Food reviews
About four weeks ago I came across Firepot Food dehydrated meals on Instagram. Unusually for this type of backpacking meals they actually had a great selection of vegan options in their range. These lightweight shelf-stable meals are perfect for keeping in just in case, so I knew I wanted to try them.
Firepot Food
Firepot has been five years in the making. As adventurists trekking through Greenland, we wanted our hikes to be punctuated by slow-cooked, natural food that tasted delicious. We wanted a healthy, hearty meal that didn’t weigh us down or keep us waiting. And we couldn’t find it anywhere.
From the Firepot Foods Website
So we made our own in a Dorset barn — delicious, nutritious, dehydrated slow-cooked meals inspired by our travels. We’ve kept it lightweight and easy to use so it can be enjoyed from the heights of the Himalayas to the fjords of Chile. All you have to do is add water.
When I checked out their website after finding them on Instagram I saw they offered a sample pack with mini sample versions of their meals. It was perfect for what I wanted to do. I contacted them to ask about the postage costs for orders under £15 (they offer free shipping for orders over £15), and they offered to send me a sample pack in exchange for a review.
When it arrived not only had they (John) included a sample size of each of the vegan flavours, he had also included a sample vegan meal in one of their compostable pouches (more about those below). The flavours all sounded lovely, and I had a hard decision to make……which should I start with.
Because they were sample sizes I decided I would have two at a time, and use them as my lunch. I decided to try the Chilli Non Carne with Rice and the Dal and Rice with Spinach first. Chilli is one of my favourite foods so I wanted to see how this stood up.
The idea with the standard (non-compostable) pouches is you add the boiling water directly into the pouch, give it a good stir, seal the top, and leave to stand for 15 minutes. With the sample pack they even include an extra pack with a water fill mark on it to make it easy to measure your water if you don’t have access to a jug or anything.
Of these two I actually preferred the Dal, which surprised me. The flavour was really nice, and after soaking it still had a bit of a sauce that coated the grains. The flavour was good, nicely spiced without being too hot, the lentils were soft but not mushy, and the spinach was chopped small enough that it was never slimy.
The chilli turned out to be quite dry, I think it maybe needed a bit more tomato puree to give it the same kind of sauce that the dal had. I could have added more water but while that would have made it wetter it would also have affected the flavour. Overall, the flavour wasn’t bad though. I do need to admit I added some hot sauce but I’m the kind of person who always adds extra hot sauce to my chilli.
The next two I tried were the Posh Baked Beans, and the Vegan Orzo Bolognese. I LOVED the baked beans, the flavour was like that slightly spicy sweet bbq taste of Boston baked bean, and it has these little tiny crisscross cut potato discs in it. It also uses a mix of three beans, and has some soy mince in it. They were really good.
Then we had the Orzo Bolognese, it was nice but nothing special. It had a good taste and texture, and I enjoyed it but compared to the beans it was just okay. Lol. I would buy it again though.
Lastly we had the Mushroom Risotto. Now, I had two of this flavour. I had the mini one, and I had the compostable pouch one. I decided to use the compostable pouch. They give you two options for cooking the contents (you can’t add the water directly to the pouch because it would start breaking down): you can put it in a pan add boiling water, stir, simmer with lid on for 5 minutes, and then stand (without removing the lid) for 10 minutes. The other option is to put it to an insulated container (food flask), add boiling water, stir, put the lid on, and stand for 15 minutes. I chose the second option. Big mistake….
The flavour was beautiful but the texture was horrific. It came out in a solid laggy blob, it was just awful. It was so dense you could have sliced it. I have to say I am almost certain this was an issue with the way I prepared it, I think it might have been my food flask. Either way, it was so bad it was inedible. I managed to take a bite for the flavour but that was it.
Luckily, I had the mini left. I wanted to try that so I could see if it was just a fluke or if it was a problem with the risotto. I cooked it in the pouch the same way as the other samples. And it came out completely different. The texture was quite creamy but not sloppy, and definitely not dense and laggy like the other one. I really liked this but the taste is quite salty (I assume this is due to the combo of porcini mushroom and yeast extract because the actual salt content isn’t that high).
Compostable Pouches
These compostable bags are made from bio-based sources, including sugar cane, which means they are fully compostable and should disintegrate within a year in compost — faster if the levels of warmth, moisture and air exposure are right.
From the Firepot Foods website
These bio meals must be cooked in a pan, not in the bag like our regular range of meals. In time, we hope to develop a fully compostable range of meals that can also be cooked conveniently in the packet — a sophisticated leap in technology that’s still eluding the industry, but an issue we will continue to push as our company does everything it can to reduce its impact on the environment.
The difference between biodegradable and compostable
There is a critical difference between biodegradable and compostable materials — so often paraded as the same thing in commercial contexts.
It boils down to this: everything will biodegrade given enough time, even plastic. The trouble is, when plastic degrades, it breaks down into smaller pieces consumed by marine life and absorbed by microorganisms. We wanted durable materials that are compostable, which means the food chain isn’t polluted at any level.
Overall
I really liked these, the only one I’m not sure I would buy again is the Chilli Non Carne. However, would definitely recommend any of the other flavours I tried.
Also, you should check out the Field Notes section of their website. There are some fascinating blog posts about adventurers around the world who have used their meals.
You can read more of my reviews here: https://vegannomadgeek.com/category/vegan/review/
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