Ok, so my first foray into ready made dehydrated meals. Specifically firepot.

Now, ive done my fair share of carrying pasta and pesto etc so thought I'd try firepot.

Bloody rubbish. Followed the instructions exactly. Then waited longer. Chilli was dry tasting, cardboardy, flavourless. Crap.

Rather have had a bachelors mugshot with heinz minestrone soup sachet in for a 6th of the cost.

Am i missing something or is this typical?

Never had Firepot but your experience sounds fairly typical of my experience with dried meals.
The only advantage they gave over the general supermarket dried soups or noodles is the (usually) much higher calories per gram.
We got a dehydrator last year for the harvest on our small holding. I’ve been experimenting with making my own dehydrated food in that with some fairly edible results. I’m taking extra oil and some chorizo etc to add in and the calorific value is up there with the commercial stuff. There’s also no nasties like palm oil, soya/TVP or disposable plastic to contend with either. Winner

LYO freeze dried meals are very good

Dehydrated meals never seem as good as freeze dried

Though, to be fair, freeze drying isn’t simple.

I really like some of the Firepot meals. Much better than any of the other options I've tried.

Try real turmat reindeer stew, it’s delicious regardless of the fact it’s dehydrated. Pricey though, good old pot noodle, ‘chicken’ and mushroom with a splash of red wine in the water plus a couple of nice rolls is good
Favourite bivvy food is a tin of Cullen skink and some nice bread

I find there's a large variation in quality in dehydrated meals even within the same brand/range. Those meals that have larger pieces of food to rehydrate tend to be worse so if there are large bits of fish, meat, etc. then these don't rehydrate in the centre.

Unfortunately it's quite expensive to find out which are the acceptable ones.

ScotRoutes wrote: ↑Tue Jul 16, 2019 12:25 am I really like some of the Firepot meals. Much better than any of the other options I've tried.

Ive got 3 more to try, fingers crossed for better results

FLV wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:30 pm Am i missing something or is this typical?

In my honest opinion - yes you are missing something.

I have only used Firepot meals (in the UK) since they launched ( back when they had the old orange package with the fake OS map on) and never have I had the issue that you describe. The exact opposite in fact. Nice, very tasty, well hydrated "real food taste" meals.

I do a lot of my own hydrated stuff (as it way cheaper and not full of processed stuff) but I can honestly say I have never had an issue with any of the Firepot range.

I’ve only had the lentil dhal firepot meal, but that was one of the better dehydrated meals I’ve ever tried. I’d have it again. Which one did you have Dave?

noodles from local Chinese super market, 15p a packet
mixed with tinned fish, mackerel, sardines, sild. just ace.

dhal is my fav

FLV wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 10:30 pm Am i missing something or is this typical?

Ride further? I find that the more tired I am the better food tastes, I've been tired enough before to eat a steak slice with custard (I sat on the pavement, holding the slice in one hand and a spoon in the other alternating between bites of slice and spoons of custard) whilst washing it down with a pint of milk. I followed this with a caramel magnum and some shortbread biscuits also eaten concurrently. One of the best meals I've ever had

I've tried several brands of dehydrated food, my favourite is Expedition Foods but they are pricey.

https://expeditionfoods.com/

I also use a dehydrater and make my own - mainly dhals and similar type thick "pastes"- I also doa lentil nased one with oven roasted peppers and the like that i then puree.
Can also make some interestign fruit "leathers" that i then add to porridge or semolina

the dehydrator is pretty simple if you follow some basic rules - all veg roughly the same size being the main one

My m,aim issue with the packet meals [ non supermarket] is the massivly high price for some pretty cheap [ non meat eater] ingredients.
Taste wise i ageee with the above - when hungry everything tastes lovely no matte rhow daft the combination

I've had mixed results - the pasta Bolognase was good (pasta looks like rice though) but had a similar experience with the chilli - took ages to hydrate, wasn't great (I was in an apartment rather than on a trip mind). The posh pork and beans was a bit of a fail as well. I'd go with the pasta again but not the others......

I had my first try of the Decathlon dried meals a couple of nights ago.

Went for the Chicken Curry and Rice and it wasn't half bad.

I've got a Beef and Mash Potatoes one to try next which I'm much less convinced will be a success.

But a fiver each so not as spendy as many others on the market.

Mine was the chilli one.

Reading the above, i'm looking forward to trying the rest again

Another fan here. Orzo Bolognese is my fave.

Tom likes them too!