How to Prepare Freeze Dried Foods for Camping

Unlike dehydrated food, freeze dried foods are precooked. This means that all the seasonings and other food ingredients---spices, vegetables, and marinades---have been added. The entire meal is just waiting for you to add hot water to it. In some few cases, like with freeze dried ice cream, you may need to add cold water instead. While most freeze dried food comes prepackaged, there are a few steps you can take to prepare bulk freeze dried foods for camping.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step 1

Store your freeze dried food properly to ensure the highest quality and longest shelf life. This means keeping it sealed in an airtight container placed in a cool, dry location.

Step 2

Make a list of how many meals you'd like to make of which freeze dried foods.

Step 3

Package enough food for each meal in a vacuum-sealed bag or a zip-close plastic bag with as much air squeezed out as possible. You may need quart- or gallon-sized bags, depending on the size of the meals you're packing; the average serving size for each person is around 1 1/2 cups.

Step 4

Make sure you are carrying---or will have access to---enough water to rehydrate the food. How much water you need will vary from food to food, but you can expect to need about 1 cup of water to reconstitute each 1 1/2 cup individual serving.

Step 5

Pack a stove and fuel for heating the water you'll use to reconstitute the food.

Tips & Warnings

Because freeze dried foods are fully cooked, no additional seasoning is typically required; however, you may want to carry a small container of spices just in case your taste varies from that of the manufacturer.

Article Written By Marie Mulrooney

Marie Mulrooney has written professionally since 2001. Her diverse background includes numerous outdoor pursuits, personal training and linguistics. She studied mathematics and contributes regularly to various online publications. Mulrooney's print publication credits include national magazines, poetry awards and long-lived columns about local outdoor adventures.

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