12 Jun Top Questions About Peak Refuel Meals, Answered
You’ve heard of Peak Refuel Meals, but MREs are expensive, so you might be wondering if they’re worth it.
A reasonable concern. But here are some of the top questions about these MREs, answered, which may help to put your mind at ease.
1. How long do Peak Refuel Meals last?
Peak Refuel warrants that its freeze-dried meals (which are made with premium ingredients including real meat) will be fresh for at least five years.
With that said, they are packaged to last much longer.
2. How do I store freeze-dried MREs like Peak Refuel?
Here’s the thing about MREs. They’re tough, and designed to offer long shelf lives, but they aren’t immune to abuse. Ideally, you’ll want to store them in cool, dry, dark conditions. Exposure to high temperatures, temperature swings, humidity, or direct sunlight can all degrade them or result in a reduction in quality.
The more you adhere to this principle, the fresher they will be when you tear them open to enjoy. Remember, cool, dry, and dark.
3. How to prepare Peak Refuel Meals?
One of the things that has made Peak Refuel Meals so popular is how easy they are to prepare.
In general, there are four steps:
- Open the pouch at the tear mark as indicated and remove the oxygen absorber (which is there to prevent your MRE from oxidative damage which would make it taste terrible).
- Carefully add hot or boiling water in the amount indicated (this may vary according to the dish).
- Stir well and then zip the pouch closed. Let it rest for the time indicated on the package (usually around ten minutes).
- Reopen the pouch, stir once more, then you’re good to go.
Preparing a Peak Refuel Meal is as easy as that.
4. Can you cook them in the pouch?
Yes, and in fact they are designed to be cooked in the pouch, adding to their convenience. This simplifies what you need to bring on the trail in terms of food prep and mess kits, etc. With these MREs, you can carry less.
5. How much water do you need to prepare one?
That depends on the recipe, but one of the things that makes these MREs so competitive is that they are designed, by recipe, to require less water to prepare than other leading competitors. So you can carry less and waste less water on food prep – a big deal because it lightens your overall weight and lets you save water for hydrating yourself rather than cooking.
6. Can you cold soak Peak Refuel?
While it’s not necessarily advisable, you can definitely cold soak Peak Refuel. Just be aware that it will take much longer and you’ll be eating a cold meal at the end of it. At the same time, cold soaking will give you the ability to shed the stove and put something else in your pack in its place – which might be worth it, depending on how much weight you want to carry.
7. Where are they made?
All Peak Refuel Meals are not only made, but also packaged, in the United States.
8. How much do Peak Refuel packets weigh?
That depends on the recipe, but in general they weigh only a few ounces. Their lightest recipes weigh less than five ounces.
9. Does Peak use real meat?
Yes, and that’s one of the big selling points of these MREs. They use premium ingredients and real meat in their recipes.
10. Are there gluten-free options?
While the company does not have any certified gluten-free recipes, several of their formulas are made without any gluten. For more information, see their website.
11. What about dairy-free?
Peak Refuel actually does produce a few dairy-free options. These include their Three Bean Chili Mac, Mountain Berry Granola, Butternut Dal Bhat, Chicken Teriyaki and Chicken Coconut Curry, all of which are ideal for lactose intolerant individuals.
12. Are there vegetarian options?
There are three vegetarian Peak Refuel Meals, which are Butternut Dal Bhat, Mountain Berry Granola, and Three Bean Chili Mac.
13. Do freeze-dried meals go bad?
Not in the same way that fresh food does. Generally, since they are basically moisture-free, the worst thing that will happen is the food will go rancid if it is exposed to oxygen (which is why they are packed with oxygen absorbers). If you open the pack and it smells bad, it’s probably because oxygen leaked in. The real test, however, is rehydration. If you reconstitute it and it still smells, looks, and tastes alright, it’s probably safe to eat.
14. Why are freeze-dried meals so expensive?
Freeze-dried MREs are so expensive because of the price of ingredients. Also, the good ones – like Peak Refuel – which contain a lot of meat and premium ingredients, spare no expense to bring you the finest quality in backpacking food that’s available.
The Big One: Mountain House vs. Peak Refuel Meals
There are fans on both sides of the aisle here, but there are some serious popular advantages afforded by Peak Refuel as opposed to Mountain House.
Both make popular formulas, and both use premium ingredients, but some of the common arguments in favor of Peak Refuel are that they are lighter, more affordable, and allow you to carry less water on the trail – which again lightens your load.
Also, some have noted that Peak Refuel formulas offer higher protein and calorie counts than comparable Mountain House MREs, as well as less sodium, so you get more bang for your buck, so to speak, and more nourishment on the trail, where it counts.
Stock Up on Peak Refuel Meals Here
Since one of the biggest selling points of Peak Refuel is the competitive price point, here’s another reason to stock up on them. Because they’re so close to us, we get them at crazy good prices that we can then pass on to you.
In fact, we offer some of the best prices on Peak Refuel meals around, and we also sell Peak Refuel drink sticks so you can keep hydrated while you’re out there.
Stock up here, and if you have any questions that this article didn’t answer, get in touch with us directly at 833-980-0333.
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