View Full Version : Ordering Backpacking food packs
Looking for suggestions on what would be the best and most economical way to purchase a large quantity of meal packs.
Noticed that Campmor has a 15% discount if you order 40 or more items and free shipping if your order is over $100.
Any suggestions or ordering food and resupplying would be appreciated.
Two Tents
01-27-2011, 16:33
Check with Packit gourmet and see if they have any deals. Very tasty foods.
Tenderheart
01-27-2011, 16:39
I say don't order your food in large quantities in advance. But it as you go along. You can cater to your tastes and cravings much better this way.
litefoot 2000
max patch
01-27-2011, 18:17
I say don't order your food in large quantities in advance. But it as you go along. You can cater to your tastes and cravings much better this way.
litefoot 2000
+1
Once you get out there I think you'll discover that almost nobody (talking about thrus not weekenders) eats MountainHouse type meals.
Speakeasy TN
01-27-2011, 18:21
+1
Once you get out there I think you'll discover that almost nobody (talking about thrus not weekenders) eats MountainHouse type meals.
True enough. But I will say that I'll be eating PIG and Enertia for the first two weeks and will be eating BETTER than the average thru hiker. Bet your noodle mixes get old before I finish the good stuff.:D
Yoder1221
02-04-2011, 13:49
I just found a website that offers dehydrated / freeze dried food packages pretty cheap and for long periods of time. www.Patriotfood.com (http://www.Patriotfood.com) They just opened up 2 days ago and i made a purchase just to check out the quality of food. Ill let you know when i get it in the mail.
sixguns01
02-04-2011, 13:53
Looking for suggestions on what would be the best and most economical way to purchase a large quantity of meal packs.
Noticed that Campmor has a 15% discount if you order 40 or more items and free shipping if your order is over $100.
Any suggestions or ordering food and resupplying would be appreciated.
Try Harmony House Dehydrated Foods. I made the switch recently and love it. Check out Trailcooking.com for amazing recipes.
A thru hiker who used Mountain House.
http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=296833
You may want to ask her opinion.
I have heard from a thru-hiker a year ago that if you contact the manufatures, I think i was told Mountian house but I'm not sure, and tell them about your upcoming thru-hike they will let you buy them very cheap as a form of partial sponsorship. Not sure if it holds any truth though.
Blissful
02-08-2011, 15:45
I actually talk about food on my hiking blog (see the link below). Its really easy to make your own (or come up with dishes from cheap store brands) rather than spend a ton of $$ that might be better spent on good gear in the long run. Just saying.
I bought Mountain House in #10 cans last year from Nitro-Pak http://www.nitro-pak.com/, both meals and vegetables. I had a vacuum sealer and repackaged it into individual meals myself. (Or you can do Hopeful's baby bottle bags and seal it with a hot iron.) My cost per hiker serving (double normal portions) was between $3.00 and $3.75 per dinner. I also dehydrated a lot of food myself and bought my trail lunches as I went.
One of my better on-line "finds" was powdered peanut butter. Just add a little water and it was very good. Add water and a few drops of olive oil and it was over-the-top delicious. Their website is http://bellplantation.com/.
Sickmont
02-08-2011, 16:44
One of my better on-line "finds" was powdered peanut butter. Just add a little water and it was very good. Add water and a few drops of olive oil and it was over-the-top delicious. Their website is http://bellplantation.com/.
WOW.....now that looks righteous indeed!
Buffalo Skipper
02-08-2011, 16:58
One of my better on-line "finds" was powdered peanut butter. Just add a little water and it was very good. Add water and a few drops of olive oil and it was over-the-top delicious. Their website is http://bellplantation.com/.
Croft: I am speechless. I just don't know how to respond to that. Simply amazing! How much does the powderweigh? and how much does said amount make? What is the calorie count? I so need to know more!
Speakeasy TN
02-08-2011, 18:25
All I see is PB2 and the last thing we need is to take the fat out!
ARambler
02-08-2011, 22:44
I have heard from a thru-hiker a year ago that if you contact the manufatures, I think i was told Mountian house but I'm not sure, and tell them about your upcoming thru-hike they will let you buy them very cheap as a form of partial sponsorship. Not sure if it holds any truth though.
Mountain House offered me a substancial discount off of list price but it was not substancially cheaper than what you will find on sale.
I like the quantity discounts and variety from:
http://ldpcampingfoods.com/
Of course you have all the issues with mailed resupply. I was lucky to have one of the best Manager Of Materials.
I don't follow how the best selling brands are inferior, so nobody eats them anymore.
Rambler
try emergencyessentials.com good place to order food from
One of my better on-line "finds" was powdered peanut butter. Just add a little water and it was very good. Add water and a few drops of olive oil and it was over-the-top delicious. Their website is http://bellplantation.com/.
That is amazing! Thanks for sharing that one! Definitely need to try that one out!
Finally got back to this thread--so to answer some questions regarding the powdered peanut butter--don't know the weight, probably in the low tenths of an ounce per serving. 85% of the fat is taken out so if calorie load is important (and it always is to a hiker), add some olive or peanut oil. I carried a couple ounces of olive oil anyway and added some to many of my meals precisely for the calories.
LoneRidgeRunner
02-10-2011, 10:48
I love the Mountain House foods myself....But IMO it isn't cheap. In fact it seems sort of expensive to me but the pasta entrees are delicious IMO. My favorites are the spaghetti, lasagna, beef stroganoff, macaromni and cheese, chili mac... They also have good breakfast entrees....Omelots, scrambled eggs with and without bacon. There are a number of other selections too and they are very soon producing low sodium meals for people with blood pressure problems . I have never tried any others except Backpackers pantry, which IMO is pretty good. Natural High and Alpine Aire, both of which make foods unfit for human consumption IMO. I haven't compared with any others mentioned in this thread..In fact I had never heard of the others before.
One advantage to the MH foods is you just open the package, pour in a measured amount of boiling water, reseal the package (foil ziplock) let sit 5 or 10 minutes, reopen and eat right from the pouch..Only dirty kitchen utensil is a spoon which you just lick clean..Then you can roll or fold the pouch from the bottom and reseal again for a small trash package that doesn't stink to beat the band and attract rats, coons, skunks, possums and bears...
If you have a Costco membership, they sell 10 packs of Mountain House meals for $40. ($4/ea) Beef Stroganoff, Beef Stew..and two others I can't remember right now (Adrianna loves them...I need two of them when doing my mileage and $8 for a meal is too expensive IMO when backpacking. One works for her).
As others pointed out, it is less expensive to just buy in the grocery store esp as your larger hiker appetite kicks in.
I'll use one on occasion if I am feeling lazy and just want to get away quickly. I often have to add something like jerky, mashed potatoes, etc to feel full, though.
If you have the time, dehydrating your own works and there are bulk items like just-add-water lentils, beans, cous cous, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes etc that are less expensive, better tasting, and less processed.
If you want some really inexpensive prices if you buy a lot in bulk, check out this website:
http://theepicenter.com/cgi/order.cgi?page=freeze_dried_and_dehydrated.html&cart_id=%%cart_id%%
The survivalist websites tend to have good prices on this type of good..again esp if you buy in massive quantity. (Good for a thru-hike, Armageddon, or the Zombie Apocalypse. ;) )
As always, YMMV.
Buffalo Skipper
02-10-2011, 12:09
If I recall, when reading SBhikes journal that she bought her meals in advance in quantity. You may want to check with her about her source and how she felt about doing it this way....
Different Socks
02-11-2011, 02:19
Make your own food.
TheTwanger
02-12-2011, 20:05
check out "http://augasonfarms.com/ " ... We plan on getting a couple of the packages there and supplementing them with some foods we dehydrate ourselves... Of course we will have to precook and dehydrate the uncooked rice and beans ourselves, but that won't be much trouble.