Nomad Nutrition Irish Shepherd's Pie

A very familiar tasting and well-balanced meal, this one is like the backpacking equivalent of comfort food. A great bonus is the 225 calories per ounce which is excellent caloric density for carrying on a long trek. As I’ve written with the other Nomad reviews: this is my new favorite brand of dehydrated backpacking food.

Ingredients: Potatoes, Green Lentils*, Carrots, Coconut Milk*, Onions, Peas, Corn, Sundried Tomatoes*, Olive Oil*, Garlic*, Spices*, Sea Salt*. *Certified Organic Ingredient.

Nutrition: (for the 100-gram package) Calories 790, Carbs 96g, Sugars (10g), Protein 23g

Preparation and packaging

Like all the Nomad meals I've tried so far, this one is a just-add-boiling water type (remember to remove the desiccant). I found it needed a tad more time than the recommended 10 minutes to reconstitute when using the cook-in-bag method. When cooked in a pot you can simmer longer and get there faster (if you don’t mind using up the fuel).

The packaging is paper with thin aluminized panels and is adequate insulation as a re-hydration cozy. On one occasion I did burn one of these in a large fire and found that it completely burns up with no issues.

One thing I also like about the packaging is that the meals are color coded. At a glance, you see the green and white label and know this is the Irish Shepherd's Pie. 

Flavor

As I stated in the summary, this meal will probably taste familiar to many Americans as you can readily identify the potatoes, carrots, peas, and corn in each bite. The balance of the flavors seems just right and like the other Nomad meals, the spicing is not overdone (which is common with many brands out there today).

Satiety

I found this meal to be adequately filling as a standalone entree, though I usually do add a few things to get my calories close to 1000 per meal when trekking. I felt that it provided good energy and a nice balance of nutrients.

* In this photo I messed up and added two cups of water instead of one. Normally the consistency is thicker. 

Texture

Like everything else I’ve tried from this brand so far, the texture is pleasing as it seems more natural than most dehydrated fare. As mentioned previously, I did have to let it reconstitute a little longer than listed when using the cook-in-bag method.

* My location/view the first time I ate this meal!

(Cirque of the Towers, Wind River Range Wyoming)

Conclusion

This meal is as close to home cooking as I’ve found from a cook-in bag. I’ve used the rest of this text on other Nomad reviews, but it still applies:

There is a plainness to this food that really appeals to me and makes me feel as if I’m eating something healthy. I’ve done so much backpacking in my lifetime that I’ve gone through various stages of burn-out with all the pre-packaged food choices and had mostly given up on using them in general. I’m happy to find a brand that I like so much; they are doing it right at Nomad and producing a great product. Unfortunately, the price is too high for me to indulge in this very often. I’m willing to splurge for a special trip, but at $12 a meal, I can’t justify spending that much money routinely.  

Background

I'm an avid backpacker with over 8,000 miles of trekking in the last decade. I've tried many, many brands of dehydrated food over the years. I was sent two 100-gram and one 50-gram package of this stew to review.