FAQ - Dried Food Sources

Send any comments to the maintainer Roger Caffin

Many of us take the easy route to catering and buy dehydrated meals. They are not cheap, but most of us think they are good. (Supporters of the home dessicator are invited to send in some info for a page on home drying.) There are several brands of meat and meals made in Australia/NZ using a drying process: I know of Settlers, BackCountry (NZ), Adventure Foods (ex-Army) and Surprise (vegetables). There also some imported brands, but they do not include any meat dishes because of some strange Customs ruling. I haven't included them for two reasons: I haven't tried them and we have found that bushwalking without meat leads to severe anaemia. Some of these meals have been freeze-dried, while others have been sun-dried (or equivalent). I list below what I know to be available. Obviously I will have missed some brands or items: let me know. Send samples for testing too.

Rehydration and Cooking

As a general rule, you will need to add about 60 gm of dry carbohydrate per person to a 'dried meal' package to get enough food for a good dinner. This can be rice or noodles or Deb instant mashed potato. Some people use other forms of carbohydrate, but none of them have appealed to the author. Some Americans seem to use "Stuffing Mix", which is probably bread crumbs, flour, flavoring and who knows what else. Gad! At least we haven't sunk that far. In some cases it is worth adding some Surprise vegies as well, especially if the meal is mainly meat or a little small. And of course, there is always the usual range of herbs, spices, Ardmona Tomato Magic (dried tomato paste, powerful) and dried onion flakes to consider. It is probably a good idea to add a little salt to the carbohydrate and extra vegies, but not much.

The meal sizes suggested here assume you will have some Instant Noodle Soup or something similar first: a quick starter for energy and electrolyte replacement, and at least a cocoa afterwards. Some people like some sort of desert as well (cocoa and dark fruit cake...). Your appetite will be different, so you will need to adjust the amount you take over time anyhow.

I did ask one supplier why they don't put enough carbohydrate in the package, or why they put in some but not enough, or why they couldn't skip it and let us add our preference. The answer was a mix of reasons. The market would not stand a higher price; the average consumer does not eat as much as a hungry bushwalker, people want utter convenience and no work, and it's a hard life anyhow. Well, hum.

Preparation sounds simple: add water, heat, eat. Or boil water, add, let stand. That's the basic idea, but it helps to know a little more. The best method seems to be to add cold water to the mix, let it stand for maybe 5 minutes, and then to heat slowly. This is meant to allow enough time for the water to diffuse into the largest lumps. The army instructions give a range of options, including eating dry, but even they suggest allowing a bit of time for rehydration. One thing to really watch out for is whether you have added enough water. I have made up a fairly sloshy Back Country stew, simmered it, and then put it aside to "Dutch Oven" for 5 minutes. When I opened up the pot the mix was solid: all the water had been totally absorbed and the mix needed more water added. It is startling just how much water should be added. Of course, you could read the directions on the packet: they are fairly close in practice, although we normally add a little more as we are thirsty. Another time I though I had added enough water, but it was quickly all absorbed and the mix started to stick to the bottom of the pot (ie burn). It doesn't matter if your stew is a bit sloshy: you need the fluid anyhow.

Settlers Country Foods

This brand became known to many walkers as plain 'Settlers Beef Mince'. Plain, fat-free beef mince, air-dried: make of it whatever you like. (I previously reported this a freeze-dried, but the manager has corrected me.) Sadly, due to a total failure by the previous distributor, getting the stuff used to be difficult. Then it disappeared from the market for a while while the company went through a management/owner change, then the principal abbatoir closed down: a long list of problems. But now the renewed company is expanding, with extra meals. The brand is migrating towards the 'Country' name. Some bushwalking shops now stock some of it: if your favorite shop does not, ask them to get it. As far as I know, the meals available are:

I have listed the wholesale prices here because Settlers are willing to sell direct to groups and clubs. Obviously, the retail prices in shops will be higher. There are 10 off 125 g packs in a carton, or 4 off 1 kg packs per carton. If your club (or you plus friends) can handle two cartons, you can order direct. Far be it from me to suggest bypassing the retailers, but the wholesale price is not bad. Like most freeze-dried foods, the stuff does have a long shelf life. If the order is over $200 Settlers may be willing to negotiate on postage, at least for the East Coast. It appears they want your business!

A 125 g pack rehydrates to about 500 g of beef. That's quite a lot of meat. We use about half a 125 gm pack of Settlers Beef Mince per meal for two people, but add maybe a whole pack of Surprise vegies, some tomato powder, some herbs and spices and of course the 60 g/person of carbohydrate. Something similar would apply for the other meals listed since we are dealing in dry weights. However, lacking experience with the rest, I cannot say much more about them.

You can contact the manager Nev Solomon thus (but he can be difficult to get):
Nev Solomon Enterprises
PO Box 421
Ferny Hills   QLD   4055
Ph 61 7 3351 2181     Fax 61 7 3351 2738     Mob 61 0412 193977 or 0412 929 790
nsolomon@ bigblue.net.au
Web Site: nevsolent.com.au (by the end of March-2004, I am assured)

They also make some electrolyte drinks in Lime and Orange flavours. I have tried the Lime: it was quite good on a hot day. I have also tried some of the flavoured meals. The flavours are OK, but the mixes are just meat and flavour: no vegetables. You will need to provide your own vegies for now, although another company is interested in being active here. More on this if it happens.

Since the names of the meals do bear some resemblance to those of the other companies, I asked Nev Solomon whether they were buy-ins. The reply was :"NO, they are all my own products, all the R & D has been by me & all packs are blended individually & then packed by me or my son on order ensuring freshness. My new packaging will have 'Settlers Country Meals' on them. Settlers Food Products is my company set up for these meals." However, some components may be bought in - things like dried vegies and so on. At the time of writing (June, 2003), many of the meals are new to the market, and more are being designed as well. Got any good ideas?

Back Country Foods Ltd (NZ): Freeze Dri

This company has been through a management/owner change a few years ago too. It's now owned and run by Arthur Ballantyre and his wife, who do the work as well. They produce a range of very good meals in a medium weight foil package. However, when buying any of them, be careful to check the pack size: they come in three sizes: 1-man, 2-man and 5-man. The 1-man packs verge on the expensive, but the 2-man packs are competitive with a couple of McDonalds hamburgers. We add the amount of carbohydrate mentioned, but in general do not need to add extra vegies or any herbs and spices.

The instructions on the packet specify 400-500 ml of water. Yes indeed. They also suggest you add the boiling water to the mix in the alfoil bag and let it stand for 10 minutes. Well, that's possible, but it leaves you with a very messy alfoil bag! If you have enough water to rinse the bag out thoroughly afterwards, fine, but we usually decant into a pot. And of course, you would never leave the alfoil pack behind in the bush!

The local distributor has so far refused to sell direct to clubs or other groups, which is a pity. He promised to send me some info to list here, but so far ..... As far as i know, the available meals include the following, with variable prices in the $10 - $12 range.

There are a few 'extras' at the end of this list. In fact, there are more available than I have shown, but things like instant mashed potato are more cheaply available elsewhere.

Adventure Foods

This company was spun off from the Defense Food Science Centre in Tassie. Obviously it has to be good: our soldiers eat it. Interpret that as you will! However, the packaging reflects the military source followed by "marketing" glitz: a colourful heavy plastic bag (leave at home), then a very heavy sealed-for-life aluminium foil bag, then a paper bag. The paper bag is designed to allow you to boil the right amount of water in it to rehydrate the food. Yes, there are markings, instructions and a pouring hole in the paper bag. A bit of a giggle. One has to add that a few bits of tough meat have been encountered in some of the product lines: one assumes the soldiers have good teeth. We add the carbohydrate and half a pack of vegies. Sometimes I will add some herbs and spices, but not always.

A reader Cameron Lewis on aus.bushwalking sent me a lot of information from DSTO about the freeze-dry process, what meals they offer and the nutritional value of the meals. I have given it a page of its own.

Continental Surprise vegies

The Continental company makes 100 g bags of freeze-dried Peas, Peas & Carrots, Peas & Corn, and 50 g bags of Beans. Rather surprisingly, they recommend adding all of 500 ml of water to 100 g of dried food. It looks a lot, but those vegies do soak up the water. They also state that a 100 g bag contains eight 1/4 cup serves. This may be so, but we prefer four 1/2 cup serves!

The same company sells Deb Instant Mashed potato in 115 g bags (and other sizes). This is an under-valued food in my opinion. One bag is just right for two people in place of rice or noodles, and is dead easy to prepare. Of course, a bit of salt helps, and a spoonful of milk powder and a few herbs ands some pepper don't go amiss either.

While not strictly relevant here, the same Continental company sells a range of instant soups. You can get them in most any supermarket. There are version with noodles, 2 serves per carton, and versions without noodles, 4 serves per carton. There are also some "chunky" versions with more vegies and few noodles. A few spare packets can be welcome at lunch time on ski trips. We find them an excellent fast introduction to dinner: water, some food and some electrolyte. If you want a change in the evening meal, try throwing a soup packet or two into a pot of rice or noodles and add some diced cheese or salami on top.