Freeze-dried backpacking food makes backcountry cooking easy. Here are our top picks for good eats, trailside.
Read our full review:
Buy the Peak Refuel Beef Stroganoff:
Buy the Peak Refuel Butternut Dal Bhat:
Buy the Mountain House Chicken & Dumplings:
Buy the GOOD TO-GO Kale and White Bean Stew:
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Lots of reviews like this on camping and hiking channels: Miranda Goes Outside just did a decent one.
Ever since COVID, I've been watching lots of prepper videos. Not because I'm into the prepper politics: it's just that they really get into stuff like dehydrating and freeze-drying foodstuffs for long-term storage. And I prep food for someone with specific food sensitivities, so dehydrating our own apple chips and beef jerky's a great solution.
Anytime I see this dude on here the video is usually clickbait….this video is true to form…clickbait.
If this recipe was posted on khal many more people would be able to enjoy it. It is definitely something that should be added there
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Your recipes are always top notch. Put it on the khal, please!
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Backpacking meals always tastes better after a long day hiking
Thank you so much for sharing 🎉🎉❤❤❤😂😂
Neither one of these presenters would last a day on a real hiking rail.
Mountain House pouches go on sale at costco for $5.30 a pouch. They work great on cross-country drives… nuke water in the hotel uwave and 10 minutes later you have a hot meal. Beats the heck out of gas station food.
Okay review but a lot of these don't have enough calories to get what you need on the trail. & they can be pretty expensive.
Our long-distance offshore sailboat racing team now does all of its provision shopping in the freeze-dried section at REI. (OK, except fresh fruit). We live on these things for days at sea. they're lightweight, only require one cooking utensil (a tea kettle), and can be made anytime, which is extremely useful as we do staggered watches, so everybody can make their own meals. My only negative comment is that every packet (while perfectly fine and sometimes delicious) is for two people, while most of us on the boat are eating individually.
If you're not sure what kind of backpacking food to get, you can rarely go wrong with military MRE food. They have to feed soldiers and they don't like lousy food!
I was hoping that these were going to be recipes rather than ready-made foods. I have had some pretty decent hiking meals from a company called Omeal. They contain a packet that reacts with water to produce heat, so you don't even need to boil water first, although it adds some weight.
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I have actually tried the Peak Refuel Beef Stroganoff. Not bad, but I did find it tasted salty. Something to have once in a great while.
Don’t think Julia has been on the Appalachian trial in a few decades.
Not to be offensive, but …
Make your own, homemade. This seems like a product promotion. 🤮
If you're watching this video and going camping. Please do a Google search for Shyne Coffee. You're welcome.
I bikepack. I loathe backpacking meals. I only eat them because I have to, sometimes. I was hoping that this would be a DIY backpacking meal video.
ATK, you do many things very well, but this isn't your lane in any way. Backpacking meals balance taste with what actually matters when you're on the trail. Weight, ease of prep, caloric density, and a good balance of macros you need to sustain while hiking all play larger roles than just taste unless you're car-camping. And if you're car-camping, dehydrated meals are inferior to most other options.
The sodium content of these meals is usually very high. Older hikers or those with hypertension should be aware.
They added water but did not say if the water was hot. It did not look like the meals were steaming hot.
Alright, I'm just gonna say it – those packets must be packed with so much sodium that even the ocean would be jealous!
Great video!
Camping and Backpacking are two distinct outdoor activates. I prefer not buying packets of dried foods and paying more for them than you pay going to a restaurant. Making your own at home is a much more satisfying than boil and hope.
If I go backpacking, the packets are featherweight however, water will always be water and it is heavy.
Foods you can eat without heat and adding water come in pouches too. Vacuumed sealing things you like are much better and cost less. You are a cooking channel so start cooking.
Packit Gourmet has been my favorite for years. Ramen Rescue, Texas State Fair Chili, and Dotties. Woooo buddy!
I have my own freeze dryer, and make you own meals which are far better then the store bought. Plus mine have less salt.
My son and I curate the best one-pot meals and freeze dry them in bulk for great home cooked variety on the trail. Tastier and cheaper! (Except that freeze drier was pricey😂)
As soon as you eat some of these, you are going to blow out your backside, especially after a long hike, hard hike, energetic hike. Your body will consume this and shoot it out as quick as it came in. Time to look at Mountain House beef stroganoff with pasta noodles. And enrich that and other liquidy meals with a extra Ramen noodles pack (minus the sauce mix). You will find that you can barely finish the meal (full and filling), and that this will extend the meal (and high protein count) into 2 + meals.
She grab that banana pudding so fast! 🤣
Back in the 1970's we used to use a brand called Mountain House freeze dried meals. Some were better than others. My favorite was the freeze dried Ice Cream. It was almost like a piece of foam, until you put it in your mouth, then it melted into something resembling…Ice Cream.
These all look like they are basically gourmet baby food.
Get 2 free views a month on their site?
They want us to pay for it?
You can basically get the same info else where for free.
Were are the most popular and well known brands, not impressed
If this is the only thing you have to eat, it's better then nothing. So what if it does not taste that good.
do reviews on dehydrators and freeze dryers please.
These will be the last meal for many crazy MAGA Qanon people. 😂
One needs to cherry pick these freeze dried meals. Some meals from some brands are very good while others from the same brand are awful. Check and compare ingredients and prices. Some can be very scary on both counts. Gonna have to do your own research as individual tastes will differ on flavor profiles and blindness. Price points not withstanding, one thing that is never optional is a bottle of your favorite hot sauce
Pleaae do a taste test on Freeze Dry Wholesalers meats and especially their freeze dried Cheesecake!!
Julia has not been on a trail in at least 30 years, if ever.
mre_steve1989 better watch out
To expensive, so i bought my own freeze dryer. Now they cost me pennies to make!!