Brand hub
Packit Gourmet
26 meals, and the highest average protein per 1,000 kcal of any brand in our 284-meal database.
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- 26meals in our DB #5 of 14 brands by size
- 124.9avg cal/oz (441 kcal/100g) #6 of 14
- 66.6avg protein g/1,000kcal #1 of 14
- $28.56avg cost/1,000kcal #10 cheapest of 13 priced
Brand profile
- Packit Gourmet is a family-owned business that Debbie and Jeff Mullins began building in 2005, with the website launching in 2008, home-based in the Hill Country outside Austin, Texas. In the founder's own words, meals are “hand-mixed in small batches - and packaged by hand - so no mechanization.”
- Backpacker Magazine's 2026 Best Backpacking Meals roundup names Packit Gourmet's Texas State Fair Chili its “Best Chili” pick. The company also sells “extra bits” add-ons - hot sauce packets, freeze-dried cheese, tortilla chips - that let a buyer customize a meal instead of eating it exactly as packaged.
Sources: trailtosummit.com, founder interview (2014) · packitgourmet.com/our-story · Garage Grown Gear, Packit Gourmet startup story · backpacker.com, Best Backpacking Meals (2026)
Who Packit Gourmet suits - and who should look elsewhere
Built from the 284-meal database, not opinion - the same facts anyone can check in the table below.
Good fit if…
- You care about protein per calorie above all else: Packit Gourmet averages 66.6 g protein per 1,000 kcal, the highest of any of the 14 brands we track.
- You're eating solo and don't want to split a pouch: every one of Packit Gourmet's 26 meals is a single-serving pouch (published servings on all 26) - unlike Peak Refuel, where every meal is a 2-serving pouch.
- You eat vegetarian: 11 of 26 meals carry a vegetarian tag - though only 2 of 26 are also vegan.
Look elsewhere if…
- You or someone in your group has a milk or dairy allergy: milk appears in 24 of 26 meals in our data - one of the heaviest dairy footprints of any brand we track, so check every label.
- You're shopping on price: at $28.56 per 1,000 kcal on average, Packit Gourmet ranks 10th-cheapest of the 13 USD-priced brands in our data - only Campers Pantry ($29.86), LyoFood ($31.23), and Wild Zora ($45.48) cost more.
- You need a big rotation of breakfasts or snacks: just 3 breakfast and 2 snack meals out of 26 - the lineup leans heavily toward mains (18 of 26).
Backpacker Magazine's 2026 Best Backpacking Meals roundup names Texas State Fair Chili its “Best Chili” pick out of every brand it tested - and the numbers back it up: 650 calories and 41 g of protein for $23.06 per 1,000 kcal, the 5th-best value of the brand's 26 priced meals.
Every Packit Gourmet meal in our database
26 meals, sorted by calorie density by default - click a column header (or focus it and press Enter) to re-sort.
177623 kcal/100g | 380 | 18 | 39.45 | 2.2 oz61 g | - | |
157554 kcal/100g | 460 | 24 | 32.59 | 2.9 oz83 g | - | |
153538 kcal/100g | 560 | 37 | 28.55 | 3.7 oz104 g | - | |
142500 kcal/100g | 410 | 40 | 36.56 | 2.9 oz82 g | - | |
138485 kcal/100g | 500 | 38 | 29.98 | 3.6 oz103 g | Vegetarian | |
132464 kcal/100g | 580 | 36 | 21.53 | 4.4 oz125 g | - | |
128450 kcal/100g | 450 | 17 | 25.53 | 3.5 oz100 g | - | |
126446 kcal/100g | 410 | 46 | 36.56 | 3.2 oz92 g | - | |
126444 kcal/100g | 400 | 47 | 37.48 | 3.2 oz90 g | - | |
125440 kcal/100g | 440 | 16 | 26.11 | 3.5 oz100 g | Vegetarian | |
124437 kcal/100g | 620 | 14 | 19.34 | 5.0 oz142 g | Vegetarian | |
124436 kcal/100g | 650 | 14 | 18.45 | 5.3 oz149 g | Vegetarian | |
121427 kcal/100g | 470 | 8 | 25.51 | 3.9 oz110 g | Vegetarian | |
120424 kcal/100g | 530 | 12 | 28.28 | 4.4 oz125 g | Vegan | |
119419 kcal/100g | 650 | 41 | 23.06 | 5.5 oz155 g | - | |
118417 kcal/100g | 480 | 19 | 24.98 | 4.1 oz115 g | Vegetarian | |
116408 kcal/100g | 510 | 40 | 29.39 | 4.4 oz125 g | - | |
115406 kcal/100g | 580 | 28 | 24.12 | 5.0 oz143 g | Vegetarian | |
114402 kcal/100g | 410 | 23 | 28.02 | 3.6 oz102 g | Vegetarian | |
113400 kcal/100g | 400 | 34 | 28.72 | 3.5 oz100 g | Vegetarian | |
113400 kcal/100g | 400 | 34 | 28.72 | 3.5 oz100 g | Vegetarian | |
112396 kcal/100g | 670 | 31 | 20.88 | 6.0 oz169 g | VeganVegetarian | |
112395 kcal/100g | 600 | 51 | 24.98 | 5.4 oz152 g | - | |
111393 kcal/100g | 530 | 34 | 28.28 | 4.8 oz135 g | - | |
108379 kcal/100g | 330 | 59 | 45.42 | 3.1 oz87 g | - | |
105370 kcal/100g | 500 | 56 | 29.98 | 4.8 oz135 g | - |
Where the data says Packit Gourmet is strong - and weak
Computed from all 284 meals in our database, not opinion.
Strong
- Highest average protein density of any of the 14 brands in our database: 66.6 g per 1,000 kcal, ahead of LyoFood (60.3) and Campers Pantry (55.8).
- 6 of the top 15 most protein-dense individual meals in our entire 284-meal database are Packit Gourmet - tied with LyoFood for the most of any brand. The single densest, Kickin' Chicken Hot Wings Wrap, packs 178.8 g protein per 1,000 kcal - the highest of any meal we track, well ahead of the next-best, LyoFood's Bigos (126.9).
- Its densest meal, Tex-Mex Breakfast Tacos at 176.6 cal/oz, ranks #2 of all 284 meals in our database - behind only Trailtopia's Egg Scramble (185).
- Full price coverage: all 26 of 26 meals carry a real USD price, unlike Radix Nutrition, which publishes no usable price at all in our data.
Weak
- Pricier than most: $28.56 per 1,000 kcal on average, the 10th-cheapest of the 13 USD-priced brands in our data - Mountain House ($23.31), Trailtopia ($20.91), and Backpacker's Pantry ($20.84) all beat it on average price.
- Milk shows up in 24 of the brand's 26 meals - far more than the next most common allergen, Soy, at 6 meals. It's close to a universal ingredient in this lineup, not a border-case allergen to watch for.
- Thin on breakfast and snack variety: just 3 breakfast and 2 snack meals out of 26 - the lineup leans heavily toward mains (18 of 26).
- Vegan coverage is thin: only 2 of 26 meals are vegan-tagged, versus 11 of 26 vegetarian - a vegan hiker has few options despite the otherwise vegetarian-friendly lineup.
What people say
Independent reviews of Packit Gourmet, quoted briefly with a link to the full source. We have not tested these meals ourselves - this is what other outlets report.
“One of the best mid-tier backpacking food brands on the market”
“Sometimes uses unhealthy additives”
Keep exploring
Best freeze-dried meals
See where Packit Gourmet lands against the top picks, ranked on the numbers - no sponsored placements.
Read the guide →RankingMost calorie-dense meals
See how Packit Gourmet stacks up against all 284 meals in the database, ranked by cal/oz.
View ranking →ToolTrip planner
Build a trip food list across every brand in our data, optimised for weight, cost or protein.
Open planner →Brand hubPeak Refuel
The highest average calorie density of any brand in our database, at 145.3 cal/oz - the polar opposite of Packit Gourmet's protein-first strength.
View Peak Refuel →