Gear Review: Munk Pack Oatmeal Pouch

As an ultra marathon trail runner, I'm always looking for ways to refuel during my long training runs. We're talking runs that are anywhere from 10 to 30 miles. I'm always trying new things during my training so that come race day, I have everything dialed in and I know that what I put in my body will cooperate under that kind of physical stress.

A month or more ago, the folks at Munk Pack asked if I'd like to give their squeezable oatmeal a spin. I jumped at the opportunity. It was something new to me. Usually it's either, waffles, gels, chews, or granola bars that get me through my long runs. Having oatmeal on the trail sounds like a dream come true. It wasn't long before the squeezable pouches of heaven arrived on our doorstep.

Book Review: Dutch Oven - Cast-Iron Cooking Over an Open Fire by Carsten Bothe

I love cooking over the campfire. I've adapted so many household recipes that I've seriously considered writing my own book. I don't usually use my Dutch oven, but I have one. Sadly, it looked like this previous to this review (not too bad, really, but it needed some love):

Obviously, I didn't have a clue as to how to take care of it. I was treating it like a household skillet. It takes more than cold water and a small wipe down with oil every once in a blue moon to take care of something that you use over the open fire (and burn things in constantly). I have had such a sad experience with my Dutch oven that I've punished it by sentencing it to near solitary confinement in the darkness of the back of the cabinet. (It is kept company by my unused Foreman grill.) I would occasionally take it camping and burn biscuits and applesauce-gingerbread cake. I've successfully baked biscuits (from a can) maybe once.

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.

Five Year Blogiversary Giveaway Day 2 (Food)

Welcome everyone to Day 2 of our Blogiversary Giveaways. Today we are thinking about food and how good it is after a tough day hiking, backpacking, or even camping. We have a few great food items which are perfect for the pack or while camping. A special thanks goes out to Hungry Hikers and Vasque Footwear for sponsoring today's prizes. What's up for grabs you ask? Well let's get to it.

Food Review - Heater Meals Revisited

You've had a long day setting up camp in your front country campsite, then an all day hike up and down a mountain with about 1600ft elevation gain over rough terrain. When you return to camp you are tired and hungry and the last thing you want to think about is fixing food. That would entail either getting a fire going real well, or breaking out your Coleman Stove then prepping the food for cooking. Why do that when you can easily pull out a Heater Meal? That's exactly what we did during our camping/hiking trip a few weeks back. We spent the morning setting up camp and then went for a 6+ mile hike. When we returned, the last thing we wanted to do was cook.

Enter Heater Meals self heating meals. These things are a breeze to cook. They come with a patented self heating package that activates with water, and no you don't have to heat the water. If you remember a while back we reviewed Heater Meals: Zesty BBQ Sauce and Potatoes with Beef. This time around Robin had the Green Peppers & Steak while I had the Pasta Italiana. As I said before, these things are a breeze. The meals come complete with seasoning packets, salt and pepper packets, the right amount of water to activate the heating package, utensils for eating, and napkins.

Backpacking Front Country Camp Style

For the past few weeks I've really been bugging about going backpacking, and last week was no different. After two weekends of having to do things around the house instead, this week I wasn't taking "No" for an answer. Everyday since last Monday I'd check the weather forecast to see what the weather was going to be like and it was looking promising. Finally by Friday morning I had Robin convinced of the idea. That afternoon she started gathering up everything we were going to need. By the time I returned home from work that evening it was time to head out to Bass Pro Shops for a couple things we still needed. When we returned we started packing our packs with everything we were going to need for a night and two days in the woods.

A couple of hours later and we were trying on our packs and weighing ourselves. Our packs were both too heavy (although I think I can do 30lbs. no problem. Robin, on the other hand, is one of those gram weenies :P and wasn't going to settle for anything much over 15lbs.). So there we were going through our gear trying to lighten both loads and still have what we needed. I think I eventually got my weight down under 30 pounds and Robin had got her's down to about 18lbs. This is where things went south for the backpacking trip.

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.

A Surprise Bubble Bursting

Tim had plans for a hike this weekend. I hate to burst his bubble, but:

I think the raspberries have other plans.

A weekend spent on Flint Ridge picking buckets of scrumptious, ripe, wild, red raspberries to begin in less than 24 hours!

Well, the least he can donate is a day of his time... right?!?

Hamster Tested, Mommy Approved

We're always on the lookout for new, lightweight trail snacks. Dry granola bars get old after a while, and our taste buds love to try new things. So, while out picking up some emergency cat-bomb-box-grit, we spotted individual sized bags of Brothers-All-Natural Crisps.

These real fruit, freeze-dried snacks contain no additives or preservatives, are 100% all natural fruit, and are offered in a 1/2 cup serving bag. We picked up Pineapple (weighing in at .53 oz) and Apple Cinnamon (.35 oz) for 78 cents per package. The package itself is a little large for the product, in my opinion. It's about the size of my hand, which also happens to be about the space available in my day pack. I was able to fold them down to about half the size, but I'm afraid the brittleness of the fruit crisps may not hold up to actual packing the product in the wilderness. I can imagine opening it up to find only fruit dust.

To really test them though, we enlisted the help of a specialist of sorts. If there's one little creature that knows no dried fruit boundaries, it's Ms. Coo. She really is a picky little hamster though, and if she doesn't eat it, stuff it, or beg for more, then it's not worthy of being eaten by humans.

When we first woke her up, she was a little surprised by the fancy little packages. It was obvious, even with her sense of smell, that no aroma was seeping from the contents. She ignored them initially. I like this. Means the bears (ahhhh!) can't smell my pineapples a mile away.

Once opened though she gave us that glorious hamster glare - the one where she says, "For me?! Really?!"

Tim pulled a pineapple piece out and we didn't even have to wait for her response. She immediately began chowing down. After a few bites, she stuffed the whole thing in her cheek for later.


Tim and I taste tested one, and loved them! The texture and flavor of the pineapple is amazingly... well, like pineapple. It's not chewy, sticky, or gummy. It's dry, but moistens up when it hits your tongue. Like M&M's, it melts in your mouth!

So the pineapple passed the Q test. Now it was time to try out the apple.



Apple happens to be one of Q's favorite fruits. When we opened the bag of apple and tossed it down for her, she immediately went nuts trying to get in the bag!






She pulled out a few pieces, stuffed a couple immediately, then nibbled on a third. This was a definite pass. In our opinion, the flavor was just as good as the pineapple, but the texture was a little lacking. It was kind of like chewing on air. I think I could handle this though, as the flavor definitely outweighs any light-as-air texture problem.

The bags are not resealable, and leaving the remainder in the open air left them a little chewy after about an hour. Plus, as with most freeze-dried products, once you get to the bottom, it's nothing but tiny crumbs.

But for as cheap as they are, as tasty, and as lightweight, I think we might have to give these little guys a go on the trail. We'll let you know how it goes. So far though, Ms. Coo has definitely given them her seal of approval!

"Give me more you silly bag!" ~Q

Disclaimer: Robin and Tim bought "Brother's All Natural Crisps" to test and review here on Appalachia & Beyond. The opinions expressed above are their independent thoughts and experiences.

From the Backyard

Explored the backyard this beautiful afternoon taking "inventory" of everything coming to life, and thus all the work that will need to be done.

There's a million and one baby box elders that will need to be plucked.
Here's the "one."

The strawberries are starting to spring back to life. Going to have to trim them up and cut off any new runners soon.

Our tiny azaleas have started to bloom. They'll need to be fed some acidic vitamin goodness.

The "Sweet Williams" are blooming, and I can smell them as soon as I walk out the back door (as long as my Claritin-D has kicked in). I don't think that's really what they're called, but everyone I know calls them that - so I guess we'll just chalk it up to being Appalachian. They also pronounce Clematis vines as "Clem-nis."

The red raspberries have leafed out. We cut them back every year. They keep taking over.

Here's a very small portion of the majestic "Raspberry Forest" in the backyard. About half of our five acres consists of wild red raspberries.

The dandelions have taken over, too. They're even growing out of the rocks!

The honey bees don't seem to mind. It's nice to see them out and about! Come on honey bees! Survive!!

The grass was climbing up my legs. Tim's already mowed once this year. Guess I know what he'll be doing tonight.

Clover and I decided to take a minute to check our hot houses where we attempted to overwinter some vegetables.

There was so much condensation! And you could see the green peeking through the plastic. I knew it was probably all weeds.

So, I think my heart skipped about four beats when I opened the plastic and found baby lettuces! Not only did the seedlings we planted survive the winter, but now they're growing strong (amongst the weeds) and we're ahead of schedule for fresh greens.

The parsnips survived, too! They're the long stalky plants. You can just ignore those weeds. hehe

Add... to top it off and make me one proud garden mommy: the baby spinach is growing strong, too. Not all of it survived, but that's actually a good thing. With all the spacing now, maybe we'll get spinach before they bolt.

And these little flowers were taking over the greens' bed. Too bad they'll have to be pulled. They are quite pretty.

Power Outage: Supper Emergency!

Last night, we had some terrible storms roll through our area. Around 7:00, I decided it was time to cook supper. I wanted something easy to cook, but that was too much to ask for. 

Ashby cursed me by saying the second I started supper the power would go out. And she was right! At the exact moment I got to the most critical part of Kraft's new Homestyle Mac & Cheese - which by the way is just a fancy, overpriced way of making boxed Mac & Cheese (thank goodness I didn't pay full price for it!) - the power went out. 

Enter stage left:
Our trusty Coleman propane stove. 

Tim hurried and set it up out the back door for me, and I hurried and finished the fancy, gourmet, tasted-like-regular Mac & Cheese. Then I put the julienne-sliced Spam *haha* on the burner to finish frying it. 

Since it was so dark, we didn't get many photos. And Tim got in trouble anyway for being too busy with the camera and burning the Spam while I was saving my Photoshop work and shutting down my computer before my UPS crapped out on me. But the great thing: we got to eat our "gourmet-style" Mac & Cheese by candlelight. 

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.