A look at the Go Native 24 hour ration packs

Food options for backcountry adventures 

One of the items I received for Christmas this year was a 24 ration pack from the company Go Native. It is a complete one day ration with all of the items you would need to sustain you for a 24 hour period. 

Looking at the Go Native 24 hour ration

Go Native is based near Wellington and they produce a range of food items for the commercial market as well as contract work for government agencies like the Ministry of Defense, DOC, Emergency Services and SAR. Go Native produce the ration packs used by the NZ Defense Forces as well as manufacturing items contained in Australian/Singaporean and Malaysian military rations. 

Go Native 24 hour ration and side dish pack

Contents of the Chicken Italiano 24 hour ration

The packs have food items for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as a couple of snacks, drink kits and salt/pepper. There are three versions of the ration pack available and the only item which changes is the entrée pack and accompanying side dish. Varieties include Chicken Italiano, Beef Casserole and Vegetarian Curry. 

Breakfast/lunch/dinner and snacks in the Go Native pack

Here is a breakdown of the contents of one of the rations:

• Breakfast: Natural Muesli with Milk Powder, Jed's Coffee, Creamer and Sugar
• Lunch: Tuna on Cream Crackers
• Dinner: Chicken Italiano Casserole served with Potato, Salt, Pepper, Tea, Creamer and Sugar
• Snacks: Jack Links Steak Bar, Go Native Fruit Bar

All of the items are inside a heavy duty plastic bag with a tear seal and Ziploc closure at the top. This makes the ration waterproof and able to be resealed to keep the contents in one place. Once empty the bag would make an excellent rubbish bag. 

Preparing to lay out the contents of the Go Native pack

There is a cardboard insert inside the main bag. If you take it out it has information on both the outside and inside about the ration. On the outside is a photo of the contents of the pack showing all of the items contain within the package. 

Tear tab and Ziplock at the top of the Go Native bag

The inside of the card has a bit of information about the company, a nutritional breakdown of the contents and cooking instructions. There is information about the Go Native Website where you can find additional information and an online store where items can be purchased. 

Information on the cardboard insert, Go Native ration

There are also a couple of Sudoku puzzles and a general knowledge quiz to give you something to do in camp. It is a useful and thoughtful use of what would otherwise be a blank space.

Quiz and Sudoku card in Go Native ration

Here I have broken down the ration into three meals...the mains are muesli with dried fruit for breakfast, crackers with tuna for lunch and a retort pouch of entrée food and a side dish as the main. 

Go Native 24 hour ration laid out

Dinner is a retort pouch of food and a side + tea with sugar/creamer

Breakfast is muesli with fruit, a Jed's coffee pack and sugar

You can heat the dinner meal in a number of ways...boil in the retort bag, bury in hot sand, using a FRH (or Flameless Ration Heater) or tipping into a pot and simmering. An FRH is a bag with a pouch of chemicals...when you add water it starts to react and heats the meal through thermo-chemical action. Personally I would boil these in the bag and just eat them straight from the bag. 

..my US pattern Cups Canteen I have owned for 37 years...

One method of heating the entrée in hot water

...or fold the entrée bag into your pot sideways...

Go Native sell most of the contents of these rations as individual items and you can buy the muesli, fruit bars, entrée packs and rice/mashed potato. They are readily available in outdoor stores across the country...I have seen a good selection of these in items in Hunting and Fishing, Bivouac Outdoors and Macpac. I have used the rice and potato before and both are good. 

Holding one of the Go Native side dishes

There are a range of other entrees available in store and online including the following:

Spaghetti Bolognese

Chicken Italiano

Beef Casserole

Beef Ragu

Chicken and Chickpea Curry

Chilli Con Carne

Butter Chicken

Vegetable Curry

You could easily vary the menus you carry by swopping out the entrée from an existing 24 ration. 

Go Native Spaghetti Bolognese entrée

Go Native instant potato pack

Calorie count for these rations is 2400-2600 which is the minimum to keep a person going for a full day. Of course you could supplement these packs with additional items if desired. I would be inclined to add a powdered drink sachet, chocolate, more sugar and a couple of extra snacks. This would take the ration up over 3000 calories. 

Al the contents of the Go Native 24 hour meal pack

You would want to be careful about how much you added as the pack already weighs 690 gms. A good weight to calorie count is important and you should be aiming for around 700 gms/ 2800+ calories  per day. 

Go Native meal packs are a great option

These rations would be excellent for an overnight trip as they are or as a part of a wider menu for a multiday trip. With only three different options food fatigue would soon set in and they are quite expensive at $35 per pack. My homemade rations come out at around $25-$30 so this is not an outrageous price. 

Worth a try in my opinion and I will be taking this one out sometime in the next couple of months so look for a review at that time. 

YouTube: Go Native 24 Hour Food Pack

Tramping Food: Real Meals

 A look at the Real Meals range of entrees

Tramping food is one of the most important items you will carry with you when you are venturing into the outdoors. To perform at your best you need the right type and amount of food to keep you moving. One option is the use of freeze dried and pre packaged meals. 

Classic packaging for a Real Meals

I often use freeze dried meals when I am out by myself...they are the easiest and most efficient way to provide yourself with sustenance. One of my favorites at this time are the Real Meal range. Many trampers believe they are the best freeze dried meals available here in New Zealand. 

Real Meals...some history:

Real Meals as a company has only existed for a couple of years but its history is much longer than this. Originally the company was called Absolute Wilderness and they were a fixture in the South Island and especially Nelson region for over a decade. If you could find their products you would be using them as they were quality meals.  

Absolute Wilderness meals...basic black packaging

Absolute Wilderness traded right through the 2010's up to 2021.  While their products were always difficult to find in the shops the full range could always be ordered online from their Nelson headquarters. Starting out with only a couple of meals they eventually increased their range until they had about 15 different meals available covering breakfast, lunch and dinner options. My favorites were the Creamed Rice, Wilderness Stew and Chilli Con Carne. 

Homemade ration pack for the Paparoa Track in 2020

A couple of years ago the company was brought out by Nathan Fa'avae the well known adventure racer and educator. Nathan was a fixture of most of the multi discipline events through the 2000's including the Coast to Coast,  New Zealand Adventure Racing Team and GODZone. His purchase of the company has seen its fortunes revived and it is now available in many outdoor sports and hunting stores right across the country. 

Nathan Fa'avae

I am hoping that the company will continue to increase their menu range over time as they gain market share and recognition. All of their products are delicious with some of the original Absolute Wilderness range still manufactured and the addition of many new and innovative entrees. 

A look at the Real Meals range...

Real meals have menus for breakfast through dinner with additional desserts and drinks. They regularly swap out items from the range and bring in a couple of new items every six months or so. At the time of this blog this is their complete range of meals:

Breakfast

Bircher Muesli

Banana Oat Porridge

Honey Yoghurt

Boysenberry Yoghurt

Eggs, Cheese & Chives

Lunch

Couscous Salad

Mexi Nachos

Bacon Mash

Cheesy Mash

Dinner

Sri Lankan Chicken Curry

Wilderness Stew

Tom Kha Gai

Macaroni and Cheese

Beef Stroganoff

Moroccan Tagine

Dal Makhani

Desserts

Apples with Creamed Rice

Tropical Pudding

Chocolate Cake Pudding

Others

Berry Smoothie

Mango Lassi

Baby Beetroot

Fruit Trio

Basmati Rice

The dinner meals are equally good for lunch or a savory breakfast and the Apples with Creamed Rice is one of my favorite breakfast meals. I'm not big on powdered milky drinks but I'm sure their Lassis and smoothies are going to be as good as any of the main entrees. 

Jon's personal picks...

I have yet to try a Real Meal that I do not like...they are all delicious. That said there are a couple which I really enjoy and buy often. I have four that I would like to talk about...the Apples and Creamed Rice, Sri Lankan Chicken Curry, Beef Stroganoff and Cous Cous Salad.

Apples with Creamed Rice:

To start the Apples with Creamed Rice is meant as a dessert but I most commonly use it as a breakfast meal. I love Creamed Rice and the Real Meal version is top notch. It reconstitutes really well, is sweet without being overly sweet, the fruit is delicious and it is filling. 

Real Meal: Apples and Creamed Rice

I get VERY sick of eating porridge (Oats/Oatmeal) all the time and I'm constantly looking for something else for breakfast. I pair this with some protein...cheese, salami or other dried meat as this meal is light on protein.  I sometimes add extra raisins to the pack because I love raisins and nuts are also a great addition.

It can be eaten cold but is best warm....

Couscous Salad:

I notice this is no longer on the Real Meal website but still available in shops. I was turned onto this by Marlee one of my tramping companions on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track back in October. She was eating these for lunch and I really liked the look of it.  It is lovely with a nutty, spicy flavor with a subtle under current of lemon and mint. This is an excellent dinner meal but it is really good for lunch as well.

Real Meal: Cous Cous Salad

 Couscous Salad is a vegetarian meal but you can pep it up with the addition of fresh/dried vegetables, stock cubes, dried meat or fish. I like this for dinner with some Backcountry dried vegetables, chicken stock and a tuna packet.

Yum!!!

Sri Lankan Curry:

This is my favorite curry from the range and I am always impressed whenever I tuck into one of these. It reconstitutes really well and the taste, consistency and appearance is just like a takeaway curry. It is mildly spicy without being hot and the flavor is deep through the vegetables and chicken in this meal.

Real Meal: Sri Lankan Curry

The meal as it stands is low on carbs so I always have this with some freeze dry rice, mash potato or a Naan bread. I just add this to the meal pack with the requisite amount of hot water and hey presto a power packed dinner meal. 

Beef Stroganoff:

This is my second favorite in the Real Meals range of freeze dried entrees. I initially ignored this one but I took a pack with me on a tramp earlier this year and it is really good. As well as the classic sauce it has pasta so this is a complete meal which requires no additional items. 

Real Meal: Beef Stroganoff

The sauce in this meal is rich and savory and it has nice chunks of meat, vegetables and spices. The pasta is a flat sheet pasta that rehydrates well. It is as tasty as any Stroganoff I could make at home and is now one of my go to meals for tramping. 

Honorable mention goes to the Wilderness Stew, Cheesy/Bacon Mash and Dal Makhani which are all good and worth a try...

Where can I buy these..?

So you ask...these meals are good but where can I buy them?

They seem to be widely available in most of the better outdoor and sports stores that sell camping/tramping equipment. Since the company changed hands they are much more visible and I have seen them in stores right across the South Island. I'm not sure about coverage in the North Island...

I like Apples with Creamed Rice for Breakfast

Here in Christchurch they are available at Hunting and Fishing, Bivouac, Macpac and Kathmandu shops. Hunting and Fishing have the widest selection and they have almost all the menu items. I have also seen them at Further Faster a really excellent independent outdoor shop. 

Real Meals have a range of entrees

They sell Real Meals in the Torpedo 7 in Nelson but not the one here in Christchurch. Some supermarkets in smaller towns like Hanmer, St Arnaud, Motueka, Te Anau and Lake Tekapo also stock them. There is a list of retailers on the Real Meals website with locations and website addresses. 

There is a list of retailers here

As with Absolute Wilderness the complete range is available online and you can order them for delivery through the Real Meals website. If you cannot find them in your local area this is your best option.

Real Meals Homepage

If you are thinking about taking some freeze dried meals on your next adventure you should really consider using a Real Meal. They are tasty, nutritious and much better than the other brands available here in New Zealand. The next time you visit your local outdoor retailer have a look at their food selection and see if they sell Real Meals. 

NB: I am not associated with this company I just really like their meals.