Dehydrated meal packs.

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River98

Forager
Feb 3, 2012
228
0
england
Been looking at starting a small company making high quality dehydrated meals. Do you think I could sell something like that? And if so how much per meal do you think i could sell them?
 

wicca

Native
Oct 19, 2008
1,065
34
South Coast
" 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.
 

SGL70

Full Member
Dec 1, 2014
613
124
Luleå, Sweden
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
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
24
69
south wales
I can't find a dehydrated meal, they all seem to be wet. Apart from low quality stuff like pot noodles

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

6a0133eca1b3a9970b0133f2cab8de970b-600wi


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.
 

Dogoak

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 24, 2009
2,286
286
Cairngorms
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.
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
24
69
south wales
You missed post 6 then :rolleyes:

Lots of planning needed

[video=youtube;YueiTnSl_Bo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YueiTnSl_Bo[/video]
 
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Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,390
640
50
Wales
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.
 
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Leshy

Full Member
Jun 14, 2016
2,389
57
Wiltshire
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
 

wicca

Native
Oct 19, 2008
1,065
34
South Coast
" 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....
lol-030.gif
.....
lol-030.gif
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,938
4,571
S. Lanarkshire
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 :yuck: 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 :sigh: it's also dire stuff :sigh:
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
 

Jared

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 8, 2005
3,390
640
50
Wales
" 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....
lol-030.gif
.....
lol-030.gif

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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River98

Forager
Feb 3, 2012
228
0
england
Thanks all for your help. Much appreciated. I'm going to do a food safety course and go from there. If nothing else ill enjoy learning and have some grub for my own use.
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,938
4,571
S. Lanarkshire
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 :cool:
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
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,938
4,571
S. Lanarkshire
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
 

tombear

On a new journey
Jul 9, 2004
4,494
556
54
Rossendale, Lancashire
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
 

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