Readywise Adventure Meals Review

The team at Readywise obviously knows how it is to survive in the backcountry. Weight is king. And their Readywise Adventure meals are made so you don’t have to bring plates and bowls to eat from. All you need is a stove and something to boil water in and bam, you have a ridiculously good backcountry meal you eat right out of the bag. And it’s easy enough to use even my 7-year-old could figure it out.

Readywise Flavors

Readywise is a food company that specializes in food kits. They make home food supply kits so that you can build up your stockpile for whatever the next emergency or pandemic or whatever. But their backcountry, or “Adventure” meals are really the bomb. From Old Country Pasta Alfredo with Chicken to Backcountry Wild Rice Risotto to Still Lake Lasagna with Sausage to simple Golden Fields Mac and Cheese, you got dinner covered. There’s breakfast (e.g. Sunrise Strawberry Granola Crunch), desserts (e.g. Trail Treats Mango Sticky Rice),  and even special things like vegan or gluten-free (Treeline Teriyaki Chicken & Rice). They all taste better than any also-rand freeze-dried meal and definitely better than that bag of rice I usually carry).

Readywise Backpacking

I took my son up for a late September backpack. After running up the mountain and into a cave, we just barely got our tent set up before the grapple-into-snow storm started. I heated up water inn the vestibule of our tent and poured it into our packets. The directions then are simple: close the bag, shake it up good (make sure the bag is closed), then leave it to “cook” in the boiling water. This was clutch since we had to do all our cooking and eating in the tent as the storm raged on outside. I had the wild rice risotto, he had the mac and cheese. It was one of our better backcountry meals and had definitely been our lightest to carry up. We opened them up, dug in, and laughed at the storm slamming the world outside the safe confines of our tent. In the morning, we had the strawberry granola crunch. Well-fed and happy, we started back out in the thin layer of snow blanketing the world around us.

Readywise Adventure Meals Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Self-contained meals for backcountry trips
• Wide variety of delicious meal options available
• Easy 3-step prep process for cooking

Cons:

• May not be as flavorful as homemade meals
• Options may be limited for picky eaters

For backpackers looking for more premium ingredient-focused meals, check out our AlpineAire Freeze-Dried Meals Review and RecPak One Complete Meal Review for additional lightweight nutrition systems tested in mountain environments

Overall Impression

Readywise lets you skimp on weight with their fully self-contained meals. No plates or bowls necessary, no mess, easy cook and cleanup. With enough delicious options to satisfy every palate and 3-step-prep, Readywise is an essential companion on your next big backcountry trip. Checkout the Readywise Mango Stick Rice 6 Pack

Related Backpacking Food Reviews TETON Tested

If you spend time in the mountains year-round, having the right camp food matters just as much as your layering system or sleep setup. Over the years we’ve tested everything from lightweight freeze-dried backpacking meals to complete liquid nutrition systems and shelf-stable recovery foods designed for hunting camps, ski tours, road trips, and emergency preparedness.

For readers comparing options, these reviews pair well with AlpineAire depending on your adventure style:

• RecPak One Complete Meal Review – High-calorie liquid nutrition designed for endurance athletes, search-and-rescue, hunting, military use, and long-distance missions where speed and protein density are critical.
• True Primal Soups Review – Shelf-stable paleo and gluten-free soups ideal for car camping, recovery meals, and quick nutrition at home or basecamp.
• Patagonia Provisions Wild Salmon Review – Sustainably sourced protein-packed pouch meals that work well for travel, camp kitchens, and lightweight adventure cooking.
• AlpineAir Grilled Chicken Jambolaya Review – Hits the Spot for high poutput days and nights in the mountains. 

Whether you’re ski touring in the Tetons, hunting deep in Wyoming, backpacking the North Cascades, or building an emergency food kit for the truck, these tested meal systems help keep energy levels high when conditions get demanding.