FOR those of us who take on adventure into the far-flung wilderness for extended periods of time, we all have the problem of taking along delicious meals that you look forward to eating.
Like so many others, I would rely on the dehydrated meal packets, and these were meals that I honestly didn’t look forward to eating.
Sitting around a campfire I have listened to other people’s comments as they tuck into a rehydrated meal. Comments such as “they are not too bad”, “it’s average” or “it tastes like cardboard”. I’ve carried dehydrated meals as emergency rations in my boat and behind the seat in my 4WD for many years… not anymore.
The last lot of dehydrated meals I bought were described as gourmet, with such names as beef bourguignon, Mediterranean lamb and black olives, wild mushrooms and lamb risotto. While the names sound appealing, the truth is they were quite unappealing to my palete.
Several years ago I came across On Track Meals. These meals are not dehydrated but ready to eat meals in flat foil pouches. I was instantly interested as I had come across similar foil pouch meals briefly in the late ‘70s where the local camping shop had some plain silver foil pouch meals, which from memory, were sliced beef in gravy and sliced lamb in mint gravy.
These tasted fabulous but unfortunately didn’t stay around for long. The founders of On Track Meals make for interesting reading. Rich is an expedition leader on the infamous Kokoda Track and other amazing places throughout the world.
Meanwhile his brother Andrew was a Green Beret in the special forces, having served in Afghanistan. Surely these guys would know about delicious food out bush?
My first box of On Track Meals arrived and I was suitably impressed with their compact flat pouch; these meals are known as MRE’s which stands for Meal Ready Eat.
I had ordered slow cooked steak, sweet and sour pork, all day breakfast, coconut ginger chicken and tender lamb and pearl barley. My first tasting of these meals confirmed that I would be buying more of these. They tasted amazing! I soon placed another order for a box of meals for my travels throughout Australia.
Up until now, I had just been buying these meals for my trips by 4WD, motorbike, boat, pushbike and backpack because they tasted so good, but now my interest deepened in the company. It turns out the company was at the forefront of helping victims of recent national disasters such as flooding.
On Track Meals now supply many government organisations such as NSW Rural Fire Services, Queensland Rural Fire Services, NSW Parks, Australian Federal Police, National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre. Disaster Relief Australia and NSW State Emergency.
On Track Meals also supply “culturally sensitive” ration packs to the indigenous communities.
To recap, On Track Meals are Australian made and owned and they are fresh, not dehydrated or freeze dried. The retort technology keeps meals fresh for three years.
On Track Meals are easily heated up by placing the pouch in boiling water, the water could be salt water or muddy water as it is just used to transfer heat to the meal in the pouch.
I personally just open the meals and heat them in a pan on the fire, but the company also sells flameless heater bags which heat the meals with a chemical reaction.
The foil pouches also lend themselves to placing in the motor of your vehicle / bike as the engine soon heats these meals to a perfect temperature. If you haven’t discovered these meals, I implore you to try them. The range of products continue to grow; I continue to purchase these meals for my adventures and look forward to each meal.
The company also caters for those who are gluten free, diabetic, vegetarian, meat eaters etc. A few 24 hr ration packs stowed in the boat or 4WD for emergencies is a great idea or grab a three day go bucket.
Check out the full range on the website at ontrackmeals.com
Check out On Track Expeditions at ontrackexpeditions.com.au
