High Sierra Topix

I just had the beef stroganoff for dinner last night, just to try it out. It was really quite good. I was very suprised.

REI had them on sale so we picked up a bunch of different ones for our upcoming trip.

I know this is an older thread, but Costco has a box of Mountain House for about $40. It has 10 2-serving meals in it. There are 5 varieties in the box.

riverwalker wrote:I know this is an older thread, but Costco has a box of Mountain House for about $40. It has 10 2-serving meals in it. There are 5 varieties in the box.

Good to know, riverwalker. Thanks.

FYI, They are on sale right now at REI.

All freeze dried meals are beyond my budget. They are all rip-offs. If you are going to use freeze dried food, buy the bulk single ingredients. Most of the "meals" are cheap fillers that you can buy in a supermarket for pennies on the dollar. Read the ingredients. All the "varieity" are just difference in spices. They all begin to taste the same after a while.

I buy "just tomatoes", "just pineapple" etc at Whole Foods. These come in 3 oz tubs. If you want meat a #10 tin can of fd meat is a good buy from the internet stores. FD fruit and nuts of all varieties that I buy at Trader Joes are added to various breakfast cereals. FD veggies of all varieties are added to dinners. I prefer summer sausage and those small individual packs of dry salami for adding to dinners. Last trip I tried a 2-oz packet of Spam (just like the tuna packets). Tasted good if you can tolerate the texture. Cheese (parmasan or other hard cheese or Pepper Jack sticks) is a mainstay. Jerkey can also be added to dinners, however this is an expensive way to get meat. As for the main part of dinners instant rice, pasta and potatoes work well. There are TONS of varieitys of pasta and potatoes (flake, hash browns, flat pieces). Crumpled potatoe chips also make a great topping to any meal. Beans and rice are a mainstay - I get the dried bean soup bulk at Whole Foods. I also get textured vegetable protein at Safeway (bulk foods) and add a tablespoon to each meal. I am also happy with the Bear Valley soup mixes - about $3 at Walmart for a large bag. My luxury itmes are Kikoman miso soup, Rio Coffee candies, and some 80% dark chocolate.

Seems to me if you are going to re-package the freeze dried meals, why not just pack your own? For example, for a 5 day trip, I set out 10 sandwhich size zip-lock bags, fill each with desired breakfast or dinner main ingredients (I simply double the single serving size on the package), put in a dash of salt, add about a third cup of additional stuff- freeze dried, nuts, meat. Then I add spices - each to his own on spices- you will have to experiement with these. I like my own home-grown dried basil, rosmerry, a few fresh garlic cloves, allspice, chipotle chili. You can either add spices when you make the meals, or just bring a spice kit and wing it when cooking. Think creatively - how about far east flavors- like curry with raisins and rice. Mint anyone? For cereals, add a teaspoon of sugar and tablespoon of Nido. I pack the sausage, cheese, etc in a bag. If you want to have eaiser preparation in camp, pre-cut pieces. I do not because I think the stuff keeps better in a chunk. And to top it all off and add calories I bring olive oil and margarine. About tbs oil added to dinners, one scoop of margarine for breakfast cereals (I have yet to embrace olive oil in my cereal). It will seem like a lot of work at first, but it becomes more efficient at you do more. I keep my eye open for backpack type foods on sale everytime I shop. About the only thing I buy with a dedicated trip are Whole Foods items.

The good thing about backpack cooking is that everything tastes pretty good so it is hard to go wrong. Yes, you have to really "cook" these meals, but that usually is just boiling water, adding stuff, simmer and stir for 5 minutes or less, turn off heat, put pot in a cozy, wait 5-10 minutes, eat. Put some water in the pot right away so that clean up is easy. I am the one who has cooked everyone's meals for all my life, so this is really easier than when home. I suppose if you are the one who has been served dinner every day of your life, you may find it more challenging.