HikeArizona.COM

My main local source of dehydrated meals now carries only 20 oz. Mountain House. Does anyone have a reliable non-messy way of dividing, storing and preparing these things?

I think the right size for me is probably 12 oz. Eight is not enough, and I always eat the last 1/4 of the 16 oz. just to get rid of it, not because I'm still hungry. I cook it in the bag, eat it out of the bag, and lick the bag clean when I'm done. I hate to carry extra water for washing and I like to minimize food-contaminated waste.

Hike with a friend and share!

mike t wrote:Hike with a friend and share!

The problem is even worse when my wife comes along! Her stomach holds a bit less than mine, so I have to eat my whole bag and whatever she can't finish from hers.

I have the perfect solution. Bring a dog...

A second solution would be to measure the dehydrated food out into a standardized measurement, ie. grams, cups etc. then divide the water by the same ratio. Reynolds makes tin foil cooking bags that would serve the same purpose as the packaging, although would cool faster.

The remaining dehydrated food will last for quite a long time outside the original packaging as long as you do not introduce moisture to it and keep it sealed. Living in AZ you are pretty safe with the dry air due to the low humidity. You could always store the extra in the freezer to be safe.

Those are my two suggestions. Hope they help.

big_load wrote:

mike t wrote:Hike with a friend and share!

The problem is even worse when my wife comes along! Her stomach holds a bit less than mine, so I have to eat my whole bag and whatever she can't finish from hers.

But there shouldn't be her's and yours. You just split one meal at 10 oz each. Or as you've mentioned, if she eats less, a 12 oz/8oz split might give each of you an optimum portion.

In response to AZBrad123's reply:

Thanks for the suggestions. My wife prefers the dog solution, but I'm stubbornly resisting.

I've seen pre-dividing meals proposed elsewhere, but I wonder how well it works in practice. Some meals have plastic spice bags that accumulate a lot of static charge, so I envision the food scale and all the bags involved being coated with clinging powder. Do the bags seal securely? Will they hold boiling water? I worry about them bursting in my pack or falling apart while cooking. Its probably worth a dry run.

I agree with Mike T that the 20 oz. bags are probably just about right for two people.

In response to big_load's reply:

Methinks you worry way too much--just go hikin!!