This post is sponsored by RightOnTrek. All opinions are always my own and are never influenced by any free product I receive or relationship I may have with a company.
A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to review RightOnTrek backpacking meal service and with that, I made some suggestions. Well, folks, they listened and implemented!
Not only can you buy their meals a la carte but there are more meals to choose from!
What I am Reviewing
Today I am reviewing RightOnTrek’s Cauliflower Forest Chicken Risotto, Chicken Alfredo Pasta, Bechamel Style Mac and Cheese, and their Cheesy Mushroom Egg Scramble Backcountry Meals.
Testing Conditions
I am located in Central Texas at an elevation of 781 ft and am testing these meals in late August when temperatures average in the middle 90s during the day and mid-70s during the evening. During this test, it was 91 degrees.
I will be using my MSR PocketRocket 2 with my TOAKS Titanium 900ml Pot.
What’s New with RightOnTrek
New Meals – RightOnTrek now offers several meal options that support various diets such as keto, vegan, gluten-free, etc. Additionally, they also offer more meal choices for those that do not have any kind of diet restrictions.
A la carte Ordering – This was a big one for me. I loved their meal planner but really wanted the ability to order the meals individually. This was one of my main suggestions previously, so I am delighted to see that it was implemented!
1-Day Meal Kits – This is a pretty cool new feature. This is a branch off of their meal planner. The 1-day meal kit lets you quickly grab a 1-day meal instead of building a multi-day meal.
Environmentally-Friendly Packaging – They now package their meals in environmentally friendly packaging, which I always love to see. I am big on recycling here at the house (I pretty much drive my kids and husband nuts).
Cheesy Mushroom Egg Scramble Review
I was pretty excited to test this one out, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to as it requires you to have beeswax which is not provided. Who carries beeswax around with them?!? This is definitely something that should have been provided.
Bechamel Style Mac and Cheese Review
The RightOnTrek Bechamel Style Mac and Cheese was ranked #1 according to Backpacker Magazine. Since Clayton aka Bubbantor aka Starblazer is a Mac and Cheese Extrodinaire I decided to have him help me taste test this meal.
We had high hopes but were quickly let down.
It suggests a boil time of 3-5 minutes (it doesn’t state if you should boil on low, med, or high so I boiled over low-med to begin with). I set my timer for four minutes, but at about three minutes I noticed almost all of the water was completely gone and the pasta was starting to stick to my pot. I quickly turned off the heat that was set on low and poured in the cheese mix. It was super hard to mix, looked super unappealing, and looked nothing like the picture on the front lol.
As far as taste goes, it tasted like dry Kraft Mac & Cheese. It had the same fake cheese taste but was just drier. It definitely was not creamy in any sense of the word and nothing like homemade. Clayton said the taste was ok, but not something he would choose to eat.
Clean-up was a nightmare. I couldn’t imagine all the water I would have to waste to clean out that pot. In fact, I ended up having to soak it in hot water to get the pasta unstuck and the cheese removed.
On the positive side, it cooked up super fast.
We are giving this two out of five stars simply because it didn’t taste horrible and cooked super fast.
Chicken Alfredo Pasta Review
I am a huge chicken alfredo pasta fan, so I was super excited to try this one out. It cooked up quickly and it was flavorful. The portion size was good, however, for me, it was a tad too peppery. I’d like to see the pepper as something that could be added as an optional ingredient. I don’t handle spicy very well, so while it tasted great it’s not something my GERD would be able to tolerate. I’d also like to see the sauce a little creamier, but overall a great meal.
Cauliflower Forest Chicken Risotto Review
This is a Keto friendly, no-gluten meal that tasted amazing. The chicken, however, was super tough. My husband who originally saw this meal and said “yuck, I am not trying that” (because of the cauliflower) ate it (without knowing what it was because he had already forgotten and I cooked it without him seeing the package) and loved it. It had a lot of flavor and cooked up super fast which was really nice. This was, by far, my favorite of the three I tried. I am docking a star due to the toughness of the chicken.
What to Improve Overall
Other than what was listed above, I do have some other suggestions:
Cook in pouch – I would still like to see the option to cook directly inside of the pouch for those of us that do not like to dirty up pots or are in areas where water is limited.
More “homestyle” meal selections – Again, I would love to see more of a selection that includes homestyle cooked meals such as turkey dinner, spaghetti & meatballs, etc…
Overall Impression
Where to Buy
You can buy RightOnTrek Meals directly from their website.
Thanks for your thorough and honest review, I ate it all up, ha ha!
Seems like they have a bit more work to do. I have a suggestion if you might want to try another packaged meal review – I like the selection from Leafside as they are nutritious, contain no fake ingredients and are easy to prepare. They also do require water and some clean-up so are best for travel or camping and not backpacking. See what you think: https://www.goleafside.com/
I will check them out! Thank you!