UKC

Can any one recommend a brand of nice tasting dehydrated meals. Got an expedition coming up and looking to go a bit lighter. I normally use boil in the bag type meals. The last dehydrated meal I had was several years ago and tasted like hot damp pepper.
Looking for one that you add the water to the bag - again weight saving!

Any help much appreciated. Cheers!

In reply to Crazy Climber:

how many days you gotta last for?

boil in the bags are heavy and dehydes i dont llike - hard to digest and they get worse with every 100m of alt gain.

what i do is by instant rice or couscous as a base, then take different dried flavourings i take out of instant noodles (ditch the noodles tho) like thai green curry etc.
i find i can usually do about 4 nights in a row before i need to switch flavours.

also, i dont rely on them as my sole meal - just the warm, salty, rehydrating element. the rest i just go with Clif bars, muesli, chocolate, more soups etc. means boiling less water (a big deal if youre melting snow).
Clif bars crushed into water are pretty good, as are gels dissolved in warm water too.
take a tube of butter (or even better, olive oil if you can find it) to add kcals. pestos also good if the flavour works (it doesnt work with thai so good - learned that the hard way).
camembert in a tube is awesome also.

works out way cheaper than special freeze dried food too. asian supermarkets have it all.

In reply to Crazy Climber:

We used Bewell last time and they were excellent, some interesting flavours and if you get the big versions you will be totally stuffed. I didnt enjoy the spaghetti bolognaise but the curry flavours were lovely.
My boyfriend talks of them lovingly even now!

In reply to Crazy Climber:

haven't had them for quite a few years but seem to remember the mountain house meals were quite nice as far a freeze dried goes

In reply to ice.solo:
whats the objection to noodles Ice?

try 'real turmat' or 'bla bland' from outdoors grub, both quite toothsome - expensive though so currently looking at the home assembled option - those new stock pot things are quite goood with noodles.

In reply to Crazy Climber:
Had you thought of making your own? Cook something you like, dehydrate it, job done! You can buy food dehydrators but they generally seem to be a bit pricey or you can drop "homemade food dehydrator" into google.

In reply to Dr.S at work:

i find when its kcal to weight/dollar noodles just dont match instant rice or couscous, by a fair bit too.
also, being in asia, ive noticed lots of people i climb with go for instant noodles, but by about day 3 have had enough of them. depends what youre into i suppose.
they also seem to need higher temperature water for longer than the other options to make the leap from 'edible' to 'good'.
some too have an insane sodium content. not always bad, but can leave you thirsty all night which then makes you piss and affects your sleep.

one good thing for them tho is the ones you can eat without cooking. clog you up like plaster, but a margin for contingency if the stove breaks.

i wouldnt discount them totally, just wouldnt base a whole trip around them.

In reply to Reach>Talent:

I think the home dehydrators are more for foods like fruit and veg where they can be dried by heat and venting. For foods like curry or stew you need to freeze dry which takes a more industrial process.

In reply to Clarence:
I think you'd manage if you spread it thinly (not that I've tried it). Now the idea of building a freeze drier in the garage has some merit!

In reply to ice.solo:
one good thing for them tho is the ones you can eat without cooking. clog you up like plaster, but a margin for contingency if the stove breaks.

Cheers for that, gave me a giggle.

In reply to ice.solo:

I've noticed that noodles often come out at > 500kcal/100g, rather than the 400 you might expect for pure carbs. I put this down to the palm oil content in many instant noodles.

It's certainly true that the 'flavour' sachets are high in sodium; either simply salt, or MSG or one of the other flavour enhances.

I've heard good reports of this stuff:

https://www.fuizionfreezedriedfood.com/

But I was concerned that their calorific content claims were a little whacked, which, as they were claiming to be for expeditions, was a little disturbing. They may have addressed this problem; I've not checked.

In reply to captain paranoia:

A quick look at the chicken jalfrezi suggests the numbers have been sorted, but a meal is still pretty small, at 548kcal, for £7...

You'd bulk this up with a good serving of cheap rice, cous-cous, or whatever you fancy.

In reply to Crazy Climber:

How to and hundreds of recipes
http://www.trailcooking.com/trail-cooking-101/freezer-bag-cooking-101

We thought this one was really good:
http://www.trailcooking.com/recipes/cranberry-chicken-rice

In reply to Crazy Climber:
Ive used Expedition Foods for years now and on the whole they taste great, they have a 800cal range which gets your count up. I went to BeWell on a big trip last year and after 4 days it was more like BeSick.....

If its for convenience (bivvys etc) then Freeze dried is great buton a long trip its best to have a mix of meal types, it keeps the cost down and adds variety

There is lots of misinformation and poor understanding of sports nutrition; understanding how the body works, specifically what to fuel it with and at what time and for what purpose can make a massive difference.......big subject though.

In reply to Crazy Climber:

I read "dehydrated males".

In reply to Dr.S at work:

Agreed,
The best I've used is the Norwegian 'Real Turmat' meals. Being from Norway they are not cheap, but are made with good ingredients and taste better than the rest.
The Swedish 'Blå Band' meals are good too and are a tad cheaper than the 'Real Turmat' ones.
Both are high calorie packets and ideal for high activity, cold climates and used by the military.

http://www.outdoorsgrub.co.uk

In reply to Ava Adore:

<shakes head>

In reply to Sariel:

Any suggestions where to begin? Thanks.

In reply to Sariel:

+1, very happy with those. Avoid Meditteranean Vegetable Pasta though.... Real Turmat, as others have said, are also good, though less cals if I remember correctly.

In reply to Ava Adore:

simply add beer for full expansion...