UKC

I've got a 2.5 week trip planned this summer and planning on using freeze dried meals for dinner to save weight/pack size.

Been using Expedition Foods recently but looking any other recommendations on brands that are worth trying, looking decent calorie levels and if possible taste alright.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Freeze dried water. I find Evian works the best

https://www.mountaintrails.org.uk/ - Have found their meals to be pretty decent, they seem closer to 'real food' than a lot of the usual suspects. Mountain Trails also offer BMC discounts, click the tab that says "group discounts" for the code.  

The only thing I've found that come close to being enjoyable is the mushroom risotto by Firepot. There was a very entertaining article about freeze dried meals on here a while back.

Edit: Here it is. https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/camping/food/dehydrated_rated_-_we_test_7_m...

Cant speak for many other brands as I have almost exclusively used Real Turmat/ Drytech for expeditions. However, if you aren't already playing around with the meals then a little inventiveness can take you a long way.

Adding pepper, Tabasco, butter or mustard powder, mixed herbs, garlic powder etc can make relatively boring meals quite tasty. We also used to take powdered sauces (red wine, cheese etc) and add those to the mix for a more gourmet experience - tho I will add this takes some time to get right and results were variable.

Hot dog sausages (the kind that never seem to decompose) can also be boiled, diced and added to the mush. Bread can also make even the worst of meals passable.

https://mountainhouse.com

Given the number of FD meals you'll need just for this trip, I wonder if it's worth you buying a food dehydrator and preparing your own FD food? It may not quite break even for this trip, but you will then have it to prepare for many more trips...

for more info: https://www.techgearlab.com/topics/kitchen/best-food-dehydrator

Thanks for the suggestions everyone I'll give them a try and see what works for me.

(and the food would likely be much more to your taste than the bought packets!)

Firepot and Lyo are my preferred options.

Worst food ever, and stupidly small calorie options.

Expedition Foods are the best brand in my opinion, and have a huge selection with proper high calorie options.  I'd stick with them.

From experience I would not recommend the Firepot bbq pulled pork. Ate a pack early morning in the Cosmiques refuge and was nearly sick.

Another thumps up for Mountain Trails. I've been using them for a few years. I'm vegetarian so I can't give an option on the meat version but my pal likes them. 

Thats useful to know, I was looking for meals around the 800kcal amount, more wouldn't be a bad thing.

The other question I guess is what have people used that they didn't like.

I only use 1000 kcal meals from Expedition Foods (disclaimer: they do sponsor me) and love the range.  Variety is helpful on longer trips.  As someone who's 6'4" and 95kgs, any less and I'd be under fuelled, even for basic hiking trips.  800 kcal would work if you're smaller and/or female. 

The standard 450-550 kcal meals are kinda pointless really!  I burn anything from 4000 kcal when hiking, to 6000 kcal when on an Arctic expedition (so even fuelling 5000 per day, which is hard, will result in me losing 1kg per week).

I used to use 1000 kcal Bewell/extreme adventure foods.  Their curries are nice, but the rest of the range is so so and some give very bad gas!  lol.  Real turmat are tasty, but very limited in the higher calorie ranges.  Mountain House and adventure foods I don't like at all and wouldn't eat if you paid me, Firepot are tasty for some meals, but again limited on calories.

Rice & Curry Powder.

Meal of champions.

Totally agree with this, crayefish. I was making this point to Dan only the other day: after a sedentary day, I can easily walk into a restaurant and order a thousand calorie burger and chips. Add a starter and pudding, maybe a splash of booze could be the same again.

So why would I think it was OK, after an active day on the hills, to make do with a 450 calorie meal? 

(Admittedly my needs, while high, are not quite as high nor as sustained as your Arctic jaunts.)

https://expeditionfoods.com/blogs/news/ultralight-fastpacking

Extreme adventure food/Bewell foods - 800kcal Not bad taste.

Real Turmat - 550kcal quite good taste, expensive.

Summit to eat - 600kcal good taste.

Firepot - Never been impressed with these.

Lyo - Great taste, great texture, very small portion size, stupidly expensive. 

Mountainhouse - Soya and MSG.

I generally look for what's on offer at Basecampfoods. https://basecampfood.com/?gad_source=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImY6ojqjxhQMVTZ...

For breakfast either porridge or muesli with added red berries, sugar and milk powder.

Just FYI, some also offer bigger portion sizes, e.g. Summit to eat has ~1000 kcal Big Packs.

Just to note that although the terms are often used interchangeably dehydrated and freeze dried foods are not the same thing.

https://harvestright.com/freeze-drying-vs-dehydrating/

You can buy a decent dehydrator for c.£100 but a freeze dryer will cost you a couple of grand or more!