Dehydrated meal packs.
- Thread starter River98
- Start date
" Do you think I could sell something like that? "
I'm sure you could, but you'd be up against some formidable opposition from the big established companies. I know nothing about trade etc: but I imagine you would either have to beat them on price, Mountain House seem to do individual meals for around £5-£6 or come up with an enducement of some kind, perhaps buy three get one free or similar. There's probably some fairly hefty (hygiene/manufacture methods) rules around food production for sale to the public too, but I'm sure you've thought about that.
So, to sell you need to beat or at least equal others on price, distribution and availability, otherwise it would just be a past time occupation.
I'm sure you could, but you'd be up against some formidable opposition from the big established companies. I know nothing about trade etc: but I imagine you would either have to beat them on price, Mountain House seem to do individual meals for around £5-£6 or come up with an enducement of some kind, perhaps buy three get one free or similar. There's probably some fairly hefty (hygiene/manufacture methods) rules around food production for sale to the public too, but I'm sure you've thought about that.
So, to sell you need to beat or at least equal others on price, distribution and availability, otherwise it would just be a past time occupation.
Loads of high quality dehydrated meals out there.
Mountain House is one of the leading suppliers and as Wicca said you'd have a real struggle going against them let alone other suppliers
I think eco-labelled meal packs could attract some customers...I would look into that and also offer dehydrated eggs, onions, etc for the gourmet cook on hike
Pehaps I would focus on desserts or some such and make it spectacular.
Offering something that is already available (more or less) is a upp-hill venture, IMO
Cheers
Greger
Pehaps I would focus on desserts or some such and make it spectacular.
Offering something that is already available (more or less) is a upp-hill venture, IMO
Cheers
Greger
You may need to step back and review your business play a tad..
Your up against the likes of
http://www.emergencyfoodstorage.co....KrkfK9IVH6Xlh51kNMJGBzWbNu_r4gKJHIaAqpH8P8HAQ
http://www.facewest.co.uk/Turmat-Re...kmbe4ouj_9U3mw-b9mAerOLiA3NS_gZnUgaAqBA8P8HAQ
These are freeze dried and normally dehydrated means something like
Which take a lot longer to cook.
To set up even a small company selling 'dried meals' will need planning, a good few £££'s on equipment, sourcing the freeze dried ingredients, blending into a meal mix, packing in your very expensive vacuum sealers and going through a scheisse load of food hygiene/health and safety rules and regulations plus...your up against established suppliers who have online shops and means of distribution plus of course reputation.
A lot of members here dry their own food/meals so that again is more competition.
Good luck with your venture.
Good idea, I'm sure you could sell them.
How much?
Your going to have to work out how much they're going to cost making them first.
I would imagine start up costs would be pricey. Premises, equipment, hygiene training/certificates, public liability insurance, ingredients, packaging, marketing, printing, phone calls, fuel, electricity, distribution, etc;
Is there any totally organic brands out there? A niche market is possibly the way to go.
How much?
Your going to have to work out how much they're going to cost making them first.
I would imagine start up costs would be pricey. Premises, equipment, hygiene training/certificates, public liability insurance, ingredients, packaging, marketing, printing, phone calls, fuel, electricity, distribution, etc;
Is there any totally organic brands out there? A niche market is possibly the way to go.
You missed post 6 then 
Lots of planning needed
[video=youtube;YueiTnSl_Bo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YueiTnSl_Bo[/video]
Lots of planning needed
[video=youtube;YueiTnSl_Bo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YueiTnSl_Bo[/video]
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Pretty sure don't need any equipment or H&S knowledge really to set up.
Even Mountain House outsource at least some of their operation to people like http://www.europeanfreezedry.com/
Which leaves the problem of coming up with an product idea, and marketing it.
Edit: Actually European Freeze Dry does own the Mountain House brand.
Even Mountain House outsource at least some of their operation to people like http://www.europeanfreezedry.com/
Which leaves the problem of coming up with an product idea, and marketing it.
Edit: Actually European Freeze Dry does own the Mountain House brand.
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I believe there is a gap in the market.
With my son being a vegetarian (and the rest of the family slowly but steadily moving towards a vegetarian diet as well) it's actually really difficult to find ready to eat meals that suit our dietary needs.
Doesn't bother us, we just cook it all ourselves, which is fine, but...
I've had to always cook everything from scratch when outdoors, or just take some frozen meals that we prepared before, no big deal. At least I know what is in it , but still not very light or practical.
I find the MRE and ration packs as well as these dehydrated meals being mostly meat based and actually pretty bland.
I've also seen and tried most (but not all) of the veggie options on those packs and they're pretty gross... Sorry , but they are.
Not to mention that healthy options tend to involve some curry based sauce.
Both me and the boy hate curry with a passion....just the smells are enough to put me off, but anyway...
what I'm trying to say is that actually , there is a gap for healthy , vegan or vegetarian , highly nutritious ready to eat or dehydrated meal packs.
The ins and outs of the business itself are, I imagine, quite a task with marketing and distribution, competition and quality control and hygiene standards being the focal points and challenging at best
But from a consumer point of view, if its priced reasonably and ALL of the ingredients are natural
(no synthetic stuff like aspartame , acesulfame , MSG , etc.)
simple to understand (not : modified maize starch?!? and sulphites etc. ) ,
and clearly labeled ( not E153 and the likes)
then it's a winner.
I also think that with a different approach to nutrition (such as using sweet potato, chick peas, spinach , kale, couscous, avocado , and other highly nutritious ingredients in the recipes) would benefit greatly and differ from competitors.
Just my opinion,
Hope you do take it on and turn it into a success !!! I wish you the best of lucks!!!
Regards
With my son being a vegetarian (and the rest of the family slowly but steadily moving towards a vegetarian diet as well) it's actually really difficult to find ready to eat meals that suit our dietary needs.
Doesn't bother us, we just cook it all ourselves, which is fine, but...
I've had to always cook everything from scratch when outdoors, or just take some frozen meals that we prepared before, no big deal. At least I know what is in it , but still not very light or practical.
I find the MRE and ration packs as well as these dehydrated meals being mostly meat based and actually pretty bland.
I've also seen and tried most (but not all) of the veggie options on those packs and they're pretty gross... Sorry , but they are.
Not to mention that healthy options tend to involve some curry based sauce.
Both me and the boy hate curry with a passion....just the smells are enough to put me off, but anyway...
what I'm trying to say is that actually , there is a gap for healthy , vegan or vegetarian , highly nutritious ready to eat or dehydrated meal packs.
The ins and outs of the business itself are, I imagine, quite a task with marketing and distribution, competition and quality control and hygiene standards being the focal points and challenging at best
But from a consumer point of view, if its priced reasonably and ALL of the ingredients are natural
(no synthetic stuff like aspartame , acesulfame , MSG , etc.)
simple to understand (not : modified maize starch?!? and sulphites etc. ) ,
and clearly labeled ( not E153 and the likes)
then it's a winner.
I also think that with a different approach to nutrition (such as using sweet potato, chick peas, spinach , kale, couscous, avocado , and other highly nutritious ingredients in the recipes) would benefit greatly and differ from competitors.
Just my opinion,
Hope you do take it on and turn it into a success !!! I wish you the best of lucks!!!
Regards
" Pretty sure don't need any equipment or H&S knowledge really to set up."
You could well be correct,but it seems a bit iffy as a business as round this way even to sell sandwiches to the public from a mobile van, health inspection and food handling knowledge qualification certificates have to be obtained (and displayed). To sell packed food to a possible country wide clientele I'd be amazed if he could brew something up without proper equipment and sell it as Joe's home cooked camping cuisine, without some official(s) jumping on him from a great height....
.....
You could well be correct,but it seems a bit iffy as a business as round this way even to sell sandwiches to the public from a mobile van, health inspection and food handling knowledge qualification certificates have to be obtained (and displayed). To sell packed food to a possible country wide clientele I'd be amazed if he could brew something up without proper equipment and sell it as Joe's home cooked camping cuisine, without some official(s) jumping on him from a great height....
In agreement with both the H&S/Food Hygiene/public liability insurance, etc., issues, and that something Vegan and Gluten Free might tick boxes that at present are woefully undersupplied.
Cover as many bases that aren't already with much competition, iimmc.
The vegetarian options are generally carp
add in gluten free, (and organic, etc.,) and folks already expect to pay a premium for that. Gluten free bread for instance is three times the price of an ordinary loaf, and it's half the size too 
it's also dire stuff
Make a decent range and get a food manufacturer to produce it for you, and it'd save an enormous amount of hassle I suspect.
M
Cover as many bases that aren't already with much competition, iimmc.
The vegetarian options are generally carp
add in gluten free, (and organic, etc.,) and folks already expect to pay a premium for that. Gluten free bread for instance is three times the price of an ordinary loaf, and it's half the size too it's also dire stuff Make a decent range and get a food manufacturer to produce it for you, and it'd save an enormous amount of hassle I suspect.
M
" Pretty sure don't need any equipment or H&S knowledge really to set up."
You could well be correct,but it seems a bit iffy as a business as round this way even to sell sandwiches to the public from a mobile van, health inspection and food handling knowledge qualification certificates have to be obtained (and displayed). To sell packed food to a possible country wide clientele I'd be amazed if he could brew something up without proper equipment and sell it as Joe's home cooked camping cuisine, without some official(s) jumping on him from a great height.........
Point was there are equipped qualified experts out there that do this for hire. You certainly would not get your product near a supermarket shelf without said expertise.
In the '00s, I was involved in writing software for the food industry, so have a glimpse of what it takes.
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Good on you
Do you have a home dehydrator ? about thirty quid will buy you the basic model with five trays. Mine's ancient now but still in use and still producing really good stuff
Supermarket gluts of fruit like mangos are absolutely excellent when peeled, sliced and dried. Pears are delicious, and those who eat meat do everything from chicken, pork and turkey to mince and venison.
M
Do you have a home dehydrator ? about thirty quid will buy you the basic model with five trays. Mine's ancient now but still in use and still producing really good stuff
Supermarket gluts of fruit like mangos are absolutely excellent when peeled, sliced and dried. Pears are delicious, and those who eat meat do everything from chicken, pork and turkey to mince and venison.
M
We've been thinking of buying a new one (keep the old one for dead stuff maybe, most of the family is vegetarian and we don't mix the pots etc.,) so had a quick squint when this thread came up. I quite fancy the square one this time, but the equivalent of the old one I still use is now less than £23 from Amazon …..I think I paid just under thirty for ours all those years ago.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECG-Dehydr...F8&qid=1475099208&sr=8-11&keywords=dehydrator
I find I do have to turn stuff in mine, and change the position of the trays, but if I'm footering around at home anyway it's no great imposition to do.
It wouldn't work for commercial stuff though; you really would need something a lot bigger and more efficient.
M
https://www.amazon.co.uk/ECG-Dehydr...F8&qid=1475099208&sr=8-11&keywords=dehydrator
I find I do have to turn stuff in mine, and change the position of the trays, but if I'm footering around at home anyway it's no great imposition to do.
It wouldn't work for commercial stuff though; you really would need something a lot bigger and more efficient.
M
I've heard good things about this one.
https://www.andrewjamesworldwide.com/UserControls/productIndividual.aspx?ProductID=438#
https://www.andrewjamesworldwide.com/UserControls/productIndividual.aspx?ProductID=438#
That's the one herself got and so far it's working really well, it's in front of me now hissing away with 5 trays of thin Mango slices she left going when she poddled off to work at about 6. I got her a vacuum sealer from the same people which she's become enamoured of. Was on sale a couple of months back on their website.
ATB
Tom
ATB
Tom
I've also been using one of those for the past three years without a blink - a very good product for the money, but as Mary says above, not a commercial grade.
