I find the texture of pizza dough mix to be a little more bread like than biscuit mixes, but they are all OK.

BillConner wrote on Aug 25^th, 2011 at 3:50pm:

You can also prepare biscuit mix using the same technique as fry bread.  I buy the "just add water" variety (Bisquick 3-Cheese/Garlic & Cheese/Buttermilk) add sufficient water to mix the dry mix into a spoonable consistency and fry with a little olive oil.  Don't make the biscuits too large or thick because that makes them more difficult to turn without breaking in two.

On a solo (or 2 party) trip, I just open the water proof packaging, take out what I need, fold the top over and put it in a baggie for later use.

My paddling partner has also used the regular mix to make cinnamon-raisin biscuits for breakfast (with a little added sweetner/honey in the mix).

dd

I find some frying pan bread - Cache Lake or just pizza dough - helsp with mushy meals.  I like the slaw idea but seems better for a group than solo.

I agree FD seems to be easy and it tastes fine to me. I've done the grocery store thing and been on outfitter trips where fancier dinners were done. To me it's fun to do fancier meals with  larger groups than solo trips. I think the shared dinners are another way of getting a group to feel together. There's more hands to share tasks around camp. Another reason to use FD while soloing, you do it all yourself and FD leaves time for other things. I always have some FD meals stashed in the food barrel for those days when traveling took a bit more out of you than expected and you're tired.

I think the thing that I miss the most after a few days is something crunchy, or with some tooth, as they say. So I've been carrying apples. Bring a wedge of cabbage too for slaw with your fish dinner. Apple, cabbage, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt & pepper. My GF brings bagels chips for the same reason. Eat'm along with the FD or soup for some crunch.

FD or store stuff, rehydrated mush gets old after a few days.

Use to do all freeze dried and have transitioned to mostly grocery store "instant" and fresh food over the last  10 years.  Have used Cache Lake quite a bit - pretty good - but still like exploring the grocery stores for "finds".  Solo is jst a little more challenging.  A pasta side for 4 makes a good main dish for two with a foil pack of chicken but hard to scale those to one easily.  So always looking - Hawk Vittles and Packit Gourmet seem best - which is a long ways from saving money using the 10 tins.

Bill
If you are unfamiliar with freeze dried I will broach a side effect. Some folk have gastronomical distress. I have noticed that I become more gaseous but have no stomach discomfort. My stool remains good but I eat oats every morning and that may balance things out. Some folk get loose. You may want to see how you do before committing an entire trip to it. I don't want to steer you wrong.

BTW; the shelf life is 25 years on the freeze dried. Just keep it in the air tight canteens or in the tins and you are set for several seasons.

Thanks.  I'm not sure that in a year I'd use that much but possible.  The other problem I would have is the high sodium content of most freeze dried foods - which is why dehydrating my own cooking is probably a better choice - even if it weighs a little more.

I agree that the taste has become pretty good - everybody's stroganoff seemingly very good.  But then I wonder if you got some powdered sour cream if all meals wouldn't benefit.

BillConner wrote on Aug 24^th, 2011 at 4:05pm:


Bill if you hit the sale right it ends up being almost 1/2 price from the foil 2 serving pouches (which is really single serve!). I typically get 4 or 5 tins and store them in the air tight water canteens. Just get an oversized spoon to transfer the contents of the tins to the canteens. Although I don't mind eating the same thing all the time I do mix it up and will bring 3 different things.....again packed in a water canteen. Indestructible. Due to their pliable nature it is an easy task to shake it up a bit to mix.

I like to have a measure cup and just shake out the amount I want into the measure cup. I'd have to look but I think the ratio is 1 part mix to 1 part boiling water but I could be wrong (I make mine a little soupier and let it set longer). You must have some way to retain the heat inside the pan. I suppose you could keep your stove on simmer but that wastes fuel and runs the risk of burning.

I like DD's idea of using a foil pouch for keeping bread warm (or most anything for that matter) but I think the snug fitting cozy is tops. My cozy fits my pot perfectly (they make them to fit a wide variety of cookware). I place pot inside cozy and then place everything in a stuff sack to protect the cozy. Works perfectly.

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Totally agree on the bum rap.  Some of that stuff is much better than some of the stuff I've made for camping.  I think it's lingering sentiment over valid complaints of the quality fd used to have.  They've gotten a lot better at it now.

It's a weight savings when compared to fresh food.

Rehydrating in a pot works better than in the pouch.

I dehydrate my own and my food is 1/2 the weight/meal that store bought fd stuff is.  Usually tastes better too, usually.

Less than $50 on a dehydrator 15 years ago has saved me thou$and$.

Help me out here MT. Are you scooping out individual servings of the 10 tin contents, and heating just that?  Are the contents mixed up enough that certain parts don't all settle?  And do you eat the same ting every night for the whole trip?