Real world eating of decades old freeze-dried food

A timely collection of posts about eating some Mountain House from way back when.

Claire, over at http://www.clairewolfe.com/blog/ , was kind enough to email me and bring to my attention this series of posts from a blog I should have been reading for a while. (And how awesome is it to actually be friends with Gun Jesus, aka Ian McCollum?)

And though I’ve mentioned it before, it’s worth a bump: Mountain House: Food that has lasted half a long lifetime

Real-world results trump theory every time.

9 thoughts on “Real world eating of decades old freeze-dried food

  1. Am I the only one who thinks this is insane? $10k in 1975 would buy 67 ounces of gold. Today that would be $80k. A can of FD meat is one days calories. He talks of strawberries and like, but assume each can has the 2500 calories. All those cans are three years worth of calories. For $27,000 a year worth of calories. Yes, the point of the article was freeze dried crap lasts forever. I get that. Do you get that this is an insanely expensive way to store food?

    • While stuffing recycled 2-liter pop bottles full of beans and rice is cheaper, if a fella can afford to have freeze drieds, why not? Its an expensive way to go, certainly, but for folks who can afford it it would be a nice thing to have. I don’t think anyone uses them as their sole long-term solution. I think theyre more part of a layered approach of short-, medium-, and long-term foods.

  2. And 17-year-old MREs are either ok or gross depending on the items and storage conditions. Avoid the chiclets and coffee…

  3. I’ve tried a 4 day survival hike on beans and rice once. It was like eating dirt on cardboard with about the same amount of calories, while hiking the mountains with a full pack. Hunger sucks.

    There is a reason why the worlds top chef’s add lard, eggs, flour, butter, sugar, and bacon to stuff. So it tastes good. I’ll go ahead and skip movies, dinners out, big house, new truck, etc. and rotate my MH food in my comfy little house.

    If I do die in the upcoming nightmare, it will be while I’m well fed.

  4. Don’t forget that FDs are very light, if you have to move them or throw a couple of mixed cases in the truck as you are evac’ing, they beat the hell out of canned goods.

    Also don’t forget that they are very low cost in fuel and time. LOTS of scenarios where boiling water for a half hour for rice is one half hour too long, and don’t even get started on dried beans. Soak overnight? Simmer for several hours? Hope you have the time and fuel… and someone to spend all day cooking.

    FDs have their place as do bulk staples. There is some overlap, where we can choose either, but each has their strengths. Play to their strengths. Pick the right tool for the job at hand.

    nick

  5. Your just not hungry enough, after a week or two without any food this stuff will taste like a gourmet meal.
    In 1968 I went through S.E.R.E. school in Warner Springs California. The first day was a cold day and night on a beach with no food. The following few days were in the hills. Hiking from check point to check point, with only water to drink. By the time all this was over I was ready for anything to eat. I can only imagine what it must have been like , when the Germans starved the Polish people . They were eating wallpaper paste, if they could get it.
    Hopefully I will never need this stuff, but if I do need I am sure it will be quite tasty.

  6. I’m one of those who stored a large portion of beans and rice mostly because I was broke. Now that I’m set on cheap calories and protein I will probably get some cans of freeze dried butter with a few buckets of salt and sugar/ honey and a large stock of pepper. All of which can make the bland rice and beans a lot more palatable without costing to much.

  7. the google machine says a cup of white rice mixed with a cup of boiled pinto beans is about 550 calories. Say you are humping a full pack and burning just 5000 calories/day, (probably conservative) that’s 10 cups to carry and cook per day along with water and a pan with a lid.

    Fuel will factor in as well as time spent tending a fire should available wood and sticks be used.

    I did a lot of backpacking and hunting carrying all my gear, including cookware, water, rifle/ammo, binos, a tent and sleeping bag.

    Heat up a single cup of water and dump it in? That alone makes freeze dried food a heaven sent bargain. YMMV.

    • check that, 20 CUPS PER DAY!!! One rice with one beans = 2 cups for 550 calories.

      I would enjoy a youtube vid of someone eating 20 cups a day, even spiced, buttered or prepared by waitresses from Hooters.

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