Customer Reviews

AlpineAire Foods Freeze-Dried Meals (Six Packages)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We purchased AlpineAire Freeze-Dried meals for a backpacking trip last summer with our two boys and everyone loved the food. Great taste, lots of options for meals. For backpacking food, it tasted gourmet.

OK so maybe those are strong words but truthfully, I just finished a season of hiking/camping and ate nothing but these meals (Alpine Aire & Mountain House brands) and they were very fulfilling on all levels. I won't get wordy but I have tried nearly every one they offer including breakfasts (eggs rule!), snacks (OMG blueberries and granola!) and desserts (yes cheesecake and ice cream bars can be enjoyed in the middle of the White Mountains) and I have absolutely nothing bad to say about any one of them. Veggies were better (crisp and flavorful) than canned, frozen, and sometimes, fresh! Easy to prepare and only a bag for trash - carry in, carry out my friends... don't put in the fire what cannot burn ;-]~ Best

I am not overly impressed paying so much for a package loaded with low cost ingredients available at the market: rice, dried potatoes, pasta but little of the protein ingredients that are not readily available. I sampled several packages of freeze-dried dinners and found rice, rice, and more rice.

For short hikes of a few days I take pasta or potatoes, dried cheddar cheese, or cheese and noodles packaged together. A tour through a supermarket will reveal many dry ingredients that are nutritions and tasty. Take the tour and buy what you find - you will save a ton of money and enjoy eating at a fraction of the cost.

Trail Mix, dried fruit, Jello, sugar cubes and tea or coffee. Beef jerky, the list goes on and on.

Now if they would just make us some freeze-dried beer to enjoy after a hot climb...

Prepping for the assault on Mount Robson in Robson River Campground, we opted to give Alpine Aire's Mashed Potatoes and Country Gravy with Turkey a try. Oops--we don't pack a pot large enough for the required 3.25 cups of boiled H2O. We found an O2 absorber and a country gravy packet inside. The directions didn't address the gravy packet. So we boiled 2 cups and mixed 'em with gravy and then into the main package while boiling another 1.25 cups. The water mixed poorly. We waited 8 minutes after each addition of hot water and still the moderately chunky turkey wasn't fully rehydrated, although the bits had a turkey flavor. The overall result was poor quality instant potatoes that were too runny and flavorless even with added salt and pepper. We threw half away and ate crackers instead.

I brought these on a camping trip and was sorely disappointed with them, especially with all the positive review here on Amazon. I tried several of them and I just could not eat them; they all tasted like salty cardboard and sand. I'll be bringing my own rice, pasta, dried potatoes, and flour on my next camping trip.

I have cooked one package. It was a full meal and very tasty. All I had to do was add water. Although it was originally made for backpacking, I purchased this and other food in the event there should ever be a shortage of food in the stores, since I am far away from a big city and it would not take long to empty the shelves. It is rather expensive, but if you are facing starvation or hunger, even for a week or so, these will be there for you.

I prefer fresh foods when car camping. Living in the gulf coast we are gathering freeze dried foods for our disaster plan. AlpinAire offers packaged food with lower sodium levels than the other long term foods. These package dates are good into 2014. I regard four-year storage as a minimum.

The stroganoff was served on toast from jalepeno bread. It was really good over the jalepeno toast; perhaps just OK by itself.

I plan to buy lots more AlpineAire freeze dried packages before hurricane season in June but the selection options on Amazon are limited.