Food Wars: Who Makes the Best Dehydrated Egg Scramble for Backpacking?

For those of you who joined us for the first few installments of our "Food Wars" series, welcome back! If you didn't catch them, you can search "Food Wars," on the main page of our blog, to get links to the previous installments. 

A quick recap:

On our trip to the Great Smoky Mountains, we decided to compare the various brands of dehydrated meals marketed to backpackers. We hoped to determine which companies produced the best-tasting meals and whether some of the more expensive offerings were worth the additional cost. We're passing our findings along to you, in hopes that they will improve your future backpacking experiences! We did not receive anything of value from any of the companies involved in the tests, so you can trust our observations to be objective.

How were the tests conducted?

We conducted our taste tests in the field. We made our best efforts to adhere to the manufacturer's instructions when preparing meals (i.e. we didn't adjust the amount of water specified by the manufacturer nor the amount of time suggested for rehydration). In the few instances where we did deviate from the instructions, we will disclose the circumstances. We both tried each product, made notes about our observations on flavor and texture, and rated each on a scale of 1 mylar pouch (worst) to 5 mylar pouches (best).

 


Image from: Mountainhouse.com

Who makes the best dehydrated egg scramble for backpacking?

While individual preferences may vary, we preferred the Mountain House Breakfast Skillet.

Which options did we test?

We compared the Mountain House Breakfast Skillet to the AlpineAire Bandito Scramble.

Why did we choose the Mountain House Breakfast Skillet as our winner?

A "2-serving" pouch of the Mountain House Breakfast Skillet weighs in at 3.7 ounces (106 grams). A pouch contains 510 calories and 28 grams of protein. To prepare the Mountain House Breakfast Skillet, you will need 9 minutes and 1 and 1/4 cups (390mL). A pouch retails, through Mountain House, for $9.99.

While the freeze dried eggs aren't our favorite, the sausage, peppers, and onions do create a flavorful meal. The statistics for these two options were very comparable, so this decision primarily comes down to flavor and texture. In this case, Mountain House's ability to provide reliable texture wins the day. 

Image from: Katadyngroup.com

Is the AlpineAire Bandito Scramble a good option for backpacking?

A "2-serving" pouch of the Bandito Scramble weighs 3.5 ounces (100 grams). A pouch delivers 480 calories and 28 grams of protein. One cup (237 mL) of water and 10 minutes are needed to rehydrate the Bandito Scramble. We found the current price is approximately $10.99 at popular U.S. retailers.  

The consistency of AlpineAire meals was an ongoing issue for us, throughout our testing. Even with the measuring mechanism provided on the side of the packaging, the AlpineAire meals repeatedly came out soupy. While the flavor of this dish wasn't bad, we're saying "No, thank you," to breakfast soup. One other thing to note: the flavor profile of this dish was also quite similar to AlpineAire's "Mexican-Style" Grilled Chicken Bowl. Especially for longer hikes, where you can get worn out on certain flavors, you may want to keep in mind the similarity in flavors of certain products.

As always, we hope this installment of "Food Wars" will be helpful when planning out meals for your next backpacking trip!  

 

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