Gear Giveaway - Rokit Fuel Oatmeal

Just yesterday we reviewed Rokit Fuel Oatmeal. Now that we have your taste buds all fired up and ready to go, here's your chance to try these awesome all natural oatmeals for yourself. One lucky reader of Appalachia & Beyond will receive a four pack of single serve Rokit Fuel Oatmeal. This four pack contains one of each flavor we reviewed: Cherry Almond, Stud Muffin, Pumpkin Chocolate, and Chocolate Dream.

How do you get in on this action? Simple, just use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. It is mandatory to leave a comment in order to enter and unlock all the other extra entry options. If your on a smart phone and don't see the comment form, the it would appear that our Disqus comment platform isn't working on your phone's browser. If this is the case be sure to get to a computer and get entered. Also if you are one of those who can't leave a comment on our Disqus comment platform, let us know so we can research what's going on with that.

So here's the other info: The contest will run from 12:01am EST Tuesday, December 4, 2012 and will close at 11:59pm EST Saturday, December 8, 2012. We will pick a winner soon after the giveaway closes and will announce the winner on our Facebook page as well as on the Rafflecopter widget. So without further ado...good luck to you all.

Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rokit Fuel Oatmeal - Gear Review

There's nothing like a good hot bowl of oatmeal in the morning when you're out camping especially on a chilly morning and you're warming your bones by the fire with a nice hot cup of coffee. It fills your belly and warms your soul. Most days it's usually just a packet of instant oatmeal, unless you're a culinary wizard with a dehydrator and have bagged your own recipe. Of course if you want something other than plain old instant oatmeal packets you can always try out Rokit Fuel oatmeal.

Rokit fuel oatmeal is an all natural alternative to regular instant oatmeal. Rokit Fuel Oatmeals are made with anywhere from 7 to 15 whole foods.  There are no soy, dairy or other isolate products and are all natural and fit for a vegan.

Duraflame® Campfire Roasting Logs™ Giveaway

We've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. Add in the hot weather keeping us mostly indoors and that is why you haven't really heard much out of us. We just finished up with a yard sale this past weekend so unless you want a post about that (we put our old junk stuff in the yard and people bought our old junk stuff) or about our time out at our Aunt Patty's pool, then I guess a good giveaway will have to do. :P

Duraflame® Roasting Logs™ Review

We were recently asked if we would like to try out Duraflame®'s new product, Campfire Roasting Logs™. We do have a fire pit out back, and we spend a lot of summer and fall evenings out there relaxing after sunset. With Bug around though, we hadn't had very much "relaxing" time. This particular evening was no exception. Bug's bedtime had come and gone, she had fought sleep for two hours, and we had finally won the battle. After a long day and with two bored teenagers in the house, we decided it was time to kick them (and ourselves) outside for a little R&R by the fire. The girls decided they wanted S'mores, and it was then that we remembered we needed to do this review. Duraflame® had been kind enough to not only send us a Campfire Roasting Logs™ pack, but also a S'mores Kit to go with it.

A Red Raspberry Weekend

We have been up to our chins in raspberries since Saturday. As you may have read, the raspberries were ready for picking, and they won't wait on you! So, we spent all weekend finding and picking ripe red raspberries on Flint Ridge.

Saturday didn't go so well for the picking. We had done work around the house, and by the time we made it to the patch, the mosquitoes had woke up. They were snacking on us big time, and we decided to give Sunday morning a try instead.

Review: Heater Meals & GoGo Squeez Applesauce

Wait no more! The review on the Heater Meals that all of you have been on the edge of your seats waiting for is finally here. We wanted to know, as well as a lot of you, if it was worth toting the extra weight for a nice, hot backcountry supper. So for lunch, and in the spirit of the outdoors, Tim and I tested the Heater Meals: Zesty BBQ Sauce & Potatoes with Beef out on the back deck.

Although we hadn't exerted as much energy as we would have on the trail, our Monday morning had been hectic and the Rice Krispies we'd had for breakfast were long gone. We were hungry! At this point, I realized in the backcountry I would have two options - be tired and take 10 minutes to dig around in a pack and cook something then clean up, or be tired and throw a heater meal in a self-heating pouch then put all the trash back in it. The latter was looking promising already.

Upon opening the box, the meal was enclosed in a plastic tray. The self-heating pouch was folded inside, as well as a pre-portioned pouch of water, spoon packaged with a napkin, moist towelette, a spice pack, salt, and pepper.

The instructions on the box were very clear and easy. Open the box, insert the meal with the film side on the heater pad, add the water, seal the pouch with the resealable tape attached to the pouch, stick back in the box (optional), and wait 10-12 minutes.

After adding the meal to the pouch, we poured in the water. Within 20 seconds it was already steaming up and getting very hot. It was almost too warm to seal, and the steam was spouting out of the fold. Tucking it inside the box wasn't as easy, as the pouch was becoming very hot. But we got it, and there it sat - in the box - while our bellies grumbled and frowned.

So I decided we'd try out the GoGo Squeez AppleApple Applesauce while we waited. I love the name of that stuff! It's just too fun saying, "Let's slurp some AppleApple Applesauce!" There's other flavors, too: AppleStrawberry, AppleCinnamon, AppleBanana, and ApplePeach. They all sound promising to me, but I'm an applesauce junkie. I purchased a box of four individual servings at our local Big Box Mart for around $2.50.

The AppleApple Applesauce (*giggle* I had to!) was amazing in taste. It's a no sugar added, 100% fruit, spoon-free treat. It comes in a resealable pouch with a slurrrrrrping spout. I thought it would be too sour for Tim, but he thoroughly enjoyed it as well. It definitely brings out the kid in you. But I found two drawbacks to this tasty, little treat. Slurping down that 3.2 oz only had me wishing for more applesauce! All of a sudden, you're at that point where the applesauce is the best thing in the world, and it's all gone. *frown* Except for that little tiny bit left in the tube that you find yourself working way too hard to get at. I think I tried everything in the world, from slurping at a different angle, to sucking the daylights out of it, to trying to fit my tongue in that thing - and nothing would work. My pinky finger wouldn't fit either. So, for my final analysis, it'd be excellent if they made them in big-kid sizes.

But my attention was quickly turned to the Zesty BBQ Sauce & Potatoes with Beef warmed now enough to make our bellies smile. So we carefully removed the heater pouch from the box, and tore open the film to reveal what looked to me like a mess of beef stew in a red sauce (and that's me being nice on the description). To be honest, it was a little scary. I have finicky taste buds, and now that I'd seen it, I was worried.

Tim grabbed a fork out of the kitchen while I opened the utensil pack. Then, we both gathered around the tray and let the aroma reach our noses. It smelled a lot like someone had added BBQ sauce to can of Chef MSG Ravioli - minus the metallic smell. It tasted a lot like that, too.

It was hot though, and it wasn't inedible. Matter of fact, if my well-stocked kitchen hadn't been located inside the door directly behind me, it wouldn't have bothered me one bit to gobble down every bite. We opted to not add the Papa's Perfect Salt-Free Seasoning that it came with. We tried it out of our palm, but neither of us thought it was anywhere near "Perfect".

We did add the salt and pepper though, and Tim gave the meal a thumbs up after this. 

I decided it still needed something, and added some Ritz crackers. That made it even yummier!

In all, we really like the meal. It performed just as the manufacturers claimed. The heater pouch worked great, and the food was piping hot when we took it out. When we were finished sharing, we were both full; although on the trail, one meal would not feed two. It would, however, suffice for one person especially if you had something to go with it.

We're going to get another flavor next time we're out towards the Bass Pro, just to make sure they don't all taste the same.

Final thoughts on the Heater Meals: Zesty BBQ Sauce & Potatoes with Beef: It would be absolutely scrumptious on the trail. I've tasted worse things, that's for sure! It beats the pants off of some frozen meals like Smart Ones. And definitely going to be more filling than something like Ramen Noodles. And at a whopping 400 calories per serving, it'd definitely be a good calorie replacer. I, personally, think it's worth both the wait and the... err... weight. The 10 minutes flew by, and I know I wouldn't mind carrying the extra weight just to have this convenience. Plus, the trash packed up so nicely in the resealable heater pouch! You've got to love easy cleanup!

Disclaimer: Robin and Tim bought the "Heater Meals" and "GoGoSqueeze Apple Sauce" to test and review here on Appalachia & Beyond. The opinions expressed above are their independent thoughts and experiences.

MSR PocketRocket Review

In backcountry camping, it seems a canister stove is the new black. They are compact, reliable, lightweight, and easy to use. Our little backcountry canister stove of choice was the MSR PocketRocket. It's tiny, weighs in at only 3 ounces (4.2 when it's in the container), and is incredibly efficient for its compact, fit-in-palm size.

The unit itself looks like some kind of medieval torture device. When you take it out of the canister, you screw it onto a fuel canister, open the serrated pot supports, turn the fuel adjuster and light it with a match or lighter. The maximum diameter for a pot according to the owner's manual (what can I say, I'm a girl - I read these things!) is 8 inches. After cooking, turn the stove off and let it cool before attempting to remove it from the canister. Then fold up, and store away. Simple enough, right?

Now for the more technical details (aka "put your thinking caps on"):

MSR doesn't list BTU ratings on their website, but they do claim that this little guy will boil 1 liter of water in under 3.5 minutes. If my math is right and assuming 70° water, that would mean that 1 L of water at 70 degrees Fahrenheit being raised to boiling (212°F) would require approximately 5,287 BTUs (assuming 100% efficiency which we know is not going to be the case). So, if we also assumed 30% efficiency, we'd need to nearly double the time to 7 minutes or boost the output closer to 10,000 BTUs in order to bring 1L of water to a boil within the time MSR claims. I have seen where other PocketRocket owners have suggested a BTU rating of up to 11,000. Personally, I thought that was probably a little optimistic, so we put it to the test.

Tim took the stove out on the deck this evening. It was 37°F without any wind, which sounds like a pretty good night to assume 30% efficiency. He lit the stove and placed 1L of 70°F water on to boil. It took 6 minutes and 45 seconds to reach 212°F. So, I don't know what variables MSR used to calculate their specs, but even after a few tries, we were never able to reach boiling in under 3.5 minutes. That would mean, in essence, that the stove was only putting out approximately 5,000 BTUs (assuming 30% efficiency) and that I was correct in assuming we'd have to nearly double the time.

Fuel, of course, does make a difference, and we were using Jetboil fuel in the 100gram size canister. It claims the isobutane/propane mixture will boil 10 L. We didn't test this claim, but after the initial boil test, I'm not sure this is likely. I'd like to try that out soon, and maybe a different brand of fuel just to make sure. I don't see much difference between the Jetboil fuel and the MSR fuel. Both types have the isobutane additive, which helps maintain fuel pressure as the fuel level gets low. But it also seems like boil time increases as the fuel level gets low. It might be best to move from a 100g canister to a larger 230g canister.

Regardless, we really like our little stove. It works well, but is less efficient when there's wind. MSR sells a WindScreen on their website "for any MSR stove," but also says in their manual not to use one. So, go figure? We wouldn't mind having something to block the wind. We've had this stove for over 2 years now, but haven't used it enough to talk durability. So far, it's passed the test of time, but only more time will tell how durable it really is.

As with any type of stove, you should never operate it in an enclosed environment like a tent (carbon monoxide fumes), and you should always be careful to store your food away from your fuel. We don't have a fuel canister container, so we store ours in a zipper bag usually at the very bottom of the pack.

Disclaimer: Robin and Tim bought "MSR's Pocket Rocket" for backcountry and camping use and decided to review it here on Appalachia & Beyond. The opinions expressed above are their independent thoughts and experiences.