Dehydrated meals - any recommendations?

[El-Dracho]

Hi overlanders,

We all love to cook outdoors while overlanding, I guess. I really enjoy it. Especially, cooking on the fire!

Sometimes, we do not have the possibility to do so. Or it or it just got late until we found a camp . Or just want a quick meal.

For these cases I carry always some dehydrated soups or other little meals. You know, these standard ones you can get in the supermarket.

But there are also numerous dehydrated dishes that make a complete, good meal.

Who has experience here with that and would like to give a few recommendations? Thanks a lot!

Enjoy oerlanding!

Bjoern

 

[Winterpeg]

Mountain House foods are consistently decent.... or at least I like them.

There are many different brands out there... some higher quality, some lower.

A quick search and I found a website with a good rundown on various meals...

12 Best Freeze-Dried Food Brands

BEST Freeze Dried Food & Dehydrate Meals · Mountain House · Packit Gourmet · Patagonia Provisions · Harmony House · Outdoor Herbivore · & More

www.greenbelly.co

 

[Eddie Linn]

For breakfast I like the Mountain house biscuits & gravy. I just don't put the full amount of water in it when I fix it to make the gravy a little thicker.

 

[madcratebuilder]

Easy answer, Mountain House.

 

[Dusther210]

Easy answer, Mountain House.

What he said

 

[old_man]

My first and foremost recommendation is to add water.

 

[Shokgoblr]

Packit Gourmet makes some GREAT meals. Their blackbean and corn salad is good enough to eat at home. I do like a few of the Mtn. Houses too, I stay away from any meats except chicken. Freeze dried beef always tastes like cardboard. I am partial to the Mtn. House Sweet & Sour chicken.

 

[TxJeeper75]

I would have to go with mountain house too. I have never been disappointed by any of their meals.

Another direction you could go, is to make your own. Years ago, I was really into "prepping". I had bought some of those emergency meal kits, but found them to be pricey, so I decided to make my own. I bought cans of freeze dried meats, veggies, powdered eggs, powdered butter and other items online. I took those items, along with dry items from the local grocery. I made my own soups, pasta dishes, and breakfasts. Each had a meal, a snack, a dessert, 1 or 2 drink mixes, matches, napkins and wet naps. I then vacuum sealed them so they would last for years. I started taking them on camping trips back in 2017, and found them to be very useful with their compact size. Below is an example of one of the breakfasts.

Full disclosure, some of the items I chose, like certain pasta mixes, the gum you see, and trail mix with raisins only stayed fresh a few years. Not that they spoiled, but that the flavor was off, and the gum was rock hard.

 

[socal66]

I have to agree with everyone here that Mountain House in general is noticeably better than most of the other brands.

Another option is ramen dishes paired with packaged dry foods close cousin, canned food. Kirkland brand canned pre-cooked roast beef was the greatest thing ever with ramen but I can't seem to find it in Costco anymore. If I ever run across it again I am surely going to buy a pallet of that stuff for my trail meals.

 

[Flipper]

I like Mountain House. Biscuits and Gravy is my favorite, the new Chicken Breast is also good. We have 30 in our Hurricane prep supplies.

 

[diabetiktaco]

Next Mile Meals. WAYYYYY lower carb than mountain house. The salt content is through the roof but I think that's common for all of these. The italian style beef tastes like chef boy r dee meatballs which is amazing.

 

[Paula - Canadian Explorer]

Hi overlanders,

We all love to cook outdoors while overlanding, I guess. I really enjoy it. Especially, cooking on the fire!

Sometimes, we do not have the possibility to do so. Or it or it just got late until we found a camp . Or just want a quick meal.

For these cases I carry always some dehydrated soups or other little meals. You know, these standard ones you can get in the supermarket.

But there are also numerous dehydrated dishes that make a complete, good meal.

Who has experience here with that and would like to give a few recommendations? Thanks a lot!

Enjoy oerlanding!

Bjoern

I use Wise Company. Love the Wise Cheesy Lasagna, has 15 grams of protein per serving (great for hikers). It's lightweight and easy to pack. Cooks in pouch for minimal mess (just add hot water).
I also dehydrate my fruits - especially berries. It makes for some delicious and healthy fruit rolls on the go.

 

[robh]

Good-To-Go has a lot of great food options. GOOD TO-GO: Home page

 

[Paula - Canadian Explorer]

Good-To-Go has a lot of great food options. GOOD TO-GO: Home page

Nice. Going to see if they sell in Canada, or order some in.

 

[El-Dracho]

Wow, so many answers and good information here! Thanks a lot. Great community!!!

So I see, that many of you guys recommend Mountain House meals. Going to see if they sell somewehre in Europe.

Cheers, Bjoern

 

[CARogers]

Mountain house beef stroganoff FTW! Anyone who disagrees is wrong!

 

[J.W.]

Like just about everyone else has said, Mountain House is generally considered better tasting than most of the other brands. The dehydrated meals are light and easy to make but PLEASE be aware of the additives in these packages. The sodium, not just salt for flavor but sodium for preserving (that you don't taste) is incredibly high in all this stuff. For the purposes described by OP, I think they are fine but they are definitely not health food.

 

[CWu21]

I do a combination of Mountain house and Peak Refuel that sweet pork in rice is pretty darn good probably my favorite

 

[El-Dracho]

So Mountain House seems to be the one many OB members here recommend. Thanks. Just dropped them an email to see if they sell somewehre in Europe.

 

[El-Dracho]

So Mountain House seems to be the one many OB members here recommend. Thanks. Just dropped them an email to see if they sell somewehre in Europe.

So I got an answer in a very short time. That is what I call a good customer service!

But unfortunately, they are not able to ship to Europe due to import regulations on meat and poultry products.