Freeze dried food

[Disabled Preppers]

Hi all sorry been missing a few days been trying to catch up on garden work and well time just flies past .

Ok as the title says freeze dried long life foods , we stock a huge amount of tinned and other food but i am looking at the 25 yr shelf life stuff , i am wondering if anyone has done many reviews here as i am hoping to do one on the brand we are going for , i know some will say it is terrible stuff but i am hpoing to find the best supplier , i know some can be nothing more than dried parrot food and tasteless but with the way the world is moving on i am hoping the stuff these days tastes far better .
Ok well any pointers i should look out for would be a big help like add less water or add more you knwo the old thing if someone has a heads up would be great thanks

 

[Tiley]

I'm not sure if these will tick your '25-year shelf life' criterion but I have used - and, for the most part enjoyed - the freeze-dried offerings from Expedition Foods, Bla Band, Firepot and Mountain House.

Generally, I choose them because they are light in weight and high in calories - well the Exped Foods 800cal ones are - and they are very easy to prepare. Inevitably, the meals can be improved with the addition of a bit of tabasco (particularly the chipotle version), tomato puree or black pepper to the savoury dishes and dried fruit, honey and, occasionally, rum to the sweet ones. Generally, the liquid quantities the makers suggest are good but they do require thorough stirring to ensure the bits of flavour-filled dust in the corners get rehydrated properly.

I could go on and detail the dishes that I have found to be particularly tasty but that's another story again. The only one I would recommend you don't get is the Exped. Foods Mediterranean Vegetables with pasta - it is truly disgusting.

 

[billycoen]

Have you tried military MRE's,they are meant to last a very long time,there is a lad on youtube called Steve1989MRE,he eats all sorts of very old grub,and he's still kicking.

 

[Bearmont]

Quite simply - why not dry rice and other grains and legumes in airtight storage containers? Put some silica gel in there and be merry. Milled products go bad as the exposed fats essentially go rancid, but the whole grains as far as I'm aware do not expire.

This has the upside of being actual food you can and would use in cooking. Just get the stuff in bulk and rotate it out.

 

[Mesquite]

Get yourself a decent vacuum sealer and vac seal all the dried stuff you might want to store.

You can also increase the shelf life of flour etc up to two years past the best before date if you vac seal that

 

[Woody girl]

The tins of long life food are super expensive now. I bought some packets from the bug out shop during the first weeks of covid lockdown with the idea of tasting them to see if they were acceptable to my needs as I have digestive issues. They were not cheap but now they have almost doubled in price for the tins of 25 year stuff.
The other problem is that once opened , you need to use it up fairly quickly.
The bug out shop has a special offer on at the moment, stuff will go fast, so get in there if you realy want some. Be prepared to spend thousand + pounds for a years worth mind!
I dry frozen peas, onions, peppers, and mixed veg in a dehydrator, and store in a kilner jar with some oxygen absorbers...not silica gel! Silica absorbs moisture, not oxygen, and its the oxygen you need to exclude to stop spoilage.
Even without them, stuff will store pretty well in a dark cool cupboard for up to 2 years.
It's cheap and prep effort free .
I did try minced meat..not good,! so I stick to veg.
Home made jerky is good mind, as is fruit leather.
An oven can be used too if you don't have the cash for a dehydrator, but if you are willing to spend on freeze dried a dehydrator is a much cheaper option in the long run.
I'm building a solar dryer atm, with climate change and hot summers.. once built, it is cost free. Though only for summer use obviously.
I have a vacuum sealer too. I use it for things like special offers , Tea bags, fruit leathers, jerky, and dried veg can all be stored this way. Especially if you stick on oxygen absorber in too.

 

[Disabled Preppers]

HI guys and girls , the reason for asking is i have used some long life stuff and like some say your better eating the packet more flavour .
I do have a high end vaccy sealer and do seal loads of stuff and with oxy absorbers and then double seal and then in to air tight buckets rice and a lot of otehr stuff but i just wondered on the long life stuff , i know ican vaccy seal all the dried stuff with oxy absorbers and it should be good for well life but the reason again is to have stuff that in a power down world we could grab a couple of bags out throw in the hot water and yum dinner done and dusted so to speak .
We do vaccy most stuff like all here but again looking for say stocking a couple of buckets of ready made meals in case we just wanted to throw water in wait and then eat , say like today in a power down world i have been boiling the kettle in the garden and had the chimney going as most know we are disabled as the name says so hard work for us and again it would be for a time when we just can not be bothered to prep a meal .
Ok thank you all for the great imput again never hurts to ask and see what others have tried , but yes a high end vaccy sealer is a must as are dehydrators .
I use the dehydrator for things that you don't see in the shop really because you can buy most dehydrated veggies now and just vaccy them , i have don a huge and i do mean huge batch of wild garlic leaf this year , it will be used sparingly until next years come lol , i know someone here put me on to the dried vaggie site and we got a few kilos in broke it down in to meal size portions and sealed .
Cheers again and hope to see you all at the bushcraft show this weekend , if you see a man with a forces wear shirt on i think i might go red or a birhgt clour and using a stick it may well be me lol .

 

[Woody girl]

Have a great weekend, sad I can't travel that far, and I have other commitments the next two weekends anyway, so I'll not be there myself.
Funky prepper is going, so it might be worth trying to find him if you can, having similar interests. He'd give you good advice on the freeze dried food.
Though as someone already mentioned, if you can pick up some army rations, they'd be usefull as they are mostly boil in the bag. I had a 2016 ration last week while in the woods carving a butter knife, it was perfectly fine.
I'm not sure if the bug out shop will be there, but they are pretty much the cheapest seller around.
You can get a multi pack selection and find out what you like before committing to a huge outlay on stuff that you might not like. Worth a look at the online shop. No affiliation, but I have dealt with him in the past, and he doesn't mind you phoning to chat about your wants, and place an order over the phone.

 

[silverpac64]

if you dont mind waiting for post check out the canadian prepper website. he does videos on freeze dried stuff and not all things are as what they say .

 

[Disabled Preppers]

@Woody girl i will be sure to hunt Darren down and also looking forward ot meeting John 'lofy' wiseman if i can find him there , the reason to see him is i want to shake his hand i am a big fan of the services as my who family served and one uncle was in the Commandos but will nbever talk about his time in the jungles fighting and i lost and uncle on the burmna railway so again these guys and girls are big in my respect .
Shame you can not get there but you have fun with whatever you will be doing .

I have just ordered a few meals as testers lol yup review will be a yes or no but ihave ordered lots of dehydrated veggies as well because cheaper than running the electric at the minute until prices fall , i am going to mix 5 kg of the mixed veg with 2 kg of peas and 1 kg of carrot in a huge bucket then portion it out to a 2 person serving for the wife and i then vaccy and oxy the bags and then make a couple of buckets over the summer of just veggies again if the **** i like to be ready .

Thanks again all for the great advice

​