Sometime in the middle of the afternoon, on every hike, the conversation turns to food. As woodland shadows grow longer, our tummies begin to seek the calories that will fuel us through the rest of the day.

If we’re leaving the trail, the question is: “Where are we going for dinner?” But if we’re staying on the trail and headed for a backcountry campsite or shelter, it often goes like this: “I can’t wait for a hot meal. I’ve got . . . uh . . . well, what did you bring?

For anyone who has spent any time cooking over a tiny backpacking stove and dining on the trail, it is generally understood that the possibilities are limited and that the food often tastes like, well, rehydrated trail grub. But it’s nourishing, right? Maybe.

Recently, however, backpackers have stumbled upon “Good To-Go,” a new, tasty and healthy option made right here in Maine.

Good To-Go’s co-founder, Jennifer Scism, was an award-winning chef and co-owner of a restaurant in New York’s Greenwich Village when she met and married David Koorits. “My husband was an avid outdoors person. I had never done more than just little hikes . . . nothing overnight” says Scism. “We started in the Whites, and David took me to the Cascades and the Adirondacks,” she adds. “We started doing a lot of backpacking trips, and the trips got longer and longer,” often turning into weeklong trips.

Referring to those long backpacking trips, “I really didn’t like what I was eating out there, so I started dehydrating with a little table-top dehydrator,” and she starting experimenting with her favorite comfort foods.

“There are certain things that don’t work, and that’s the fun part of what I do,” says Scism. “Something always fails, and I work it out.”

After doing it for a while, Scism has learned how to think about a recipe and ascertain whether, to make it into a Good To-Go meal, she will have to alter it too much to have it retain the flavor it’s supposed to have.

She notes: “Some things don’t dehydrate very well. In order for it to be in a bag for a few years, and for it to come back (and be a tasty meal), I’ve had to do a little fancy footwork.”

Dehydrating what some may consider elaborate meals was something Scism did just for the couple’s own personal camping trips until “a friend said you’ve got to get this in the hands of backpackers.” That was in 2013, and Scism spent most of that year doing the research, testing recipes and creating the brand.

Even Scism acknowledges that everything tastes better after a day of walking up mountains, so she tested her rehydrated meals on groups of friends. “If you like it in your house,” she says, “you’re really going to like it when you’re camping.”

A tasty field test

True enough, what method of sampling Good To-Go’s meals could be better than a wilderness field test. And so, with several packets of dehydrated meals tucked into our backpacks, my friends and I wandered up a trail with visions of Thai curry, herbed mushroom risotto and vegetable korma — a new addition to Good To-Go’s repertoire — in our heads.

With “all natural ingredients” including arborio rice, cremini mushrooms, walnuts, green beans, jasmine rice, coconut powder, cilantro and poppy seeds — and no preservatives or unpronounceable ingredients listed on the packaging — we could hardly wait for dinner.

In accordance with the instructions on the lightweight, packable packaging, we added boiling water to each bag, stirred, resealed and hung out for 20 minutes thinking “about how big the universe is.” (Yes, it really says to do that on the packaging.)

Each meal proved to be both hearty and flavorful. But you shouldn’t just take our word for it.

Consider the admittedly unscientific survey conducted by Zach Davis, a writer, editor and Appalachian Trail through-hiker whose coaching helps hikers prepare for their own through hike, and whose “Appalachian Trials” website I visit on a regular basis.

He asked his followers the question: “What are the best commercial dehydrated dinners?”

“Good To-Go’s Thai curry placed third in the poll (and) given how new they are, I think it speaks volumes,” says Davis, adding, “Personally, it’s one of my favorite dehydrated meals, if not the favorite.”

Like me and my hiking companions, Davis had the chance to sample some of Good To-Go’s new, as-yet-unreleased, dinners. Although he’s planning more “testing,” he sees Good To-Go’s new pad Thai as a “possible new personal favorite.”

More trails to conquer

In 2006, looking for a place on the water and not able to afford the New York/Long Island area, Scism followed the suggestion of a Maine friend and looked for a place in the Pine Tree State. She found a house in York and fell in love with Maine. 

Using the house as a weekend retreat, Scism continued to work full time in her New York City restaurant for four more years, during which time she met husband-to-be David. She moved to Maine full time in 2010 after selling her half of the restaurant to her business partner, and catered for three years. In 2014, having done her research and with encouragement from friends, she and David began Good To-Go.

“Right now we’re selling four meals, and we’ve got two more coming out” soon, says Scism. The two are a pad Thai that, she says, is “pretty traditional, with bean sprouts, carrots, lime, rice noodles and is close to my original pad Thai recipe that I make a lot, (and) an Indian vegetable korma . . . a braised vegetable dish” that is mildly spiced, braised in curry and tomato, dehydrated and combined with yogurt powder.

When asked about the possibility of introducing a breakfast food, Scism says, “I have it almost done . . . We’re fondly calling it hippie oats. It’s oats with all kinds of fun stuff like hemp seeds, blueberries — a nod to Maine — chia, coconut, cardamom and turmeric. It’s not your regular oatmeal.”

She said they also have a couple desserts on the back burner.

In the beginning, says Scism, “I was tweaking and tweaking my recipes, but I’m better now,” she says with a laugh. It’s all been a part of the learning process for the young company.

For Scism, the quality of the food is her top concern. “I want Good To-Go meals to be what you would expect (in terms of flavor, texture and appearance) if you were paying for it at a restaurant.”

In addition to Scism and Koorits, Good To-Go employs seven people. “We’ve got an ex-chef and an ex-pastry chef here, and the staff is great.”

Good To-Go currently creates both single- and double-serving meals. “We make anywhere from 400 to 1,400 single servings a day right now. That’s about 230,000 servings a year. Those are packaged as doubles and singles.” 

The company is now in the midst of building an addition to its production facility on Route 1 in Kittery. “We’ve maxed out the facility we’re in, so we’ve been limited as to how much we can produce,” says Scism, adding, “The addition is a game changer and will quadruple our production capability.”

The future looks bright for Good To-Go, although Scism acknowledges the business has taken a toll on the very thing that prompted its creation.

“There’s still so much more that we want to do,” says Scism, “and we’re lucky if we get a day hike in.”

Good To-Go’s pad Thai

Ingredients:

1 cup small peeled and deveined shrimp

* Marinade for shrimp:

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 fresh Thai bird chilis, minced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

* Vegetables for the pad Thai:

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1 medium onion, julienned

1 cup julienne carrots

16 ounces Thai rice noodles

* Pad Thai sauce:

1/2 cup tamarind concentrate

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup fish sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

* Remaining ingredients:

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup scallions, sliced

12 ounces fresh bean sprouts

* Garnish:

1/2 cup roughly chopped roasted peanuts

1/2 cup cilantro sprigs

Lime wedges

Method:

Marinade the shrimp for a half-hour before cooking. Soak the rice noodles in a bowl of warm water for 20 minutes.

In a large saute pan bring one tablespoon of oil to almost smoking. Add the shrimp and marinade and just cook through. Remove the shrimp from the pan and keep warm on the side.

In the pan add one more tablespoon of oil to almost smoking. Add the onions and cook until golden, add the carrots and cook for two more minutes, then add the drained noodles and saute for a minute. Add the pad Thai sauce and cook until the noodles soften.

Add the eggs, cook for a minute and then add the scallions and bean sprouts. When cooked through remove to a serving dish.

Garnish with cooked shrimp, peanuts, cilantro sprigs and lime wedges.