Best dehydrated food??

[BushTucker]

Hi

Still prepareing for my Dartmoor trek and wondered, ratpacks for a day weigh around a kilo+, can you recommend a light weight dehydrated food stuff for this trip.

We are hopeing for around 3 days treking and from previous advice so far it seems water would not be a problem to re-hydrate foods.

Thanks

Don

 

[spamel]

Oats for breakfast, some sort of soup or broth for dinner and a pasta meal for tea. You can dehydrate mince beef by frying it, washing in hot water and a seive and then drying it in a warm oven or dehydrator. Chuck that in with an oxo cube and some water and you are on your way to making something. Bang some dehydrated veg in and some gravy granules and you'll have a stew of sorts.

 

[Cairodel]

I echo Spamel with the oats, plus rice, packet noodles, energy bars, lentils, packet
(powdered) mashed spud, plenty of spices, salt etc.. to taste... You DID say water was not a problem....
Actually for a 3 day trip, you COULD manage just on energy bars/chocolate, but might
get a bit boring...!?!
Give a thought to taking some one-a-day multi-vits to make up for whatever you may
be missing....

 

[BushTucker]

Well as I said, my main concerne is the weight as the ratpack contents for 1 person 3xdays = 3.6Kg. Way to much as I think you would aggree.

 

[TallMikeM]

those flavoured cous-cous packs are pretty good. All the require is boiling water and a bit of a stand, no simmering. Make a good base for an evening meal.

 

[BushTucker]

I am just cooking up a bachelors cheese, leek and ham pasta`n`sauce mix to see what its like. At 120g thats a good weight for a meal ( or basis for one )

 

[John Fenna]

The best dehydrated meals are the ones you make youself!
Make your favourite stew/curry/chilli/whatever with fairly small "lumpy bits" to your own favourite recipe and dehydrate it yourself.
These meals take a bit more time to rehydrate than packet - freeze dried - meals but if you put them to soak before you pitch camp and then slowly simmer them to cook the rewards are great.
Other than that First Choice Expedition Foods (www.expeditionfoods.com) are the best I have tried with a good range of tasty meals.
I don't know about prices but the flavours /textures/looks are better than most.
Not associated etc.....

 

[BushTucker]

Thanks for all your advice, I have paid a visit to my local shop and sifted through various items, well, I am happy to say that I have now made a day ration of my own that covers 4 meals a day( if wanted ) for less then 3 quid a day.

Thanks all

Don

 

[deepcmonkey]

For the weight of a rat pack remember a lot of the stuff can be chucked, the only thing worth eating in them IMHO is the boil in the bags, for lunch just have a mars bar. Might be an idea to pack a couple of boil in the bags, just in case. They are so fast to prepare and can be eaten cold in an emergancy, just save them for the last meal or for the next trip.

Another option is to try a few MRE's(meals ready to eat) these are the US version ratpack, they take up a lot of room as you are meant to have 3 a day but I reckon you could happily manage on one pack a day they contain so much! loads of goodies in them plus a smaller type boil in the bag. Really worth a try if you can get hold of them, I really like them, the meat loaf MRE is the one to go for as well, avoid the burito ones!

However it looks like you are pretty sorted, just a few extra ideas for you though.

Have a nice trip.

 

[BushTucker]

The ratpack boil bags are so heavy but I must admit I love them, meat balls and pasta yum, I may well take a few but I still have loads of time to work out the finer points.

Thanks

Don

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Another option is to try a few MRE's(meals ready to eat) these are the US version ratpack, they take up a lot of room as you are meant to have 3 a day but I reckon you could happily manage on one pack a day they contain so much! loads of goodies in them plus a smaller type boil in the bag.
.

Three a day ?

I have some, in one bag -

Pasta
Pumpkin Cake
Apple
Drinks
Toilet paper.

So that's one meal not one days ?

Nick

 

[robin wood]

noodles...cost nothing weigh nothing...put a couple extra in just in case. You can top em up with other stuff if you want to cook but they are not bad out the pack...my fave spicy tai.

 

[gregorach]

If you're looking for lightweight 24-hour rations without having to think about it, I find the Pack'n'Go range pretty good - 2400+ kcals, weighing less than 700 grammes. OK, they're not exactly cheap, but they are tasty and properly nutritionally balanced. Of course, you need ready access to water.

 

[Bodge]

those flavoured cous-cous packs are pretty good. All the require is boiling water and a bit of a stand, no simmering. Make a good base for an evening meal.

On this note Morrisons have ainsley harriot ones bogof, I got some the other day.
Bodge

 

[andy_e]

On this note Morrisons have ainsley harriot ones bogof, I got some the other day.
Bodge

What did you think of them? I think they're pretty tasty.

 

[w00dsmoke]

The traditional Scottish deydrated food was called "brose". Roguh oatmeal was placed in a bowl with some hot water poured over it, you then place a plate on top for it to steam for 5mins. You then add a nob of butter and add salt/pepper to taste or dash a of milk too.

As for modern meals I'm very impressed with those BCB Raven outdoor cousine meals. There was a heads up on here a few months back and they were awesome.

WS

 

[gregorach]

Oh, you shouldn't have said that - I've just spent half the weekend learning Burns tunes (and the other half lashed on whisky): Brose and Butter. (It's a bit, err, racy, but only if you can translate... )

The other Highland travelling classic was to take blood from cattle (anybody's cattle) to mix with your brose to make a kind of improvised black pudding.

 

[DoctorSpoon]

NOODLES! No cooking required - pop 'em in your bowl, cover 'em with water out of the kettle, poke 'em around until they're cool enough to slurp, job's a good'un!

Our other fave is sosmix - vegetarian sausage meat - it looks a bit like paxo dried stuffing - mix it with water, dollop spoonfuls into a frying pan and fry until crispy on either side. Good with mash and some ketchup!

 

[nickg]

Try this link if youre looking for pack ready meals.
We all took 7 days worth of these for the Norway trip and they are the biz. 2500 cals in a day pack with a breakfast meal a main and dessert and a lunch snack. One days ration weighs about 450g and you can suppliment with brews etc you wont be hungry or broke. Much better than raven/ brit arctic meals.

Cheers
Nick

 

[Arth]

The vikings made salted fish. You can still get salted fish from the supermarkets no need for a fridge. Any cured sausage is good peppermi,salmi etc and