If you’re planning on camping, adding a packet or two of freeze dried camping food for emergencies for each member of the camping party is important. Packing for a long hike through the wilderness requires that you have all the essentials for the journey.
Easy to Pack, Light to Carry, Ready to Eat…
Freeze dried meals are easy to pack, light to carry and ready to eat. These features make them the perfect companions of backpackers. They are also vital components of emergency preparedness campaigns as disaster ready meals.
Dehydrated vs. Freeze Dried
Unlike dehydration, the freeze drying process allows the food to have the taste, texture and nutritional value very similar to fresh produce. They can also be easily added to just about any liquid-based camping food like stews. They are made in a number of gourmet dishes such as Hawaiian chicken, Pasta Primavera and Beef Stroganoff with Noodles. Just add hot water for nearly instant meals.
Another difference is that most dehydrated foodstuffs are single ingredients, such as dehydrated rice for instance. However, there are also dehydrated soups and stews available in the market. Dehydrated foods are mostly without any flavoring or seasoning. Meanwhile, freeze dried foods only need some hot water and they’re ready to eat. These food packages are pre-seasoned, pre-cooked, and pre-mixed.
Mountain House Freeze Dried Eggs. Picture from Wikipedia Commons
Leading Camping Food Brands
Long term food storage is one of the best benefits you get from these freeze dried meals you can buy from just about any supermarket. A few of the leading camping food brands are Alpine Aire, Backpacker’s Pantry, Camp ‘n Trail, Cache Lake, Outfitter’s Choice, Trail Foods, MaryJanes, Mountain House, Natural High, and Richmoor.
These brands offer a large choice of quick and easy entrees, salads, soups, even all organic vegetarian meals. Most of them have a minimum shelf life of one year while others can reach up to seven years when stored properly.