Backpacker's Pantry Louisiana Red Beans & Rice

Delicious, great for the non-meat-eaters, spicy, easy to make. HUGE portions!

I took the Louisiana Red Beans & Rice, from Backpacker's Pantry, on a month-long bike packing trip around Lake Superior in September. Having a delicious, nutritious meal that required only hot water was probably one of the best things we did!

We were able to use hot water from gas stations, or to quickly boil water on our camp stove. Having no dishes for clean up made camping during the cold/rainy September so much easier! We got into the habit of boiling water and setting the bag aside to "cook" while we were putting up our tent and covering our bikes with a tarp. Then, we would crawl inside out tent and eat the food while warm in our sleeping bags!

It really did give us something to look forward to on those long, rainy, hilly days. And it gave us enough energy to ride between 60-100 miles a day! Trying to find ample food when you're on a trip like that is hard, there's always a lot of sodium and not a lot of protein. The Louisiana Red Beans & Rice was all-natural (which we LOVED!), and had all the nutrients ramen noodles lack. This flavor of Backpacker's Pantry was pretty spicy, which was great because we had forgotten to bring hot sauce with us on the trip!

One of the "problems" (which really wasn't that big of a deal) that we experienced was that the bag the food comes in was too deep for our eating utensils. We would get food residue, which would get cold, on our knuckles. All of the seasonings sunk to the bottom of the bag, too, and try as we might we had a hard time mixing the food up entirely. We fixed the solution by dumping the contents, once rehydrated, into our cooking pan. Which meant doing dishes before bedtime... yuck! 

I will be eating the Louisiana Red Beans & Rice on other bikepacking, hiking, and camping trips!

It hit the spot after a long day of hiking. We thought it had just the right amount of kick to it.

It tasted delicious.  We just heated the water on our stove, poured it into the bag, and set the timer.

I like it because it's one of the cheapest meals, but I think it needs more kick. More spice.

Great tasting and affordable.