is grated and cooked potato with additions and while intended as a main meal or meal accompaniment but it is at breakfast where it excels. I have always had problems with breakfast meals..I like porridge and muesli but it does get boring after a couple of days. I have so far paired this with salami sticks, spam and cold sausages and it is awesome with all of them. 

While this would not totally supplement the usual morning staples it is certainly another excellent no mess breakfast option when planning meals for your tramps. I will be using this into the future.....

Lentils with Beef

Karen had this for dinner as she enjoys lentils and it has a mixture of beef pieces, lentils, cubed carrots and a tomato based sauce in a thick curry like meal. It has a rich savory flavor and smells really delicious. 

The carrots and lentils were well cooked without being mush and there were plenty of chunky pieces of slow simmered beef which flaked to the fork. The flavor was strongly of tomato but with a deep beef essence, coriander, onion and garlic. It was really nice...probably better than the South West Chicken but not by far..I would buy this one again.

Are there down sides to Omeals?

There is not a lot wrong with these..generally they tick all the right boxes for nutrition, ease of use and general weight savings. They do have a number of down points mainly the waste associated with them, cost and weight of the packs.

There is a lot of waste packaging with these meals but then there is with all food and dehydrated meals in particular. They do weigh 227 gms which is heavy for a single meal but this can be partially addressed by removing the enclosed spoon, napkin and salt and pepper pack. They cost $15 which seems a lot though any dehydrated meal will currently set you back for $12-$19 anyway.

All of the commercial freeze dried meal ranges available in New Zealand

It is all about choice really....you get to choose what you will carry...this is just another option. 

These are another option when meal planning for your outdoor adventures and you should give them a try at least once to see if they fit into your tramping style and dietary requirements. I am really pleased to see these meals as another tool in the outdoor cookery chest.  I will add a review for any other meals I use from this range so make sure you check back in the future to see what other options I have sampled.