Bushwalk Australia

I've been looking at some of the instant meals in a box that you can buy at Woolies or Coles.
They're in a cardboard box with a couple of plastic pouches inside. The idea is to microwave the pouches and mix them in the little carton.
I can't see any reason you couldn't heat the pouches in a pot of water (like a retort pouch).
There's a couple of brands (I like the Woolies home brand) and are basically pasta or rice and a sauce with bit of chicken or beef in them.
They're a bit heavy at 350g odd but a bucket load cheaper than dehydrated meals.

I actually tried the woolworths brand satay chicken. sat the pouch in not-quite-boiling water for a while, came out okay. I'd probably add just a small amount of water to the rice as it came out quite dry. It could also be a bit more filling, it was 650 or so kcals from memory, but that being said I eat a lot and like slightly bigger meals.

Very much worth a try for anyone who might be curious.

They could also make decent car-stash meals for late returns when you really want a meal before hitting the road, or if you get held a day.
I'll have to take a look at them as I'm always on the hunt for allergy and diet single meals, so I might find some alternates there.

Their also super unhealthy. Lol.
I tried one a few months ago and was really disappointed at the taste. And it's not like it had much chicken in the meal. What chicken it did have was just sub average even for a packet meal...

I've carried them and they're fine to reheat in a pot of water.
As you've already noted they are on the heavy side so I'l' only take them on shorter trips and make them a night 1 meal.

I have tried the Urban Eats Satay Chicken meal from Aldi.

Must say it had a nice flavour. They are heavy but that is to be expected considering they have wet ingredients. For a first night meal they would be good and would also be a nice dinner option for bikepacking (weight is less of an issue).

Reheated as per instructions on the packet which worked OK. Only issue was the bag with the chicken/sauce wouldn't rip open. I had to squeeze the contents out through a narrow slit (although this could have been operator error). I might get another one and try reheating in a pot.

Cheers,
Michael.

Try looking in the Asian grocery shops like Japanese style pre cooked white rice with a furikake condiments pack, Korean, Chinese fried rice, Indian pilau and similar rice and others combined with accompanying sauce and Vege ingredients, they are much closer to the real thing and way more substantial than what to get in westerner style stores and quite cheap. Coles and Woolworth also stock some good Indian food packs that taste good enough. For example, Indian yellow rice with a spicy Dahl Lentil sauce pack plus canned fish or similar. You can supplement these with a small can of tuna or sardines.

Alternatively, angel hair pasta that cooks in minutes, small can of beans or stew and fish can be quite good. Throw the can contents and fish soon after draining the spaghetti and stir while hot to warm them.