Is Freeze Dried Food going scarce?

[sailingsoul]

Has anyone else come across this? I'm wondering what your thoughts are? As far as cause? and effects. This has got to affect the camping community, as some use freeze dried food while camping.
http://standeyo.com/NEWS/08_Food_Water/080721.Mountain.House.html
I have been wondering about and want to experiment with methods of preserving food in Vacuum Sealed Boilable bags, that are not to be stored in a freezer or refrigerated after processing. Can a method be had that might work? To hear of any experiences or methods in use would of value. Thanks. SS

[mclmm]

Mountain House has #10 cans of freeze dried stuff back in stock again as of last week, so the Federales must have already finished stocking their bunkers.

I have thought long and hard about how to produce a shelf-stable, ready to eat food in a flexible bag - home made retort foods like tastybites or MRE entrees. I am pretty sure it can be done at home with basic equipment, but I have no way to test for botulism or other nasties so I have written this one off. I don't think it is worth the risk.

Try home dehydrated meals - this is something I have been experimenting with over the past few weeks. I dry my favourite stew, chilli or curry and then take it to work the next day, rehydrate, and see if it's any good. Works very well.

[Greentick]

I have thought long and hard about how to produce a shelf-stable, ready to eat food in a flexible bag - home made retort foods like tastybites or MRE entrees. I am pretty sure it can be done at home with basic equipment, but I have no way to test for botulism or other nasties so I have written this one off. I don't think it is worth the risk.

.

If you don't need the flexible bags you could try good old fashioned canning...

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html

[envirodiver]

I freezer bag cook a lot on the trail. I dehydrate what I want (and I also dehydrate leftover chili, stew, beans, etc.) there is a freezer bag cookbook that is an excellent source of recipes. Lot's of off the shelf items can go into them.

[mclmm]

If you don't need the flexible bags you could try good old fashioned canning...

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html

Thanks for the link - I hadn't considered canning.

Envirodiver, I believe the Freezer Bag Cooking book you mentioned was written by the folks at this site: http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

Great site, which really helped out with my own evil dehyd chilli experiments.

[atraildreamer]

I freezer bag cook a lot on the trail. I dehydrate what I want (and I also dehydrate leftover chili, stew, beans, etc.) there is a freezer bag cookbook that is an excellent source of recipes. Lot's of off the shelf items can go into them.

This is Sarah's site (Sarbar), the first and last word in FBC! :adore:

http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/

[DragonAss]

This is Sarah's site (Sarbar), the first and last word in FBC! :adore:

http://www.freezerbagcooking.com/


Freezer bag cooking is the easiest and cheapest way to have good quality chow on the trail. I've made up meals and left them in food caches for up to 6 weeks with no ill affects. Check out the site. It has almost every recipie that's in the 2 books.

TaTonka

[doughNut]

I ordered the Pro packs to complete an order with campmor (www.campmor.com) I use the single packs for short trips usually 2-3 days.

I hav eno idea what their stock is, it is definately worth a look.