Backcountry meal options

atorres

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Doing spring bear in ID and planning to stay out for as many days at a time as we can carry food for. Is there a better alternative to mountain house for extended use like this?

Generally any advice is welcome. Can't likely carry 5 pbj's with us for lunches so i need solutions for that as well. Planning to make a shit ton of deer jerky.

As far as making your own dehydrated meals, how efficient can you be? In other words how much of a pain in the ass is it to make five days of food yourself? Also, how much caloric density are you losing compared to storebought options?

Maybe we could combine homemade with storebought products. Gotta start making some moves here though.

Thanks Y'all
 

OR Archer

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Peak Refuel or Off Grid. Both make awesome meals. Pricier than Mtn House but they are a great alternative.
 
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atorres

atorres

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Peak Refuel or Off Grid. Both make awesome meals. Pricier than Mtn House but they are a great alternative.
Part of what I was looking for is something cheaper because we're gonna be buying so damn many. Are they better enough than mh to justify the price?
 
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I'm pretty boring when it comes to meals. Breakfast - Lots of oatmeal, raisins, chia seeds. Instant potatoes, jerky, trail mix, homemade protein bars/protein powder.

Lots and lots of water, i find over a week hunt so long as i keep the fire burnin so to speak and stay well hydrated i dont go through much food.
 

archp625

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You have plenty of time between now and bear season. Buy a Mountain house, Honey Stinger and Pacaroon every paycheck and you will have close to your meal kit. Fill in with some other bars, and trail mix and you are golden.
 
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atorres

atorres

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I'm pretty boring when it comes to meals. Breakfast - Lots of oatmeal, raisins, chia seeds. Instant potatoes, jerky, trail mix, homemade protein bars/protein powder.

Lots and lots of water, i find over a week hunt so long as i keep the fire burnin so to speak and stay well hydrated i dont go through much food.
Thanks man, I appreciate it. I definitely need to be extremely vigilant when it comes to water.
 
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atorres

atorres

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You have plenty of time between now and bear season. Buy a Mountain house, Honey Stinger and Pacaroon every paycheck and you will have close to your meal kit. Fill in with some other bars, and trail mix and you are golden.
I can do that. I think total cost will be low enough it will be ok but I'm not sure... I saw on another forum folks were talking $20-30 per person per day. Over three weeks with two of us that could REALLY hurt.
 
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You're going to eat whether you're hunting or not and it's going to cost money. It just feels like it costs more... because it does. Hah

I spent $400 on bars, ramen, and freeze-dried stuff before the fall. Yea it sucked but I spend at least $100 a week on groceries anyway. So I bought a month of groceries and ate almost all of it with just a few freeze dried meals leftover.

Also, there is a lifetime of food suggestions in old threads on here.
 

sneaky

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You don't have to worry about 3 weeks worth of any dehydrated meal. After about 5 days you'll figure alternatives. You'll be so bloated if all you eat is dehydrated stuff that you'll never want to look at another one. Besides, you're telling us that in 3 weeks you never plan on coming out? For anything?

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atorres

atorres

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You're going to eat whether you're hunting or not and it's going to cost money. It just feels like it costs more... because it does. Hah

I spent $400 on bars, ramen, and freeze-dried stuff before the fall. Yea it sucked but I spend at least $100 a week on groceries anyway. So I bought a month of groceries and ate almost all of it with just a few freeze dried meals leftover.

Also, there is a lifetime of food suggestions in old threads on here.
Yeah, I guess when you look at how much food we'd eat during that span of time anyway it adds up fast too
 
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atorres

atorres

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You don't have to worry about 3 weeks worth of any dehydrated meal. After about 5 days you'll figure alternatives. You'll be so bloated if all you eat is dehydrated stuff that you'll never want to look at another one. Besides, you're telling us that in 3 weeks you never plan on coming out? For anything?

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Sorry should've clarified. I wish I was that badass but no, I was figuring probably +-5 days at a time depending on how much food we can carry etc. BUT we still have 3 weeks of hunting, so I need to have that many days of food solutions.

What alternatives to dehydrated would you suggest for a 5 day trek?
 

def90

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What you need is calorie dense foods, the more calories per spoonful the less food you need to carry, that is also going to lead to a little more weight. Peanut butter, nuts, fatty foods. This is where maybe freezedrying your own meals can be beneficial. Luckily for me I'm never out in the field for more than a day or two so I just carry TOTMs, the smaller version of the military MREs. Caloric dense foods that have their own heaters so the extra weight of the food is replaced by not having to carry a burner and fuel. A lot of stuff to think about. I just know that from the few times I've eaten Mtn House that I know that if I don't ever eat it again I will die a happy man. Now is the time to start experimenting, not the week before you are leaving.
 
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atorres

atorres

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What you need is calorie dense foods, the more calories per spoonful the less food you need to carry, that is also going to lead to a little more weight. Peanut butter, nuts, fatty foods. This is where maybe freezedrying your own meals can be beneficial. Luckily for me I'm never out in the field for more than a day or two so I just carry TOTMs, the smaller version of the military MREs. Caloric dense foods that have their own heaters so the extra weight of the food is replaced by not having to carry a burner and fuel. A lot of stuff to think about. I just know that from the few times I've eaten Mtn House that I know that if I don't ever eat it again I will die a happy man. Now is the time to start experimenting, not the week before you are leaving.
When you say freeze dry your own, I assume you mean dehydrating as well. I have looked at that in the past and it does interest me. I read though that red meat doesn't rehydrate very well unless you grind it real fine?
 

archp625

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I can do that. I think total cost will be low enough it will be ok but I'm not sure... I saw on another forum folks were talking $20-30 per person per day. Over three weeks with two of us that could REALLY hurt.
I totally agree. I spread things out. I have a wife and child, plus one on the way. I live in a crap hole town that I damn near think it’s the fast food capital of the world. We don’t have any sporting good stores besides Dicks. I have been buy a few things here and there and you don’t notice it at all.
 
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atorres

atorres

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I totally agree. I spread things out. I have a wife and child, plus one on the way. I live in a crap hole town that I damn near think it’s the fast food capital of the world. We don’t have any sporting good stores besides Dicks. I have been buy a few things here and there and you don’t notice it at all.
Yeah... We were hoping to keep total food/hotel budget under $2k so we do have room, but not much if food actually runs us $30/day for that much time
 

archp625

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If you are staying In a hotel why the freeze dried meals? Make stuff like you are making at home or eat fast food.
During the day you won’t want to cook a mountain house. Just bring calorie dense foots to snack on.
 

def90

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When you say freeze dry your own, I assume you mean dehydrating as well. I have looked at that in the past and it does interest me. I read though that red meat doesn't rehydrate very well unless you grind it real fine?
Yeah, dehydrating is what I meant and yes, certain things dehydrate and rehydrate better than others and a lot of it also has to do with personal prefference. There are things that others will eat and say is fine that I wont touch. Lol. In general, if I can have a good warm meal in the evening that satiates me I can go without a lot in the morning and throughout the day. If I'm going to carry extra weight it's going to be food that I like. You can also plan your meals so that you have some fresh but heavy items that you can eat in the first two or three days before they go bad and then switch to something like Mtn House as the week goes on. If you are lucky and tag out in the first half of the week you don't need the other stuff. :D also.. always carry some judo points if arxhery hunting and get the small game license, a grouse half way through the week can do wonders.
 
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atorres

atorres

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If you are staying In a hotel why the freeze dried meals? Make stuff like you are making at home or eat fast food.
During the day you won’t want to cook a mountain house. Just bring calorie dense foots to snack on.
Planning to backpack for about 5 days at a time, then spend a night inbetween in a hotel.
 
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