Thread: Dehydrated meal advice please

Hmmm, I got the email from them this morning, maybe it hasn't been set up on their website yet.

I’ve only ever tried their lamb and mint which is bloody good!

What equipment are people using to make their own? keen on making some bulk dehy pastas and casserole type meals.

When I google dehydrator I find the ones with trays that look good for doing fruit but not really big meals.

Originally Posted by Stag

Won’t work for me

It worked for me this afternoon

I just spent quite a few days eating the various freeze-dri meals. I took a selection of meals from different brands (Back Country, Radix and Real Meals), and selected them based on the claimed energy content aiming for around 3000 kJ per meal, because some are way lower.
My observations are:
The Back Country meals were larger servings for similar energy content - maybe they have a lot of low energy-density ingredients?
For flavour my overall pick was the Real Meals, followed by Radix. I only struck one meal I didn't like at all (Radix Barbeque Beef)
The Radix ones always seemed to have a few crunchy bits - I presume stuff that hadn't rehydrated properly, despite sometimes adding extra water and leaving for longer than the instructions.

not a big fan of back country either. The advertising on the shows make them look like they are restaurant quality. Not so much. The desert ones are ok....

I really liked the Back Country Sweet and Sour Lamb, and the Creamy Mushroom & Potato soup.
I wouldn't buy the BC Chocolate Brownie pudding again, but the Real Meals Chocolate Cake pudding was yum.

I see radix are going all plant based, phasing out the meat options.
Apparently it’s better for the environment😱🤯

I kept notes on what I ate and what I thought of it, so here is what I had written...
Go Native spaghetti bolognese (with an instant mash) = quite nice (note, not actually a freeze-dri)
Back Country chocolate brownie pudding = give that a miss next time
Back Country banana smooothie = okay
Back Country tasty chicken mash = okay, couldn't eat it all, Gem liked (Gem is my dog)
Real Meals beef stroganoff = very tasty, ate it all
Radix lamb mint and rosemary = tasted nice but a few crunchy bits ->maybe up the water a bit
Back Country fish pie = tastes okay, Gem got quite a bit
Back Country Malaysian chicken soup = okay, very hot
Back Country cooked breakfast = quite nice, managed to eat it all
Real Meals mac n cheese = not much flavour
Back Country creamy mushroom and potato soup = very nice
Radix Turkish lamb = quite nice, odd crunchy bit
Back Country sweet & sour lamb = very nice
Back Country Iced Mocha smoothie = yum!!!
Real Meals Sri Lankan curry = nice, not too hot
Back Country chicken corn and noodle soup = okay
Real Meals chocolate cake pudding = very nice
Radix barbeque beef = not a fan

I've eaten a lot of different brands and I find the backcountry ones very disappointing, I avoid them now apart from their porridge supreme, cooked breakfast and smoothies, the real meal ones are the best by far, radix second best. I find the real meals rehydrate better and the meals are much tastier, if you read the ingredients and compare them to Backcountry, the real meals have more whole meats and the backcountry ones are overly processed; I prefer whole foods.

My 50 cents anyway. :-)

I now avoid all freeze-dri and dehydrated meals as I don't think they provide enough energy.

Normally I shoot a deer and start eating that But also make my own dehydrated meals and also biltong, pasta, dried potato's, dried fruit etc.

Freeze dry meals: I will always remember my 9 day trip the length of the Ruahines. We had full size Army freeze dry rat packs. All nine of them Fuck me they took up a lot of room in our packs. They were 100% of our food ration, no jack rats taken.

It was day FIVE!!! before we started needing to take a dump All those 11-13 hour days and freeze dry rats, our bodies were consuming absolutely every last bit of nutrition in them. Nothing left to shit out. But when it finally did move through, the stuff could have resisted low earth orbit reentry

Originally Posted by Cigar

Keep an eye on this website: https://www.ventureoutdoors.co.nz/

I got some Radix from them last week at 20% off (if you spent over $100), and I see currently they have the Real Meals at buy 4 get the 5th free.

Currently 20% off Real Meals, Radix and Back Country (and other stuff) until the end of the year, checkout code is boxing20

OK so you might not get a deer or pig as planned, but meanwhile don't ignore the small game.