Best freeze-dried backpacking meals?

[iceman]

Nothing says fun times like trying to outrun a bear after your bacon!

Always remember, you don't need to outrun the bear, you just need to outrun your buddy.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

That packit gourmet stuff linked to earlier seems to be real good. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but everyone who does raves about it.

One of my favorite meals while out backpacking is Annies mac-n-cheese with a packet of chicken or spam mixed in. Get the microwaveable version as it doesn't require you to boil the noodles for any length of time. Put noodles and chicken or spam or whatever and water in a pot, bring up to a boil then turn off stove,let it sit for a couple minutes, add cheese sauce, done. I like to mix jalapenos in with this too.

[XXX-er]

half a 250 gm tub of LIGHT cream cheese, add any combo of basil/oregano/dill/tuna/LJ/sundried tomatos, to a pot of noodles for 2 will make a ribsticking good cheese sauced meal

http://www.zatarains.com/

IME any of those Zatrains ^^ are pretty MoFo tasty, the down side is the amount of cook time, paddling out on the north coast we got beaches full of drift wood to cook on a fire but on a back pack where you pack fuel that IS a consideration

[saxon]

Mountain Home Breakfast Skillet stands out from all the others. Make sure you have some oil to fry it after hydrating. And if you have another meal that's not very appetizing, consider frying it and adding some cheese. Generally chicken works out better for me than other meats. I normally love bacon but it's always been disgusting in freeze-dried food.

I don't think you're in our area, but these guys make awesome food: http://backcountryfood.ca/index.php

The suggestions of adding seasoning / cheese / etc to the meals are good ones.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

I've fried up bacon ahead of time and brought it in a sealed bag. It'll last for days. Bring some pancake mix, the kind that only needs water, a little butter and a little maple syrup and you've got a great breakfast.

[Kevo]

I find the freeze dried stuff generally makes me feel like crap.

For years now I have used-
-Non-refrigerated tortellini
-Knorr Sides- Pasta, Asian, Rice, etc
-Instant mash potatoes
-Ramen

The great thing about these things is that they are so much cheaper and just about as lightweight as the freeze dried stuff. I supplement meals with things like pre-cooked bacon, sausage, salami, chicken and Parmesan cheese etc to make them extra hearty. For the first couple days of the trip, you can bring fresh veggies as well.

All of these things can be cooked while they sit in boiled water with the stove off. It may take about 40-50% longer to cook than if the stove was on, but you will save a lot of fuel. This even works for winter camping and high altitude climbing so long as you insulate your pots from the snow.

The meat is kinda expensive, but each meal comes out to less than 1/2 the price of the freeze dried crap.

[XXX-er]

for dehydrated vegies you want about 1 cup each person for a meal so I use a 1cup screw lid

http://www.mec.ca/product/5016-522/g...ug/?f=10&q=gsi

or one of these^^ add water in the AM and they are rehydrated by dinner


you can buy small packs of precooked bacon, add to meals

I use the pancake mix that uses either water or milk but i take some powderedmilk

hard cheese lasts a long time the harder the better

[Chainsaw_Willie]

I also take those little Babybel cheeses. They're wrapped in wax so last a long time even though they're a soft cheese.

[Dhelihiker]

The trader joes pre cooked brown rice and madras lentil, Punjabi eggplant stuff FTW. Not FD but fairly minimalist and soooo much better that FD crap. Be mindfull of the FD food that cant be rehydrated in the packet. I did a trip with pots or pans and was hosed on a couple of meals.

[RootSkier]

Yeah, I started this thread really poorly. I am eating freeze dried shit MAX one time per day, and we are doing zero cooking in pots. If it can't be rehydrated in the pouch or in my bowl, it doesn't need to be cooked. I should have indicated all of this, plus the fact that I was really only looking for peoples' preferred brands/flavors of pre-prepared meals, and not suggestions to get a dehydrator, nor bring wet ingredients, frying pans, plates, and spatulas etc. on a 7 day backpacking trip.

[wendigo]

There is no preferred brand of freeze-dried meals, they all suck.


Get a dehydrator.

[Hugh Conway]

for something not homemade but "ok" on the trail:
http://www.thaikitchen.com/

[Mofro261]

Dehydrators are great for DIY and much cheaper in the long run, but I stand by what I said about Packit Gourmet. I'd eat that stuff at home.

[LongShortLong]

I recommend the Mountain House. Not as strongly as 10 years ago, though. They slipped just a notch in recent years. One recommendation I offer is to bring a small fresh onion. Slice some of that into the bag before the hot water and get quite an improvement in taste. Lasagna and Spag are my faves, due to a general liking for tomatoes. The MH desserts are fun too.

If you have a kiwi source, I also like the lamb selections from Backcountry Cuisine (their other stuff is ok, too, though I haven't had it in a while).

I second the earlier suggestion of instant mashed potatoes. If you're still hungry after the MH, make some potatoes right in the same bag. Starchy, yummy goodness.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

What LongShortLong said. MH is probably the best of the readily available ones and the best MH meals are the lasagna, spaghetti, and chicken & rice. Again, order up some of that packit gourmet stuff. I personally know two people who give it good reviews and the population of people over at NWHikers who've tried it all universally praise it too.

As for not cooking on a 7 day backpack... Why not? I've gone out for 7 days with 38 lbs which includes the frying pan in the picture above, fishing pole, lures, lots of delicious food (including olive oil and butter, limes, eggs and bread crumbs all for cooking fish) a fifth of booze, camp shoes and other luxuries. 16 lbs of that was food and I ate like a king the whole time and by the end of the trip my pack weight was delightfully light. Well worth a little extra weight at the beginning.

Of course, if you're big into covering lots of miles each day and traveling as light as possible then yeah, starve yourself and eat crappy or get a dehydrator.

Oh, and the Annies mac & cheese with spam or chicken and jalapenos I mentioned only weighs a couple ounces more than a MH meal, costs half as much, and can be prepared in a freezer bag. In fact, that's how I usually do it 'cause I hate getting cheese stuck all inside my pot. Heat noodles, meat, and jalapenos in the pot with water. As soon as it reaches boiling kill the heat and let it sit for a minute then dump into the freezer bag with the cheese sauce, shake, mix, eat. The bag stays sealed afterwards so no mess in your food bag and your pot is clean, too.

I think the point a lot of people are trying to make is that there are a lot of alternatives to freeze dried meals that don't add significant weight, cost less, taste better and aren't any harder to prepare. Just takes some imagination.

[AKturnanburn]

Whatever Willie I don't think your sealed bag helped with the bears, I see a giant paw creeping toward that carbcake.

[neufox47]

Yeah, I started this thread really poorly. I am eating freeze dried shit MAX one time per day, and we are doing zero cooking in pots. If it can't be rehydrated in the pouch or in my bowl, it doesn't need to be cooked. I should have indicated all of this, plus the fact that I was really only looking for peoples' preferred brands/flavors of pre-prepared meals, and not suggestions to get a dehydrator, nor bring wet ingredients, frying pans, plates, and spatulas etc. on a 7 day backpacking trip.

You definitely want a cast iron frying pan. Makes the food taste so much better. Fresh fruit and vegetables in tupperware go a long ways.

[Phall]

http://www.backcountry.com/camping-f...y\+Janes\+Farm

Mary Jane's Farm Organics. Very good.

[chatton18]

One of my favorite meals while out backpacking is Annies mac-n-cheese with a packet of chicken or spam mixed in.

^^This. I like to add summer sausage.

[XXX-er]

Yeah, I started this thread really poorly. I am eating freeze dried shit MAX one time per day, and we are doing zero cooking in pots. If it can't be rehydrated in the pouch or in my bowl, it doesn't need to be cooked. I should have indicated all of this, plus the fact that I was really only looking for peoples' preferred brands/flavors of pre-prepared meals, and not suggestions to get a dehydrator, nor bring wet ingredients, frying pans, plates, and spatulas etc. on a 7 day backpacking trip.

This thread became about BC food ideas that everyone can contribute to and everyone can learn about ... not everything is about you so don't be so selfish

in a kayak weight doesn't matter so buddy brings a GSI dutch oven those things are great

[Chainsaw_Willie]

This picture was taken on day 4 of a 7 day, 45 mile loop in the Pasayten Wilderness.



My first day pack weight was 46 lbs, and that included a quart of water and my heavy-ass DSLR with two lenses and a tripod, not to mention fishing stuff, cooking stuff, plenty of good food, fifth of tequila (that's a backcountry margarita in the orange cup/bowl) etc. The camera equipment alone weighs about 9 lbs. The fishing pole, reel, and lures is about 2 lbs.

Here's another lightweight, tasty and easy meal idea: Dried cheese tortellini, pre-cooked bacon, pesto, and parmesan cheese.

[Lone Star]

wow. 7 days, you say? yeah, that's a long time out in the woods. it would be horrible to encumber yourself with these days' heavy backpacking mess gear on such a long, arduous journey. are you doing this as a vacation or to make yourself suffer?

7 days' worth of mountain house packaging > the bulk and weight of a small pot or skillet.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

That frying pan I carry is made by MSR and is very lightweight and works great. The handle snaps on and off easily and folds also, making it a lot easier to carry in your pack.

Even when I don't take my frying pan I always have my GSI Soloist cook set. I ditched the silly neoprene sleeve for the cup/bowl as that's just unnecessary but otherwise that's a good little kit. The stove (Snowpeak Gigapower), one large fuel canister, folding titanium spork (which REI no longer makes so I better never lose it), lighter, and cup fit inside it perfectly.

I need to get a good dehydrator. Spaghetti sauce with sausage dehydrates really well and pasta is just too easy to make. You can also just carry packets of the dry pesto sauce mix and a plastic screw-top bottle of olive oil and some parmesan to put on the pasta. Use angel hair/capellini as it cooks super quick.