Food For The Sole Triple Peanut Slaw

The best cold-soak commercial meal EVER.

Food For The Sole is a fairly new company that makes commercial backpacking meals. Founded by a mother/son team of Julie and Henry Mosier out of Bend, Oregon, FFTS makes vegan meals that are both tasty and different. They even offer two meals specifically designed to be cold-soaked. Since I was trying this for the first time (lunch only) on my recent section hike, I tried out a few of their meals, including a couple that are designed to be prepared with boiling water but can also be cold-soaked. Now, as I’ve written recently this technique really didn’t work FOR ME style-wise, but that doesn’t mean the meals weren’t good. Not hardly.

The first meal that I tried for lunch was their highly regarded Triple Peanut Slaw.

Would you believe that this 3.2 oz. pouch contains a meal with 570 calories, 21 grams of protein and 43 grams of fat? Well it does. And not only that, it tastes absolutely amazing. You could serve this at a party or cookout and people will praise your cooking skills.

This meal contains cabbage, red cabbage, bells peppers and carrots mixed with garlic, scallions, peanut butter, tamari, ginger, sesame oil, salt, rice vinegar, agave and olive oil. And LOTS of peanuts.

After 15-20 minutes of rehydrating with cold water, it’s ready to eat. The vegetables are crisp but not leathery, the taste is savory, and the peanuts put it over the top.

I was in the midst of a miserable day of hiking in the rain when I stopped to eat this, and it turned the day around. It was that good.

I don’t plan to cold soak per se on future hikes, but I’ll definitely find a place for this in the future, perhaps as the first course of a dinner, which I can eat while my hot food is rehydrating.

The meal costs $11, which for a meal of this quality isn’t bad at all. Toss one of these in your pack for a treat. It might just turn a rainy day around for you.

Grade: A