Ultralight food or Misery in a pouch?

“About a month ago I ordered a few 14 oz. 2000 calorie each survival rations and went out for a weekend. I brought two with me and believed that that would hold me over.
It was one the worst decisions I have ever made. They tasted like a compressed biscuit and a slight hint of coconut. I barely ate one of these in two days and I'm sure I lost alot of pounds too.
If you are interested in these or have another food like it (besides MRE's) Let me know or check out what I ordered At:

http://www.aviationsurvival.com/aviation4_077.htm

Good luck!”

“Why not cook & enjoy good food while backpacking???”

“Just wanted to try something new! I should of tasted it, but I only bought a few. I am cheap.”

“If you are looking for something that tastes good other than the usual freezed dried brands go here-
http://www.trailfoods.com/”

“Rule #1: Always try everything at home first.

Been there, done that, got the multiple t-shirts.”

“I am all over the place when it comes to trail foods. Mountain House, Backpacker Pantry, MRE's, and plain old grocery store food. I usually bring a little of everything.”

“I'm planning this year to go all home dehydrated food.”

“I thought about doing that, but I know how I am. The first few times I will be all gung-ho on making my own food, then after a few trips, the dehydrator will just sit there and collect dust and take up space, then I will end up selling it on ebay.”

“For me the biggest thing is making and drying the food before I even need it. When I don't have any trips planned. I'm the type that packs the morning he's due to leave for a trip. (tisk,tisk)”

“Nigal,

What make and model dehydrator are you using.. I have been wanting to do more of this as well..

thanks

'32oz”

“I have the American Harvest. I had the Mr. Coffee one but it wasn't adjustable. It worked fine for most things but I wanted an adjustable one.



Cabelas carries a pretty good selection of dehydrator stuff.”

“Thanks!!!!!”

“Heck, give it a shot in your oven you have now.

http://www.netwoods.com/cooking/drying2.html”

“Go to Wallyworld they have the same dehydrator.”

“so does Dick's and Gander Mtn.

i only bring store foods with me. there are plenty of great choices there at a fraction of the price of the prepacked meals.”

“trailfoods.com seems like they have some good stuff. however, why in the world don't they have pictures of their products? for those that have bought from this place, what do you think about the portions?

i've order from this place before and they are great. http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/Samplers-Family-Size_c_12.html”

“Trailfoods.com has good food. The portions aren't huge but they are enough. They are also designed so that you can add your own meat to many of them.”

“cool, thanks Nigal. I might give them a shot.”

“Harmony house and Enertia are KILLER good. Like Nigal I am starting to dehydrate my own foods. I get the freezer to pot vegetables and just put em in the dehydrator, then throw them in the pot on the trail with a soup mix or something.
The other week I made the Asian Terriyaki rice mix with some foil pouch chicken and dehydrated vegetables for dinner on duty...it was great. And at work LOL they love it over the MREs or other crap we are testing.”

“enertia are the bomb!!!...i haven't had one that i don't like...only down fall is the lack of meat but that can easily be overcome with dried or foil pack meat

...ah man, now i'm cravin some enertia goolash (sp)
last edited: 1/07/09 6:34:13 AM”

“I dehydrated my own stuff, or buy grocery store food that is already dehydrated. I rarely buy the prepared trail foods. Too expensive and not all the great in my opinion.

One of my favorities is the dried tortellini you can find in the pasta section of the grocery store. Lightweight and very yummy. Sometimes I just pour some olive oil over the top and parmesan cheese, or I mix up some dehydrated pasta sauce and add that to the cooked tortellini.

You can use the freezer bag cooking method for this too. Just boil your water, add to the freezer bag of pasta, and let it "cook" in your pot cozy for about 10 minutes and voila! Hot pasta!”

“The only thing about the Enertia foods is what's in them. A quick glance at the ingredient label reads like a bad Texas Chainsaw remake.”

“this place seems to be cheaper than buying directly from trailfoods.com ... and they have pictures too, lol.

http://www.ems.com/1/2/5682-reviews-enertia-trail-foods-switchback-spaghetti.html”

“Thrifty...the goulash...is KILLER. I had a pack of it and some freeze dried beef in my "oh S-it" pouch in my jump pack. We were having some reheated crap one night in the woods. I pulled out my stove and boiled up the goulash....lol...the first thing I did when we got home was replentish my "Oh S-it" pouch.”

“The only thing about the Enertia foods is what's in them. A quick glance at the ingredient label reads like a bad Texas Chainsaw remake.�
Nigal
10:01:20 AM

huh?...aren't the all natural?”

“I tried most of the methods above. I have Mel's Dehydrator Cookbook and Sarbar's Freezer Bag Cook book...both great BTW. What I have settled in on is a combination of everything. I use some dehydrated backpacking food (eggs, desserts, chicken), and a lot of store bought items (oatmeal, cold cereal, noodles, etc.). Lunches are mostly tuna packets & crackers.

I use a lot of freezer bags to minimize cleanup. For example I put my oatmeal in a freezer bag with dehydrated milk, extra sugar, and dried fruit. Then add a little hot water and I have a yummy breakfast I eat out of the bag with minimal cleanup.”

“huh?...aren't the all natural?

Rat shyt is all natural too, doesn't mean I'm gonna eat it. Here's a sample. Powdered chicken fat and skin? No thanks.”

“mmmmmm, powdered chicken fat...i'm drooling”

“sounds like bullion to me..

'32oz”

“wow, that is disgusting”

“Do you eat chicken tenders? some / most use ground skin in the breading to add flavor”

“No, I don't. :)”

“First off, 2,000 calories is REALLY low for a highly strenuous activity like backpacking. I think you really need more in the 4-5K range and sometimes, as high as 10K, depending on mileage.

I usually dehydrate my own for longer trips. It's just a lot more cost effective, not to mention tasty, than premade. I usually buy frozen veggies in a bag (don't do canned, they suck), and just keep bags in the freezer of dehydrated veggies. Boil a couple of chickens, strip em, cut em up, dehydrate and keep on hand as well. I can just mix and match what I have on hand quite easily and make a variety of items. Get some single serving condiments, particularly mayo, at the fast food restaurants and keep em in the fridge. Easy peasy. When I get up in the morning, I just add water to my lunch or dinner items if they are dehydrated and they are ready to eat when the time comes (just fill the water level so it covers the food). It's really all pretty easy. The effort comes in the food prep.”

“The chicken skin, bones, and fat are where the flavor comes from. Ever eat a plain chicken breast? Not too flavorful unless you doctor it. How is dehydrating skin and fat any different than dehydrating meat and noodles?

BTW, Trader Joes has some great liquid stock concentrates in chicken, beef, and veggie flavors. They're lower in sodium than most alternatives and one box contains about ten packages that are similar to the single serve drink mixes like Crystal Light. I've used them in place of the sodium overdose packets that comes with Ramen.”

“The only success I have had with dehydrating chicken is with canned chicked. I've tried boiled, baked, crock pot and roasted chicken and it always turns out like leather. Does not fully rehydrated well either. I gave up after numerous tries.

Can't do bananas either for some reason.

NC, have you ever tried to dehydrate food that has a lot of fat? Doesn't work very well and the fat can go rancid on a long trip in the summer. I add back the fat later in camp usually in the form of olive oil.”

“Blech... that all sounds dreadful.

I've had many MREs over the years and every now and then they can be pretty good...

But they tend to clog me up most uncomfortably... so I try to avoid them.

I don't really like dehydrated food much... Just normal food from home always tastes so much better to me...

I suppose it's what you're willing to carry... and to me, it's worth some extra weight if I'm able to have some good food at the end...

I prefer to winter camp and the cold makes it easy to bring perishables... Also, I like to prepare food in coffee cans and freeze it solid... then, once to camp with a fire going, I set the can near the fire while I go off and do other things... When I get back, and I'm hungry, it's usually thawed and hot... yummy. Lotsa different things can be cooked this way...

As for lunch there are lots of lightweight tasty things (Tuna, crackers, chips...)

Breakfast is pretty easy too...

I just don't see the need to go with dehydrated stuff... Then again, I usually don't do very much long hiking any more... so that probably has influenced my choices of what to carry ;)”

“Interesting, CD. I haven't had such a problem.

Agreed on the fat. I try to keep my meat as lean as possible for longevity purposes.”

“Rosey, what temp do you use to dehydrate the chicken? I just use the standard setting for meat, but maybe that is too hot.”

“Yeah, I typically use the meat setting, but sometimes I mix in veggies with it as well and so maybe that is adding moisture to the meat. Also, how finely are you chopping it up? I do mine pretty finely diced so it will rehydrate more quickly.

What dehydrater are you using? I use an American Harvester with about nine trays.
last edited: 1/07/09 9:20:12 AM”

“I use an American Harvester too.

I usually pull it apart into shreads so that I can lay it on the slotted trays rather than use the platic tray. Maybe I should try dicing it. Thanks.”

“I have found I use the solid plastic trays for everything except jerky. Plus, stuff doesn't seem to stick to it as badly.

I'd also mention one of my favorite quickies for the dehyrator is cans of chili. Easy, packed with protein and hearty.”

“NC, have you ever tried to dehydrate food that has a lot of fat

I tried dehydrating some polish sausage once with less than stellar results. I was only commenting on the reason some of those companies use it as a flavor enhancer---I wasn't advocating it. Heck, I'd carry a pound of bacon on every trip if it was feasible.”

“oh I understand NC.

I only have one plastic tray and I usually have some kind of liquid in that one. I should have ordered more. But I have found that lining the slotted trays with parchment paper works really well and nothing sticks.”

“Parchment paper = waxed paper?

Mmmmmm, bacon...”

“The chicken skin, bones, and fat are where the flavor comes from.

unfortunately fat has taken a beating over the last few years...everyone wants their cuts of meat as lean as possible and everyone drains there meat...a steak with a good fat marbling is much better than a lean one...ever try to find a grease pot at a store now a days?, you can't find them cause nobody saves their fat anymore...all things in moderation”

“How long would it take to dehydrate homemade venison chili? And what would be the rule for reconstituting? Weigh it before and after the liquid is gone then match that amount when rehydrating?”

“No, parchment paper is different from waxed paper. Unlike waxed paper, you can actually put it in the oven. Some people use it for baking cookies and stuff.”

“Enertia foods are way over rated.”

“Venison is pretty lean. Not sure how long that would take. Maybe a few hours? Be sure not to dehydrate on a really high setting because you can actually burn the sauce. I learned that the hard way. Ticked me off too.

I would measure the volume before and after, not the weight.

Make sure you write the amount of water to add on your storage container, freezer bag or whatever cuz you will never remember later in camp.”

“for a cold meal, I like a fruit cookie sold at Winco. It has coconut, dried fruit, seeds, and a lot of fat. Its a real meal, and edible. Add some beef jerky, cheese, ritz crackers, and a payday bar, and that is lunch.

Those are baby food driers. They are very cute. Mine is a real food drier, and can dry 50 pounds of apples at a time on 15 trays, each about 30" x 30". Takes about 36 hours to dry them, and at 24 hours you can add about 25 pounds more. Its home made, and if you stand too close the fan will suck you in. I'll pass on drying chicken skin however. nasty!”