buying bulk food

[charliethruhike]

alright so I am hoping to have as much of my food be bulk and dehydrated, but I can't find ANYWHERE near me that even sells dehydrated food. Any suggestions?

[FarmerChef]

Do a search here on WB and you'll find a few threads on this.

There are companies that sell dehydrated foods online. Honeyvillegrain and Barry Farm are two that come to mind. Both can be found on Amazon.

Of course, you can always get a dehydrator like a nesco and diy. It's often fresher than what I find online but of course requires more work.

[Hill Ape]

amazon, pack it gourmet

[Another Kevin]

I get a lot of vegetables from Harmony House.

[Turk6177]

Freeze dried is way better than dehydrated, but I think it is hard to find someone to freeze dry it.

[Wise Old Owl]

Freeze dried is way better than dehydrated, but I think it is hard to find someone to freeze dry it.


The equipment for a small batch is well over $4000 used.

[Rasty]

The equipment for a small batch is well over $4000 used.

Getting started within USDA guidelines for a freeze drying operation in going to be north of $100k with low production equipment.

[Mags]

Health food stores and similar (Whole Paycheck..er Foods) often sell beans, oatmeal and so on in bulk.

[double d]

This is an issue I've had myself numerous times, I would suggest Amazon (as someone else suggested already), but also look directly at a company like Kraft Foods, they sometimes offer good bargins. Good luck, there are ways to shop in bulk online to buy quality dry/freeze dried food.

[FarmerChef]

A question to the OP. Are you intending to make all your meals from dried ingredients or are you open to working with typical hiker fare like lipton or knorr sides that get spiced up with dehydrated or other additions? You can buy all that you need to make them from "scratch" but at a $1 a bag it's often easier to buy them off the shelf at stores along the trail and just add dehydrated or pouch (shelf-stable) chicken or tuna. Jerky rehydrated with water is pretty pleasant, especially pork jerky. Otherwise, dehydrating beef, sausage, ground chicken/turkey, etc. is quite easy with a dehydrator. There's TVP as well but it's not quite as good imo.

[Old Hiker]

http://www.theepicenter.com/

Mountain House #10 cans up to 40% off.

[Colter]

alright so I am hoping to have as much of my food be bulk and dehydrated, but I can't find ANYWHERE near me that even sells dehydrated food. Any suggestions?

Are you planning on putting together a menu for a thru-hike primarily of bulk and dehydrated food? If not, you can ignore my comment. If you are, think carefully about that plan. Repackaged bulk foods tend to get stale over time. More importantly, perhaps, people tend to get tired of the foods that they prepared months before hand. Among the most commonly discarded foods found in hiker boxes are ziplock bags full of often unidentifiable dried/bulk foods someone had mailed to them. Most (not all) people will be happier primarly shopping as they go so they can vary their food as their tastes change.

[bobtomaskovic]

The average grocery store is full of dried foods if you know what to look for. Red beans and rice for example.

[perrymk]

http://beprepared.com (http://beprepared.com/) has all kinds of stuff (cheese, vegetables, meats, etc.)

[garlic08]

...More importantly, perhaps, people tend to get tired of the foods that they prepared months before hand. Among the most commonly discarded foods found in hiker boxes are ziplock bags full of often unidentifiable dried/bulk foods someone had mailed to them. Most (not all) people will be happier primarily shopping as they go so they can vary their food as their tastes change.

Ditto this. And I hate to be the one to bring it up, but with a 25% success rate on the AT, there's a chance you may be left with a whole lot of not-so-palatable food after your hike.