Heathers Choice meals ?

colonel00

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I know people have discussed them before on here. IIRC, seems people liked them but as you mention, they are a little pricey I believe.
 

bccrover

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Nov 25, 2014
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I have tried them and can say that they are awesome! I was really impressed. They fill me up, pack smaller than mountain house, re-hydrate nicely. Good even long burn type energy. My digestive system typically struggles after a couple days with mountain house or similar. With this stuff I felt great! They are expensive but since I only get a couple of week long hunts in a year the cost difference is well worth it to me.
 

dotman

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Haven't tried them but try Pack It Gormet as well, take longer to make but very good. Shepherd pie is crazy good.

Fyi... Hawk Vitals suck ass big time!
 

Rowdy

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Mar 21, 2012
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Heathers Choice is all I used this year and I couldn't be happier, I can't say enough good about them. Small packaging, good calories and nutritional value for weight and size, lightweight, great flavor, filling. She's a local Alaskan girl so I might be somewhat bias in my support but she's also a sports nutritionist and incorporates her knowledge to get the most out of her meals. I honestly can't find a downside to her meals. On a backpack hunt weight and space savings will always be an issue so I'm pretty sure from here on out her meals will be what is predominantly found in my pack. I agree with dotman Pack It Gourmet is pretty good but I've found there meals sometimes take a little more than water to prepare.
 
OP
Shrek

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Heather's Choice is having a Kickstarter campaign to grow. I gave enough to get some food to try. Hopefully they get big enough to get the price down a little. Definitely going to be trying this next year as the salt and starches in the MH is overwhelming. Just wanted to let Roksliders know in case they want to support more food options in the field.
 
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Shrek

Shrek

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Kickstart is charity I can get behind. Helping people help themselves and build the economy. I've stopped giving to most charities as they are often bloated lobbying organizations that are ineffective at anything but self perpetuating themselves. As a self employed person I know just how hard it is to access capital at reasonable cost. Institutions generally only lend to those that don't need the money.
 

Hootsma

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I started using her meals this year and love them. The meals get a lot higher percentage of calories from fat versus other meals which get them from carbs. This is more how I eat at home, so this works well with my dietary routine. This may shorten the shelf life of her meals, but haven't seen anything definitive on that. Probably won't get the 7 years that you do with MH, but these are for back packing so not an issue for me. I really like the smaller packaging as well. $15 for a specialty food entree doesn't seem unreasonable to me, especially when the protein is elk, bison, wild caught salmon or venison. I won't be going back to MH.
 

Rowdy

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I feel her meals are more in line to allow you to thrive on a long back pack hunt rather than just sustain life. Don't get me wrong I've killed some nice rams where my hunt was mainly fueled by MH but these Heathers Choice meals offer way more bang for the buck. With this kickstart campaign going to help her provide better packaging, to grow her business and provide a wider assortment of meals I'd hope as many people as possible especially in the back pack hunting community would help out. Her meal packaging is already better than anyone else but if she can make it even better I'm on board.
 
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I guess I'm in the minority here. I tried this based off the reviews and can not understand what the hype is.
Pros: Seemed to be more dense than MH
Smaller company (I'd rather support small business)
Heather is a very nice girl

Con's: Price
Taste
I tried the Packaroons and the Breakfast. After that I could NOT bring myself to try the Salmon Chowder or Pasghetti.
I was pretty bummed about this because I was excited to be supporting a local business and was happy to see new food coming out. Maybe this winter I will try the other foods this winter while at home. I'll post again if I change my tune on this subject.
 

Floorguy

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Speaking of Heathers Choice, I saw on Facebook there is going to be a tasting/demo at the Hoarding Marmot in Anchorage on Dec 4th. Just fyi for anyone in the area that wants to try it before buying.
 

Poser

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I've been a big proponent of her meals from the beginning. Pricey? By the standards of dehydrated meals, they are indeed expensive, however, by the standards of high quality food that has been prepared for you, the price is about what you'd expect. The MH and other brands just aren't providing the type of nutritional fuel to meet the performance demands of serious backcountry hunting. On a difficult trip earlier this fall, there was a noticeable difference in how I felt and performed when I ate her food vs. the competition. From that perspective, food is not a place to cut corners on a physically demanding trip.
 

mrgreen

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Well, you guys talked me into it. I just placed an order.

FYI; I noticed on another thread 10% discount code JOMH, and she has free Priority Mail- Express shipping.
 

Ray

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The kick starter campaign is coming to an end soon, and she is not yet at the goal level. Need to spread the word to folks that are interested in this kind of stuff.

http://journalofmountainhunting.com/2015/12/episode2/

Here is a pod cast where she discusses her food and other stuff with a hunter that used the meals on his sheep hunt this last season.
 

jwb300

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I've thrown in some funds. I think it is an awesome product. I'm pretty health conscious so I don't mind paying a little more to have good quality food in the backcountry. Get behind this campaign if you can!
 

Poser

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Just finished up a pretty cold hunt in the high desert. I slept noticeably warmer on the nights I ate Heather's Choice dinner vs. Alpine Aire. On some very cold
Mornings, I ate two breakfast meals -one before the approach and another after glassing for a couple of hours in the high winds. The fat content of these meals made things considerably more comfortable. There are a few Alpine Aire dinners that I'll keep in rotation, but, otherwise, I'm completely sold on these.
 

Poser

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Seems like the hunting community really rallied around this Kickstarter campaign. I saw that she was on at least 2 hunting podcasts this month.
 
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