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Looking for alternatives this year. I have typically used MREs (w/Heaters) for lunch and Mtn House for dinner in addition to a variety of other snacks throughout the day. Using the MRE allows me to leave my stove at base camp and requires less water to prepare lunch. I don't mind boiling water and preparing the Mtn House meal at base camp. The drawback to MREs is they are heavy. I'm looking for a lightweight alternative for lunch. Any suggestions? How about Heater Meals, Omeals, Campsite Catering? I am also going to strip the MREs to just the main course and heater and see how much they weigh. I understand you can't match the weight of a freeze dried meal, just looking for a good alternative.

I just found greenbelly meals and am gonna try em while backpacking & fishing next week. They're bars but bigger and more calorie-dense than most so are a real meal.

Looks interesting, thanks. Exactly what I'm looking for. As long as I can get a hot meal at night, I'm a happy camper. Those might be ideal for weight and volume reduction.

They all got their pro/cons. I've recently added the dehy potatoes to my list. I'll take a smaller packet, make it up and it's pretty good if you get the right stuff. After much testing the best are Idahoan Brand. The flavored mashed line are what I take. The signature russets are super good but you're suppose to make them with butter and milk so not ideal for packing. The loaded line has some are o.k., but most are too strong of a flavor, but my kids like them (go figure). My 2 cents.

Have you considered just making a couple of good old ham & cheese (or PBJ) sandwiches on some flat bread or pita? Along with some trail mix, they'll keep your legs moving.

I don't think those sandwiches would taste very good after 4, 5 or more days.

I do usually snack on trail mix or just almonds and walnuts.

Well, not if you make the sandwiches on day 1, LOL. I do it all the time, pack in pita bread and sandwich makings for lunch. If the weather is too warm for ham, I bring hard salami, and hard white cheese. And the little foil packets of mustard and mayo I get from the grocery store deli. And a few sandwich bags. Make 'em up in the morning or the night before. PB&J is even easier.

I eat the packaged meals for dinner so I prefer not to eat them for lunch too.

YMMV.

It always depends where you hunt,but there is a high mountain lake where I hunt in the early fall. I take a very light telescopic fishing pole.A few ounces. During the heat of the day when the deer are bedded, I slip down and catch a mess of trout. Cook them in a piece of tin foil, along with a pot of noodles.Fresh meat every day for about 4 to 6 days. I eat my big meal about 2:00 in the afternoon, and then glass and hunt until dark. One good hot nutritious meal a day will keep you hunting harder, and days longer, than if you are eating poorly. But if there is no lake or creek nearby, its not an option. Might work for you, might not.

This is exactly what I do. I found individual PB packets last year (Jiff) and made PBJ as needed. I've tried the dehydrated PB but its a bit watery for my liking. Hard salami makes for a good change of pace. As to bread, I don't care what kind of bread you use, its going to be flat when you're done.........

The Greenbelly meals look promising as well. I'll try them on a couple backpack hikes I have planned this summer.

Yep, but if you start out with pita, you don't lose much.

PS, for an alternative to PB, check out Justin"s Nut Butters. Individual foil packets, almond butter with various additions like maple syrup and chocolate. Good stuff.

My pard and I's standard lunch fare is a couple of tortillas filled with PB, Honey, and raisins. Making them for the next day is done while the water is heating for the evenings mountain house.

NIce, I'm going to try adding some of the pre-cooked bacon to a PBJ wrap, that should be fairly awesome.

I think I heard Aron from Kifaru on a podcast say he made about 60 or so special sandwichs (or bagels maybe) in advance and then vacuum packaged them for hunting and hiking.

Pretty sure it was bagels cause he called them super azzholes or something.

For a variation on the PBJ, use fruit strips instead of jelly. It's easy to pack and easy to mix up the flavors. I like the little bit of bite it adds.

Good ideas here. I'll look into some form of Pita bread or tortillas as lunch options.

+1 on the Justin's nut butters.

I did (2)ProBars, PB on Belvita, trail mix, GU, and EmergenC thru the day last year. Worked well for me.

I love bringing jerky.

With the MH saved for dinner, I snack on the jerky pretty much throughout the day when out camping.

I make my own and only very lightly salt it. That's it. I leave any and all the fat on. The aged fat on the jerky puts it on a different level of satisfaction, calories, and ultra beefy flavor.

I'll dehydrate whole steaks at 160°F for 48 hrs and then crumble them down to whatever size I want.

That looks goooooood.

My first Greenbelly meals arrived. I have to say they are really tasty! Each weighs about 6oz so that would be a significant improvement from MREs.

Good info - was looking at them the other day.

Aron's sandwiches are bagel, pb, and bacon. I've tried them and they're darn good and high in fat/protein which keeps you going past what the carbs give you. You might take a look at this as well. Pricey but really good and more nutritionally sound than MH, Alpineair, Backpackers pantry.

https://www.heatherschoice.com/

Alukban, any tips for drying steaks? How thick should they be before drying? Any favorite cuts?

I used to do it in an oven but bought myself a real dehydrator last year.

This one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Z915M4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I will dehydrate any and all cuts (venison and beef) with just a light dusting of salt - nothing else. I find that spices get in the way of the flavor of the meat. I will tend to buy bottom round roast when it is on sale because is goes down to about $3/lb.

When I do slice the meat myself, I do it with the meat partially frozen to make it easier to slice thin (<1/4"). When the meat is partially frozen, it squirms less. Sliced like this, it takes a full 24 hrs to dehydrate using the above machine set at it's highest temp of ~165°F. It will be reduced to about 25% of its original weight and will crumble readily.

When I get the butcher to slice the meat "thin", I will end up with up to ~1/2" thick slices. These will take ~48 hrs to dehydrate to about 25% of original weight. The whole thing is easier when the butcher does the slicing

I LEAVE THE FAT ON and it tastes absolutely glorious. All of the aged, beefy flavor is in that fat. I will store it in Ziploc freezer bags in the freezer and can eat them directly from the freezer because they don't have much water to freeze and thus harden - duh



I discovered the leaving the fat on thing when I started doing biltong in a cardboard box with a fan. I had never had beef so rich and flavorful. It was the gawd danged "dehydrated fat". Fat does NOT dehydrate, I know. It was aged in the process of dehydrating the rest of the meat.

I dunno if it can poison me or what not. Big boy rules apply. Do this at your own risk, etc, yadi-yada.

Biltong

Warm weather can affect the use of dairy products described below. That said:

Salami, butter and string cheese on the big crackers like ry-krisp.

Mix peanut butter, crumbled bacon and whatever sweet syrupy thing you like, put it in the Coghlan food tube, and squeeze out a line to eat with a bite of bagel. Might need to warm it in a pocket for a bit first...

A block of cream cheese to be chunked onto whole wheat/cinnamon/raisin bagels...

Logan bread - search here for recipes, soak the grains first, and aim low on qty of baking powder...

I eat cold food and don't bring a stove unless game size dictates the packout will be more than one trip, or if I have the kids with.

Thanks Al!! I plan to try some in my electric smoker, I can easily get the temp to hover at 160. And put a little smoke on it, to boot!

When you get around to trying that fat and you loves it... say a little prayer to God for creating all the delicious creatures

Will do, thanks again.

tag

First batch just went in the smoker. Not a ton of fat, but enough to test your theory. Lightly salted only, of course.