[Wallaby]

Background: I'm from UK and am coming over to WA for a couple of weeks section-hiking on the PCT. I'm after any recommendations on which vendors' freeze-dried meals are generally tasty and good. The ones where you add boiling water to a pouch and leave for a few mins. (In the UK I use "Real" brand meals, from Norwegian company Drytech: these are much nicer than Reiter travellunch ones, for example: virtually no additives and enhancers etc, just real ingredients!) I'll be shopping at REI, and I see from their website that Mountain House meals are very popular (best sellers). What do you folks think? Finally, my guess is that for a hungry hiker a 2-portion pack would be the right kind of size -- or are the 1-portion packs generous? Thanks all!

[Mike Collins]

I usually eat Mountain House and am pleased with the variety and flavorings used. The two-person meals are quite filling and you have to be fairly hungry to pound all of the meal in. If you are on the PCT your hunger will probably match the meal. A two-person meal of something like Cajun-chicken is a lot of spice. After a while my interest in the meal drops off. I also buy their dehydrated omelettes and find them a welcome relief from the usual oatmeal.

[sarbar]

If you want commercial meals with less junk added, look for Mary Janes ones at REI. They are all natural-but are vegetarian so if you like meat, you will want to add it. Many Mountain House ones contain MSG and fillers, so buyer beware. Does anyone know if Enertia meals are sold in the Seattle area? Those are also good as well. Again, vegetarian, but good.

[Magellan]

Agree with Sarbar. Buy the veggie ones with less artificial crap and add your own meats.

[Opus]

Mary Jane's are good and tasty. I second Enertia Trailfoods if you can get them. I haven't found anywhere in Seattle that sells them though, they're mostly a web order item. The shop in Leavenworth used to sell them but I think they've stopped, at least when I checked last summer. Enertia

[JimK]

The Enertia website shows two retailers in Washington state. Kingston & Spokane I also see on their order form that shipping is free.

[Foist]

I also love Mary Jane's. I'm not a vegetarian, and I don't give a crap about that "organic" stuff, I just find it tastes much better than other brands. The Santa Fe Pasta, Kettle Chilli, and Red Pesto Pasta are especially good. The Black Bean Soup is a little bland, but it just really hits the spot after hiking, what with the protein from the beans. Mary Jane's actually comes in servings of "1.5" per packet. Clearly meant for just one person. I usually have an appetizer, like one of the soups, and a main just for myself. Sometimes it's a little much but it's much better to have too much food than too little. But since you're going on long trips, I recommend buying it in bulk off their website. It's MUCH cheaper, and you actually save a little weight, because if you measure meals out into regular plastic bags those bags weigh less than those heavy-duty pouches (which you will have to carry even after you use them). Then you can just bring one light bowl (like one of those folding bowls that REI sells) to use every night. That's the system I used last summer, it worked really well.

[Canuck]

Good suggestions on Mary Jane's. Based on some "episodes" while backpacking the last few times I'm trying to figure out what's making me sick when I backpack. I'm narrowing it down to the food - we usually bring Mountain House stuff. I'd like to try something more organic and see what happens, and short of that, I recently bought a deyhdrator to make my own food (Sarbar, now would be a good time for me to check out your website!! ). As for portion sizes it depends how much you like to eat. My mom & I split the Mountain House bag that feeds 2, and we're both stuffed and sometimes I cannot finish my half. I think they're very generous. We also tried a dessert of theirs (Chocolate Mousse Pie... which I do NOT recommend!! ), and although it says serves 2, we split it 4 ways and it was way more than enough.

[sarbar]

Canuck..I'd hedge that the brand with the most complaints about not feeling good is Mountain House. Could be it is just hard to digest and sits there, could be the high sodium, or the fillers (they use corn and soy fillers, both are CHEAP). Add in that the meals don't provide a lot of fat either. If any of you caught my rambling cooking presentation last Saturday....one thing I harped on was getting enough fat while backpacking. So, if you eat freeze dried meals, do your body a favor and put a shot of olive oil in it! It will make it easier to digest

[Backpacker Joe]

Thanks Sar. Ill try that. I like the Mtn House nitro packed single person jobbers.

[Malachai Constant]

It may be a bit of off topic but most of the "freeze dried" foods sold at REI and the like have very little freeze dried food in them, often only the meat. Usually I just carry ramen couscous or spaghetti with freeze dried or home dried veggies. For meat I use a retort pack of tuna or landjeager. If you make spaghetti leather or a tube of tomato paste with some dried onions and peppers it works well. I had some bad experiences with mountain house also. The Mary Jane brownies are tasty on a canoe trip,

[Canuck]

One of my favorite super easy meals is a can of dehydrated chili (like Nalleys or Stagg), mix it with minute rice. Then just add water in the woods & voila. Instant meal. Not half bad, either!

[Quark]

Wallaby; These are all fantastic suggestions. Because of that, how about buying a little of each. I was out for 5 days and 4 nights with a youth organization who provided the meals. Each dinner was a pre-packaged dinner, all from the same company (I think it was Mountain House, but don't know for sure). The first and 2nd night was OK, but by the 3rd night, that meal tasted the same as the prior meals. Mountain House seems to be consistently good. I haven't tried Mary Jane's 'cause I'm not vegetarian and like to see meat chunks in my food. When I do an overnighter or 3 days, I always choose Mountain House single serving Primavera and the Beef Strogonoff. I add an envelope of salmon to the prima vera (the Red River brand at REI is real good, found in the snack section, rather than the meal section). I have tried Enertia before, and agree it's mighty good. So: not a dog suggestion in the bunch, but so yourself a favor and get a combination of these, k?

[Backpacker Joe]

I wish I could buy enertia locally.

[Foist]

Inertia is plentiful.