Australian Hiker

Rating

Outdoor Gourmet Venison Casarecce with White Wine Sauce Review

Currently Unavailable (1/3/21)

The Outdoor Gourmet Company provides freeze dried meals to the Australian market. As far as commercially pre-prepared meals go and as the name suggests, they are a high end, high taste product. I’m a big fan of nearly all the Outdoor Gourmet Company meals and while I will very happily eat most of them I have my favourites.

The Outdoor Gourmet Venison Casarecce with White Wine Sauce meal is very easy to prepare and as long as you can boil water then you are set with preparation time requiring only ten minutes. Although I will usually allow them to sit for 12 minutes and stir half way through and in this case this meal definitely need the extra time. Just about every Outdoor Gourmet meal works very well with the amount of water recommended but in this case the recommendation is way off. I added 500 ml and ended up with a very soupy result so would suggest you take this down to about 430 ml at least to get a good consistency. On the up side this is a big meal, there is a lot of food as there should be for a twin serving.

Now for the taste test. While I have my favourites in the Outdoor Gourmet range even the ones I don’t like I would be happy to eat. This meal is the exception! While the mix of meat, noodles and vegetable was good I found it a bit bland and tasteless and while I would eat it if I had no choice this wouldn’t be one that I would choose for any trip no matter how long as there are just so many other good options out there.

Another obvious negative with any freeze dried meals, and in particular with Outdoor Gourmet offerings is the price. The normal price sits around the $16 mark and at about $8 per person that isn’t cheap. Having said that, how much do you pay for a fast food meal these days? However the products do have a long shelf life so you can stock up during the regular sales at the outdoor stores.

The meal comes in a bag that is well designed and the bottom opens out to provide a flat base for those minimalists who want to leave the bowl at home. The option exists to tear the top off the bag to allow easy access to the food but you if you have a long handled spoon you won’t need to tear the bag. My other reason for not tearing the top off the bag is that you minimise any mess and after you’re done because you can re-zip the zip lock.

The Outdoor Gourmet Venison Casarecce with White Wine Sauce is the only meal offering out of this range that I wouldn’t recommend. It’s not bad, its just that its not that good. When I ordered this meal to review I couldn’t find this in any Australian store so I had to order it from New Zealand and given how I found this meal its not surprising.

We Like

• Three year warranty which means you can buy these when you see them discounted thereby reducing the price. You also know the meals will always be edible
• Minimal preparation time.  All you are doing is rehydrating these meals so once you add boiling water there’s only a ten minute wait (allow 14 minutes to get a better meal consistency)
• If you eat from the bag there is only the spoon to clean up. In fact you may not even need to carry a bowl at all thereby limiting the weight you carry
• A variety of meals to choose from so it’s unlikely you will become bored with these unless you are on a really long hike
• No artificial flavours and preservatives
• Freeze dried. This takes much of the weight out of the meals and helps to limit the impact on your body

We Don't Like

• The taste and texture is just not that good
• The main negative of any commercially preprepared dehydrated / freeze dried meals is the cost. The Outdoor Gourmet meals are not cheap at approximately $8.00 per person for a meal
• Two person meals only (or one person if your really hungry)

Best Uses

Not a meal that I would recommend

Buy One

You may be able  purchase the Outdoor Gourmet Venison Casarecce with White Wine Sauce online from XXXX however it may have to be a special order and in all honesty I wouldn’t bother

Disclosure:  We may earn a small commission, at no additional expense to you, if you click through and make a purchase. Please note that our affiliations do not influence, in any way, the independence of our reviews. If we don’t like a product, you’ll hear about it from us!

If you have eaten the Outdoor Gourmet Venison Casarecce with White Wine Sauce meal or if you have questions, we’d like to hear from you. Post your comment or question below

Other Versions

The Outdoor Gourmet Company provides a range of nine main meals in a twin serve size In addition to this current review these include:

Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken) 

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Mediterranean Lamb and Black Olives

Venison and Rice Noodle Stirfry

Beef Bourguignon

Coq au Vin

Wild Mushrooms and Lamb Risotto

Chicken Tandoori with Creamy Yoghurt Sauce

 

Investment

$16.99 AUD RRP

Outdoor Gourmet Venison Casarecce with White Wine Sauce as purchased

The bottom of the bag opens out to provide a flat surface. Opening out the base will allow the meal to more evenly rehydrate. If you don’t open the base out, you will get ‘dry pieces’ in your dinner

Outdoor Gourmet Venison Casarecce with White Wine Sauce unrehydrated

Outdoor Gourmet Venison Casarecce with White Wine Sauce rehydrated and ready to eat

Disclaimer

This review was done with product purchased from a retail store by the reviewer

Shares

Australian Hiker Newsletter