We Taste Tested Nearly Every Backpacker's Pantry Camping Meal to Find the Best One

So, we've been eating a lot more dehydrated meals, and we wanted to find out which one is the best one. So, we went to the store. We got a bunch of Backpackers' Pantry ones cuz we knew they had a lot of variety, and we're going to try each one and rate them on a personal scale of 1 to 10. And we will see whose cuisine reigns supreme. Prepare for battle. First up, Wild West Chili and Beans. It's not bad. Texture is not my favorite. There's a little more crunchy bits than you would think for something that's beans, but a lot of spices.

Yeah, I like the flavor a lot. Texture's decent, a bit saltier than maybe I would like, but The crunchiness is a little bit weird. Like, I usually enjoy my chili a little bit soupier. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, the chili flavor is really good. Really strong, a little bit spiciness. I've actually had this once, and I did not like it. I'm going to chalk that up to me improperly cooking it when we were on the trail. Like, maybe not enough water. But, I will also say that this has a lot of fiber, so if fiber affects you It actually

A little palate cleanser. All right, cheers. Up next, Chana Masala. That has a surprising lack of flavor, and I'm not sure if it's just compared to the chili, but it's got a little bit bland. It's got some good aromatics in there, but yeah, it's not as bold as the chili, which could be a good thing, but I think texture-wise it's kind of similar where you have those chickpeas in there that have been dried, so when you're eating it, it's got a slight dryness to it, but it's decent. If I was eating this on a camping trip, I feel like maybe the first like quarter of the package would be really good, but then after a while, I'd just be like you know, the same samey taste. You just get

really bored of it. It definitely the flavor is not as in your face as the chili was. Yeah. Up next, Three Cheese Mac and Cheese. We stirred these really well, and it doesn't look like some of the cheese actually got There was like fully mixed up. Scrape powder off the edges and stuff, too. Yeah, but we followed these instructions to the T. Yeah. More than we ever do. It's almost like if you took a layer of cheese and put it on top of the mac and cheese, you know how they do that sometimes? But it tastes pretty good.

And the noodles were well cooked, so When I stirred it halfway through, it did look super watery, but does look better now. But I expected to be more like a like an actual mac and cheese. There's like the melted layer of cheese that's on it, but there's also the liquid in there, which is has a cheesy flavor, but it's still pretty liquidy. All that being said, it's actually pretty tasty. And I actually enjoyed the texture decently enough, so. I feel like if I brought that and I that's what I had to eat, I'd be super disappointed.

Cuz that's not what I would have expected. It tasted mostly like pasta to me. I didn't get that much cheese. It tasted like pasta with cheesy water. Up next, pad thai with chicken. And this requires some assembly. This is also one of my favorites. It does have a little more sweetness than I'd want, but this is like such a great backpacking meal for how much different variety you get and all the textures. It's good and it's better than I've had stuff like that before because the noodles are fully cooked now. Flavor-wise, I like the flavors. I don't know if the first thing we ate was just oversaturated, but now this feels like not as flavorful as it could be.

Still quite good. I'm kind of in the middle on this. Like it has a really good combination of flavors and I didn't taste any chicken though. Oh, I don't know if I got any on my first bite either, actually. But I like the peanut butter. I'd say this would definitely be, you know, a definitely be a good one to bring just cuz of the variety you get. But I'm a little so-so on the taste itself. It does have a tanginess to it that if you're not accustomed to might be weird, but Up next, fettuccine alfredo with chicken. That is very solid. That's the kind that I don't think I would ever complain about having.

I would agree, yeah. I was worried at first the cheesiness was going to be a little too liquidy, but it's it's great. Textures really good. Flavors are great. The only con I can think is maybe some of the bits feel a little crunchier, but honestly, it's not nothing that bothers me. Yeah. I rate that high. Yeah. It's fettuccine alfredo with chicken, and I think it delivers what that is. It feels filling. It's tasty. I feel like I would never be disappointed eating that after a long hike.

Yep. Up next, Cuban coconut black beans and rice. This feels like a pound of food. When I went open that to like pour the water in, it was just like a lot of beans in there. This is some staple food stuff. Ingredient-wise, that's very simple. It does not taste like what it looks like. It looks like super simple, but it has more flavor than I would have expected. The subtle flavors are very interesting. Although again, I feel like it would kind of lean into that territory of sameness after a bit.

Yeah. Black beans and rice has always been something where it's a very filling meal, but it's never excited me a lot. I feel like that's kind of where this is hitting. There are some good flavorful notes in there, but they're all very subtle. If you're a picky eater, that would actually probably be decent for you cuz it's just staple foods and carbs, but Mhm. There's nothing super exciting. Yeah. Up next, lasagna. And we've all had this, and this feels like that old friend who'll come pick you up from the airport.

I think what I like about this is that it's substantial, but also flavorful. Like you can get those other ones like the rice and beans that feel substantial, but they're not super flavorful. I feel like this one hits both categories really well. I used to prefer like creamy sauces over tomato sauces, but I think I prefer lasagna just a touch more than the fettuccine. Like especially on the trail, you get that tanginess and that's something that you don't really often have. Yeah. So, I think that just makes the flavors come out even more. Yeah, this one has a lot of good things going for it. The taste is on point, and it's like a substantial amount of food.

Like even when you open it up, you're like, "Oh, that smells like good. Smells good." Up next, green curry. And every time I've had this on the trail, it's been undercooked, so the noodles have always been a little crunchy. It definitely does have a green curry flavor, but it's almost like it's too salty and not quite tangy enough. Are you guys getting like a bitterness? Yeah. I don't remember that. Yeah. Hold on, let me I need another bite of Yeah, me too. This one's an enigma. There's like a slight bitter aftertaste.

It's gone from my mouth now, but I don't know, I feel like I never experienced that when I was eating it on the trail. My second bite I didn't get as much of that, but I definitely noticed that. Texture-wise, there's like a soft crunchiness to it, like not a hard crunch, but you know when you eat like a like woodier mushrooms or something like that. Like rice noodles. Yeah, yeah. Kind of a burst. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not my favorite texture, but the spice is good. Like the curryness and the spice is really good and the taste kind of like does fill your mouth at the end, but I don't

know. For some reason, it just wasn't the same as I remember. Yeah. It's definitely solid, but it's not my favorite, I don't think. Up next, mushroom stroganoff. This one I'm excited. Me too. The first thing that hits you when you open it is that classic mushroom sauce flavor. It's that same chicken masala type of It's a very solid, inoffensive yummy taste. To me, it's like the fettuccine alfredo, where it's really substantial, solid. I would really enjoy eating that. In fact, I was literally going to rate this same as the fettuccine, so Yeah, yeah.

I would say that I would always enjoy this, but I would never pick it. Mhm. That's interesting. Up next, three sisters southwestern quinoa and beans. The name of it makes it sound good. Smells good. like the flavoring quite a bit, but I think a lot of this one depends on how much you like quinoa, because quinoa has a very specific texture. So, if you're not a huge fan of that I actually really like the texture of the quinoa, but flavor-wise, it's a little subtler and not as exciting to me. I feel like it's similar to those rice and beans, where I'm like, uh, I wouldn't be super excited to eat this one.

I did like that a decent amount. I think the mixture of quinoa and rice kind of softens the just texture of the quinoa like I said I remember having one that I think was just quinoa and by the end of that I was really sick of the quinoa. But yeah, this is definitely a more subtle taste compared to like the chili or something. But it's not bad. The taste is still good enough that I could see myself enjoying it. Up next, Santa Fe style rice and beans with chicken. The first thing that's going for this is that the chicken is good. Like I feel like the chicken adds substantialness to it that the other rice and beans were missing.

It's definitely better than the other rice and beans got a little more flavor. Chicken's it does add that substantialness but it's also a little bit dry. I still feel like it's not like popping off with flavor to me. Mhm, yeah. No, I see that. I mean definitely on the better end because there's just more flavor and more uniqueness to the flavor. This actually tastes what I traditionally think of as chili or the chili that I got from the store. This weirdly tastes like the mustiness of our aunt's basement.

Like that's the thought that went through my head when I first smelled it. Yeah, I feel like Robbie if you took that and you literally just threw chili powder in it would taste like the chili that I'm used to. You know, I'm actually this is a little bit higher than I would have expected. I'm still kind of meh about it I think. Yeah, I think I am too. This is not a double blind study. Our biases are influencing each other. Up next, Kathmandu curry. It's a lot more watery than I expected.

Yeah, when we put the water in that it did look like it was too much water but we did it to specs so. This does smell a lot more like what I would expect a curry to taste like. I mean like a classic curry. Flavor wise it's kind of nothing is jumping out to me yet but the peas and potatoes are awesome. I love having like almost a fresh vegetable in there. It tastes great. the flavor like you said it's nothing crazy but there's still that hint of curry that's really nice. The texture can be a little dryish like the lentils and I do I it should have not been that watery. Like they should have put less water on the instructions. But flavor-wise I like it a lot. Flavor-wise

I like this kind of curry, this um classic curry taste. Like you said, the peas and the carrots and the lentils do work really well. But I almost feel like there should be more rice in there. Yeah. To not only soak up the water, but kind of like give you some of that starchy in-betweenness. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree. It's still good though. Like the taste is good. I wouldn't mark it down for the taste. Finally, risotto with chicken. This is the last meal.

Does look and smell good. That is very good. Do we have something that might beat out lasagna? What I like is the rice is the consistency of rice in soup. It's that type of rice, which I guess is risotto. And then the chicken is substantial. Like we've mentioned the wateringness of some floor, but this one seems just right. Like it's a very an inoffensive flavor. Meaning anybody could eat it and just be like I like this. My thoughts exactly. Like this is a very standard meal. Like what is it? It's a My one downside is I just don't like the texture of the chickens, but I think that's unavoidable with dehydrated chicken.

Mhm. Enter the heat of battle. Go for it. So we rated each meal and then averaged each score to make a bracket. This is the number eight seed green curry versus the number nine seed Santa Fe style rice and beans with chicken. The Santa Fe got a 5.3. The green curry got 6.3. Oh man, that bitterness is really strong now. I still got to go with the green personally. Oh, I was going to say after tasting them side by side, the green curry just has too much bitterness. Yeah. Actually, the Santa Fe style rice and beans is this is the one that I thought tasted like chili, right? Yeah, I would definitely go with this one.

Yeah, I'm going to have to go with the Santa Fe. The bitterness doesn't bother me that much. Santa Fe just to me is too dry and boring. Green curry is exciting and fun. I do like the spiciness, but yeah, ultimately I think that I think the rice and beans had an okay amount of kick to it. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. It's no question here. Risotto wins right out. Mac and cheese should be top tier. Yeah. Doesn't taste very good, but a lot of it was the utter disappointment of getting something called three cheese mac and

cheese and then if you were to eat that on the trail, you would be so disappointed. Yeah, you'd have to have hiked a lot of miles for that three cheese mac and cheese to be appealing. We've tried many brands of mac and cheese dehydrated meals. They're just never as good as you'd think they should be. You know that the time you made a microwave mac and cheese with boiled water? That's what I think it would taste it tasted like. a little better than that, but yeah. Okay, risotto wins. We'll talk about why this is good probably in the next round that it goes against. That's what I expected. For me again, it's no question. It's the pad thai with chicken. The Cuban coconut

rated just as low as the mac and cheese for me. This is tedious, it's boring. This is fun and exciting and tasty, so. Not only is this boring, it's also too sweet, which is not what I want from my dinner. All right. That's what I expected. I mean just off the bat, I'm going to have to go with Kathmandu curry because it's got those fresh vegetables in there and I'm not a huge fan of quinoa. It's fine, but anything grain plus bean, that's instantly going to be a little more boring than something that has fresh vegetables for me. Yeah, after tasting again Kathmandu for me. I like the texture of the three sisters better. Like I think I just wish this had that rice, but

flavor-wise and everything else Kathmandu. Tasting them together, it's not even a question. Yeah. Kathmandu curry by far. So much more flavor and so much more interesting things in there. This is as bland can be, which is surprising cuz you wouldn't expect it cuz it smells like the spice cabin. This is also like moister, I feel like. Mhm, yeah. All right. That's what I expected. For me it's no question, lasagna. Better texture, better flavor. Yeah, lasagna is wins out. It's got great taste, you know, fills you up and it's exactly what you get. Like it's with if you want lasagna, you're getting

some lasagna. though by name this might sound more exciting, this is more exciting to me. I do like the dehydrated chicken. I know you don't not a fan of that, but no question, lasagna, all of the cheeses mixing in with the nice Yeah. tomato flavor. That's what makes that good is it has the cheese on top of just the tomato. It's not just like the fact that it's, you know, pasta and tomato sauce, but it's got like um the cheese and like I don't know what it is the green herbs and spices. When you finish eating that lasagna, the cheese is like on your spoon. Like you can feel that there's some substantial cheese Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lasagna, no question. That's what I expected. The pad thai in the right situation would be my favorite. And I just I like how much different action it's got going on in there. Like this has peanut butter and actual peanuts in it. But the sweetness, I feel like wouldn't work in every scenario. Whereas this risotto, I can't imagine a scenario where I would really be against having that. But I could imagine a scenario where I had the pad thai and I'm like, "Oh, this is too sweet today. I don't want it." That's exactly how I felt when I just took a bite just now. You know, it's got the pad thai taste and the peanut butter and the chicken, but I could just see myself in some cases just being like, "I

don't really want this right now." Yeah. As well I got to go with the pad thai. I like the flavors of the risotto, but the texture is still a little too dry for me sometimes with the chicken. And like if the flavors were in the texture of that those pastas like the lasagna, I might go with that. I have to go with the pad thai still. It's just more exciting, more flavorful, better texture. You swayed me. Really? Now I'm going to go with the pad thai then. Yeah. Cuz it is much more exciting than the risotto. Even if there's the risk of me being like, "Oh, I don't want to have this today. It's a little bit too sweet." I still think I'd enjoy it.

Yeah. You know, I think I'm going to agree with you there, too. Pad thai it is. Pad thai. Yeah, that makes sense. I don't need to taste it. Kathmandu Curry, it's close, but it's just missing on certain mark like the flavor is nice, but it could be better. The texture is nice, but it's too liquidy. The lentils are a little too dry. For me, it's just the Kathmandu Curry while it has a good curry taste what you'd expect, it just would not be a satisfying meal to me compared to the fettuccine. I will say I still like the fresh vegetables in this Kathmandu Curry. That goes a long way for me, but it is amazing how nice the flavor is on something that is so simple.

Yeah, I'd say fettuccine alfredo. All right. Definitely. That's what I expected. I'll say off the bat, I'm still amazed that Wild West Chili and Beans we've rated it this high. Like just something about it I think is just interesting enough that it's kept me coming back. just popping and it's got like some spice to it. I'm noticing a pattern here, which is all the pasta ones have such a good consistency to it. And those are ending up being some of the top dogs. I like the consistency of that, but the flavor like I could take or leave that type of flavor. I like the flavor, but it is nothing special. But it is very solid too. Like no one would be upset with that flavor.

This is a tough one. I think the flavor on chili and beans is way more exciting, but I just feel like I enjoy the mouth feel of the stroganoff better than the Wild West Chili and Beans. Specifically this one. I think my one hang up on the chili is as good as the flavor is, if you're eating that whole thing, that's a lot of intense flavor. Like I said, I've I've had this before and by the end of it I was just like, man, this is like a lot. I kind of feel like I feel the same way about the stroganoff.

Oh, really? This feels like I'm chewing on a lot of very fibrous stuff. That's true. I don't know. Maybe it just doesn't click with me. I actually like that, but these are both solid. This one is maybe a little too nothing special. This one is special, but it's too much salt and flavor for the whole pack. Stroganoff, you get what you're advertised. And this one you do too, but every time I take a bite, I'm just like "Something's missing." Yeah, you know, I want to go stroganoff just so that this doesn't advance. That's what I expected. I still think it's the lasagna for me. If it took you guys to convince me to switch to the pad thai and chicken, I think the lasagna's going to win right

now cuz for me the lasagna is just an easy choice. The pad thai is really exciting, but I think I have to go lasagna as well. what's crazy about lasagna is how much character it has. Like not to sound super pretentious for a dehydrated meal, but it's got so much more going on than what you would think just from Like it doesn't even say anything else. It just says lasagna. Like what does that mean? But it's it's it's got multiple notes and flavors. seasoning. Yeah. That's what I expected. Frankly, I don't know how mushroom stroganoff got this far. Like I said, this and the lasagna are all the same basis. That's true. pasta type thing. And I think mushroom stroganoff would have a lot more appeal

hungry and after a hike. That's true. Good um but in this case, I don't think it's any question. I think the fettuccine's still going to win. Like I think what you said first is that this tagliatelle pasta is really good. In all the different ones that we've tried, that pasta is excellent. the fact that this has some peppers and stuff tomatoes it gives it a little more complexity than the mushroom stroganoff. Yeah. The mushroom stroganoff is kind of one note. It's a good note, but Yeah, the sauce on that fettuccine alfredo is really good.

Both are solid, but this has more things going on in it. In the long run, if I was eating one of these, I would enjoy that. Like this one, I'm already getting tired of it. Fettuccine it is. That's what I expected. Did anybody expect anything else though? Well, that's what's surprising is I was wondering if our favorites would just make it to the top, and they did. Yeah. And I gave everything a fair shake, but just that lasagna is just really good. I'm surprised that none of the ones that we never tried before or didn't do really well because I would have sworn that there would have been something

that we hadn't tried that just be like, "Whoa, this is really good." Yeah. Tough call. Like, I am not hungry anymore. These are cold, and that lasagna still tastes pretty good. Yeah, I'm really surprised with how good the lasagna is. We've said it probably a dozen times now in this video, but you'd think lasagna would just be boring, right? Pasta and tomato sauce and some cheese, but I don't know, something about it is just the acidity and the sweetness of the tomatoes just Like good. Like really though, like this is solid and it's delicious, but This just is bursting with that Like the tomatoes really does add that complexity that pasta base needs, I think.

I would pick this over other things that may be more interesting just because it's that good. The fettuccine alfredo, I would pick things that I like less just because they're more interesting because this can be a little bit blandish. I feel like on a long hike, four nights or more, definitely would bring one of these one of each of these at least, and then kind of like yeah, from there kind of go with something that has a bit of a drastic change of the flavor to kind of mix it up. Yeah. You win. So, the cuisine that reigned supreme? Lasagna. It's so funny that it just ended up being the one we thought it would.

Yeah. What a waste of our time. Okay, thank you for watching. Let us know how we were wrong in the comments below. Let us know what your favorite meal is as well. Make sure you like and subscribe. And if you want us to try any other brands or you have a brand to suggest us to try, also let us know cuz we are always open to trying new brands. And eating more food. I didn't really like it, but something didn't get me going. I was like looking at the ratings like I don't know if I agree with that.

Andrew can take that one home. I call it Kathmandu. I'm full after the risotto.