Where to buy dehydrated or freeze dried foods

[Kristenney]

My group will be hiking the overland track later this month and would like some advice on places to purchase dehydrated or freeze dried meats, veggies and fruits. Any suggestions on stores (in Victoria) or online sites to buy the ingredients so that we can make our own dehydrated/freeze dried meals rather than buy pre-made meals?

[Lophophaps]

Kristenney, welcome to the forum. You can buy most foods from most bushwalking shops, but it's very expensive and may have low energy values. look for food that has a high kilojoules per 100 grams. I won't touch most food unless it has at least 15-1700 kG/100 grams. Unless you are very small or very big, aim for about 8000 kJ a day.

For breakfast try soaked dried fruit and toasted muesli with full cream milk. I've gone off scroggin in favour of sundry salted nuts and energy bars - don't know the correct name. The nuts are about 2000 kJ/100 grams and the bars are a little lower. Lunch - try 1/6 of a 500 gram block chedder cheese, 6-7 Vita Weat biscuits and 30-40 grams of processed meat that does not require refrigeration. This is best heat treated and smoke fermented. This lunch is about 2000 kJ. Dinner can be as exotic or plain as you like. If you give an idea of your preferences then advice is possible. Fruit cake and Ginger Nut bikkies travel well. I've just finished a 15 day trip and the bikkies were all intact, no breakages. The wafer bikkies were slightly crumbly.

I pack food in two day bags, as this reduces the packaging. For the OLT this means 3-4 bags. I'd put matches in bags one and three so that if matches #1 gets wet then #3 can be used. Toilet paper should be split in the bags for the same reason. Allow about 8-900 grams of food a day.

I dry my own food and get all from the Vic Markets or a supermarket.

[RonK]

Have a read through this thread. The consensus seems to be that Strive is the best.

You can buy online from Strive Food.

However there are some suppliers of the base ingredients mentioned in the discussion.

[Lophophaps]

RonK, thanks for the link, a good discussion. Some freeze dry and dehydrated meals have adequate to good enegy, over 1700 kJ/100 grams and about 2000 kJ per meal. Some do not. Whilst the taste is certainly usually excellent, I find the cost prohibitive.

Also, the amount of packaging is excessive. An empty freeze dry packet weighs about 20 grams. A Cryovac packet weighs 12 grams and a zip-lock bag weighs about 3 grams. The sizes are similar. I use plain bags and a rubber band, lighter. A few days ago I weighed the empty packaging from my 15 day trip: about 220 grams or 15 grams a day. That's for all meals.

My evening meals weigh about 160 grams, cost $1.50 and have about 1800 kJ, which is a tad low on energy but I have a lot of carbos during the day. Packaging weighs very little.

[AverageDean]

Beef jerky is great for bushwalking, i found Kooee whilst stocking up for the overland track. Their packaging is based on National Parks in Tas, pretty cool. https://www.kooeesnacks.com.au/

I'm also a huge fan of freeze-dried fruit. Super light and a great sugar hit, check out http://www.foragerfoods.com.au/

[paul_gee]

Grab yourself a copy of Sonya Muhlsimmer's fantastic book, Xtreme Gourmet. Chock-full of delicious, lightweight recipes that can be prepared with things bought at your local supermarket or Asian grocer.

Disclaimer: I helped market Sonya's crowdfunding campaign, which went on and helped cover printing costs.

[Smbj]

Hey everyone,

What are the rules around taking dehydrated and/or freeze dried food into tassie? We are doing the overland track later in the year. We are flying in from Perth have limited time (<6 hours) in Launceston before heading out there.

We don't want to bring food over only to have it taken off us at the airport!

Cheers in advance!

[north-north-west]

Dried food in appropriately sealed bags is OK. It's fresh stuff - especially fruit and veg - that the authorities don't like.

You can get more info here: http://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/biosecurity/quarantine-tasmania/what-you-can-cant-bring-into-tasmania

[JohnStrider]

Load up on Strive meals. You won't be disappointed. I love the Laksa.

[sa_cooke]

I agree with others here - Strive Food here in Hobart are brilliant. I'm a veggo and there is a nice range of options at Strive. More importantly, the person who designs the meals is a nutritionist.

Of more interest to me, however, is that a local health food shop supply most of the dry ingredients. I also have a dehydrator. That, combined with the stuff I can get from the local health food shop, means I can make my own recipes. I use quantities of ingredients similar to what strive use, and I find they are satisfying, tasty, and easy.

By the way, I'm not associated with Strive Foods in any way, other than having been there to buy stuff. And having eaten it of course.

[weeds]

We just ordered 27 dinner meals from stove for our walk.....they are the better of all the ones we tasted. Actually I'm just having spag bol for eight days.

Muesli, dried fruit and powered milk for breakfast
Bits and pieces for the rest of the day.