Freeze Dried Camping Food: Our 10 Favorite Brands
Categories Backpacking, Food
When you think of camping or backpacking foods, you usually dont think of gourmet meals. Personally, plain pasta and tuna usually comes to mind. However, this can be both bulky and heavy to pack in. Not an ideal combination when you want to save those extra kilos and that precious space in your backpack.
Not to mention, at the end of a long day of hiking and setting up camp, the last thing you want to do is wait around to cook your dinner.
So, whats the solution? Dehydrated or Freeze dried meals!
In no particular order, here are 10 of the most recommended freeze dried camping foods:
Best For Families: Numanna Int
This family-size bucket of survival food contains 126 meals that are all made in the United States and are gluten-free, soy-free, GMO-free, and contain no high fructose corn syrup or MSG. Meals like pasta primavera and enchiladas provide plenty of variety to keep your emergency food supply from getting boring. Meals have a shelf life of 25 years, so your purchase will last quite some time, especially because it all fits into a sturdy, easy-to-store bucket.
For a gluten-free survival kit that checks all the boxeslong shelf life, plenty of calories, and varietyyou can’t go wrong with the Legacy Premium Food Storage Gluten-Free Entrée Bucket . If you are looking for an emergency food supply that takes up as little space as possible and requires no prep or waiting, Survival Tabs 8-Day Food Supply is the way to go.
Premium Gluten Free Food For Emergencies
When it comes to products like our gluten free freeze-dried emergency food, we never skimp on quality. We take many steps to go beyond âsurvival food,â and make gluten free freeze-dried meals that are wholesome, pure, and made to be savored. In fact, we guarantee that all of our gluten free bulk food is free from pesticides, chemicals, and heavy metals. Our dehydrated foods are premium because we start with the best ingredients we can find. When it comes to gluten free emergency food, shelf stability isn’t enough. You want nutritious, premium food that you can feed your family and actually feel good about.
Recommended Reading: Do Seltzers Have Gluten
Best Dehydrated Food Brands
- Calories Per Pouch: 660 cal
- Price: –
Backpackers Bistro chef Melissa Lynn Lieser uses her culinary training to design some of the most flavorful and sustainable gourmet backpacking meals on the market. The food used is sourced from local farms and sustainable suppliers. She chops the food by hand and dehydrates it in the oven overnight. All scraps are composted, nothing is left to waste. The vegetarian and vegan options are more balanced than other carb heavy alternatives. The meals take longer to rehydrate than other brands, but if youre in the mood for a sustainable, chef created meal while backpacking, Backpackers Bistro is a top choice.
Order Backpacker’s Bistro’s Wild Rice and Mushroom Pilaf on .
Check That Foods Are Non
Secondly, gluten-free hiking food should have an extended shelf life so your food will not go bad or spoil on the trail. For example, yogurt and eggs are great gluten-free foods, but they wont hold up on the trail without refrigeration. Choose foods that are non-perishable so your food stays fresh throughout your trip.
Also Check: Knorr Rice Sides Gluten Free
Wild Zora Mountain Beef Stew
The team at Wild Zora makes delicious trail snacks and meals from minimally processed, all-natural ingredients. This freeze dried meal is ideal for backpackers, hikers, and hunters that want to eat on the trail just like they eat at home.
The Wild Zora Mountain Beef Stew contains grass-fed beef, organic carrots, onion, broccoli, mushrooms, kale, celery, green onion, sea salt, garlic, marjoram, thyme, and parsley. Each container holds a single, 420-calorie serving and lasts up to 2 years unopened. Perhaps best of all, improved packaging makes the pouches these meals come in even easier to eat from.
Calories And Serving Size
Were not here to provide an equation for calories burned based on mileage, elevation gain, pack weight, altitude, body weight, and metabolism, or give our opinion on whether or not a backpacking trip is a prime time to start a diet. Well leave that to the experts and to your own personal discretion. But we will say if you want to stay strong and energetic during outdoor activities, youll generally need to eat more than you would on a normal day at home. Its quite simple: for every calorie out, you want to put at least one in. With that in mind, calories are your friends in the backcountry and the numbering on nutritional labels deserves your attention.
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Is It Time To Get A New Camping Freeze Dried Food
Youre looking for a new camping freeze dried food. What do you think? Its difficult to predict future price changes. If there are no signs of production slowing, it can be worth buying now to enjoy your investment sooner. But if output is declining and prices are predicted to rise, you might want to wait until the buzz has died down before making a choice.
Gluten Dairy Soy And Corn Free Backpacking Dinner Recipes
Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and youve got a kingdom. Jack Lalanne
This week at the American Long Distance Hiking Association Wests first online Ruck, I participated on the food resupply panel. I shared some simple tips that work for me when resupplying on longer trails. Using Zoom for a traditionally in person event isnt my favorite and to be honest, I felt very awkward talking to the computer. On the other hand, it was so good seeing faces and hearing voices of enthusiastic hikers online. The Rucks are a wonderful opportunity to meet inspiring people, talk gear, food, safety, Leave No Trace, long trails, and rub shoulders with some pretty famous hikers. AHLDAWEST organizes these Rucks once a year. If you get a chance, I highly recommend attending this years online events. You can sign up here.
Read Also: Hilltop Hearth – Gluten Free Where To Buy
Planning For My Gluten Free/dairy Free Thru
Over the course of my 2,185 mile AT journey I will be faced with many challenges intense lightening, roaming bears, cold rain, and ridiculously rocky terrain but proper nutrition shouldnt be one of them. I adhere to a gluten-and dairy-free diet, which means I cant rely on diet of Pop tarts, Snickers bars and ramen noodles to fuel my hike. Figuring out what to eat on my thru-hike has been the most stressful part of planning for me.
Ive gotten some good advice from friends and strangers on AT related FB groups, all of which I am so very grateful for. Ive also gotten my fair share of negative and derogatory comments as well. So let me set a few things straight: being gluten and dairy free isnt a choice as much as a necessity. When I eat gluten and dairy I get terrible, terrible stomach pains. It feels like a thousand tiny knives stabbing my insides for days. Believe me, if I could eat gluten and dairy I would! Why would anyone in their right mind choose to make their thru-hike more complicated? Do you have any idea how hard its going to be for me to turn away from trail magic and breakfasts at hostels? Im already dreading it.
With that cleared up, here is the start of my thru-hiking gf/dairy free plan. I still have a lot to figure out. I am also 100% sure that most of my planning will be shot to hell within two weeks of getting on the trail, but I have to start somewhere.
Its all about the mail drops.
Mail day! The happiest day of the week.
Breakfast time.
Go Nuts The Right Way
Another way to get hiking protein in lightweight, tasty form: raw nuts.
Why not salted and roasted and flavored?
Unless you’re hiking through extreme heat conditions, you don’t need that much salt throughout the day.
- It’s hard on your kidneys, which are struggling to maintain the correct water balance.
- You don’t want to be more thirsty than you already will be as you hike.
- Also, your taste buds will get conditioned to huge amounts of stimulating salts, sugars and flavorings, leaving everything else you eat flat and tasteless.
Here is my favorite raw trail mix, pre-mixed, but nothing says you can’t customize your own particular pairings of nuts and dried fruit to bring harmonious relations with carbs and proteins to your digestive system!
More tips on the best backpacking nuts right here!
Read Also: Does Bisquick Have Gluten
Features Of One Of The Best Freeze Dried Food
A classic option from one of the most popular brands for freeze-dried food, this hearty beef stroganoff comes with a good portion of meat in a savory sauce flavored with sour cream and mushrooms over wheat noodles. At 650 calories a pouch and holding two and a half servings, it delivers hearty meals on the go and can be split up according to differing appetites. Also, the sodium content is higher than many items on the list, but it delivers the filling, warming meal you want after a long day of camping.
Moreover, it comes in a compact pouch that easily fits in a backpack, and the thirty-year shelf life makes it ideal for frequent campers. It only takes ten minutes to prepare like all Mountain House products and is prepared in water on a hot plate or over a fire. The thick cream sauce can be watered down to taste and gets high marks for richness and providing meat, dairy, and starch in one package.
You Can Control What Goes In Them
- I love using real food ingredients, that I know my body performs well on. You can also make them suit your personal tastes. Say you dont like carrots, just swap them out with another veggie you do like.
- Want to stay in ketosis the whole time or ear strict paleo? Leave out the beans and peas and just add more fat. Personal I wasnt too worried about my Marcos. My goal was to perform better not be in ketosis 100% of the time. Sheep hunting is so strenuous, I knew my body would appreciate the extra carbs and go back into ketosis quickly. But you are in control!
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Gnarly Sports Nutrition Fuel2o Cherry Cola
Though it lacks carbonationand the teeth-aching, sugary aftereffectsthis drink mix is a near taste-match to cherry soda, with the bonus of five types of electrolytes that are key to energy and recovery. The full packet, which you mix with 24 ounces of water, targets big days with 200 calories and 60 milligrams of caffeine derived from green tea. Even our caffeine-adverse testers appreciated the energizing boost without the jitters. I downed 12 ounces after biking 7 miles to a trailhead in Idahos Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness while repacking my gear, then the other 12 ounces on my hike, one tester says. The drink prevented bonking, and I didnt even have to stop to snack.
Buy Now | $29 2 oz.
Gluten Free Quaker Oats Instant Oatmeal
Oats have always been gluten-free, however, large manufacturers have struggled with the potential of cross-contamination. Thankfully Quaker has got their act together and developed a process to produce a Gluten-Free Instant Oatmeal.
Instant oatmeal is quick, easy, cheap, and totally customizable. Just add hot water. Pro Tip: Use the packet as your bowl. Just tear off the top, pour the water in, and stir. The bag will get hot, but wont leak. Up the calories by adding coconut or whole milk powder, or stirring in a packet of nut butter.
Also Check: Venice Bakery Cauliflower Crust Nutrition Facts
Our Best Freeze Dried Food
We were impressed with all ten items on the list and found they lived up to their billing as the best freeze dried food on the market. However, one brand kept on impressing us with its value, taste, ease of preparation, and nutritional content. Mountain House consistently delivered quality, and we found few faults in any of our offerings.
While we were most impressed with the Chili Mac and Beef of the meals reviewed, the overall value of the package leads us to pick the Mountain House Essential Bucket, with its packages of Chili Mack, Chicken and Rice, and Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, as the best freeze-dried food on the market today. Youll get a full supply of their best options at a fraction of the price.
Gluten Free Freeze Dried Food
Im often asked if Bushkas Kitchen freeze dried meals are gluten free, and I decided to try to explain in more detail here so that if you have Celiac disease, are gluten intolerant, or choose to eat a gluten free or minimal gluten diet you can make a more informed decision on whether our freeze dried food is a good choice for your nutrition needs.
Are our meals gluten free? Yes and no. If you choose to avoid gluten from a lifestyle choice and not from a dietary restriction, then you shouldnt have any issue eating our meals.
The short answer is besides the soy sauce used in the Hearty Harvest, our meals are gluten free from an ingredient perspective. We do not use any whole wheat or grains that have gluten. View products with non gluten ingredients.
Now, the longer answer!
I hope this information helps clarify on the gluten free nature of our products!
Read Also: Gluten Free Weekly Menu And Shopping List
Backpackers Pantry Pad Thai
The Backpackers Pantry Pad Thai is a non-GMO, vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free backcountry meal that is high in protein to replenish the calories you exert throughout the day. Its made of premium freeze dried meats and produce to provide nutritious enjoyment for backpackers, hikers, and hunters alike.
This freeze dried meal contains two servings, each with 460 total calories. Rice noodles are seasoned with a spicy, sweet, garlic sauce and supplemented with textured soy protein, vegetables, and roasted peanuts. Preparation on this one requires a little more effort, but the returns are certainly worth the work.
Best Variety: Wise Company Emergency Food Supply Gluten
This large stash of survival food is perfect to have on hand for any gluten-free households emergency supply. Wise Companys product is made in the USA and contains a hefty 84 servings . Packed into a secure, sturdy bucket, this emergency food supply has an extensive 25-year shelf life, so no need to replenish annually. Each meal is individually wrapped and ready-to-eat, so its easy to grab single-serve items to take on camping or hiking trips. Best of all: No cooking is necessaryyou just add water, wait up to 15 minutes, and its ready.
This convenient bucket of survival food includes 22 total servings of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. These gluten-free meals include beef stew, breakfast skillet, scrambled eggs with bacon, and rice and chicken. Its super easy to prepareall you need to do is add hot water and its ready in under 10 minutes. The meal pouches are conveniently designed to act as bowls, tooso no cleanup is necessary. Even better? The pouches are recyclable.
The bucket itself can be easily stored or carried so that you can bring it on trips, and it wont take up too much space or be too heavy to transport. And no need to worry about replenishing your emergency supply every few yearsthis Mountain House bucket has an impressive 30-year guarantee.
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