Along with your rental gear like backpacks, sleeping setups and shelter, planning for your food-as-fuel needs is a critical step.
The information below provides more details on how to prepare the dehydrated meals, but we encourage you to give us a call or find more resources online if more details are needed. For more information on this purchasable item including prices, check out the main product page at
Freeze Dried Meals. There are more how-to pages on nearly all of our most popular rental items; find most at our
video and user guide to rentals main page .
The dehydrated meals we carry to go with our backpacking cooking gear rentals are mostly from brands like Mountain House and Backpackers Pantry. Quality is consistent between the brands, but we tend to use Backpacker's Pantry for some of the sharper taste meals. We offer meals traditionally intended for breakfast, dinners, and dessert. Most of these meals taste much better than you expect it to be, and it'a ll good after a long day of backpacking.
Planning for food intake / body-fuel needs on backpacking trip can take longer than any other planning segment, especially if re-supplying along your trip is required. Generally, the pre-planning you need to do revolves around the number of days you'll be out, and the number of calories per day you estimate you will expend. You may not be able to carry enough food to cover all calories expended, but most of us have some "spare reserves" to get us through some calorie deficit. But you don't want to take too little food and grow too tired during the hiking part of the day due to hunger. These dehydrated meals are only a part of the mix of food you will want to take on your trip. See
more on food preparation and wilderness dining.
Note details on the packaging, such as the calories per serving. On this example, it says '2 servings', but in total it's only 720 calories - an average adult male after a day of hiking - having just burnt several thousand calories - won't be wanting to split this meal package with anyone.
Pay attention to the nutritional label if you have any dietary concerns or restrictions.
Most of the packages require 2-3 cups of boiling water to reconstitute the meals into a soft, palatable mix. See our
rental stoves, pots, and kettle options for easy, efficient wilderness dining.
The packages will include the specific instructions for the meal contents. Pour the suggested boiling water amount into the pouch and seal it back. As a general rule, add a minute or two to the recommended time to better rehydrate the meal.