We did mostly car camping in the desert, and nearly never at established campgrounds. We always cooked normal food (stored in coolers with lots of ice). My bf liked to cook, and we ate well.
I only ate freeze-dried food when I did Mt. Whitney. Yuck. I’d almost rather not eat at all.
What’s nice about camping, fresh air and the rest of it, an appetite is almost never in short supply, so food always tastes better. Hunger is a special sauce!
Clearly, you have NOT read the labels on some of the products we’re discussing. Most Mountain House meals have NO added sugars. Some of the newer companies take pride in not adding sugars, refined or otherwise and have even more favorable protein:carb ratios.
As for protein - as I have already pointed out 40-60 grams of protein meets the needs of adult humans (with women on the lower end and men on the higher usually). It’s not hard to supplement freeze-dried food with things like jerky or nuts to up the protein intake over the course of a day. Or the traditional powdered eggs+oatmeal or skillet scrambles long used by campers which, being egg, give a boost of protein.
Are you all missing where I say freeze-dried meals are only part of a camping diet? (Outside actual backpacking, which is only a small slice of camping).
Wow.
Have you ever actually done that sort of camping? Because that has not been my experience. I certainly never spend all day snacking. Never spent 40 bucks on food in a day (and still wouldn’t, because I wouldn’t be eating just freeze-dried meals). Never took candy along. Trail mix was nuts and dried fruit (which can also pose issues, but at least it has some protein and fiber), not candy. Didn’t carry drink mix or cocoa. Sure, some people do that by its by no means universal. But that comes down to the people involved making choices, not the makers of preserved food forcing stuff down campers’ throats.
Or maybe I just have an advantage in that due to food allergies about 3/4 of premade food bars are off limits to me (and about 2/3 of freeze dried meals for that matter). We’d start a week-long hike with some fresh fruit and vegetables that would last awhile before going off and eat those along with the preserved food, and have some dried fruit for later on. Also for adding to the morning oatmeal.
Oh, yes - that was unflavored/unsweetened oatmeal, not the instant stuff. We carried some sugar for that, but we weren’t dumping it into everything.
Let’s say I was in some weird situation where all I had to eat all day was a Mountain House meal - let’s go with Beef Stroganoff (it’s my preferred one and the one I’m most familiar with).
One pouch is listed as two servings but I know from experience it will probably be eaten at one sitting. One pouch has 560 calories, so three of 'em (for a day’s ration) would be 1680 which is not unreasonable for an adult human. It’s also 1570 mg of sodium, so three would be 4.7 grams of sodium - which, by the way, isn’t that far off the US average of 3.5-4 per day. Not great, but if you aren’t salt sensitive it’s not going to hurt you for a couple days. 83 grams of carbs, or about 250 g of carbs per day - which, by the way, is the US average in normal life. Protein is 24 grams per pouch and 72 grams per day - which is above the recommended amount for adult humans outside of serious athletes. Also, no added sugars. I don’t know why you keep insisting dehydrated foods by default are deficient in protein - they aren’t. Some of them are but it’s far from universal.
What they are really deficient in is fiber - three pouches only have 1/5 of your needed fiber. That’s the real nutritional problem with them, not the carbs or the protein or even the sodium.
But hey, maybe you, personally, do need more protein. Opt for the Mountain House Chicken a la King with 18 grams of protein per serving. Or get some freeze-dried pure protein - meat or TVP or whatever - and add that to your meal.
But I’m pretty sure you’re not going to be “slamming” freeze-dried meals - they are filling.
Or do what we did - not rely entirely on just one thing for our meals for a week or two. We always carried fruit and veg because the entree stuff was always lacking in fiber and constipation is no fun.
Well, yes, making your own camping food is always an option. Have fun with that. I’ve done it. What you save in money you’ll spend in time and effort. Which is fine if that’s what you choose.
I’m wondering if you’re diabetic or something - I have never in my life experienced these effects of carbs/sugar. Or maybe I’m weird and just don’t crave carbs - If I crave anything it’s salt and grease, not carbs.
Sure, if you have a health problem you have to take that into consideration - like my food allergies. On the trail is no place to have a medical emergency. My upcoming trip includes an insulin using diabetic so part of the cooler is for keeping his medication cool and we gave to take his restrictions into account. Just like they have to take mine into account (among other things - no tomatoes and no lentils or peas). But for most people subsisting on “camp food” of less than ideal nutrition is not going to hurt them. Most camping trips are 3-7 days. Most people don’t have the optimum diet anyway.
Outside of using an RV with a refrigerator, camping means food that is non-perishable or preserved for most of the trip
The thing with car camping is that you can bring hundreds of pounds of food and water - especially water - with you.
Backpacking you have to carry everything with you, including your water unless you’re reliably reaching campsites with potable water (or water that can easily be made potable). That’s why weight is such a big deal. You won’t be carrying a cooler and ice with you on a trip like that, so that’s where dried/freeze-dried food comes in.
Otherwise, if taking regular food and lots of water is feasible that is your best option for tasty food. I bring a couple pouches of freeze-dried strictly for emergency type situations or, as I noted, the sort of day where you’ve been traveling 12 hours and you’re exhausted and pitching a tent and boiling water is about all you have the energy to do at that point.
Somehow, people are going from “I carry this for occasional use” to thinking that’s all I’m suggesting people subsist on. I’m not. That sort of thing has a role, just like canned tuna and a loaf of bread and a bag of apples. To be honest, freeze-dried food is pricey, but that’s because you’re paying for convenience and long-term packaging along with the food. It’s like bitching that restaurant food costs so much more than making food at home - well, yeah, at a restaurant you’re paying for someone else to do all the work.
That’s why I hardly ever go backpacking. I know all that.
Backpacking in is the only real camping. Car camping is just pretending to be homeless, with money, for a couple days.
In either case you should bring bacon. It is cured, salted, mostly fat, and will not spoil for at least a week.
Agree. I do several bike tours along the CA coast each year and I always pack a freeze-dried dinner for “just in case” if I have a major mechanical issue in the middle of nowhere and would be stuck overnight. Things would be bad enough without a hot meal! But the rest of the time I eat normal food from restaurants and grocery stores along the way, and I carry a little stove for heating up water, soup, or what have you. Once in a while if I am lazy and nowhere near a town with those things I will just eat the freeze-dried meal if it’s near the end of the trip anyway. I will also use them for a backpacking trip without hesitation, but car camping is purely fresh food because, as you say, there are no weight constraints.
But I do compare the brands a little for sodium content. While having enough sodium is important when you are active all day, I find I can still do fine without the max salt content, and the food tastes better (to me). I found Alpine Aire brand to have less sodium than some of the others.
I’ll have to check them out.
I confess one reason I’m still using Mountain House is because they sell them where I work, enabling me to use both my employee discount and take advantage of the occasional sale so I’m not paying full price for them. But I do appreciate hearing about alternatives. I think more companies are producing decent freeze-dried foods these days although you still have to be selective when shopping.
Are you employed by Mountain House??
I’ve hiked thousands of miles on the trails, months on in the backcountry, I’ve seen what novice people do in their food selections, all the mistakes and typical problems. I used to be a big proponent or at least a heavy user of freeze-dried foods, I thought it was required or something. Then I got smarter about what I put in my body, both at home and everywhere else.
It’s just so easy these days to collect foods and ingredient components with careful selection from the ordinary grocery store, they not only taste better they are healthier and can be much better tailored nutrition wise. The dedicated outdoor offerings are simply not a good value in my opinion, and I try to steer people away from them generally speaking.
Take the popular beef stew for example - it is for all intents and purposes identical in terms of nutrition facts - as in protein, carbs, fat, sodium etc., as a 15oz can of Dinty Moore. Total pouch contains around 400 cals. Said to contain “tender” chunks of beef. Sure, Jan. Sure. “Serves 2” Uh-huh.
I don’t know anybody that will eat 1/2 a can of beef stew on a backpacking trip and call that a meal. Prices vary, but we’ll call it $10 for “2 servings” of freeze-dried which everybody knows is really only 1/2 a serving. This RDA business of 2,000 calories is for sedentary people or light work. Typical hikers hauling loads and burning up miles routinely run 3500 to 4500 no sweat, and will be hungry for more.
Another problem in recent years, they started using poofy packages filled mostly with air. They look bigger on the shelf. Bad enough at sea level or low elevations, they balloon at altitude. Weight is always an issue in the backcountry obviously, but so is bulk. This is exacerbated now with the advent of bear resistant container requirements on certain trails.
7 Hours ago:
38 minutes ago
Just pointing out…
Anyway - for how infrequently most people go camping (as shown in this thread) away from the car, the Mountain House and other quality (emphasis needed) pre-pack food is Fine. It’s not perfect, in terms of cost, nutrition, or anything else, but in terms of not having to do a lot of extra prep for the rare camper, it makes sense.
If you’re going to do a lot of camping, and especially if you’re not much of a cook, it makes sense there as well. How many times do we all go to the store and see people loading up a cart that’s 70+ % premade, or mostly premade foods after all? COVID changed things a bit, but as said upthread, not a lot of people cook from scratch anymore.
So if you’re backpacking, and have the time, money, and skills to do it all from scratch, great! But when it comes to time, energy, and money, most of us are lacking one or more of the above. And reasonable quality freeze dried foods are going to save you the first two, while hurting you in the third.
Back to the double quoted information above. We have a LOT of threads talking about shrinkflation, which was a thing long before we had the specific term. Almost every pre-packaged product I see on shelves has shrunk it’s contents, shrunk the box and it’s contents (at the same cost mind you) while releasing a new ‘family sized’ option at a premium, or otherwise used deceptive packaging to sell.
I won’t excuse Mountain House, but I’m not going to see it as any difference to the rest of the corporate world on that issue.
Are you reading where I say I use it as an occasional thing and I’m not depending upon it for the entire trip?
It’s easy if you have the knowledge, money, and skills, but let’s get real here - a lot of people don’t know much about nutrition. Or cooking, much less cooking outdoors with a minimal kit.
It’s your opinion that they aren’t a good value, but I think you’re discounting the convenience aspect. They aren’t optimal nutrition but they’re better than someone living on granola bars and candy-heavy “trail mix”.
Hikers. We’re talking about camping, which is a lot broader than just hiking/backpacking. Most people camping aren’t “hauling loads” or “burning up miles”, that’s a subset of the camping world.
Given how many people eat out of boxes and cans in ordinary life, often with even worse nutritional profiles than higher-end pre-made “camping food”, not sure why you’re expecting folks to eat better while camping, which, again, for most people doesn’t involve “hauling loads and burning miles”.
Anyhow, continue to mis-read what I say, when I mention it for occasional use and am not advocating trying to live off them entirely. You’re clearly hearing what you want to hear and not what other people are saying. The rest of us will continue to have a discussion.
Does anyone in this thread go for MRE’s? I haven’t had any experience with them myself. How do people feel about them?
I never went for them because I figured I did not actually need that much food, or assumed I would not need all the items and could pack less bulkily without the items in cans, wrappers within wrappers, the flameless heaters, etc., but, you know what, they do seem awfully convenient: just throw one in your pack and you are ready with 24h worth of food; it already includes snacks, coffee, salt, pepper, napkins, you name it, and I read that eg the new Ukrainian rations have 4200 calories, which seems pretty good if you are hiking some serious trails.
To be honest, I do not consider car camping to be camping at all; it’s more like an uncomfortable inconvenient motel. You still have all the things that I for one hiked far into the mountains to get away from: engine noises and nasty smells, cars, bits of trash everywhere, pavement, lack of privacy, and the ground-down-to-dust environments that people make everywhere. Not always all of those things at every campground.
The only reason I cook is because no one else will, but, as was mentioned, when you are hiking all day, almost everything tastes great. That’s a big help.
In my backpacking days, I used to create dinners more or less like this:
cook, combine, eat.
Each meal was measured and ziplocked into its own labeled bag so all I had to do was locate one bag at the end of the day.
Breakfast was granola or oatmeal with dried milk and dried fruit, hot cocoa or tea.
Lunch was salami, hard cheese, durable crackers, dried fruit.
I never hiked with more than a week’s food on my back. If we were out longer we’d come back to base camp to resupply.
When I came down from the mountains, all I wanted was a big green salad.
Not civilian MREs, but I’ve eaten plenty of US military MREs. When I was in the army, they were, errr, tolerable. Almost two decades after I got out, I had the opportunity to sample some of the new meals they had developed and, well, mostly they were awful. Some of the halal and vegetarian ones were ok but yeesh, the rest were just bad.
As I recall from last time I looked at civilian MREs, they were pretty damn expensive, like $50 per meal expensive some 20 years ago.
…I’m not hungry.
Is this a typo? Unfortunately one of my coworkers is an apocalyptic prepper (and I symbolize the apocalypse!) and he claims to have 18 months worth of food stored that has a shelf life of >10 years. I can’t imagine it was that expensive. The bloke doesn’t have hundreds of thousands and I’m pretty sure he spends more on guns and ammo than food (he’s always looking for deals on ammo)
Looking on eBay, they seem to be $10-$15 a piece, especially when buying in bulk. (I see 2 packs for $30 total with shipping, then a 12-pack for $135 with shipping.) I don’t see anything near $50, (which would be closer to $80 these days, adjusting for inflation.)
No, they were maybe $50 a case. I used the MRE’s for a while for desert hikes. My rule of thumb was to never pay more than $5 a meal for the genuine GI Joe issue, delivered. For desert hiking or camping, where often at least a few liters water must also be carried it isn’t unreasonable to carry some of the intermediate moisture foods.
Some of them aren’t too bad, and I thought a much better value than freeze-dried on a per calorie basis. They suffer from the “carb bloat” factor as well. Averaging 1200 calories per meal, they have tiny entrees (8 oz) and then load up with starchy snacks and off the shelf candies.
The Jalepeño cheese spread is pretty righteous. Also the lemon pound cake. But again, the components of an MRE can be purchased at almost any grocery.
My travel trailer has a 12 volt refrigerator which means it is running as while we are traveling down the road. I turn it on a couple days before we leave, fill it the night before and everything is as cold or frozen as when it went in the frig when we arrive at our destination. We pretty much eat the same things as home. My wife has her Weight Watchers stuff and I get 2 or 3 meals out of what I make for me. Our only exception is we find a local burger joint and have lunch there one day.