Field Strip meals

[TOLeary]

I’m curious who field strips their meals, or any food, that you bring on a trip. If you do, what are the things that make the biggest difference in saving the most weight and/or bulk?

I was just going through some stuff in my garage and found a leftover freeze dried meal so I repackaged it in a vac seal bag to see the weight and bulk difference.

What I found was .4 ounce weight savings with 3.5 mil bag. Which cut to the length I did would cost 81 cents per ounce. Seems like a cheap way to save weight over a longer trip. Doesn’t seem worth it on a shorter trip. But I could see if you guys have other tips of repackaging other foods where the combination of saving weight on each thing would be worth it

 

[realunlucky]

I’m curious who field strips their meals, or any food, that you bring on a trip. If you do, what are the things that make the biggest difference in saving the most weight and/or bulk?

I was just going through some stuff in my garage and found a leftover freeze dried meal so I repackaged it in a vac seal bag to see the weight and bulk difference.

What I found was .4 ounce weight savings with 3.5 mil bag. Which cut to the length I did would cost 81 cents per ounce. Seems like a cheap way to save weight over a longer trip. Doesn’t seem worth it on a shorter trip. But I could see if you guys have other tips of repackaging other foods where the combination of saving weight on each thing would be worth it

Your new bag won't hold enough water to hydrate your meal so now you have to carry/clean something for that.

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[Odd1out]

Put your meal in quart freezer ziploc bag. Can hold enough water. Plus its not as bulky. Write on the bag with felt pen water amount.

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[TOLeary]

Your new bag won't hold enough water to hydrate your meal so now you have to carry/clean something for that.

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Only 8oz with this specific meal so it’ll be cut the short way and poured in that way

 

[TOLeary]

Put your meal in quart freezer ziploc bag. Can hold enough water. Plus its not as bulky. Write on the bag with felt pen water amount.

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Do you use a specific version that’s boil proof?

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

1: Space saving is significant.

2: You can add a xtra ingredients at time of repackaging. Ie. Spices, MCT powder, dehydrated meat etc.

 

[TOLeary]

1: Space saving is significant.

2: You can add a xtra ingredients at time of repackaging. Ie. Spices, MCT powder, dehydrated meat etc.

Do you find the majority of space saving is in the freeze dried meals or do you notice other foods that are good to repackage?

Great point, thank you.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

Do you find the majority of space saving is in the freeze dried meals or do you notice other foods that are good to repackage?

Great point, thank you.

Yeah I was referencing freeze dried meals. I use quart freezer bags, though I might try to find a silicone bowl with a lid to rehydrate in. Last year I spent 50+ days in the field, pouring boiling water in plastic bags that I'm eating from. I would like to minimize the health factor of doing that.

 

[TOLeary]

Yeah I was referencing freeze dried meals. I use quart freezer bags, though I might try to find a silicone bowl with a lid to rehydrate in. Last year I spent 50+ days in the field, pouring boiling water in plastic bags that I'm eating from. I would like to minimize the health factor of doing that.

Got it, thanks. Yea that might be a good idea I’m not sure what the health implication for the bags I’m using are but they’re considered boil safe for 10 minutes and I know other bags have a better rating. I was also reading that Glad and Ziplock microwave safe bags are dioxin and BPA free but water should be below 195f. You might be good with what you’re using.

My only hesitancy with an extra bowl is using more water to clean it fully

 

[Odd1out]

Ziploc freezer bags. They soften with boiling hot water but never leak.

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[MountainTracker]

Do you find the majority of space saving is in the freeze dried meals or do you notice other foods that are good to repackage?

Great point, thank you.

I found there was just too much food in the pre packaged stuff for me so I was able to split one meal into two and then add spices as needed.

I will also take all the wrappers off any bars and then stack them together and rewrap in Saran Wrap.

Doing these two things really cut back on all the garbage.

I’ve been looking into making a few of my own meals this year still in the testing phase.


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[MT_Wyatt]

I repackage in quart freezer ziplocks. Not using the foil freeze dry bags saves a ton of space and a decent bit of weight. I don’t really repackage a ton of other stuff, but do use the little portion control bags to pack bulk bought food items in.

 

[CjMelendrez]

following along!

 

[gtriple]

Yeah I was referencing freeze dried meals. I use quart freezer bags, though I might try to find a silicone bowl with a lid to rehydrate in. Last year I spent 50+ days in the field, pouring boiling water in plastic bags that I'm eating from. I would like to minimize the health factor of doing that.

I just got in some meals from Wild Society. The way they package is totally different than any other brand. They are either vacuum sealed or darn close to it.

And the calories per gram are ridiculous. The Penne Alla Vodka is SIX calories per gram, including the packaging. I'm not sure what kind of pixie dust they put in there.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

I just got in some meals from Wild Society. The way they package is totally different than any other brand. They are either vacuum sealed or darn close to it.

And the calories per gram are ridiculous. The Penne Alla Vodka is SIX calories per gram, including the packaging. I'm not sure what kind of pixie dust they put in there.

I just checked out their website. Are they good? As they are almost all sold out, I fear that they are yet another boutique company that will never have stock.

 

[gtriple]

I just checked out their website. Are they good? As they are almost all sold out, I fear that they are yet another boutique company that will never have stock.

I haven't tried them yet, but PNWild did a taste test and Wild Society won most of their battles.

They were completely out of stock until recently, so I contacted them. They said that they were just in the middle of moving production facilities and should be back in stock soon. As soon as they came back in stock a couple weeks ago, I ordered some to try this fall. If it's as good as the PNWild guys say it is, it will be a home run because the volume and the calories are excellent.

I keep a spreadsheet of every food that I've used. Here's a snip of the top breakfast/dinner items by calorie density including packaging.

Food	Meal	Weight (g)	Weight (oz)	Calories	Protein (g)	Protein/Cal	Cal/g	Cost	Hot H2O (oz)
WS Penne Alla Vodka	Dinner	168	5.9	1010	37	0.037	6.0	$15.00	8
HC Beef & Spaghetti	Dinner	127	4.5	560	27	0.048	4.4	$13.56
WS Biscuits and Gravy	Breakfast	168	5.9	740	38	0.051	4.4	$15.00	10
MH Fettuccine Alfredo w/ Chicken	Dinner	190	6.7	820	34	0.041	4.3	$8.99
HC Blueberry Cinnamon Buckwheat Breakfast	Breakfast	126	4.4	540	13	0.024	4.3	$7.61	6
HC Spinach Curry w/ Chicken & Rice	Dinner	127	4.5	540	36	0.067	4.3	$12.71	10
WS Breakfast Skillet	Breakfast	169	6.0	710	53	0.075	4.2	$15.00	10
MH Creamy Macaroni & Cheese	Dinner	150	5.3	620	26	0.042	4.1	$9.00	11

 

[gtriple]

If people want it, I could share my spreadsheet.

 

[TOLeary]

If people want it, I could share my spreadsheet.

Might be worth its own post! If haven’t already, you should check out gear skeptics nutrition videos on YouTube. He also has a gigantic spreadsheet of all categories of food and their calorie allocation and densities.

 

[TOLeary]

I found there was just too much food in the pre packaged stuff for me so I was able to split one meal into two and then add spices as needed.

I will also take all the wrappers off any bars and then stack them together and rewrap in Saran Wrap.

Doing these two things really cut back on all the garbage.

I’ve been looking into making a few of my own meals this year still in the testing phase.


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I was wondering if anyone did that with bars. I might give that a try. Thanks

 

[gtriple]

Might be worth its own post! If haven’t already, you should check out gear skeptics nutrition videos on YouTube. He also has a gigantic spreadsheet of all categories of food and their calorie allocation and densities.

Will do.

Also, hello fellow South Carolinian.