[pct-l] Buying Freeze Dried Food in Bulk

[Jim & Jane Moody]

Another great source for bulk freeze-dried foods is Emergency Essentials (beprepared.com).  Among other things, they sell #10 cans of freeze-dried veggies, meats, fruits, and cheeses.  You can mix your own meals with cous-cous, rice, etc. ahead of time, or add to ramen noodles or instant mashed potatoes on the trail to give variety and nutrition.  All their foods reconstitute quickly, taste much better than dehydrated foods, and can be eaten along the trail as a snack.  Pricey, but great quality and taste and very light-weight.  I tried Nitro.com 4 years ago for the AT, but their selection and quality didn't seem as good as EE.  It seems to be primarily an LDS-oriented company, so if you're LDS, you might get a discount.  I'm not, so I didn't ask. 

Mango 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Austin Williams" <austinwilliams123 at gmail.com> 
To: pct-l at backcountry.net 
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 7:29:05 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: [pct-l] Buying Freeze Dried Food in Bulk 

Hello, 

Anyone wanting to incorporate freeze dried food into their trail diet might 
want to consider buying it in bulk to save money. 

I did this two summers back and it worked well.  There is a seller on ebay 
with the username "vertumnus75".*  *She (I think it was a "she") has some 
kind of wholesale deal with Mountain House.  On larger orders (like those a 
thruhiker makes) there is free shipping.  Her rates are way cheaper than 
survivalacres.com on all bulk purchases. 

If any of her listings don't meet your needs, shoot her an email and talk to 
her about it.  I did that and she set up a special (private) ebay auction 
for me with the amount and kinds of meals that I needed. 

Anyway, here's what I wanted to share with you: 

98 pouches for $490 with free shipping (that's $5 per pouch): 

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5574887679&toolid=10001&campid=5336527861&customid=&icep_item=330403711874&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg 

In the brick-and-mortar stores, Mountain House meals can cost anywhere 
between $6 and $9 (at least here in Oregon). 

There are other sales on ebay (by this and other dealers).  There are deals 
for smaller and larger quantities.  But the one I listed above is the 
cheapest per-pouch available anywhere (according to my research).  To get a 
better per-pouch deal than that you'll have to buy about $7,000 worth of 
freeze dried food... and that would just be ridiculous. 

I found deals at survivalacres.com and survival-warehouse.com that are less 
than $5 per pouch... but they don't have free shipping.  The shipping 
charges end up making it more expensive than the ebay seller I went 
through... that's why I went with her. 

I ate freeze-dried meals three times per day on the trail.  I wouldn't do 
that many again.... freeze dried for EVERY meal is too much.  One freeze 
dried meal per day would be great.  Maybe two on some days.  But three per 
day is too much IMO.  The texture and flavors didn't really get old (I had a 
*very* wide variety), but having to cook *every meal* was a pain in the 
butt. 

Anyway, I did a *ton* of research before I bought from the seller I 
mentioned above, and I just wanted to share the fruits of my labor.  I hope 
it helps you save some money. 

-- 
Austin Williams 
PlanYourHike.com 

"The mountains are calling and I must go."   -John Muir 
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