This is a quick product review of Wild Zora’s soups – great for camping, hiking, and backpacking. If the name Wild Zora looks familiar then chances are that you read our review of the best Paleo meals for backpackers. Their brand basically took all but one spot because this is an area where they simply dominated. That’s the advantage of really knowing your audience and making a superior product specifically for them.
As a full disclosure: this soup packets were sent for free from the wonderful people at Wild Zora (Thanks again to Joshua, Zora, and Mary – you guys rock!) so we could review them. We were not otherwise compensated for this review and as always, that doesn’t affect our grade or decision, we’re going to be 100% honest with what we think.
There are many items we get sent for free to test out that don’t hold up, and we don’t review them as a result. But because honesty is important: this is the disclosure.
So on to these ultra-lightweight packets of soup for the hiker, camper, or backpacker. Do they have the same level of quality as the Paleo based meals we really enjoyed? Do they work as a part of your food supply to take with you on trail or pack up for camp?
We were as excited as you to find the answer, so read on to see what we found!
Table of Contents
Three Flavors of Soup
I’m all about variety, so the fact there were three flavors of soup was an immediate plus from my point of view. After all sometimes you’re in the mood for one thing and sometimes you’re in the mood for another. Tuscan chicken soup was a flavor that caught my interest immediately. Any type of a beef meal is always welcome on the trail, the lemon chicken was the one I was most curious about. Whenever lemon or lime comes into the mix I find it really 50/50 whether it adds the perfect zest or it’s unbalanced.
Those 3 flavors are:
- Lemon chicken soup
- Picante beef soup
- Tuscan chicken soup
The first thing that really jumped out was flavor. One thing I’m always nervous about with any soup offering is whether it will actually taste like a really solid soup or if it is going to be bland and watery. After having such a good experience with the Paleo meals I was hoping the soup would follow suit, and the truth is I was extremely happy with what I received. Each one felt like a thick and hearty soup when mixed with hot water, giving the type of full flavor that made even the broth just feel thicker and more flavorful than a water base – which is exactly what you want with a good soup.
This is true on or off the trail, IMO.
The picante beef had the solid full bodied flavor you expect from a beef-based recipe. The Tuscan chicken soup had an outstanding array of flavors and is honestly one of the better versions of this recipe I’ve had. No joking – even with high expectations I was still pleasantly surprised.
This brings us to the one flavor I was worried about: the lemon chicken soup. While I started out most concerned about this one, it turned out to actually be my favorite of the three. The blend was absolutely perfect and even more with this blend than the others (though once again, I was very pleased with all three) there were multiple flavors that exploded together without clashing.
A LOT of people screw up adding lemon or lime to any mix but in this case Wild Zora absolutely nailed it!
Some other considerations for hikers and backpackers: The packages are waterproof, meaning they really are properly sealed, easy to open, and incredibly lightweight, meaning you can have a lot of packages of soup before moving the scale a few ounces. They’re designed for easy travel, packing, and use making them ideal for a wide variety of outdoor activities.
Off the Trail Review
On the trail it’s important to have delicious food that fills you with energy, but let’s face it: enough rough days in a row and virtually anything hot and warm without sugar can taste amazing in the moment. On the trail the Wild Zora soups passed with flying colors. I tried a pack of each back home, and the flavors held up.
The positive reviews weren’t just from a long hike on a cold morning. These held up fully as a mid-afternoon snack while spending the day freelance writing or blogging.
These were just really solid soup choices, period.
Apologies in advance…
Now apologies to Wild Zora for the next section as I could understand if this isn’t quite what ya’ll had in mind when creating these great backpacking soup blends – but I always need to do the “poor college student” check.
I’m all about versatility, even if that sometimes means using something in a way it wasn’t meant for.
So for poor college students or those of you on a shoe string budget trying to make cheap calorie comfort food 10x better – cut up a potato and sautee in butter and water, make your Ramen noodles, and pour in one packet of this soup.
The Ramen will be 10x better than it is without.
Like the rest of the review indicates, this is really good soup and the soup stands on its own with no issue. They taste great, give a good little boost and really over-perform. But if you are on a shoe-string budget while saving for your next adventure, a packet of any of these makes boring Ramen amazing.
So What’s the Final Verdict?
By now it’s clear to see that our Wild Zora soup review for hikers & backpackers is overwhelmingly positive. The flavors were exceptional, the use of natural ingredients is something we always like to see, and whether at home looking for a snack or on the trail – these are great. I feel very confident giving this 5 stars out of 5 and we highly recommend these for your next outdoor excursion.