Freeze Dried Meals - Different Angle

[DMCakhunter]

I have always had a supply of freeze dried meals on hand for any need.
2020 came around and we stocked up on pasta, box dinners, pancake mix and other such stuff in case things were totally shut down.
Now that the expiration dates are coming due (I know the stuff will last longer than is marked), we are using it up.
As we do that, I am just now noticing how much other stuff, (spices, oil, butter, syrup, sauces, onions, carrots and other additives) that it takes to come up with meals.
So I am going a different route and declutter the long term pantry stash. Have figured out that we can take one prepared mountain house meal pouch and add between 1/2 or one cup of cooked rice to it and it is still flavorful. Needs a bit of extra water but most meals (chicken, beef, spaghetti and lasagna) work well.
This will allow my wife and I to share a pouch and be comfortably full. Maybe need a bit of pepper or hot spice, but a complete meal with just boiling water.
For our long term food stash, we will have freeze dried meal pouches, buckets of rice, pepper, some other spices , some bullion cubes and salt. Well, no need to add salt to the pouches anyways.
This greatly simplifies storage and portability. The pouches are good for 30 years, (I have some from 2002 and they are just fine), the rice is the easiest thing to store. Will still maintain our frozen food stash and some freeze dried onions and carrots but the normal pantry will get much smaller, don't need 10 boxes of spaghetti, elbow macaroni, pasta sauce, mushrooms, powdered milk or evaporated milk cans. Cost wise, the freeze dried route will cost more, but I don't think it will be much more when you take into account all of the things that go into a meal and the energy to make it, especially in a grid down situation.

[JohnyMac]

Great discussion DM! 

It might be a good thread to talk about freeze dried foods.

I am not a fan of Mountain House as it is laded with salt and to be quite frank, is bland to my taste.

MrsMac and I are partial to Packit Gourmet and Pinnacle Foods. They are a bit more than Mountain House but of so much better.

Now DM, adding supplemental items to one pouch to extend the distribution is a great idea! Rice is a natural as are other things like freeze dried carrots, broccoli, peas, potatoes and/or other vegetable's. Reconstituting them before adding to the pouch might make things a bit easier in the long run.

I use to make my own trail food. If my memory serves me correctly it was a 1/3 C rice, a couple hunks of beef jerky, 2-tbsp of a veggie like mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, onions flakes, , and a tsp of bullion - Chicken or beef.

In a vacuumed sealed pouch I put the rice and in a separate ziplock bag the beef jerky and veggies and seal.

to cook, I would start a cup of water to boil and add rice and bullion then simmer. In a separate cup of water I would put the jerky and veggie to reconstitute. I would cook the rice 20-25 minutes but at the 15-minute point I would add the soaked jerky and veggie's to the rice minus the water they were soaking in. Continue to cook in the rice till done - Again around the 25-minute point.

When done stir and let sit for 10-minutes or so. I often seasoned with McDonalds hot sauce packets.

Great topic!   

[Kevin]

That trail food meal sounds great! Made me hungry.

DM: Just the added shelf life of freeze dried food justifies the higher cost in my opinion. You could easily spend way more replacing out of date foods in the time your FD food lasts.

[grizz]

I just happened upon a few MRE's and tempted to open one and try out. I dont have any experience with the new stoves that come with them but I've heard they taste better than the stuff we got fed in the 80's

[Nemo]

I just happened upon a few MRE's and tempted to open one and try out.

Well do it and report back.  Stay away from any raw eggs in the there.

Nemo

[grizz]

I just happened upon a few MRE's and tempted to open one and try out.

Well do it and report back.  Stay away from any raw eggs in the there.

Nemo

 

[DMCakhunter]

Updated -
I forgot to add where I was getting the veggies to extend the freeze dried meals.
https://www.mredepot.com/category-s/1826.htm?searching=Y&sort=13&cat=1826&show=90&page=1
These come in #2.5 cans and are easier to deal with than #10 cans.
We use the carrots, green onion, shallots, peas and various mushrooms. Wife will get into these when she wants to make a soup and we do not have fresh veggies in the house.

[JohnyMac]

DM, thx for the link. 

[FeedingFreedom]

Packit Gourmet rocks! Best backpacking meals I've had for taste. Sometimes they're low on stock, especially for my favorite, Texas State Fair Chili, and it's not the cheapest, but entirely worth it for a meal or two on a trip. I make my own "Freezer Bag Meals" that only require that I boil water. I started out with recipes from the book "Freezer Bag Cooking" and online, then I've developed more that are suited to my taste. I don't use a lot of freeze-dried stuff, mostly because of the cost, instead I dehydrate my own veggies and pastas/rice. I buy seasonings/spices/etc. from https://www.minimus.biz/ they sell travel-size and individual serving packets by the piece. Want Duke's mayo in a packet? They've got it. Makes what might otherwise be boring glop into something at least interesting, if not gourmet.

I've never liked Mountain House, completely underseasoned and overpriced. Don't get me started on MRE's!  MRE's are super-heavy and if you eat more than one you'll need a bucket of Metamucil. They're much better now than they originally were, but they're really not designed for backpacking or carrying more than one or two days' worth.

[JohnyMac]

FF wrote, "Packit Gourmet rocks! Best backpacking meals I've had for taste." I AGREE!

Shepherd's Cottage Pie, Pasta Beef Bolognese, and Mom's Banana Putin are my favorites. https://www.packitgourmet.com/