(Vegetarian) Quality Dehydrated meals: what options might I have missed?

[BreninBeener]

Im pretty sure someone on here used to make their own dehydrated food.

They would make a veggie chilli and cook it. Then they would place it in a large tray and put it on the scales and record its weight.

It then went into the oven at about 60c for around 8hrs to dehydrate it.

Once cooled it was weighed again to see how much water had been lost. Its then devided into equal portions and placed in 'pour n store'lockable plastic bags in the freezer

You then now how much boiling water to add to reconstitute it to its former state.

Credit to original poster and my failing memory

Ian

[lune ranger]

Huel do a hot and savoury version now with three flavours. I've not tried it but it works out at £2.35 per meal and is nutritionally complete.

https://uk.huel.com/products/huel-hot-savoury

The only downside is that you have to spend £50. I've heard it's better than the shakes and a really simple 'just add boiling water' to prepare.

I succumbed to the blurb and got some of this.
I was especially attracted to the price and lack of packaging compared to camping meals.
It’s also a bit more ethical in terms of ingredients.
It is (well, tomato and herb flavour anyway) properly minging
I’d put it below most freeze dried camping food I’ve had. A really weird texture - moose like yet crunchy at the same time.
It’s edible but I’d not recommend it.

[Gari]

Cheers, I may have a rethink then
Have you tried any of the others yet? Are you going to bother even?!

[lune ranger]

Im pretty sure someone on here used to make their own dehydrated food.

They would make a veggie chilli and cook it. Then they would place it in a large tray and put it on the scales and record its weight.

It then went into the oven at about 60c for around 8hrs to dehydrate it.

Once cooled it was weighed again to see how much water had been lost. Its then devided into equal portions and placed in 'pour n store'lockable plastic bags in the freezer

You then now how much boiling water to add to reconstitute it to its former state.

Credit to original poster and my failing memory

Ian

Though you aren’t quoting me, I do dally with making my own dehydrated camp food.
If I had enough time I’d do that exclusively.
We use a dehydrator quite a lot to preserve the food we grow at home so I’ve done quite a bit of camp food as well.
There is a ton of info on the web. Whole sites are devoted to dehydrating camp food.
I simple favourite of mine is to dehydrate mashed potatoes, usually done with stock and cheese. Dal dehydrates well too. Dehydrated cooked rice reconstitutes way quicker than cooking it from scratch.

[lune ranger]

Cheers, I may have a rethink then
Have you tried any of the others yet? Are you going to bother even?!

I got the three bags you need for a minimum order - and some of the Black Edition shake powder as well - lostmy self control a bit!

I’ll try the Thai Curry and Mexican Chilli flavours and report back. Not super hopeful as it’s just going to be variations on a theme.
It’ll get eaten, I’ll eat pretty much anything - the most useful skill I learned from a public school education TBH food is mostly just fuel for me bikepacking - I just shovel in calories.
I will however double down on my home dehydrating efforts, I don’t see there being much option... except buying individual packs of dehydrated/freeze dried ingredients and mixing up bespoke freeze dried meals that way.

[Gari]

Good man, those were 2 of my choices so appreciate taking one(two?) for the team.
I’m pretty easygoing about what I eat too, if it’s presented to me, but might be a step too far to pack what I know is going to be a sub par experience

[redefined_cycles]

Huel do a hot and savoury version now with three flavours. I've not tried it but it works out at £2.35 per meal and is nutritionally complete.

https://uk.huel.com/products/huel-hot-savoury

The only downside is that you have to spend £50. I've heard it's better than the shakes and a really simple 'just add boiling water' to prepare.

I succumbed to the blurb and got some of this.
I was especially attracted to the price and lack of packaging compared to camping meals.
It’s also a bit more ethical in terms of ingredients.
It is (well, tomato and herb flavour anyway) properly minging
I’d put it below most freeze dried camping food I’ve had. A really weird texture - moose like yet crunchy at the same time.
It’s edible but I’d not recommend it.

How could you

[lune ranger]

Huel do a hot and savoury version now with three flavours. I've not tried it but it works out at £2.35 per meal and is nutritionally complete.

https://uk.huel.com/products/huel-hot-savoury

The only downside is that you have to spend £50. I've heard it's better than the shakes and a really simple 'just add boiling water' to prepare.

I succumbed to the blurb and got some of this.
I was especially attracted to the price and lack of packaging compared to camping meals.
It’s also a bit more ethical in terms of ingredients.
It is (well, tomato and herb flavour anyway) properly minging
I’d put it below most freeze dried camping food I’ve had. A really weird texture - moose like yet crunchy at the same time.
It’s edible but I’d not recommend it.

Second try today. A little bit more realistic - totally starving and have been rushing around all day.
Left it to soak 10mins.
Much better results. Sure it’ll be fine.

[trogladytes]

Huel do a hot and savoury version now with three flavours. I've not tried it but it works out at £2.35 per meal and is nutritionally complete.

https://uk.huel.com/products/huel-hot-savoury

The only downside is that you have to spend £50. I've heard it's better than the shakes and a really simple 'just add boiling water' to prepare.

I succumbed to the blurb and got some of this.
I was especially attracted to the price and lack of packaging compared to camping meals.
It’s also a bit more ethical in terms of ingredients.
It is (well, tomato and herb flavour anyway) properly minging
I’d put it below most freeze dried camping food I’ve had. A really weird texture - moose like yet crunchy at the same time.
It’s edible but I’d not recommend it.

Second try today. A little bit more realistic - totally starving and have been rushing around all day.
Left it to soak 10mins.
Much better results. Sure it’ll be fine.

Glad it's better this time, I suppose you could add something like peanuts or raisins just to have something to chew.

[woodsmith]

A popular meal in the thru-hiking world is the Ramen Bomb. A packet of instant noodles inc. flavour sachet and a full bag of Idahoan mashed potatoes combined. Often with a dash of hot sauce to take the edge off the overwhelming taste of chemicals. Probably the cheapest , lightest 900 calories you can find.