Freeze-Dried Food Review - ReadyWise (Formally Wise Food)

#2 - ReadyWise Cheesy Lazagna

Sampled 5/11/2021; Pasta's pretty easy for a dehydrated meal. Most pasta-based freeze-dried meals boil down to the seasoning (pun intended). This pack came in the ReadyWise Emergency Food Supply box I got for just under $30 and it came with a water filtration bottle (SWAG!) This was just one out of four meals included in the box.

The Lasagna, like the others included, is a meal for four, so, again, if you're alone during the disruption and need to tap this particular food you may be throwing some out if you don't have the container and facilities to store the left overs.

The Specifics:

• Price: $27.99 (online) for the box.
• Serving size: 4 per bag.
• Calories: 230 per serving (920 for the bag).

 

Cons:

• Again with the water! ...sort of. Four cups of boiling water were recommended. I cut that by about an eighth and it was still pretty soupy after 15 minutes. However, after I ate my first sampling and went back about 8 minutes later for more, the sauce had thickened up quite a bit. I think ReadyWise should probably increase the wait time from 12-15 minutes to a little longer.
• Taste; when it got colder. The sauce was pretty salty and when the meal cooled down the tomatoey sauce sort of congealed a bit. This texture coupled with the colder consistency was a little on the gross side. As long as the lasagna stated hot it was still pretty good.
• Some of the pasta noodles failed to hydrate all the way so there was a little crunch here and there as I ate, despite stirring and blending thoroughly during the prep process.

Pros

• Taste; as long as it was hot the pasta was pretty well flavored. I was going to sprinkle some parmesan cheese on it, but there was enough cheesy flavor that it was unnecessary.

Bonus Points:

• Swag: A water filtration bottle was included with the boxed kit.

Overall rating: 6

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#1 - ReadyWise Adventure Meal; Early Dawn Breakfast Skillet

Sampled 05/10/2021; I'm a sucker for breakfast foods in general so breakfast meals always catch my eye. This particular meal works best for camping or single-person use with only 2.5 servings and 470 calories for this volume in the bag. 

The specifics

• Price: $5.99 (Dicks Sporting Goods)
• Serving Size: 2.5 per container.
• Calories: 190 per serving, approximately 470 for the whole bag.

Cons

• Preparation: I can never seem to get the water right in these. ReadyWise instructs to use 2 cups of boiling water to hydrate, but even after the recommended 12-15 minute wait time the meal was still very soupy. I stirred again and waited another five minutes, but there was still a LOT of water left in the bag. This is not the first time I've had this issue. In fact I normally have to drain my meals of excess water before I start chowing down. Truthfully this is an issue with a lot of the dehydrated meals I've eaten, not just the ReadyWise brand.
• The meal had peppers and onions in it which remained pretty rubbery even after 20+ minutes of sitting in the hot water.
• The sausage pieces were few and far between. 

Pros

• Value: I was relatively impressed with the price. When I snagged this particular meal, the comparable Mountain House meal was $2 more expensive.
• Taste: the seasoning and the eggs were quite delicious. Even though the onions and peppers failed to hydrate very well, over all the meal was very edible and tasty. 

Bonus Points

• Packaging: If you check the images closely enough you can see that ReadyWise dropped some jokes and Camping Hack information onto their packaging. This could serve as a happy little diversion for kids if you're making the meal during a grid-down situation. 

Overall Rating: 8