Food Reviews, Desolation Wilderness trip: Happy Hour Snack Pack from Packit Gourmet

Last Tuesday, Dennis and I were babbling on Facebook when I realized we were coming up on a 3 day weekend without plans. While the Diablo patch just hit and I was looking forward to playing games, neither Dennis nor I liked the idea of fermenting all weekend on the computer. There would be plenty of time to play games during the week, but only one 3 day weekend before Fall weather hit.


So we set to the task and tried to find a backpacking destination not too far away, with available permits, on an easy enough route to not aggravate his ITBS. By some stroke of incredible luck, there were 2 lone permits available for Desolation Wilderness leaving from Twin Lakes trailhead, an easy 3.5 hour drive from San Francisco if we left midday. We decided to hike in to Island Lake on Friday, go up and over the Crystal Range cross-country, meeting with the trail just before China Flat, loop around to Doris Lake, then take the option of either coming home Sunday, or backtracking a bit and spending the final night at Taylor Lake. This would be our first time going off-trail, but we were pretty confident because the map was clear, the area was filled with little lakes and peaks to use as landmarks, and the grade seemed forgiving. I was excited. This would be the perfect opportunity to test out some pre-made trail food!

Night 1:  Packit Gourmet Happy Hour Snack Pack

The prepared dips: "chorizo" (soyrizo) bean dip, queso fundido type dip, and salsa

Dips, chips, and margaritas

Margarita-in-a-bag

Chorizo Bean Dip:

Flavor, Nina: 6.8/10 "full-flavored, hearty" 

Flavor, Dennis: 6/10 "chipotle flavor is too strong, consistency too thick" 

Ease at camp: 10/10
Heat level: 6/10 

Times made: 1

Salsa:

Flavor, Nina: 8/10 "for trail salsa, this is definitely tasty, but not comparable to fresh salsa" 

Flavor, Dennis: 7/10 "good, tastes like jarred salsa" 

Ease at camp: 10/10
Heat level: 6/10 

Times made: 1

Queso Fundido:

Flavor, Nina: 6.8/10 "tastes like macaroni and cheese powder, but it's good, rich and spicy" 

Flavor, Dennis: 7/10 "tastes like powdered cheese but good" 

Ease at camp: 10/10
Heat level: 7.5/10 

Times made: 1

Margaritas, prepared with Corallejo Reposado 
We split the pitcher into two batches, each around 30 ounces once prepared. On night 1, we followed the recipe, which was too sweet. Night 2, we lowered the amount of powder, instead using about 75% of the recommended amount and increased the salt/TrueLime, which was much better. These ratings are based on the Night 2 preparation.

Flavor, Nina: 9/10 "Damn fine. I wouldn't turn this away if I were served it at a cantina" 

Flavor, Dennis: 8/10 "Okay, now this is pretty good. Doesn't taste like a fresh margarita, but it's comparable to a good margarita mix." (up from 6 when prepared as directed) 

Ease at camp: 10/10

Times made: 1

Summary:

Overall rating: 7/10

Ease at camp: 10/10

Price: $20
Would buy again: Yes

Best for: a fancy surprise mid-trip, as an appetizer for 4, or a lunch-sized meal for 2.

Praise: fun, interesting, festive, creative

Criticism: unhealthy, salty, lots of trash

Notes:
All in all, this was a fun mix of food, not good enough to crave/eat at home but would still order it again for a special occasion. To finish up the day after a 3.5 mile, 1500 foot elevation gain kick in the weekday butt, the Happy Hour Snack Pack was sufficient to satisfy but not stuff two adult appetites.

I'd get the salsa and margaritas again for sure. Margaritas were delicious and refreshing, and one "pitcher" of powder is sufficient for two people, two separate nights, and several drinks each. The salsa really does resemble, in flavor and texture, a good jarred salsa which is about as much as you can ask for in the backcountry. Queso fundido was tasty, and I got over the macaroni-and-cheese-powder effect pretty quickly, but it felt very unhealthy. Chorizo bean dip was good as well, but I think this would be very easy to replicate and improve: better spices, organic bean flakes, dehydrated soyrizo, maybe a little spice butter.

That said, I might have been more grateful and less picky if I had this on day 4+ of a week-long trip. For what it's worth, this is an excellent and valiant effort at recreating a cantina happy hour spread and 99% of people would be extremely satisfied. For me, I feel like the main redeeming quality of this meal was its inspiration potential. I'm definitely going to spend some time working on my own bean dip.