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Freeze Dried Meals

What meals are people eating and where are you buying them? I need to start stocking up.

*Minimum of 10 dinners per year consumption required before commenting.
Here’s one bandwagon I jumped on this past fall. North Idaho Snackables, they are pretty dang good, you can also request custom freeze dried meals!!! Biggest reason I’m using them! Great small business with single owner here in Idaho, runs her business out of her home. Help her out and order some to try, you can even use my discount code Matt10 😜
Matt
 
I end up liking more non traditional meals, so I end up looking for a lot of curries, enchilladas, padthai, etc.

Peak refuel has some great options for meals like that. I'm also a sucker for the chicken pesto....

This company makes smaller meals (1 serving meals vs MH 2 servings per pouch). I like their options and so far don't have any complaints minus price. But for the variety I don't mind paying a little more:



Beyond that, Mountainhouse isn't bad, but I like every other brand over them. Except I love the MH breakfast meals, that southwest bowl one is good.
 
Peak Refuel is my go-to. The Breakfast Skillet is my favorite. I'm pretty indifferent to the dinners, but would gladly eat the breakfast skillet for dinner, I like it that much.
 
I bought 7 meals yesterday at Sportsman's Warehouse. 4 MH and 3 Peak. $89. And a 2 1/2 lb. bag of French Roast coffee.

That's 22 total for this year's hunt. I should be good to go.
 
I say this with every food thread. They have to pass the couch test, I have to eat the meal/food on the couch watching tv and it has to taste good on the couch. If it doesn’t taste good on the couch there is no way in heck I’m going to eat it on the mountain when I’m not really hungry to began with.
 
I bought 7 meals yesterday at Sportsman's Warehouse. 4 MH and 3 Peak. $89. And a 2 1/2 lb. bag of French Roast coffee.

That's 22 total for this year's hunt. I should be good to go.
thanks to @WapitiBob's hot tip, I through down on 13 dinners for $130, combo of backcountry pantry and Peak. I still need probably double that but I'll wait and see if something else strikes my fansy. I do want to try some of the G2G dinners.
 
This is a great thread, thanks for all the perspectives! Has anyone tried the Huel Hot and Savory meals? It looks interesting wherein you could divy if up for whatever size portion you want, still just needs hot water.
 
I think the next 2 I want to try are from Gastro Gnome(don't think I can get it in Canada) and Pinnacle Food. Being lactose intolerant is tough with freeze dried meals, almost everything good has cheese or cream in it
 
A few Peaks but mostly Mountain House. I bought several Gnomes but found them too spicy. Same with Heather's. Both repeat on my all night.

Ya gotta eat, right? That's my biggest problem out there. Getting back to camp an hour and a half after dark, then forcing myself to eat something that I wouldn't touch otherwise. I subsist on mostly the Breakfast Skillet and Spaghetti with an occasional rice dish of some kind.

23 days is my longest. I lost 18 lbs that hunt.
And $500 in mountain houses alone- assuming you ate two a day.. 😅 my wife would freak
 
I say this with every food thread. They have to pass the couch test, I have to eat the meal/food on the couch watching tv and it has to taste good on the couch. If it doesn’t taste good on the couch there is no way in heck I’m going to eat it on the mountain when I’m not really hungry to began with.
Typically way more buzzed— got the munchies on the couch, more so than the mountain.. everything tastes better on the couch with the munchies… 😅
 
And $500 in mountain houses alone- assuming you ate two a day.. 😅 my wife would freak
Two a day? No way. I have to force myself just to get one down.

Breakfast consists of three cups of French Roast through a French press and a couple of cookies. Lunch? Meh. Sorting through my gear last month I found three unopened Costco sized bags of jerky from last year.

My wife would gladly spend twice that much to keep from seeing me look like a concentration camp survivor when I get home. I promised her I would try to eat more on my upcoming archery cow hunt.
 
I 2nd this. Breakfast Skillet is damn good
I was going to start a thread on best freeze dried meals eaten from this year at hunting camp, but recalled this thread and figured it could use a revival. This was the first year I was in camp completely by myself, so being the lazy ass I am, I relied on freeze dried for 1/2 of my meals, instead of just 1 or 2.

Ok maybe it's me, but the Peak Breakfast Skillet this year was not good. Maybe I was hungrier at breakfast the last few years? I could not fix it with pepper, salt, Tapatio and shredded cheddar cheese. I tried, 2x. Won't bother with that one again. Yes, I will eat it if I'm starving. HUGE portion. Did not cause colon blow.

Mountain House breakfast skillet, was A-ok a couple times. Spot on with water and wait time. Pepper and Tapatio makes this stuff shine. This was the original mix that they corrected after their horrible debacle with the recipe in a few prior years.

The Peak Biscuits n Gravy was decent. Crush up that biscuit before adding water and DO NOT exceed recommended water amount, and maybe go a touch light on the water, otherwise you end up with soup. Salt and pepper to taste completely worked. Ate the whole thing a few times. No colon blow.

Peak Beef Stroganoff. Hell ya. Add a little extra water, add a little wait time or you will have thick paste n crunchy beef. Good all around and scraped the bottom of the bag looking for more.

Peak Pesto Past n Chicken, another hell ya. Not a bottom of the bag scraper, but worked great. A little grated Parmesan and you are good to go.

Peak Pad Thai, eh, its ok. Needs some veg in there, but it is not bad on a 20 degree night.

Mountain house Spaghetti. It's ok.

Backpacker's Pantry Lasagna. Nope, won't eat it again if you give to me free and a roll of TP. I might pull my sidearm or take your whiskey away from you, or both, if you tried to give it to me.

Mountain house chili mac. Nope. Try giving this to me and I will pull side arm, take your whiskey and beer. Will suggest you go home.

Backpackers Pantry mac n cheese. No, not again. It's just wrong.

That's the 2022 hunting camp, freeze dried food review from my perspective.
 
I also thought the peak breakfast skillet sucked this year for some reason. I felt like they substituted sawdust for any other ingredient.

The peak sweet pork and rice on the other hand was great. Definitely will add more to the supply for future years.
 
If you want a simple meal that you can digest easily look at some of the powdered meal replacements. Super easy to make up with water and no "log jam" eating dehydrated food.

Kachava, Huel, earth chimp, etc are some I like. There are many more. I prefer the unsweetened versions with no sugar or sucralose (gives me the shits). monk fruit or stevia is ok.

 
I also thought the peak breakfast skillet sucked this year for some reason. I felt like they substituted sawdust for any other ingredient.

The peak sweet pork and rice on the other hand was great. Definitely will add more to the supply for future years.
Have not tried the sweet pork n rice from Peak, but will get a a couple for this year. Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I still have a couple of the Peak Breakfast Skillets left. I've liked them in past years, so not sure what happened this year. Could be me.
 
All time favorite, North Idaho Snackables huckleberry banana bread! Dip in coffee to soften OMG the best thing since sliced bread lol 😂 I found myself eating at least 2 a day 😳… the chicken enchiladas were my favorite meal, got a new one to try, Bison Chili, I’ll let y’all know how good it is for sure. @North Idaho Snackables
Matt

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Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

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