Food Finds · Trail Cooking

Meal Review: Herbed Mushroom Risotto

We looked through the products on Good To Go’s website and our choice was the Herbed Mushroom Risotto. Vegan gluten-free meals don’t get a lot of attention. However this one we tried out when we didn’t have Alistaire along, as it contains walnuts in the pesto.

Good To Go is based in Maine. The meals are offered in 1 or 2 serving pouches and the meals have reasonable levels of sodium. All their meals are certified gluten-free, and 6 of the 10 meals are vegan, 2 are vegetarian, and 2 have fish in them. There are nuts in some of the meals however, so are not allergy friendly as a line.

We picked up a 2 person version on Amazon, as price wise the 1 person bag was not much cheaper. On the Good To Go website the 1 person is much cheaper (however I was using Prime, so free shipping).

Thoughts:

This meal was for me just OK. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great, if that makes sense. Partly what got me was the texture. Risotto tends to be a smooth texture, and that is OK. The mushrooms though worked against that. The mushrooms were chewy and stood out. 10 miles out though….I am sure it’d be the best risotto ever. The trail adds its own spice.

Pros –

  • Vegan
  • Gluten-free
  • Easy to prep
  • Lower sodium
  • Rice was properly cooked
  • Heavy duty packaging, nicely flexible.

Cons –

  • Bland in flavor – it really needs hot sauce. This is my opinion though, I like spiced up food. If you like mild food, this may be for you!
  • Long rehydration time (it took 20 minutes, I had to stir it together really well once opening up. I would suggest stirring it once at 10 minutes, then resealing up for another 10 minutes).
  • The mushrooms were oddly chewy.
  • Nutritional Yeast (Some of you all love Nooch, it gives me a Niacin flush. Bonus I stay warm while eating in the cold….hah)

~Sarah

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