[pct-l] Food Box Advice - Freeze Dried Eggs, Butter, Cheese

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Rhiannon,

Over the years I’ve used various dried dairy products, some of which came
from Walton Feed -- doing business as Rainy Day Foods
http://www.rainydayfoods.com/ -- among others.

I’ve used the powdered cheese and butter, both the “real” stuff as well as
the dried “cheese product” etc., and can’t really tell much difference in
the way I eat it.  That stuff is the functional equivalent of the dry
packets of “cheese sauce” mix that comes with boxed Mac-’N-Cheese meals.  I
haven’t yet tried their freeze-dried product
http://www.rainydayfoods.com/shop/index.php/shop/dairy/freeze-dried.html

I’ve also used quite a few of their freeze-dried veggies and flavored
textured vegetable protein (TVP) in lieu of real bacon-bits.  For me, the
advantage of those items is when added late to the cooking of some kind of
otherwise nondescript, gelatinous goo, they add a texture and crunch that I
like.

Lately I’ve begun buying the dried “cheese powder” from the bulk foods
section of local supermarkets.  I use it to make a sauce or dip for the
no-cook meals that I now eat on the trail.  I measure 1/4 cup of powder
into a snack-size Ziploc, and on the trail I add some water and kneed it
for a minute or so.  Sometimes I use it as a spread or dip for bread-type
products and other times I just crumble crackers into the sack and eat it
with a spoon.  For a spread I usually seal the sack and bite off one lower
corner so the contents can be squeezed onto … whatever.

When cooking a hiker-glop I add the cheese powder to improve it’s flavor
and Calories.

I used to dehydrate canned refried beans for the trail, but now the same
bulk food store has inexpensive, ready-made bean powder; and even better,
dried tortilla soup mix which is mostly bean powder with bits of dried
tortillas and some Tex-Mex spices.  I mix that stuff with cheese powder and
re-hydrate the whole thing at the same time.

The cheese products will reconstitute with oil for more Calories, but the
bean products do not readily do so.  They require water to re-hydrate.

I’ve kept those products at home in Ziplocs for about a year without any
apparent degradation.

Enjoy your planning,

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/

On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:49 AM, b j <xthrow at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hi Everyone -- Sorry about my repeating 'emails on the PCT' message --
> somehow it was repeating automatically each list digest -- it seems to have
> stopped now -- hopefully this email won't inspire another similar hiccup!
> :-)
>
> I'm starting to think of wholesome food box options.
>
> Those with experience with freeze-dried cheese, freeze-dried butter, and
> freeze-dried egg powder...
>
> Does it last (in a ziploc or foodsaver bag) at room temperature for 6
> months (in your box)?  How did you make it last?  How long did it seem to
> last?
>
> Did you like the taste?  How did you doctor it up to make it more
> appealing?
>
> Did it rehydrate well?
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Rhiannon
>
> _
>