Freeze Dried Food Companies

I’m a big fan of Mountain House. Made in Oregon with crazy shelf life. What’s not to like?

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Ran into something different online today:

Real Turmat

Drytech AS, Norwegian manufacturers of the REAL Turmat range of expedition foods, makes a wide variety of food packets for people on the move. These products form the basis of Norway’s Arctic Field Rations.

The Drytech REAL freeze-dried meal pouches can be found with one of two labels: REAL Turmat, which translates from Norwegian as Tripfood, is the civilian range and has either Orange (21x main meal), Light Grey (2x breakfast) or Light Yellow (3x soups) packaging.

Their REAL Field Meal is the military range, which currently has 19x main meals in Light Olive packaging and 3x breakfasts in Light Grey.

I hear they’re quite good so I intend to try some out soon.

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Ran into something different online today:

Real Turmat

Drytech AS, Norwegian manufacturers of the REAL Turmat range of expedition foods, makes a wide variety of food packets for people on the move. These products form the basis of Norway’s Arctic Field Rations.

The Drytech REAL freeze-dried meal pouches can be found with one of two labels: REAL Turmat, which translates from Norwegian as Tripfood, is the civilian range and has either Orange (21x main meal), Light Grey (2x breakfast) or Light Yellow (3x soups) packaging.

Their REAL Field Meal is the military range, which currently has 19x main meals in Light Olive packaging and 3x breakfasts in Light Grey.

I hear they’re quite good so I intend to try some out soon.

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Interesting. It's available in the US through an international distributor only.
 
Mountain House made an awesome Seafood Chowder a few years back. Unfortunately, they were having problems getting some of the seafood, and discontinued it. :(

I have several pouches and a #10 can on the shelf. I am just waiting for the perfect time to enjoy....
 
I bought some Reindeer Stew and other entrees online today from THIS company in the UK that sells Real Turmat and other things.

I’ll post up when it arrives.

:box

Reindeer is good.

Do let us know if the freeze dried version is as well.
 
Shelf life on the European varieties is decent but considerably less than the comparable American freeze dried meals.

Here's a beef stew meal option that arrived from over the pond with about a 6 year shelf life by Summit to Eat in the UK.

At Summit To Eat we offer a wide variety of meals, from delicious breakfasts to kick-start your day, to snacks, lunches and hearty dinners designed to keep you energised throughout your adventures or to relax and unwind with in the evening. Our meals include staples of comforting home cooking like pasta bolognaise and macaroni cheese, to campfire classics like vegetable chilli or beef and potato stew. We even offer a range of sumptuous desserts like chocolate mousse and rice pudding as the perfect sweet treats to end any campsite feast.

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Norwegian arctic field rations are highly prized. They provide the very high calories required for strenuous activity and cold weather survival.

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Wonder if the shelf life is actually shorter or if European regulations don't allow for a longer shelf life to be assigned...

Good question. At a glance I’d say it might be due to the composition of the meals. While the standard Mountain House stuff is 100% freeze dried, the European ones use a variety of ingredients in addition to just freeze dried. I don’t think those ingredients keep as long.
 
I'd bet the US ones have more sodium in them at well; one of the main reasons I rarely eat any of it (I'm sodium sensitive but I've never used much salt anyways). Same with much of the packaged foods at the average Asian market (especially MSG). In fairness, they use a lot of sodium in all of their cooking all over Asia in my experience.
 
@Dave Wait a minute... I do not see any Chicken ala king or beef stroganoff in you mix... not to mention beef or pork patties.... What is this all about? :Do_O

I tell you what, I'd trade any of these new fangled meals for a brown MRE with 4 fingers of death and a John Wayne bar in it! I miss the old dehydrated strawberries and peaches too!

Times have changed, but MRE’s have gotten better! :tango


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Thread drift warning............ :jacked

Speaking of #10 cans, you used to be able to go to your local mormon canning place on scheduled days and buy and can your own stuff depending on what they had in stock. I'm not mormon and I don't know any anymore so I don't know if that's changed with all of the craziness going on.

Lehman's has some canned meat in stock right now (shelf life five years from canning date) as well as canning supplies (and all sorts of other cool stuff).
https://www.lehmans.com/search?w=ca...hierarchy:Kitchen$2520$2526$2520Food$252FFood

One of the links I have saved (a bit dated but lots of recipes):
https://trailcooking.com/

Also pick up copies of:
Trail Food: Drying and Cooking Food for Backpacking and Paddling
Backpack Gourmet: Good Hot Grub You Can Make at Home, Dehydrate, and Pack for Quick, Easy, and Healthy Eating on the Trail
The Dehydrator Cookbook for Outdoor Adventurers: Healthy, Delicious Recipes for Backpacking and Beyond
Recipes for Adventure: Healthy, Hearty and Homemade Backpacking Recipes
I've got the 1st two and have looked at and used the second two as well (cousin has them). It's pretty easy to put together your own meals from dehydrated stuff then vacuum seal it. I've eaten stuff I made that was a couple of years old with no problems (I'm a big fan of hot sauce though).
 
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