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  1. #1
    Aspiring Thru-Hiker DogPaw's Avatar
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    Unhappy Does Coleman dehydrated pasta always taste awful, or am I doing it wrong?

    So for Christmas, my family decided to encourage my hiking and get me a bunch of gear, including some dehydrated pasta as a gag gift. I got around to eating it last month while out on a day hike, and it was awful. Maybe it's because the water hadn't been hot enough, seeing as I was working with a rigged up system of a heat rock and canteen that day, but when I ate some, it was absolutely vile. I couldn't stomach more than half the pack and ended up just throwing it in my satchel and looking for some mulberries. Does it HAVE to be boiling water for it to taste good, or is it always bad?

  2. #2
    Registered User Tuckahoe's Avatar
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    Coleman trail foods is made by Enertia Trail foods -- http://trailfoods.com/. Yeah I find their dinners to be fairly bad. And chili flavored bean soup is not chili and cant be chili if there is no meat. On the other hand I do like their desserts.
    igne et ferrum est potentas
    "In the beginning, all America was Virginia." -​William Byrd

  3. #3
    Punchline RWheeler's Avatar
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    I've never had a Coleman dinner that I actually found palatable. They are indeed gag gifts.

  4. #4
    Registered User The Cleaner's Avatar
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    I found out that cooking the meals in a pot does help.The chili soup needed salt.Any freeze dried meal needs BOILING water.Add to that water boils at a temperature something like -3-5degrees below 212F. for every 1000ft in elevation.For example @ 6000ft water will come to boil at 194degrees F.For this reason I always use a real stove,a Svea 123a.If you like under cooked food and warm drinks use an alcohol stove....

  5. #5
    Registered User The Cleaner's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Cleaner View Post
    I found out that cooking the meals in a pot does help.The chili soup needed salt.Any freeze dried meal needs BOILING water.Add to that water boils at a temperature something like -3-5degrees below 212F. for every 1000ft in elevation.For example @ 6000ft water will come to boil at 194degrees F.For this reason I always use a real stove,a Svea 123a.If you like under cooked food and warm drinks use an alcohol stove....
    What's great about alky stoves is the temp control switch/knob and the off switch.Then there is the problem of leftover fuel....

  6. #6
    lemon b's Avatar
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    Only Coleman one's I'll buy are Mac&Cheese and Worms & Dirt.

  7. #7
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    If you have any unopened, unwanted Coleman food, I'll take them. I think they are good. I also drink cheap beer in cans if you want to unload that too.

  8. #8
    Registered User Drybones's Avatar
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    There are not many dehydrated meals that taste good to me, pasta or otherwise. All you can do is doctor them with hot sauce, olive oil, or something else to give it flavor.

  9. #9
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    for any dehydrated meals i get the water as hot as i possibly can and also let it sit for at least 8 to 10 minutes after mixing it all together. Sometimes this still isn't enough to soften up all the noodles so I often have to put it back on my stove/fire/whatever heat source you may have for a few minutes and then let it sit again. Just pay attention when you do this as it is very easy to leave it on too long and get burnt/stuck noodles on the bottom of your cookset. Another little "trick" you can use if you don't have a pot cozy is to wrap your pot after mixing the noodles and hot water in your fleece/skull cap/ or your camptowel to help it retain heat while you let it sit to soak, this usually eliminates the need to put it back on your stove to heat it up a second time. I think this happens to me because i have a titanium pot which is equally good at conducting and loosing heat. Often times my food will be getting cold before I'm done eating it. Does anyone else with a titanium pot experience these problems also?

  10. #10

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    I have tried mountain house (dog puke), richmoor (horse puke), alpineaire (pig puke) and backpackers pantry (dog puke fought over by two dogs.

    Gotta make your own food or at least purchase brands (knorr or lipton) that regular people buy. If it wasn't "hiker" no one would voluntarily eat that stuff.

  11. #11
    Registered User Monkeywrench's Avatar
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    You just weren't hungry enough.
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  12. #12

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    I have never tried the coleman brand....but "Dirt and Worms" 5.99 C'mon.

  13. #13
    Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by rastraikis View Post
    I have tried mountain house (dog puke), richmoor (horse puke), alpineaire (pig puke) and backpackers pantry (dog puke fought over by two dogs.

    Gotta make your own food or at least purchase brands (knorr or lipton) that regular people buy. If it wasn't "hiker" no one would voluntarily eat that stuff.
    +1 on that!

  14. #14
    Registered User Tuckahoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rastraikis View Post
    I have tried mountain house (dog puke), richmoor (horse puke), alpineaire (pig puke) and backpackers pantry (dog puke fought over by two dogs.

    Gotta make your own food or at least purchase brands (knorr or lipton) that regular people buy. If it wasn't "hiker" no one would voluntarily eat that stuff.
    HA HA HA, you wont eat Mountain House, Richmoor, and etc... But you're going to eat pasta sides from Knorr/Lipton?
    igne et ferrum est potentas
    "In the beginning, all America was Virginia." -​William Byrd

  15. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tuckahoe64:1261946
    Quote Originally Posted by rastraikis View Post
    I have tried mountain house (dog puke), richmoor (horse puke), alpineaire (pig puke) and backpackers pantry (dog puke fought over by two dogs.

    Gotta make your own food or at least purchase brands (knorr or lipton) that regular people buy. If it wasn't "hiker" no one would voluntarily eat that stuff.
    HA HA HA, you wont eat Mountain House, Richmoor, and etc... But you're going to eat pasta sides from Knorr/Lipton?
    Nope they only taste a little better. I make my own meals with actual food.

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