Freeze Dried Food - Best Tasting

D

dextersp1

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Jun 1, 2007
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What freeze dried food do you think is the best tasting, good serving size etc.
Mountain House
Backpackers Pantry Freeze-Dried Foods
AlpineAire Foods Freeze-Dried Freeze-Dried

I will use them for backpacking.
Thanks
 
I have eaten plenty of the food from Backpackers Pantry and it is good stuff-just spendy.
 
They're all about the same overall, but they do each have individual meals that you will probably like better than others. I would just grab a few from each that sound like they might be good to you and go from there. I wouldn't call them fine dining by any means, but they are edible and will provide energy. They are all SUPER high in sodium to help preserve them, so just be aware of that. Also, the caloric needs of a person backpacking (several thousand calories a day) means that you will probably eat one by yourself, instead of having it serve two people like most of them suggest.

You might want to look into freezer bag cooking. With a little effort, you can get meals that taste much better, do not have all the extra stuff, and actually weigh a little less since they are not in the foil bags. You can also get them to pack down smaller than the freeze dried/dehydrated meals.
 
My favourite hands down is Harvest Food Works available at MEC. Definitely the best tasting in my opinion, but it comes at a cost; their dishes generally require 5-12 minutes cooking, which means increasing the amount of fuel you carry if you are cooking with a stove. On longer trips I'll usually buy the instant Alpine Air entrees, which don't taste very good, but at least they only require boiling water.

I will quite often supplement the freeze dried entree or alternate day-to-day an easy to make light weight calorie rich rice dish, (very tasty in my opinion), mix 1/2 to 1 cup of Minute Rice with 2-3 packets Garden Vegetable Cup-o-Soup, no cooking required (just add boiling water and wait 5 min). Much cheaper than buying prepared freeze dried entrees, and just as light-weight.

1001569_v1_m56577569830482274.jpg
 
storl said:
Also, the caloric needs of a person backpacking (several thousand calories a day) means that you will probably eat one by yourself, instead of having it serve two people like most of them suggest.

You might want to look into freezer bag cooking. With a little effort, you can get meals that taste much better, do not have all the extra stuff, and actually weigh a little less since they are not in the foil bags. You can also get them to pack down smaller than the freeze dried/dehydrated meals.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that advise.
I was looking into the calorie counts and they do appear to be on the lower side. Some about 300 per bag.
http://www.mtnhse.com/mm5/merchant...._Code=M&Product_Code=53123&Category_Code=MHDL

The above is 340/serving - 2 servings in a bag or 680 calories.
Considering a man needs about 3,000 to 3,500/day in calories; if hiking every day - they are low cal.


I found this info - looks good.
http://www.wildernessdining.com/campingfood.html
 
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I listen to 2 radio talkshows on the internet that both highly recommend a vendor who goes by the name "Freeze Dried Guy". You can find out about him by going to John Moore's website i.e.>> www.thelibertyman.com << . He is also a sponsor for Steve Quayle's show as well at >> www.stevequayle.com<<

I've also heard the Republic Broadcast Network speak highly of the "Freeze Dried Guy". I've never used any of his stuff but I've heard several people talk well of his products.

I've heard that high quality freeze dried foods are great for long term storage.

There is one more storable food vendor I've heard good accolades about. They are the J. Michael Stevens Company. You can find them by using GOOGLE. I've been seriously contemplating investing in some freeze dried foods myself. I'll continue to see what goes up on this thread.
 
Most of the stuff you buy is about same. As was stated before some meals are better then others. After i started to dehydrate my own food i would never buy ready made again. Some of the food i buy at the store as mashed potatoes or rice. I love alot of vegtables in my meals with very little salt. On my last trip i gave my left over to girl that was thru hiker in the sierra. She left me a msg that the meats and the vegtables and other foods i gave her was the best food she had on the trip.. You can get some great ideas from the freezer bag cooking.

Sasha
 
I think all of the dehydrated/freeze dried meals taste pretty much the same. My advise is to try a couple different ones before hand to see what you like.

Remember that they are not anything fancy so when you see a bag for Caribbean Jerk Chicken or Pad Thai keep walking. In my experience they are shooting for the stars but fall well below what they were trying to replicate. In other words stick to basics like beef stew, beef stroganof and the like.

If you decide to make your own it can be quite fun. This past Christmas I got a food dehydrator and a couple of recipes from freezerbag.com turned out nicely.
 
Mountain House, no question. Everything they make tastes good.

However, they are all LOADED with sodium. I make my own with a dehydrator I bought for $30.
 
orrey45 said:
Remember that they are not anything fancy so when you see a bag for Caribbean Jerk Chicken or Pad Thai keep walking. In my experience they are shooting for the stars but fall well below what they were trying to replicate. In other words stick to basics like beef stew, beef stroganof and the like.
Click to expand...

I had to laugh at this, only because it rings so true and pretty much every time I get sucked in by the promise of an exotic meal in the bush by virtue of the descriptive name.

I can just envision guy #1 opening up his Spicy Pad Thai and Coconut rice and Guy #2 opening up beef strganoff and they look and taste identical :D :D :D
 
Thanks for the replies.
For short trips - I'd go with the prepared freeze dried.
But you guys got me thinking about a dehydrator and survival foods and putting together my own meals.
Thanks
 
The only one I've eaten, is the Mt. House variety of meals. I like most of them.

Slightly off topic, but prior to a trip, I remove the contents from the foil pouch and divide and place them into zip loc bags. If I'm gone for 3 days, I'll only eat 6 meals of the high salt stuff, but Mtn. house does have a couple that are relatively low at 750mg per serving. I can place all six ziploc servings into 1 scent free bag and it goes into another scent free bag. My meal packet is smaller than the 4 serving foil package, saving me space and giving me a few meals to choose from. The additional 3 meals are instant oatmeal (6 packets) and I have tubes that I place honey and Tapatio sauce into. I also carry spices, ground red pepper, etc. and I'm still carrying less, volumn wise, than a couple of the Mtn. House foil pouches.
 
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