Powdered potatoes and other back country staples???

[PhillyB]

This

With the spam

Ridiculous good! For only about $3.20 and 600 calories its hard to beat. Lightweight too

These are both stable without the need for refrigeration?

 

[Daniel_M]

They aren't refrigerated at the store.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

These are both stable without the need for refrigeration?

Yes, until they are opened. They also have packs of chicken strips just like those.

 

[BroodBuster]

Cool-Thanks everyone!

Looks like I'm going to go do some shopping and preseason scouting/grubbing this weekend!

 

[PhillyB]

They aren't refrigerated at the store.

Good Point

 

[desertcj]

Idahoan potatoes seem great! I got a couple of each flavor to try along with some packs of SPAM, Salmon and Tuna. I also found some Bear Creak soups and pasta's that seem good also. They are "4 servings" so I split them up, but they are 350cal per serving. I don't know if I'll buy many more of the Mountain House meals as these are about half the price....

 

[larryschwartz]

As desertcj has noted, there are a lot of things right in your supermarket that can be prepared just by adding hot/boiling water and letting it sit, or by cooking for a few minutes. Buy a couple different cans of freeze dried vegetables (green beans or carrots) and you can put together your own protein / veggie / starch combinations that just need hot water and freezer bag to prepare.

 

[desertcj]

I was looking for dried vegetables and I couldn't find any. We have a hispanic supermarket close by that I'm going to try, they have stuff like that from what I recall.

 

[bigeasygator]

Ate them last year on my high country mule deer hunt. I think they taste better than some "real" homemade mashed potatoes I've eaten before and they quickly became one of my favorite backcountry foods. MH gets old after awhile and it's nice to break up the monotony with something that doesn't feel like it's made out of a bag and the potatoes did that for me (or at least it feels less like it's made out of a bag anyway!).

 

[ohhiitznik]

This

With the spam

Ridiculous good! For only about $3.20 and 600 calories its hard to beat. Lightweight too

I have those exact meals for some lunches/dinners. I love the tuna/salmon packets and the Idahoans are great for extra calories. I normally snack during the day on trail mix and granola bars along with some snickers and energy gels. When I get back to camp I plan on chowing down on idahoan and mountain house. I love eating a big dinner on the mountain it makes me fall asleep even faster!

 

[Brock A]

I like to split a bag of Idahoan into 2 ziplocks. Then just add warm water, if you add boiling water it takes along time to cool down. Then I bite a hole in the corner of the ziplock and squeeze into my mouth, no need for a fork.

Mashed potato slurpie!

 

[2rocky]

re: Bear Creek soups

They require some pretty long Simmer times. If you have the Fuel, they can work, but they are far from instant. Usually I find they make a good base, but need more meat and or pasta.

Instant rice works good for a change in carbs. The Uncle Bens microwaveable rice dishes work if you don't mind some "liquid" weight. Mix them into your MH for some more texture and volume.

I usually have some gravy packets in the grub bag as well.

I need to Dehydrate some Chicken Strips.

I like the Stove Top Idea too!

 

[N Phelps]

http://www.justtomatoes.com/jtstore/pc/home.asp

Desertcj, they sell these at my local supermarket, but they also sell online. We have enjoyed them!

 

[Trout bum]

Idahoan potatoes mixed with MH lasagna. Good stuff. Carbo loaded, food coma inducer.

 

[Brock A]

Just ordered up a variety pack of IDAHOAN instant taters off amazon if anyone is interested...looking forward to these!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q138TO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[desertcj]

http://www.justtomatoes.com/jtstore/pc/home.asp

Desertcj, they sell these at my local supermarket, but they also sell online. We have enjoyed them!

Perfect! That looks like a good addition. Deffinetily gonna try that out...

 

[Hunt'nFish]

So they make foil pack Spam huh?.... Interesting. I'm a big fan of foil pack chicken & stove top. But would like to see other meats offered in foil packs as well. And BTW, thanks for that link to the dried veggies, definately lots of applications for those.


Question.... has anyone tried the Rice-a-Roni cups?
(http://www.ricearoni.com/Products/Rice-A-Roni_Cups/Rice-A-Roni_Cups)
Just curious, figured to transfer from cups to vac seal boil bags.
Maybe add a bit of those dried veggies.

Wish I had the technology to foil pack my own meats.
Sure would like to pack some of my canned bear meat. I can eat that stuff right from the jar!
Hunt'nFish

 

[Eagle]

Just as an FYI for those of you that like the foil pack chicken, you can save a lot of weight by dehydrating canned chicken, which is essentially the exact same stuff. I can take a 12.5 oz can of chicken and it'll dehydrate to just under 2 oz for the entire can. I've been doing this for the last 3-4 years and it's been a great addition to my dinners.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Here's a review of these: Marie Callender's Easy Sides.
Fettuccini Pasta in a savory sauce.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Marie-Callender-s-Easy-Sides-Chicken-Fettuccini-Pasta-4.2-oz/26572606

I ran across these at my local Bi-Mart and figured what the heck.....I'll give them a try.
I purchased two flavors; Chicken, and Parmasean, and added foil pack chicken to both.

Here's what I found:
Cost: ~$1.50 ea.
Cook time says 4min in microwave and was just as fast with boiled water from jetboil, high marks for that.
Top tears open and add water right to bag, high marks aqain for conveniance.
Flavor was a little bland, "savory" wouldn't be my description, needed salt and lots of it.
So make sure you pack some S&P and add to taste.

Serving size: 2, 240cal per serv + ~110cal from foil chicken. We each had one whole pasta package and split a bag of chicken, total cal count ~590cal per man. I could've eatten more chicken but a half pkg was all that would fit into the pasta bag w/o dirtying a pot. All in all I think it was good, wouldn't say it filled us up, as we raided the jerkey bag, but was good filling enough we didn't "need" the jerkey. We had pack goats, so we were enjoying cold beers and I think we craved the salt from the jerky to compliment our beer.

Anyway, I give them a 3 star rating. Given more salt, I'd have moved that to 4 stars.
Hunt'nFish

 

[Muledeernv]

I love me some potatoes and bacon just cook the bacon crisp and crumble in vac bag also top Ramon noodles crumbled up with half of the seasoning in the noodles and other half of the seasoning in the tators