Best place for oredering freeze-dried food

[wremer]

any suggestions on freeze-dried food. we were thinking about get about 4 meals worth a week, and we will be hiking from damascus down. anyone know where cheap cases of this could be purchased? any other light ideas, for the not so good cooks?

[highway]

Walk your supermarket aisles and use your imagination, possibilities are endless. Freeze-dried is expensive, dubious taste, and you still have the tough, bulky packaging when you copnsume the meal. Buy the much cheaper boxes of Zatarains, Rice A roni, couscous, whatever, repackage in baggys and there you have it. If you splurge on multiple packages of a freeze-dried meal you grow to hate, you'll really suffer!

[wremer]

thanks a lot for the advice, we had been getting numerous opinions of the freezedried thing, but i do indeed think that creating out own meals would be cost, and weight efficent. if you got any other food related or trail advice i would love to read up. hike softly, but carry a big stick........ whit

[Jumpstart]

Hi there,

Adventure Foods (I think they are adventurefoods.com) has GREAT freeze-dried and dehydrated stuff. Their cold-prep chicken salad was like heaven in a bag while we were on the trail. I think you'll find their prices maybe a but more expensive, than say, Mountain House or Backpackers Pantry, but they have an enormous selection and you can order it all online. Good luck!

[Kerosene]

I get some of my freeze-dried food from www.rei.com where I've been a member of the co-op for 30-odd years. You can order directly from the manufacturer (e.g., www.mountainhouse.com) and there are a lot of backpacking retail websites that carry food. Frankly, though, I tend to end up going down to my local outfitter and selecting my entrées, reserving web-order for specialized items.

[The Hog]

I agree with Highway about Zatarain's, at least the Jambalaya rice dinner. It's first-rate. My approach to freeze dried is to buy small to moderate quantities of freeze dried chicken, beef, and peas, and divide them among dinners that you have constructed from somewhat less expensive dehydrated ingredients. Like chili, for example, I'll throw a little FD beef and FD peas in with basmati rice, dehydrated refried beans, tomato powder, dehydrated chives, a dried chipotle pepper, chili powder, cumin, basil, oregano, and cheese powder. A lot of this stuff you can get at any decent food coop, but another source is the King Arthur Flour catalogue. That way you won't go broke paying for prepared meals, while still managing a lightweight dinner. I swear by a spice "rack," in other words, a bunch of small plastic containers filled with hot pepper, curry, cinnamin, black pepper, garlic, et al.