Volume: Repacking MH vs. selfmade meals

[Theo Diekmann]

Hi everyone,

(If you wanna quit the prosa, see the TL;DR below)

I plan to spend 11-days on the Big Seki Loop in early August. The first night, we're likely to camp near a food-box, so that only 9 days have to fit into the canister (I'll probably buy a BV500). Worst case, I might be able to store some of my food in my companion's canister, as he will only do a 6-day portion of the trail, but I'd rather not plan to rely on this emergency solution.

Initially, I planned on making my own backpacking dinners. However, buying all the necessary ingredients is almost as expensive as buying Mountain House dinners, b/c most of the stuff is only available in bulk. I won't be able to use all the leftovers as I am leaving California soon.

TL;DR:
So the question is: If I repack MH dinners, will that be more, equal or less volume consuming as self-made dinners? And the follow up: Can I fit 9 days of food using repacked MH dinners into a BV 500?

Cheers,
Theo

[Richard Gless]

I've gotten 7 and 8 days of meals in a BV500 a couple of times, but it is a real challenge. I usually use the Mountain House vacuum packed dinners and repackage them as well as taking some homemade dinners. The homemade dinners generally don't seem to take significantly less space than Mtn Hse at least for me. You have to be very diligent about using high calorie low bulk foods, take just what you need, and spend some time and effort on packing the canister.

I finally went to a Bearicade canister since it is bigger (but also a lot more expensive).

I also have the advantage of being older so I don't seem to need as many calories as when I was younger when I backpack. You might also try the old trick of fattening up before you go and just figure you're going to lose 3-5 pounds while you're out. This works pretty well if altitude kills your appetite. Best of luck.

[kristen buckland]

I think it is cheaper to make your own meals than to buy mountain house. Even if you're buying all the ingredients new. I don't buy the ingredients bulk either, just normal things at my local kroger's. one box of instant rice can make tons of meals, one packet of instant potatoes is enough for two meals. I can get two meals worth of veggies from the Knorr soup packets, then add a package of chicken/tuna/whatever. Super cheap! If you dehydrate your own meat/veggies it is even cheaper.

Check out freezerbagcooking.com

I think the MH are $8 + each?!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Well, if you were to go the packaged route, go with a brand that is more dense, tastes better, and fills you up ;-) Packitgourmet.com for example. Anyhow, yes, MH would have to be repackaged for a bear canister, The best method is quart freezerbags, rolling up and then sealing. These fit in much easier.
But in the end, yes, you will save money if you make from scratch. You don't have to buy a ton of ingredients either! Look at http://www.trailcooking.com/recipe-home/ and down to the FBC meals for inspiration (Trailcooking & Freezerbagcooking are my sites).

[Nick Smolinske]

I once heard a story of a guy who did a long (multi-week) caving expedition with a one-gallon container for his food storage. Apparently he emptied freeze-dried meals into his food processor, powdered them, then packaged them into the smallest ziplocks he could and hammered them (literally) into his container.

You probably don't have to go all the way to powder to get significant volume savings this way – just a few pulses of the processor will probably help.

[Adam Kilpatrick]

That's not a bad idea Nick. A few pulses, or at least a few pulses of part of each meal to bring the volume down a percentage

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Yummers…..fd mush. You all take the cake for even wondering about it ;-) Lol…..

[Dan Yeruski]

Nick, great idea using blender. I'm going to blend up some Fritos and add to blended MH, then add water to form into thin wafers, dehydrate and create MH crackers :-))

[David Thomas]

If you repackage into your own zip-locks, plan to burp and reseal them at the 6,000-foot trailhead. You'll be able to get more air out of them since they will have expanded.

[Peter H]

When packing your canister, before you get the "smushing things into the can" stage, you can sprinkle instant rice, red lentils (cause they cook faster), almonds, peanuts or anything small and loose, over the contents and give it a shake. You can easily fit a couple of cups of food in the void spaces between bags. Yep, it's a little messy. But, after the first couple meals come out of the canister, everything settles to the bottom pretty easily.

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