No refrigeration needed

[Black Dog]

I've had military issue MREs, they're not great but they're not awful either. They've actually come a long way over the years. And you can pretty much survive indefinitely on the peanut butter packets alone. MRE pound cake leaves a quite bit to be desired, it will give your molars a good workout eating it. I never did like the fruitcake though.

 

[williard86]

For coffee I always bring these: http://www.landolakes.com/product/2579/mini-moos-half-half
I also second Packit Gourmet. Their freeze dried meals are actually good.

 

[INSAYN]

Figured I would add some new stuff that I found works great. I did a week long float trip via kayaks last summer and we made some great meals without needing any cooler or fridge.

Old El Paso Tortilla Stuffers.
You can boil the whole bag in water and just heat the whole bag up at once. Then cut it open and spoon it onto flour tortillas.
There are several flavors to choose from including: Carne Asada, Garlic Chili Chicken, and Mesquite Chicken. Good stuff!


Baby Bel Cheese.
Can handle daytime temps 100F without melting, yet still can be grated for pizza, burritos, etc.
Several flavors to choose from.

Stovetop Stuffing.
I repackaged mine to fit better in my food dry bag.
Just tossed the contents and part of the package instructions into a Food Saver bag and sealed it back up. Add chunk chicken to this!

Bagged chunk chicken.
Tyson makes a great little 7oz Mylar bag of ready to eat chunk chicken.
Valley Fresh and Walmart have similar products as well.
Too many things to list that you can do with these tasty bags of poultry.

Dollar Tree/Dollar General.
Found some great "just add water and cook" Knorr brand pastas and rice.
Many flavors to choose from. Add tuna or chicken packets to them and you are set!

Spam Singles.
Mylar packaged single servings that can be cut up into bits to add to scrambled eggs (dried).
Shredded and pan fried till crispy, or just eaten right out of the bag.

Fruit cups.
Dole or Del Monte style single serving fruit cups, or flavored apple sauce.
I added one of these flavored apple sauce cups to my pancake batter and then thinned with water till perfect. Awesome!

Dehydrated spaghetti sauce.
Large jar whipped through the blender with added Italian seasoning (not dressing) and then dehydrated and ran back through the
blender/food processor to a fine powder. Rehydrate with water to whatever consistency needed.
Thicker for pizza sauce, thinner for spaghetti, and even thinner for soup.

Peanut Butter Powder.
This stuff is great! Sprinkle it on your morning oatmeal, add it to your pancake mix, make a peanut sauce for your instant rice or other Asian style cuisine.
It will mix with many many other things to give you a taste of peanuts without the hassle of carrying a big jar of peanut butter.


Lets keep this going.

 

[AeroNautiCal]

Thanks for these great (and tasty) suggestions, some of which I'd never heard of.

 

[Bennettbf]

Zatarain's rice dishes with canned ham, spam or chicken tossed in. Serve in a bowl with a side of canned fruit and you've got a meal every time.

All these un-refrigerated meals are great - they leave more room in the cooler for beer.

B

 

[Dave Kay]

Zatarain's rice dishes with canned ham, spam or chicken tossed in. Serve in a bowl with a side of canned fruit and you've got a meal every time.

All these un-refrigerated meals are great - they leave more room in the cooler for beer.

B

Love those Zatarain's box mixes, but as the years have gone by I've learned to add only half the flavor packet to your rice/pasta or I'll get a sodium rush so bad it'll blow the hose off my portable BP checker--- LOL~!

Since I first posted here asking about MRE's I've discovered, from a FEMA guy, that the MRE's many vendors sell is mostly out of date surplus stuff and it's not all that obvious because of date-codes. My FEMA friend HIGHLY recommends going freeze-dried stuff all the way. Flavor-wise and portability plus shelf life are tops. All you need is a water supply.

Online I've located bulk FD stuff from a membership store called Costco. Haven't tried their stuff yet but they do sell either smaller quantities or by the pallet. Tons of reviews from customers too so you can decide yourself. If they are in your area check 'em out: LINK

 

[madmax718]

careful with the costco orders- a lot of their stuff is all vegetarian! I ordered meat only products from the same company through honeyville farms. I use a lot of their stuff, sometimes because Im lazy, and sometimes because its just kinda cool. lol.

I did find something new, from a cooking TV show; Barilla 3 cheese tortellini!. Bought a pack to try. It got top reviews, even beating out some of the "fresh" in refrigeration stuff.

 

[Photomike]

There is a company around here that sells the same idea as Costco but in smaller quantities In Case Of

They have a amazing freeze dried emergency bar that you can toss in your vehicle, back pack, kayak, bike, etc. It is very tasty and does not dry you out like a granola bar.

 

[Dave Kay]

careful with the costco orders- a lot of their stuff is all vegetarian! I ordered meat only products from the same company through honeyville farms. I use a lot of their stuff, sometimes because Im lazy, and sometimes because its just kinda cool. lol.

I did find something new, from a cooking TV show; Barilla 3 cheese tortellini!. Bought a pack to try. It got top reviews, even beating out some of the "fresh" in refrigeration stuff.

Thanks for the Honeyville Farms link, they're located just down the hill from me~!

And what is the Barilla tortellini package, freeze dried or MRE-type...?

 

[madmax718]

Dave, dont order just yet!
I love honeyville, they are great. Great people to deal with, and excellent ordering times. BUT TO MAKE YOUR FIRST TIME EVEN BETTER... use coupon code HARVEST for 10% off Hurry, ends friday...

Its a dried product of some sort. Its not freeze dried, and its not wet like MRE. So I would just say "dried". But some cooking network show (Cooks club?) did a blind taste test, and this was rated #1 I think, beating out even some of the "frozen" and "refrigerated" products. So not all dried products are the same.

Some notes (just from my experience)
Bananna chips are tasty, but is loaded with fat. It is not "dried" bananna chips.

Their freeze dried blueberries keep the longest for me. The rasberries go soggy fast. If your a single guy trying to eat a #10 can, you will run into some issues. if your feeding a family of 4, it goes quickly. Throw some in zip locks with cherrioes for each day of the week if you eat on the run.

OVA eggs taste a little better and seem to last a little longer than just their store brand of powdered eggs. Their egg product is not really a 10 year item, though I guess it could be used that way.

TVP- (textured vegetable protein). Think Bacos.

Strawberries are pretty good, but dont' reform their shape as well. Perfect for smoothies, pancakes, jams, and baking.

Their Artesian flour is very good. Long shelf life if you can get a gamma lid.

Not from them, but from others:
canned cheese: kinda soft, but wonderful addition to chili, bread, snack with some summer saussage. Also for some camp pan pizza.
Canned bacon: Very good- If your used to fresh bacon (I do cure my own), its not really comparable- But it is basically like mcdonalds bacon. If your out with a group and its day 3, and you whip out some bacon, you will be king. (for at least until breakfast is over). It doesnt' have the usual fat content (its been cooked off) so there is actually less cleanup.

You can make some really awesome stuff with not too much- take flour, some instant yeast (or you can get pizza dough packs from the store, just add water).

 

[WAND3R3R]

I missed this thread, not sure how, but I just asked pretty much the same question, except I am looking for non-canned food ideas.
Thanks, Ak

http://www.apocketfullofwanderlust.com/2014/02/no-refrigeration-required.html

 

[grahamfitter]

My friend Lacey Anderson writes cookbooks for going without coolers. They're intended for raft trips but the concept applies for overland travel too. http://www.nocoolers.com/

 

[Photomike]

One thing that I decided to add to the camper this past weekend was the small cans of orange juice and tetra packs of soy milk (cannot have milk). Wow I love them, no refrigeration needed and perfect size for one meal. Have used the larger tetra packs in the past but once opened you needed to refrigerate them. In fact this past weekend never even turned the fridge on!

 

[Kelly Campbell]

On camping trips, we mostly bring food stuff that you can eat straight out of the pack or will require very little cooking …Beef jerky, Spanish sausages you can grill over an open fire, cheese and marmalades and canned soup or packed noodles.

 

[Black Dog]

The only problem I have with canned soup is the empty cans take up quite a bit of space to pack out in your garbage sack. One alternative I've found though is in the health food isle there are some soups that come in a cardboard carton.