Backpacking meals

I'm looking for recommendations for dehydrated meals. My favorites are mountain house beef stroganoff, Italian pepper steak, sweet and sour pork. REI's anniversary sale doesn't have HM on sale so I'm looking for recommendations on the other vendors dehydrated meals.

Don't have recommendation on other vendors... but...

We keep an eye on Amazon and Costco.

Keep looking at you can get really good deals.

Pretty partial to MH and Pack-it-Gormet veggies.

Fun to share and tasteee!

(like Pizza and everything food relate or simply anything ... everyone has their own opinion)

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Yew could go pro-style ...

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We wrote a post about this a couple of years ago. We like starting each dinner with instant miso soup--hot, nourishing and hydrating, and it gives you something to do while your dinner is re-hydrating. And then:

There seem to be more choices than ever these days for backcountry dinner--either freeze-dried, or dehydrated--and the spectrum of both companies and flavors is pretty darn amazing. But not all of these are successful. We thought it might be fun to review some of the dinners we've eaten through the years, keeping in mind that while M is a professionally trained chef, and P is a wine expert, we don't really look for gourmet excellence on the trail. We don't look for it because it isn't there. You'll never eat food in the backcountry that can compare to well-made food at home. What you might find is a decent meal that is both filling and flavorful.

So here are a few of our favorites:-at least we'd order these again if given a chance--as well as some others that we've tried:

The best ever was a Tanya's Taqueria Carnitas Burrito that we dehydrated ourselves from the restaurant in Napa. Perfection.

Alpine-Aire Cheese Enchilada Ranchero was delicious. Well seasoned, good flavors, and a substantial meal. But we also tried their Mesquite Grilled BBQ Chicken, which was very sweet, very smoky, and very gloppy. Not recommended.

Mary Janes Farm Curry in a Hurry; we loved the eco pouch, we loved the food. Perfectly seasoned, and even though it says it's really only a portion and a half, it was enough for the two of us, when we added our usually side dishes of dried fruit, Miso Soup, Gorp, etc.

Good old ramen soup is great if you can get past the fact that it takes up a lot of room. But it works well for short trips. And we love going to Berkeley where we can find a supermarket with an entire aisle of ramen choices from all over Asia.

Mountain House makes a ton of different dinners. We like the Beef Stroganoff (it was the first dinner we shared on a backpacking trip, and happily it met with M's approval--or we might never have taken a second trip) the Lasagna, and the Chili Mac with Beef--although that last one really is a mess to clean up. Not so successful were the Chicken and Rice, or the Teriyaki Chicken, which was VERY sweet. M liked the dumplings and gravy. The Beef Stew is not their best option.

Not de-hydrated, but still an option are the Tasty Bite Lentils...which probably are best if you also include a cup of instant rice to the mix. It weighs a bit more than some of the others.

Hawk's Vittles Chicken Pilaf. Undersalted (to be fair, the producer notes that they add no salt--but this was seriously undersalted. And when you are hiking, you need salt, for obvious reasons) and a massive portion. We cooked about 2/3 of the package, and barely finished it off. We were not sold on the flavor of this one.

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Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-Rocks-Paul-Wagner/dp/0984884963

Hello Everyone! I thought I'd jump in to this Post with a Food question...We just got a permit for GA in early Sept and we have worked up the following hikeplan:

Day 1: TM to GA
Day 2: GA to Raisin Lake
Day 3: Raisin Lake to Middle Sunrise Lake
Day 4: Middle Sunrise Lake to HSC
Day 5: HSC to Cathedral Lake
Day 6: Cathedral Lake to TM

We are not total beginners, but it has been 10 years since our last trip up to TM (when we hiked 4 nights TM/Sunrise/Merced Lake to valley) and I've lost all feeling for devising a reasonable food plan.

We have a BV500 cannister and are a party of 2. Our hike plan is five nights, and I was planning on planting food at the Tenaya bearbox YE03 to pick up on our way up to Sunrise and to save weight/space on the GA/Raising Lake leg.

I thought I'd use the bearbox YE03 at Tenaya cause I'm not sure I can fit 5 nights/days of food for 2 in a BV500 (though I guess I can carry Day 1 meal outside the canniser).

Sooo....assuming I resupply from Bearbox YE03 then am I safe to believe that I would have plenty of room in a BV500 for 4 days, 3 nights for party of 2 (assuming MH meals for dinners, oatmeal breakfasts and tortillas & tuna packs for lunches, plus snacks)?

Also, just so I understand, if I restock from the Tenaya bearbox after my descent from May Lake, am I OK to carry one day/meal outside the cannister on the way up to Sunrise?

Am I in the right ballpark so far?

And about those MH dinners....OK we can do that, but for a hikeplan like this does anyone have any other fun/different ideas that they've tried lately?

And am I the only one left who still uses a Svea123 stove? My Better Half mocks me and I'll bring along a Pocket Rocket to appease her but i LOVE my SVEA!

Thanks I've loved reading the posts on this forum!

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Yosemrick
REI's anniversary sale doesn't have HM on sale so I'm looking for recommendations on the other vendors dehydrated meals.

Not sure if it's still the case, but last time we bought MH from REI, off-sale, there was an offer whereby if you purchase 8 or more MH meals, you get 10% off.
[I just checked, and that is, in fact, currently on offer]

Good luck, good hiking!

You could use the REI 20% off coupon on non sale items and buy a kit of MH.

Keep an eye on Costco, too, if you are a member. There have been some very good deals on kits rotating through.

Buying pricy MH at B&M stores is likely to have a mark up. After doing my homework on web pricing, ordered 20 MH meals this week for this coming summer's backpacking, half Pro Paks the rest Pouches. Found the mountainhouse dot com site offered lowest price plus no tax or shipping fee. Except bought the Sweet Sour Chicken as a 6pack from amazon as former did not have stock. Otherwise bought Beef Stroganoff, Pasta Primavera, Rice & Chicken, Spaghetti & MB. Only bring the pricy freeze dried meals along during trips more than 4 days in order to save weight and bulk. Otherwise canned stuff or Knorr rice type meals are fine.

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http://www.davidsenesac.com

Thanks for all the tips. Freeze dried doesn't compare to tri-tip and barrel chicken but you can't take that in the backcountry...unless you're a bears fan. Go Pack
I was expecting REI to have 20% off MH at the anniversary sale. 😲 I'll go with MH.com or amazon for most but I'm looking for meals for back to back 4 day hikes so-
Any recommendations for backpackers pantry, good to-go or alpineAir meals? I'm looking to add a couple of the "besties" from the other vendors.
Boil some water I'm hungry🏕