An alternative to expensive Mountain House foods for camping

[Corey]

First off I like Mountain House brand freeze dried dinners, and even the scrambled eggs were not bad.
I have tried a wide variety of their products testing both at home and in the mountains camping over the past years.

Last year or so I ran across at Safeway foods in the boxed dinner section a new lineup by Knorr some "soft packages" (rip the envelope open) that cook in about 8 minutes by simply boiling water and adding milk to some of the dinners.
These taste very good in camp, and are so easy to make.

Today at Safeway I picked up several more to restock my supply at 10 for $10 which is dirt cheap.
One package of pasta can feed a person twice as a side dish to adding other foods such as vegetables or meat on the side.

We cooked up two packages last night of the stroganoff for the main dinner dish, and I have some left over for dinner tonight, and a heapin' helping for lunch tomorrow at work.
I did mix in a 12 oz package of Mexican flavored Litelife Smart Ground (all soy, no beef, zero fat)

Here are my favorites, and most of the time I just add a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled over before severing.

Alfredo

Stroganoff

Parmesan

Rice Pilaf

Cheddar Broccoli Rice

Here is the whole list of pastas and rice dishes, some do have meat in them.
Pasta
Rice

Gives these a try and report back here if you like them or not.
For a buck a piece they do not break the bank, and so easy to cook at home or in the woods.

These do not have as long a shelf life as the Mountain House products, but the savings in money is great.

 

[Treenail]

Years ago I bought this book:

Supermarket Backpacker by Harriett Barker

Its out of print I think but easy to find via used book stores.

Lots of great ideas and hints about getting off the shelf food that is cheaper than produced for backpacking meals.

Tom

 

[Colorado David]

There are so many of the Mountain House dinners that I can't eat because I am allergic to legumes. A lot of them contain soy protein isolate, which is a legume product. Peanuts would kill me out in the boonies, but soy protein just causes a lot of pain in my esophagus. It is similar to heart attack pain so I am told by my Doc. There are two Mountain House dinners I can safely eat, Sweet and Sour Pork with Rice and I've forgotten the other one. On a lot of trips I cook regular food, but I spent two weeks in Denali a few years ago and I ate the same two dinners over and over. I liked the Sweet and Sour Pork pretty well at the beginning of the trip. It got a little old by the end.

 

[Treenail]

Enough salsa or hot sauce lets anything go down!

http://www.cholula.com/

Tom

 

[DontPanic42]

Years ago I bought this book:

Supermarket Backpacker by Harriett Barker

Its out of print I think but easy to find via used book stores.

Lots of great ideas and hints about getting off the shelf food that is cheaper than produced for backpacking meals.

Tom

The book is available through Amazon. S&H is more than the price of the book.

 

[BIGGUY]

First off I like Mountain House brand freeze dried dinners, and even the scrambled eggs were not bad.
I have tried a wide variety of their products testing both at home and in the mountains camping over the past years.

Last year or so I ran across at Safeway foods in the boxed dinner section a new lineup by Knorr some "soft packages" (rip the envelope open) that cook in about 8 minutes by simply boiling water and adding milk to some of the dinners.
These taste very good in camp, and are so easy to make.

Today at Safeway I picked up several more to restock my supply at 10 for $10 which is dirt cheap.
One package of pasta can feed a person twice as a side dish to adding other foods such as vegetables or meat on the side.

We cooked up two packages last night of the stroganoff for the main dinner dish, and I have some left over for dinner tonight, and a heapin' helping for lunch tomorrow at work.
I did mix in a 12 oz package of Mexican flavored Litelife Smart Ground (all soy, no beef, zero fat)

Here are my favorites, and most of the time I just add a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled over before severing.

Alfredo

Stroganoff

Parmesan

Rice Pilaf

Cheddar Broccoli Rice

Here is the whole list of pastas and rice dishes, some do have meat in them.
Pasta
Rice

Gives these a try and report back here if you like them or not.
For a buck a piece they do not break the bank, and so easy to cook at home or in the woods.

These do not have as long a shelf life as the Mountain House products, but the savings in money is great.

I've had several of those before. They are $2-$3ea here and I even checked Amazon and the good flavors are higher priced. They used to be Lipton Sides before Knorr bought them out. The Parmesan and Four Cheese Bow Tie are my favorites along with the Garlic Shells. I like the Herb and Butter, Creamy Chicken and Alfredo to. The Creamy Chicken, Herb & Butter, Mushroom, and Chicken Broccoli Rice are pretty good too. In the same aisle as they usually carry these, Uncle Ben's has some decent rice dishes in pouches and Zatarain's has some Cajun rice mixes that are pretty good too.

http://www.zatarains.com/Products/Rice-Mixes-and-Side-Dishes.aspx


http://www.unclebens.com/Product/Index

 

[doubleb]

Trader Joe's has some great Indian food packets for around $1.50. My favorite is the Jaipur Vegetables, but they also have Palek Paneer and a few others. They come in a foil packet that you boil for about 5 minutes. Quick, clean and easy.

 

[Honu]

we started to make a bit more of good meals then use our vacuum packer
going to do that for some of our trips but we like to cook fun meals and make the cooking a part of the camping experience rather than just a thing we have to do ?

tried some of those packs a while back on the $1 sale though and they are handy even around the house when you are burnt out dont want to cook

 

[Christophe Noel]

If all you're doing is pushing in the cushions of your car seat, then holding down your camp chair prior to laying in a sleeping bag, your calorie demands may be such that many of the basic meal kits at the store will do nicely. If however, you're trips are human powered, or highly physical, you may need something designed to deliver the calories you need to stay fueled and recovered. Many of the popular freeze dried meals are formulated for active days. If you evaluate them based on calories to dollars, you may find they're not expensive at all.

 

[Errant]

Trader Joe's has some great Indian food packets for around $1.50. My favorite is the Jaipur Vegetables, but they also have Palek Paneer and a few others. They come in a foil packet that you boil for about 5 minutes. Quick, clean and easy.

Yep, TastyBite is my favorite stuff for backpacking or motorcycle camping. Lots of vegan and gluten free options, too.

 

[Corey]

May have to order some of these, and check out others.
Thanks for the link.

http://shop.tastybite.com/Bombay-Potatoes/p/TYB-000013&c=TastyBite@Entrees

Amazon carries them.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=tastybite

 

[PirateMcGee]

QFT, out of curiosity Flounder do you make your own stuff or buy prepackaged?

 

[agavelvr]

This is an interesting thread. I use Mtn House or Tasty Bite stuff on long haul/short duration backpacking/kayaking/bike trips out of convenience. When the trips get longer than a few days, it's hard to beat the quality and economics of cooking from scratch with whole ingredients in combination with bulk freeze dried ingredients (eggs, beef, buttermilk, etc). Honestly, most of the packaged meals on the market are not hard to duplicate at home.

Recently, I purchased a bag of quinoa on a whim. It's easy to cook, packed with nutrition, and versitile. I've made pancakes out of it, tabouli, pilafs, etc.
By packing a pressure cooker, you can cook up things quickly, including dry beans. I prefer the nutrition and taste of whole foods, plus it's fun.

My top shelf stable ingredients:
quinoa
scottish oats (Bob's Red Mill) or steel cut oats
local tepary beans
couscous
freeze dried eggs
beef jerky
freeze dried buttermilk
powdered frozen yogurt mix used by your local ice cream shop
flour (buckwheat, wholewheat, unbleached white)
baking powder, baking soda, salt
veggie oil
dried fruit such as dates, cranberries, mango, kiwi, strawberries, etc..
Nuts

You can eat like a king for weeks on end with these items, some spices, and a few other ingredients. Packaged meals really get boring after 5 days IMHO.
Another huge advantage, no trash or water weight. Not a big deal when you are rolling in a vehicle...kind of critical when you are hauling it on your back
I have to give my hippy friends the nod for educating me on the advantages of quinoa and couscous. They are versitile like tofu, but actually taste good

Here's something cool I saw in a nutrition magazine yesterday...
PB2 peanut butter - http://bellplantation.com/

If you want to learn from the masters...
NOLS Cookery is a good book

If you have a fridge and a foodsaver, you are all set. We had a Thanksgiving in the field a few years back where my friend had all the traditional fixings in foodsaver bags, including smoked turkey...best Turkey Day ever

 

[Palehorse1]

Years ago I bought this book:

Supermarket Backpacker by Harriett Barker...

Is that another version of this book?

"The Campfire Gourmet’s Guide to Backpacking Foods From The Supermarket" by Michael H. Engelhardt

 

[piffey263]

Last year or so I ran across at Safeway foods in the boxed dinner section a new lineup by Knorr some "soft packages" (rip the envelope open) that cook in about 8 minutes by simply boiling water and adding milk to some of the dinners.
T

haha I live off that stuff when I don't feel like cooking, try the ones in boxes and repackage them like you said some only need water which is nice.