Anyone know where to get the best deal on Freeze Dried food such as Mountain House or Backpackers Pantry?

Emergency Essentials carries Mountain House. REI carries Mountain House and Backpackers Pantry - if you go to their online bargain area they have Backpacker's Pantry seconds (packaging gliches - no problem with the food) they are at a reduced price.

I have ordered Mountain House direct from their factory. You can put in your order at their website: http://www.mountainhouse.com/

If you're buying them to use soon, you might find a better deal somewhere else online that has old product, because they probably discount things getting closer to expiration. From the factory, you're always getting new product, so it'll have a longer shelf life for things like your emergency supplies.

Fyi - If you're associated with the Boy Scouts, they are very nice about discounting case lot purchases. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />They just need you to fax a copy of your unit charter to them before you can get the discount.

I have a question and a comment. First, the comment. I would have thought this thread would have generated more interest, although I have only been reading and posting for about a month, so maybe freeze dried food isn't the item I thought it would be. My question: How much water does it take to reconstitute the meals? I can't seem to find that anywhere on any of the sites, even the manufacturer's.

I would have thought it would get more interest as well. Maybe the question is wrong.

What types of food, which I think is probably the most important thing to have in a longterm emergency, so you store? How do you store it?

I rely almost entirely on canned food. I confess I have a bit of a bias against dehydrated food. 30 years ago I was the victim of a dehydrated food menu during a backpacking trip to the Uintas. The wind that it produced among the leaders and scouts was indescribable. Maybe the evil stuff has improved since then. But if weight isn't an issue and you don't mind rotating then I really don't see that it has any advantaged over canned. Maybe somebody else can chime in.

Regards, Vince

If you want dried food in bulk for longer term storage try Walton Feed. It is much less expensive than freeze dried but does requires preparation. Their site has a lot of good info as well as some interesting reading.(check out grandma's recipes in the archive section)

My 2 cent

Freeze dried foods are rather expensive. If you are backpacking where every ounce counts, it may be worth the money.

If you do not have to either carry it very far or store it for long periods, there are all kinds of canned and instant foods available at the local supermarket that are cheaper and (at least in my opinion) taste better.

Bottom line:
Freeze dried is good if BOTH light weight AND long term storage are more important than cost and taste.

I don’t think of freeze dried food for survival. They seem specialized for backpacking where weight is critical and cost is not a big issue because of limited number of meals. In my Camelback PSK I have a couple candy bars and some raisin, peanut, M&M, and Cheerios mix. I can’t keep food in my car because it is too hot in Arizona. We keep a couple weeks of food in the pantry at home. If we had to evacuate we would take food that was easy to store and prepare.

Here in Arizona, if you are stranded in the desert, water is the limiting factor. If you don’t have a lot of water then don’t eat. It takes water to digest food. The word is carbohydrates take less water than proteins.

Members of the Survival forum on AR15.com frequently have group buys of Mounain House products at greatly reduced prices. You might keep an eye out for a future buy.

Although the dehydrated foods require water and fuel to use, they are worthwhile for short-term emergencies. Especially, bug-out type scenarios where weight is a major consideration. It's just another option to have. No perfect solutions are out there.

BTW, Most of the Mountain House meals are pretty good.

Dehydrated food requires water. So, if bugging out, you need a supply of clean water or you don't eat. If you cary your water with you, then you might as well carry regular food.

It seems to me that the only way in which this might be of benefit is if you can readily find clean water, or water that can be made clean, at your destination. Otherwise, toss it.

To clarify:

Dehydrated foods require water only to reconsitute into something more pallatable. I've eaten a dehydrated meal without reconsituting it. Top Ramen is also dehydrated food. Your body will supply the moisture needed for digestion, and even if you reconstitute dehydrated food, your body will still use a significant amount of water to digest it. If you don't have a supply of water to reconstitute a dehydrated meal, then don't eat, you don't have enough water to eat anything anyways.

Freeze-dried and dehydrated food can be stored in your vehicle, regardless how hot it gets. We got to 140 this summer here (which translates to much warmer in the car)and my freeze dried/dehydrated supplies did just fine. Canned foods may get too hot to store in such an environment, because the moisture inside the can generates exessive internal pressure and will burst the seal when heated.

Most of the freeze dried/dehydrated meals I've prepared lately require 2 to 2 1/2 cups of boiling water to rehydrate. Some freeze dried food doesn't require hot water to rehydrate properly.

As a refresher, freeze dried food is fresh food that is taken to sub zero temperature and then exposed to a vacuum, which sublimates the frozen water in the food into vapor and draws it out, thus preserving the general texture of the food. Freeze dried food thus has a very low residual moisture content. Dehydrated food is fresh food that is typically dried by exposing it to airflow at ambient or slightly warmer conditions(below the temperature that would cook the food). Conventionally dehydrated food may have as much as 30% residual moisture, which means it may be susceptible to spoilage. Generally, freeze dried food is better than conventonally dehydrated food because the freshness is maintained better (I've had freeze dried peaches that I rehydrated that were just about like eating a fresh peach). Processing methods for both have improved over time, and although freeze drying is a relatively expensive process, conventional dehydration can be nearly cost free, except for a certain amount of time and effort expenditure, if done at home. I have more than a few home made recipes using dehydrated ingredients that are pretty darned tasty. BTW, dried beans are a dehydrated food, so is rice and noodles. Most home dehydration is for meats (jerky), vegetables, and fruits.

Some dehydration methods use salt in lieu of airflow. Norwegians still use salt aboard their boats to preserve fish rather than ice.

> Dehydrated food requires water. So, if bugging out, you need a supply of clean water or you don't eat.
> If you cary your water with you, then you might as well carry regular food.

I don't agree with that conclusion. It's better to carry dry food plus water than to carry wet food and less water (for the same weight), because it is more versatile.

You have more clean water that you can use in first aid or whatever. If found water is common, there's no problem with adding it to your food. If found water is scarce you can just not eat, because you can last for weeks without food but only days without water (and it takes more water to digest the food). Water is heavy and when bugging out you will have a lot of other stuff to carry, so it's good to avoid committing water to the food until you know whether you can find more.