Best Pack Food

[billcaldwell]

I still can't get "Skittles and Copenhagen" off my mind! I may have to try some Skittles.

 

[Wallrat]

I splurged and bought the medium sized Harvest Right freeze dryer. It runs nearly 24/7, and I'm drying up a lot more than I thought I would. That pot of elk chili you couldn't finish? The rest goes into the freeze dryer, then gets stored in serving sized Mylar bags. I control portion size, seasoning, everything. Canned beans getting out of date? They go into the freeze dryer. It's turned out to be money well spent. Here it is drying up canned chicken noodle soup by the case. I line the trays with paper to keep them cleaner.
You can see white ice all around the drum. That's the water content being pulled out of the food.
I'm pretty sure it's paid for itself by now. I haven't had a single problem with it.

 

[Outfall]

I also have a HarvestRight freeze drier. I love it and we currently have about 20yrs of food squrreled away for a family of 8 lmao. My wife is a prepper so that helps with my reloading also because well you need to have pkenty of ammo lol. On a serious note tho doing freeze dried food is the way to go for sure. We make 10gal of stew, soup, pasta meals at a time and freeze dry it. Lots of meats, vegtables, rice you name it. They do have a layaway plan, down payment then easy monthly payments with 0% interest. W bought our first one 5yrs ago and other than a minor leak it still runs like a champ. Take the leap you wont regret it. Freeze dry, mylar bag with 02 and dessicant pack last forever. I also built an oil cleaning system on it that recycles the oil and requires very little maint.

 

[Ak_Hobie]

I had both mountain house and Peak this year in hunting camp. I would suggest a blind taste test of similar meals (they both do breakfast hash) and see what you like. I wanted to like the Peak but I really thought the MH was better. I'm not that picky of an eater either. I think Backpackers pantry and some of the other stuff carried by REI type stores is better than both Peak and MH.

 

[aschler]

I still love MREs for living out of a pack. Break them down out of the original bag and there is no wasted space, super hi calorie meals, tasty, and after a couple days eating them they make great, predictable, clean turds. The last feature is maybe the best feature and can't be appreciated enough.

The fortified peanut butter was great and worked better than Imodium if you had the bubble-guts or other gastrointestinal issues.

 

[skipglo]

As others have said "good" and "cheap" don't generally come together for backpacking meals. If you're at least a couple trips a year on a consistent basis, I'd just invest in a dehydrator and start making your own. It is VERY easy and shouldn't be nearly as intimidating as it may sound.

And add a smoker!

 

[QuietTexan]

Random semi-aside, I mainly use alcohol stoves on my trips. Instead of using HEET (methyl alcohol) I carry 180+ proof grain alcohol as a fuel source. My primary excuse is if it spills on any of my food or gear inside the pack it's food-grade so I'll just let it dry and be 100% safe, no worries about detached retinas or anything like that. But the truth is on some of those dark cold nights sometimes you need a pick-me-up in the last cup of Butter-Nut cocoa I'd prefer a nice scotch but when weight comes at a premium price, double the punch for the weight is fine with me.