As a huge proponent of eating something fresh at every meal, I had spent a lot longer than most people in the prepared camping food aisle at REI, carefully reading and re-reading labels. It was hard to wrap my head around a meal made in a pouch, just by adding boiling water. I was going to need some strong persuasion to change my mind.
I was looking for pre-packaged options that were also considered “healthy”—that is, containing ingredients that I could actually pronounce and that didn’t contain terms like “modified” or “other flavors.” But what I soon discovered is that this type of food has come a long way, and the choices are pretty robust.
My interest in easy-to-pack, just-add-water dehydrated meals was sparked when I learned the story behind Patagonia Provisions—a line…