4/22/12 Backpacking Food

Here's the low down from yesterday's excursion and previous adventures: You can't go wrong with chicken & rice, ever. Freeze dried eggs only taste good once. Make sure its the eggs you don't have to cook after adding water. Kung Pow Chicken is good if you like to sweat. We still pack it on occasion.

Chicken breasts and mashed potatoes are good as well as beef stew, beef stroganoff and turkey tetrazzini. We tend to stay away from the pastas like lasagna, spaghetti and chili mac because it just takes way longer for the pasta to soften up than what is indicated on the package. We have waited longer than indicated but you have to eat sooner or later.

We have to have a desert for the last night out. Usually we pack the Mountain House raspberry crumble. It says it serves four, we only serve two.

Mountain House is our regular buy then Backpacker's Pantry. This trip we are trying a brand called Natural High. Another thing we have been packing for the past three years is Tanka Bars and Tanka Bites made from cranberries and buffalo. http://www.tankabar.com/cgi-bin/nanf/public/products.cvw?sessionid=198ed02c6dc09cc4f89cf07adc12a460f7edd00

Mountain House runs about $7.25 a 2 serving pack. Some are more , some are less. The price has come up over the past seven years. I thing I started out paying about $5.75 a meal. Backpacker's Pantry can be a bit less and if you want to really save some money go to:

http://www.mtnhse.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=MC and buy the Marine Cuisine. The selection is dwindling but it is a good price. Of course, you can do all your shopping online:

http://www.mtnhse.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=MHDL .

I always think that $7.00 is a lot of money for a freeze dried meal, but we do split it between us, so $3.50 per person is like eating from the dollar menu at McD's and it's probably better for you.

Since we have 1 Liter Nalgene water bottles we also pack a lot of Gatorade. Walmart has powdered G2 and it take 2 packs to a 1 liter bottle. There was a Gatorade packet available at Walmart that made 1 liter but it has been discontinued. I can still buy them at Cox Hardware in Texas: http://www.coxhardware.com/p-54-gatorade-powdered-drink-mix-quart-size-assorted-flavors.aspx

If you want to get your freeze dried food in person, here is the list of places to go from close to far. The best selection is at REI: Walmart, Dicks, Dunhams, MC Sports, Bass Pro, Gander Mountain, Cabelas, REI.