Holy Freeze Dried Rip Off Batman!!
Elk
So I'm getting prepped for the Sept 1st opening for elk. It's a remote location which limits bulk and weight, but it's not backpacking. I would typically buy the season's supply of Mountain house and lately Peak Refuel for my evening meal. Fast and easy.
Well what the heck!?!? Here in BC, in Canuck Pesos eh, they are almost twenty bucks per meal!! I may go through twenty or more of them through the season. Forget that! I'm going back twenty years for some stuff and I just ordered a new vacuum sealer for the rest. I can have a cooler and some ice and the temps will likely run as low as freezing at night to 70 F during the day. I've hunted and ate with Bowsite Kurt and he always uses vacuum sealed meals that you just put in boiling water. They are clean, quick, tasty and way cheaper. And who am I to question a Super Slammer.
So what's some of your favourite single serving, vacuum packed and frozen evening meals?
It almost makes sense to buy a Harvest Right freeze dryer and spend the off season making your hunting meals. They’re pricey, but you get exactly what you want to eat because you make it yourself, dry, package it, and store it.
In your case it would pay for itself in 5 or 6 seasons. Maybe less.
I make spaghetti with elk Italian sausage and sauce and freeze individual servings in quart Ziploc bags. Then reheat in hot water. Also a hot dish/casserole I make with burger, rice, onion and cream of mushroom soup.
I buy Mountain House meals in the #10 cans and vacuum seal my own meal portions. It's cheaper that way and you can make them the size you want.
Spaghetti, cheeseburger soup, stuffed pasta with shrimp and green chile, meatloaf, Spanish rice with sausage, sautéed squash and zucchini with bacon, cheese, and green chile, lasagna, fajitas, breakfast burrito mix and bring a few tortillas, carne asada, pulled pork, beef brisket. Basically anything you eat at home and make enough for leftovers. Portion out the leftovers in your ziplock bags or vacuum seal then freeze. You can also dehydrate any meal and then add boiling water right to your bag or just simmer with water in a small backpacking style pot and eat right out of that. They all work great!
Peak is $11 us at sierra trading
Not long ago did research on dried foods and learned there is a huge difference between dehydrated and freeze dried foods... Not only flavor and texture of the prepared meals, freeze dried shelf life is rated more than twice as long as dehydrated so I thought about buying a freeze dryer until I seen the prices... I was like whoa, the most inexpensive units started out in thousands of dollars...
You could buy 12 mountain house meals for like 99$ the other day on Amazon. Individually you could buy the granola and blueberries for 7$ each.
Vacuum sealed Raman noodles with freeze dried chicken…. About a $1 per meal…
The $11 at Sierra works out to about $19 Canadian by the time I pay shipping. Plus possible import fee and taxes. But thanks for heads up:)
Same for Amazon.
But I got a start on my homemade meals tonight already. Asian meat and cabbage dish. No open flame in the tent after that one!
LOVE mh granola and blueberries.........
When truck camping I freeze leftovers and some purpose made meals in bags to heat in boiling water.
For backpacking in......I cant begin to imagine packing in that stuff.....gotta pay for the light weight stuff or come up with some dehydrated version of your own. I think some folks here have posted up their own recipes and I can see doing milk powder with granola or oats and some dried fruit. You can supplement the protein with jerky I guess. Gets old quick.
Wow....real elk hunting threads.....and it only took until almost start of the season this year. LOL
Throw your vacuum sealed meals into a ziplock before the hot water bath in case the seal on them blows as you lift them out of the water. Can't afford to waste a meal when traveling light.
I view them as eating out. I don’t like food prep and I like eating these. I stock up when on sale but even if they were double the price I’d still buy them for the convenience.
My daughter has a freeze dryer machine, and has been selling freeze dried fruits and vegetables for awhile now. I asked her about making some custom, freeze dried meals for hunters, and she's looking into what the costs would be. With her set-up, she could do custom meals as well.
She has been fighting colon and stomach cancer for nearly 10 years, is still doing well, and freeze drying the foods gives her something she likes to do when she's up to it.
"LOVE mh granola and blueberries"
Just bought a can of these, for breakfasts, Jordan.
Gonna split them up into 2 serving bags. Anxious to try them out, I've been making my own for several years, using a recipe from Cnelk. Getting lazy in my old age!
Well I am confident that Brads taste better but.....convenience.
I never saw the attraction of those high priced meals. You can get better stuff in the grocery store. Knorr has both dried and ready to eat pasta sides and rice sides in pouches. You can get spam, chicken, and tuna in pouches, and temp stable ham, sausage, jerky, pre cooked bacon, pepperoni etc. Nitrates and sodium contents are high but if you're active and hydrate shouldn't hurt you for a few days.
If you hunt around on here you'll find my recipie for "Fuzzy Meal Bars" which are a good meal replacement bar.
A tasty and easy breakfast meal is my modern day adaptation of "cold flour". Mix 2 pounds instant grits, 1/4 pounds dark brown sugar or maple sugar. Portion into 1/2 cup baggies, put a bag in a large mug or bowl and add a cup of boiling water, stir well and eat. I like to make it in my coffee mug after I drink my coffee and leave a little coffee in for flavor
we bought a medium harvest right freeze drier two years ago for about $2400. I supply my extended family with freeze dried meals for hunting/camping and eat a freeze dried lunch at work a couple times a week. Since its only my wife and I at home, It's probably paid for itself with saving leftovers. I do freeze dried meals, fruit snacks, ice cream sandwiches, eggs, rice and a bunch more. Way better than store bought.
Fuzzy, I make your fuzzy bars for mid morning snacks.
I have everything covered for breakfast and daytime. I’ll be in my stand for about twelve hours everyday, so that food is all pre prepped, in big ziplocks. My mornings are grab and go.
Before freeze dried became popular I used all the common grocery store items that Fuzzy and others listed. I’m going back to those , for the most part. But it will be nice to have some “home cooking” in the cooler.
Just found out about powdered peanut butter as well. Has great reviews
Ambush, I'm glad to hear my recipie is useful. :)
