Did I Just Eat a Block of Salt?

I recently returned from another trip into the snows of the Cascades where I packed along some dinners made by Backpacker's Pantry. They were on sale so I thought why not. Well, while I was eating the Chicken Chipotle dinner I gave the nutrition lable a glance and yeses yisters yingle yangle there was nearly 2000 mg of sodium per serving! Because I ate the whole thing that meant I consumed nearly 4000 mg! Since I seldom if ever use salt much in my home cooking, I can't even begin to visualize what 4000 mg of salt looks like. So would it be a handful…a double handful?

While perusing the new issue of Washington Trails Association's magazine I ran across an article by Laurie Ann Marche on dehydrating food. The recipies mostly listed "salt and pepper to taste", while one specified 1/2 teaspoon. So how many mg sodium are we talking about here?

I don't have high blood pressure or any other health problems – probably because I avoid salt – but it seems like the freeze-dried industry is out to kill me. Yikes!