I'm thinking about trying some freeze-dried (not dehydrated) ground beef on my next trip and was wondering if any of you can comment on the difference prices among some of the online retailers.

For example, I just found these three sources:

1. Emergency Essentials' Provident Pantry freeze-dried ground beef is $40.95 for 20 oz (of product, not shipping weight as best as I can tell).

2. Wilderness Dining's Mountain House ground beef is $40.45 for 29 oz.

3. Packitgourmet sells it at $9.99 for 2 oz or $39.99 for 24 oz.

Are these price differences just a result of marketing to the camping demographic vs the emergency/survival demographic or is anyone aware of differences in quality among the products?

On some of these websites, they really make it sound like the freeze-drying process results in an easier-to-rehydrate and more palatable ground beef vs dehydrating. Can anyone who has tried both comment on this?

Thanks for you input,
Steve

I used the freeze dried ground beef from Packit Gourmet this season.

I have used dehydrated beef and the freeze dried in soup. The freeze dried is much better IMHO. It rehydrates quickly and has a nice texture.
When I've used dehydrated meat it has taken much longer to rehydrate and still can be chewy or crunchy.

I'm interested in this as well, after over-drying some meat this year...wow, was that stuff tough!

Sterngirl, I am wondering if you can comment on something for me. How much product is this? How many meals can you get out of one of these ~$40 containers? Or did you get the 2oz size...if so, is that for one meal, or several? Several would be okay with me, but 10 bucks for one meal would not. ;-)

Steve, remember to also compare the shipping rates when evaluating the prices. Do you have other purchases to make at the same store that would help bring the price of shipping down overall? I would probably get some from Packitgourmet, just because I'd probably be ordering something else at the same time.

quote nojobro: "Steve, remember to also compare the shipping rates when evaluating the prices. Do you have other purchases to make at the same store that would help bring the price of shipping down overall? I would probably get some from Packitgourmet, just because I'd probably be ordering something else at the same time."

Good point--I hadn't gotten to the stage of comparing shipping prices, but certainly will when the time comes.

quote nojobro: "I'm interested in this as well, after over-drying some meat this year...wow, was that stuff tough!


Sterngirl, I am wondering if you can comment on something for me. How much product is this? How many meals can you get out of one of these ~$40 containers? Or did you get the 2oz size...if so, is that for one meal, or several? Several would be okay with me, but 10 bucks for one meal would not. ;-)


"

Nojobro: I don't have any personal experience with this stuff yet, but the Packitgourmet website (I think that's where I read it) says 2 oz of freeze-dried ground beef = 4 oz when reconstituted. If my math skills are up to snuff that would mean 8 oz of freeze dried beef to prepare a pound of beef for a meal. At that rate, you can see my concern over the prices at Packitgourmet...

quote sdebol: "

quote nojobro: "I'm interested in this as well, after over-drying some meat this year...wow, was that stuff tough!



Sterngirl, I am wondering if you can comment on something for me. How much product is this? How many meals can you get out of one of these ~$40 containers? Or did you get the 2oz size...if so, is that for one meal, or several? Several would be okay with me, but 10 bucks for one meal would not. ;-)



"

Nojobro: I don't have any personal experience with this stuff yet, but the Packitgourmet website (I think that's where I read it) says 2 oz of freeze-dried ground beef = 4 oz when reconstituted. If my math skills are up to snuff that would mean 8 oz of freeze dried beef to prepare a pound of beef for a meal. At that rate, you can see my concern over the prices at Packitgourmet..."

$13+ per pound for hamburger?!? Ouch!

"Sterngirl, I am wondering if you can comment on something for me. How much product is this? How many meals can you get out of one of these ~$40 containers? Or did you get the 2oz size...if so, is that for one meal, or several? Several would be okay with me, but 10 bucks for one meal would not. ;-)"



This was my first time trying the meat from Packit. Most meals I make are either made with pouched chicken, beans, or soup mix. I tried the meat (out of curiosity and because I had a gift certificate) to add to roasted corn soup, to give it more texture and bump up the protein. I used the two ounce package, and four of us ate the soup.

I guess if you were buying the meat to be the main ingredient (like in beef chili), it would be really expensive. I personally don't care for how hamburger that's dehydrated tastes. I wouldn't use that as a star ingredient either...

Some have posted methods of freeze drying your own foods. Has anyone thought of trying that rather than spend all that money? It didn't seem too hard when I read it, but won't try to remember the details in case I get them wrong. Google freeze drying at home or something similar and see what comes up.

go to "ldpcampingfoods.com and get on the email list for the heads up on the mountain house #10 can sale..no shipping.i get bulk from them.next sale is in oct 1-15th...i have a old camp cooking book from the 70's that shows how to make freeze dry foods but it involves vacuum pumps and such..for the price of the gear you could buy a lot of food..maybe big outdoor camps with handy people could do this.

What's the advantage of freeze-dried ground beef over dehydrated?

I've freeze-dried chicken twice. The first time the pieces were pretty small (about 1/2" square) and they were very light after about 2 weeks on a screen in the freezer. The second time the pieces were a little bigger but even after a month they weren't as light as the first batch. I might have cooked the chicken at a higher temperature, but next time I'll cut the pieces smaller.

Home-freeze-dried chicken doesn't rehydrate quite perfectly, and the result is a little chewy (pleasantly so if rehydrated for several hours, too much if simply added to the water when boiling).

It's very important that the chicken feel light - almost like styrofoam peanuts. When unpacking the food from my just-completed trip, I found that a bag of the larger, not-as-light chicken pieces didn't smell very good.

On last week's trip, the dehydrated ground beef rehydrated perfectly. I poured boiling water into the bag and let it sit for about 6 hours and I couldn't tell it from freshly-cooked ground beef.

quote wetcanoedog: "go to "ldpcampingfoods.com and get on the email list for the heads up on the mountain house #10 can sale..no shipping.i get bulk from them.next sale is in oct 1-15th...i have a old camp cooking book from the 70's that shows how to make freeze dry foods but it involves vacuum pumps and such..for the price of the gear you could buy a lot of food..maybe big outdoor camps with handy people could do this."

Thanks for the info--I'll definitely take advantage of the sale price.

It seems that the freeze-dried ground beef last for a long, long time when unopened, but it's not clear to me how long it will keep once I open the container. If I buy a can of this in October to try some recipes over the winter, will the unused portion still be good next summer for a BWCA trip? For those of you using this product, do you use it up soon after opening a package or can you scoop out small portions as needed for months/years?

I should look into the "how to" part of this. I hate dehydrated meat and I'm NOT going to pay somebody that much for freeze-dried stuff. Heck, I'm guessing one could leave it outside from Dec-Feb up here (MN) and it'd be NICE and freeze-dried. No freezer required :) Ok, maybe I wouldn't do it that long ....