Thread: Dehydrated meals and salt content

The salt content in dehydrated meals has bothered me for a while, not because I'm a health freak, but because they leave me feeling dry and thirsty. I've compared the salt content across the entire range of standard, regular size Back Country and Real Meals. This information is published by the companies, but not in a way that makes it easy to understand or make comparisons.





Some observations:

1) Back Country packs are bigger than Real Meals which I find too small. Back Country products are better value, but not surprisingly, have more salt content overall. A fair way to compare the two product ranges is looking at sodium per 100g dry weight.

2) Across the ranges, Back Country have a higher salt content than Real Meals on average, but what really matters is your choice of a particular meal.

3) Published sodium content per dry weight 100g does not tally with sodium content per meal when based on total dry weight. I don't understand this, maybe someone in the food industry could explain?

4) I accept that some salt replacement is required, especially when doing big walks. How much you want to consume is going to depend on your personal circumstances, but to put things in to perspective, the maximum recommended salt intake per day is around 6g. The Back Country meal with the highest salt content is 9.6g!

5) Yes, I have been overthinking this, but have time on my hands when I'm at work.

6), Yes, I know a solution is to make your own dehydrated meals, but for the occasional user, these products are a convenience.