|
The perfect meals for short term or long term camping?
For years I’ve been packing lots of food requiring lots of cooler/refrigerator space that took an hour or more of me and Carols time to prepare and then
even longer to clean up. To make matters worse, I ended up with excess food to bring back home and even some waste.
Some time ago one of my good friends in Jeep Expeditions decided to experiment. Jim brought along several Hormel Compleats meals for one of our weekend
camping trips. I watched him take two meals from a tote box, put them in a pot of boiling water and in less than 10 minutes he was eating. In the same
time we hadn't even gotten our food on the fire yet. A few minutes later he put the wrapper, serving vessel and plastic silverware in his trash bag and
that was it.
Ever since then, we've been packing and trying Hormel meals for our camping trips. They need no refrigeration, have storage life of up to 2 years,
need no preparation other than boiling a pot of water, require little or no clean up and the best part of them is that many of them are quite tasty.
For more detailed cooking instructions/suggestions, scroll to the bottom of this page.
See what we think below of the varieties we have tried. With over 3/4's of all Dinners available to us already reviewed, we plan on having
all of the varieties reviewed and posted by the end of 2014. New reviews will be added every week or so until then.
If you see the meal and picture listed below, I have that meal in hand. If the description has a statement other than "Coming Soon" then we have tried and
there should be a review you can read by clicking on the picture of the meal. With just a few meals left to try, we should be finished with these reviews by
the end of 2014. New reviews will be added weekly.
If you have any comments you can send them to: info@JeepExpeditions.org
Click on the picture of any meal below to see the review of that meal and more !
|
|
DINTY MOORE BEEF STEW
My tasty favorite !
Click on the picture and see the review
|
|
Sliced Beef w/ Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Is it tender and tasty? Come find out.
Click on the picture and see the review
|
|
Chicken Breast w/ Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
How does this mashed potatoe entree compare with the rest ?
Click on the picture and see the review.
|
|
Chicken & Dumplings in a Savory Sauce
COMING SOON
the review.
|
|
Chicken & Noodles w/ Peas & Carrots in a Savory Sauce
COMING SOON
the review.
|
|
Beef Steak & Peppers w/ Egg Noodles & Sauce
One of my favorites on the buffets, how will this one compare?
Click on the picture and see the review.
|
|
Sweedish MeatBalls w/ Pasta & a Savory Sauce
Mmmm, mmmm, GOOD !
Click on the picture to see the review.
|
|
Beef Pot Roast w/ Potatoes, Carrots & Gravy
Another Tasty Beef Meal.
Click on the picture and see the review.
|
|
Beef Tips & Mashed Potatoes w/ Gravy
Another Beef based Hormel Meal (Gravy = yum)
Click on the picture to read the review.
|
|
Chicken Breast & Dressing w/ Gravy
It looks good, does it pass the taste test?
Click on the picture and see the review.
|
|
Turkey & Dressing w/ Gravy
How does this fast and ready meal compare to my favorite holiday menu?
Click on the picture and see the review.
|
|
Chicken Pasta Primavera in a Rich Tomatoe Sauce
We like Italian, do we like this one?
Click on the picture and see the review.
|
|
Chicken w/ Penne Pasta in a Creamy Alredo Sauce
COMING SOON
the review.
|
|
Smokey Bacon Parmesan Rigatoni in a Cream Sauce
I like bacon, I like cheese and rigatoni is one of my favorite pastas.........
Click on the picture to see the review.
|
|
3 Cheese Chicken Pasta w/ Rotini & Grilled Chicken
COMING SOON
the review.
|
|
Salisbury Steak w/ Sliced Potatoes in a rich Gravy
A savory and quick version of a family favorite !
Click on the picture to read the review.
|
|
Ravioli Stuffed w/ Cheese & Spinach in a Roasted Pepper Marinara
It's better than the stuff that comes in a can !
Click on the picture to see the review.
|
|
Cheese Manicotti in a Robust Tomato Meat Sauce
After a few disapointments on the pasta meals, this one is a sweet surprise!
Click on the picture to see the review.
|
|
White Meat Chicken & Rice w/ Carrots & Peas in a Savory Sauce
Is this an entree or a soup? You decide.
Click on the picture to see the review.
|
|
Chili w/ Beans & Tomatoes, Peppers & Spices
Southwestern Chili. Ole!
Click on the picture to see the review.
|
|
MeatLoaf w/ Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Another classic "comfort" food.
Click on the picture to read the review.
|
|
Macaroni and Cheese
A nice version of a classic comfort food
Click on the picture to read the review.
|
|
Spaghetti in a Savory Meat Sauce
COMING SOON
the review.
|
|
Lasagna w/ Cheese in an Italian Meat Sauce
What would my mother say about this one?
Click on the picture to see the review.
|
|
Roast Beef w/ Mashed Potatoes & Gravy
Another meal with beef, gravy & mashed potatoes. How does it compare?
Click on the picture to see the review.
|
|
The Final Word
So far I've posted reviews for 3/4's of the Hormel Meals we had on hand for review. Some of these meals you won't be able to find everywhere.
Understand that many stores have just a very small sampling with Super Wamarts seeming to have the best selection of the best selling ones.
Generally, I can say that there are some meals that I will not be buying for myself in the future and that includes: 1. Any meal with mashed
potatoes in it (for reasons already stated in the reviews) 2. Some meals with pasta of any sort in it (soft, mushy)(but the Manicotti & Ravioli are
both good).
My favorite meals in this section are as follows:
1. Dinty Moore Beef Stew 2. Beef Pot Roast 3. Salisbury Steak & Sliced Potatoes
To see my other Hormel favorites in the "Breakfast", "Sandwich Makers", "Snackers", "SPAM" or other catgories, please look at those
individual sections in the "FINAL WORD" at the end of the reviews.
From now on Hormel Compleats will be the primary breakfast & dinner food I’ll be taking on most of my trips with Jeep Expeditions. They have a great variety,
need no refrigeration, have a shelf life up to two years (just in case you have a few left after that next trip), require little or no prep time,
are delightfully tasty, light weight & compact and very convenient. Just drop one or more dinners in boiling water for 8 minutes, let them sit for
a minute and you are ready to eat. Clean up is a simple as dumping the water from your pot and throwing everything else away or you could burn the
plastic and paper in your campfire.
Oh yes, one more thing. The pictures on the label are like the pictures you see in any ad for any food, it always looks perfect. I have not found a
Hormel meal yet that looks like the picture on the container wrapping, but a few have been close. Some of the colors may not be perfect in my pictures
as changes in lighting and angles and even differences in the white balance of the camera can cause a change in the actual color. Don't let any picture
deter you, look at the picture on the box, and think of how tasty its' going to be and you be the judge. Trust me, if it looks bad I will tell you but
if I don't, you can count on a good looking tasty dinner when you pull off the plastic film cover.
As for where to buy your Hormel Meals, I buy mine at Walmart Neighborhood Markets or Walmart SuperCenters. The price as of Oct 2014 is $1.98 each $1
or more less than elsewhere.
|
Cook 1, 2, 3, 4 or more meals at once depending on your pot/kettle size.
|
How to cook and equipment suggestions
STOVE: I prefer the single burner butane stoves which you can buy online or at discount stores for as little as $10. Cans of butane are easy
to carry easy to insert into the stove, safe and can last for a couple of meals. I find that butane burns hotter than propane which means your water
boils faster, your food is done earlier and you are eating soonerand. The equipment is both simple to use and lighter in weight than the propane
equivilent.
POT/KETTLE:
My choice of pots would be a stainless or blue porcelan steel 2 gallon pot. You can not only use this for boiling your Hormel meals but after you can
use the water to wash up anything afterwards and/or to wash up yourself or reuse it for your morning Hormel breakfast. It's all you need to prepare your
camp dinners or breakfasts
COOKING: Bring water to a boil, drop in unopened meals and cook 9 minutes. Take meals out of the water with tongs.
Let the meal sit for a minute, peel back film top,
stir/fluff up a bit and enjoy!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*The opinions expressed in this product review are the opinions of the writer and are based on the writers tastes and preferences. The writer
may have and in most cases invited other people to participate in this review. Despite the review (favorable/unfavorable)
you are encouraged to try out any product that you might be interested in.
**Copyrighted images & trademarks for Hormel Compleats, Hormel Sandwich Makers, Hormel Snacks, SPAM Meals and other Hormel products
used throughout this web site are the property of Hormel Foods, LLC and are used for informative and identification purposes only.
**Copyrighted images & trademarks for
Campbells Chunky Soups, Chef Boyardee, Velveeta Skillet Meals, Barilla Italian Style Meals and other products portrayed and reviewed here
are the property of their respective owners
and are used here for informative and identification purposes only.
b>
|