Bushwalk Australia

Has anyone tried these meals from https://essentialfoods.com.au/ofkits.html , what did you think of them?

Good find thank you! Never heard of 'em.

Easiest thing is to buy a couple and try them, which is probably what I will do. People tend to have different opinions on palatability.

This company is supplied by http://wisefoodstorage.com/ in the USA. There seems to be a better range out of the states and slightly cheaper but I'm not sure if you can import them. I'll buy a few and try them.

Kinda interested in how they are doing "two" servings at the price of one back country packet, and no nutritional info on the website. Also the blatant tie in to "doomsay preppers" is kinda hilarious. Let us know how it is, only having it available by the box puts it off my list.

In case you didn't notice it's vegetarian only, that's why they are cheap. They are apparently not allowed to import the meals with meat in them. Tried a couple of meals, from their outdoor food, but without the protein I don't think they are suitable. They tasted alright and will be a hit with vegetarians. You could probably get some dried mince from http://settlersfoods.com.au/ for some of them and they would be better.

Gadgetgeek wrote:Kinda interested in how they are doing "two" servings at the price of one back country packet, and no nutritional info on the website. Also the blatant tie in to "doomsay preppers" is kinda hilarious. Let us know how it is, only having it available by the box puts it off my list.

You can buy the individual meals from the Outdoor Food Kits page - http://essentialfoods.com.au/ofkits.html

You need to add protein to the meals.

http://www.strivefood.com.au from Hobart also provide high quality dehydrated meals
For people who can do a pickup in Hobart you have the advantage, I got some shipped to Launceston overnight express.

The ones I have tried are as follows and they all pretty good value and taste great. I find these better than the backcountry freeze dried stuff..
Pasta Bolognese - Good
Chilli Con Carne - Good
Beef Massaman Curry - is only ok
Vegetable lasksa is a huge meal, not too bad.
You can pretty much make your own with same taste with some Mi Goreng noodles and add poo... mushrooms/some fresh chopped onion/capsicum etc.
Hearty Minestrone – Good when you eat with some kind of bread, very satisfying
Lentil Curry Dahl – also Good

Great local company
Cheers, phil

jjoz58 wrote:Has anyone tried these meals from https://essentialfoods.com.au/ofkits.html , what did you think of them?

Had a look at the Cheesy Lasagne Nutrition info. What really stood out is the salt content: 1700mg/100g and 1.2g per serving. That's a lot...

All of them are about 1g/serve.

Having weaned myself off a high salt diet some years back, it always amazes me how much salt is added to packaged food. For dehy foods around 1% seems to be the minimum and some are way, way more than that.

The Strive foods look good in this regard, much better. Not freeze dried so needs cooking though.

You can always add salt, but once it's in you can't take it out.

Sugar is what I hate, some of that stuff has a lot of sugar in them, including strive foods.

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my gut feeling due to their marketing and target audience, they are not actually expecting most customers to actually eat it.

What are the cooking instructions for Strive foods ? I use cannisters & have been relying on only a quick biol & pour water into foil pack .

Strive arent a boil pour into a foil packet job they need a tad more heat than that especially if its cold. That said its good stuff

thanks . I am tempted but i am addicted to the pour in boiling water . I even
line them up on my lounge room shelf so I can look at the packets . Life is so easy on the trail . get up ,boil water pour , packup , walk ,eat lollies , stop , boil water , pour eat , put up tent , sleep .

I had a communication from this company saying they couldn't import meals with meat. I read where someone had bought meals from campsaver in the states and they came through customs no problem with free shipping if the order was over $400. I tried them for a change instead of making my own and the order came through no problems. Surprising the number of meals you get for $400us compared to shopping here, and they sell about 4 different brands. Most had expiry dates from 2018 - 2020 so they weren't on sale because they were close to expiry.

Gadgetgeek wrote:Kinda interested in how they are doing "two" servings at the price of one back country packet, and no nutritional info on the website. Also the blatant tie in to "doomsay preppers" is kinda hilarious. Let us know how it is, only having it available by the box puts it off my list.

Thats because its not (well no different to any other commercial freeze dry stuff). The give away is 64g/serve (thats dry).

I work on (and commonly viewed - see backpacking chef, etc) either a cup or 130gm (dry)/person (works out about the same) for dinner.

One cup dry plus one cup water is my standard rule and gives 400 ish gram for the main course/person.

Then there is the high sugar and salt content. Personally with the possible exception of Strive, I havent found a commercial freeze dry meal I consider good enough (but I'm biased, I do my own freeze dry meals and value the eating experience too much to just pour water into salt and refined carbohydrates). If you want to go simple (considering the nutritional composition of these things) might as well use freeze dried vegies and two minute noodles.

Of the commercial stuff, Strive food wins hands down, and its Australian (well Tasmanian).

redbruce wrote:...I do my own freeze dry meals...

Are you serious? Where did you get an affordable machine? When I looked into it they all cost around $8,000.

Are you serious Icefest? You actually priced up freeze drying machines?

GPSGuided wrote:Are you serious Icefest? You actually priced up freeze drying machines?

The instant-rehydrate feature really appeared to me.

It turns out that a second-hand industrial machine is more expensive than one that's designed for home use (although there seems to be only one company making them).

Shipping is the most expensive component of the exercise. You can buy one in the US for 4,099 USD. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Freeze-Dryer-Ha ... 2a3c9aaa1d

This is the product:
http://harvestright.com/in-home-freeze-dryer/

icefest wrote:

redbruce wrote:...I do my own freeze dry meals...

Are you serious? Where did you get an affordable machine? When I looked into it they all cost around $8,000.

I have access to a couple at work.

I also (more commonly these days) use a conventional heat dehydrator as well. The latter is much faster than our old research freeze dehydrator.

A heat dehydrator (think ours is Harvest Maid) will dehydrate inside of 24 hrs what my 3 Litre capacity unit a work takes a week to achieve. The one in your link appears much better in this regard, must have heated trays in it.

As a general rule freeze dry food reconstitutes quicker and more like the original (un dried) state (texture, flavour, colour, etc) but heat dried works for most food provided you manage it correctly (the book/website backpackingchef is the most authoritative I have come across in this regard).