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Do Boil in the Bag meals still exist?

Old 11-11-19, 06:26 AM
  #26  
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Foil-packed fish is light and compact if you have to carry food for a ways.
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Old 11-11-19, 06:48 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by staehpj1
On the other hand... If I am somewhere that the pickings are slim, I can get by on a really limited and stupid diet for a while (and have done so). If I had to I could go 10 days on mostly tortillas, peanut butter, and jelly or some other equally limited/stupid diet and might prefer it to Mountain House.

When we've toured, we almost always have a couple packets of ramen/oriental noodles in our bags. If it comes down to it (and it did once) a bowl of those each can be dinner. It's not ideal, but it's something. College students live on it!

And it's better if we happen to have a small tin of chicken or a couple carrots or something hiding in our bags too.
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Old 11-11-19, 06:58 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Machka
When we've toured, we almost always have a couple packets of ramen/oriental noodles in our bags. If it comes down to it (and it did once) a bowl of those each can be dinner. It's not ideal, but it's something. College students live on it!

And it's better if we happen to have a small tin of chicken or a couple carrots or something hiding in our bags too.
I too tend to have some ramen noodles in reserve as my emergency meal and also often as a planned meal. I like to put foil packed tuna in mine and cook them with less water than recommended, just enough water so they are thick, not soupy. Sometimes I add cheese, but hate the extra clean up hassle Oh and a dash of hot sauce is nice.
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Old 11-11-19, 07:34 AM
  #29  
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I usually bypass the pre-packaged foods i our supermarkets and thus am not really familiar with what's available in them these days. I'll check out the three local supermarkets again this week to see what they have. I like to buy stuff ahead of my tours so that it's not a big outlay of money at one time.

I've often carried canned goods on my Northern Ontario, Canada logging/mining roads tours because there are NO places to resupply. My tours up there are usually two weeks long self supported. When I do that I'm not really concerned about the weight. Yes, noodles and rice can be a great staple if you use small tins of something for extra flavour and/or protein.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
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Old 11-11-19, 08:17 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by Miele Man
I've often carried canned goods on my Northern Ontario, Canada logging/mining roads tours because there are NO places to resupply.
That makes for a very different set of priorities than I (and probably most tourists) have when packing food. In those conditions I can see your approach. Still, in those conditions, I'd probably carry food as if I was backpacking and try to use mail drops every 4-6 days if there were post offices anywhere along the way. For me that would mean trying to keep food weight to 2-2.5 pounds per day, like I do while backpacking. If there were no available mail drops I'd definitely limit weight of packed meal as much as possible. Heck I'd even consider eating those horrible Mountain House meals if I had to carry two weeks of food at once. More likely I use a lot of dried stuff and bulk freeze dried stuff from Honeyville Farms.
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Old 11-11-19, 08:39 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by staehpj1
That makes for a very different set of priorities than I (and probably most tourists) have when packing food. In those conditions I can see your approach. Still, in those conditions, I'd probably carry food as if I was backpacking and try to use mail drops every 4-6 days if there were post offices anywhere along the way. For me that would mean trying to keep food weight to 2-2.5 pounds per day, like I do while backpacking. If there were no available mail drops I'd definitely limit weight of packed meal as much as possible. Heck I'd even consider eating those horrible Mountain House meals if I had to carry two weeks of food at once. More likely I use a lot of dried stuff and bulk freeze dried stuff from Honeyville Farms.
No postal outlets out there in the boonies. Actually, there's nothing out there in the boonies.

Never heard of Honeyville Farms.

Freeze Dried stuff from the sporting goods stores around here is quite expensive.

Cheers
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Old 11-11-19, 08:42 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by staehpj1
I too tend to have some ramen noodles in reserve as my emergency meal and also often as a planned meal.
In 2016 I did a loop from/to Missoula using some of ACA's TranAm route. Stayed in Jackson, MT with a few people riding east in the TA. One guy, who reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite (both in looks and behavior) with a pony tail, had an entire case of Ramen bungeed precariously on top of the incredible amount of other stuff piled up on his rear rack. Dozens of packages, like he was disappearing from civilization for an entire month. I wish I had taken a photo.
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Old 11-11-19, 08:46 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by Machka
Yep ... two different brands found at Woollies.
We used to have Woolworth's brick & mortar stores here in the U. S. when I was a kid, in the '60s, but I can't even remember the last time I saw one now. 🤔 But that was when you could still sit in a drugstore, & have an ice cream soda or something. Those days are long gone, darnit. 🙁😉
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Old 11-11-19, 09:06 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Miele Man
Never heard of Honeyville Farms.
They are worth checking out... Some of their stuff is really excellent. Their shipping is a per order flat rate so for larger orders it is cheap. Not that great if you just want to buy one thing. I stock up on a bunch of stuff at once infrequently since unopened cans keep forever. Some of their stuff I use at home. I love the refried beans, the oats are great, the dried fruits are good, and so is most of their stuff. Some of their items I find do go bad for me before I use them after I open a big can if I am not careful. I find it helps to repackage some items in heat sealed foil packages.
https://honeyville.com/
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Old 11-11-19, 09:22 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by mtnbud
These are pretty good. Heat in boiling water for 5 minutes.

https://www.costco.com/organic-tasty...100502845.html

I've tried a similar Chipotle bowl meal and a curry dish. There's also some rice ones and a rice/quinoa mix out there.
I was going to suggest Tasty Bites as well. They make a number of products, including several Indian and Thai dishes as well as bagged rice. Almost all of them can be made by dropping the bag in boiling water for a few minutes. Also their website actually tells you where you can find what products. They are fairly common in the US (at least where I've traveled in the eastern US), and I try to keep a couple of meals on hand and replace them as I use them. Tasty Bite
Might have to look into that Loma Linda stuff. I've had some of their products, but was not aware of anything like that.
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Old 11-11-19, 10:42 AM
  #36  
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A grown man shouldn't be eating out of cans or plastic bags IMO.
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Old 11-11-19, 10:49 AM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by indyfabz
Foil-packed fish is light and compact if you have to carry food for a ways.
Everybody makes jokes about Spam, but Spam is also available in small envelopes.
https://www.dollargeneral.com/spam-s...ic-2-5-oz.html
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Old 11-11-19, 04:59 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by stardognine
We used to have Woolworth's brick & mortar stores here in the U. S. when I was a kid, in the '60s, but I can't even remember the last time I saw one now. 🤔 But that was when you could still sit in a drugstore, & have an ice cream soda or something. Those days are long gone, darnit. 🙁😉
Australia's Woolworths is completely different.
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Old 11-11-19, 06:19 PM
  #39  
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As a way to extend/maintain the touring mindset and experience I sample stuff from the supermarket from time to time. I have found a lot of stuff I wouldn't feed to the dogs, but an occasional item is not bad. A lot of ramen or bean soup type meals are improved by the addition of some cut up jerky. Now I just have to start writing down the brands and flavors. Also looking for a source of dried shrimp, and freeze dried vegetables. Purpose made outdoor meals are too expensive and seem to be packaged in meals for more than one.
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Old 11-12-19, 06:10 AM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by Pratt
Purpose made outdoor meals are too expensive and seem to be packaged in meals for more than one.
A lot of meals for two seem to be about right for a hungry tourist who just rode 80-100 miles, so that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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Old 11-12-19, 02:47 PM
  #41  
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What about the famous Ramen bomb? I ate one on a bike overnighter, and I'd do it again. DON'T JUDGE ME.
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Old 11-12-19, 03:12 PM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by staehpj1
A lot of meals for two seem to be about right for a hungry tourist who just rode 80-100 miles, so that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
+1. The couple of times I took them on three-day backpacking trips I found some of the single portion ones to be a bit small for a relatively big eater like myself. One time I purposefully brought to egg breakfast packages because I found during a previous trip that one didn't cut it.
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Old 11-12-19, 05:17 PM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by staehpj1
A lot of meals for two seem to be about right for a hungry tourist who just rode 80-100 miles, so that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Yup. When you look at the serving size in calories, you quickly realize that a two serving package is pretty skimpy for two, might be skimpy for one.

The serving sizes are based on some decades old formula of what people eating several small courses in one meal would typically eat. They are not the number of calories that a backpacker or bicycle tourist would typically need to replenish calories after a long day.

I typically look for a breakfast in the 400 to 500 calorie range, supper in the 500 to 800 calorie range, depending on how hard I worked that day.

To compare to freeze dried, a serving of Mountain House Beef Stroganoff is 260 calories, that is half of what I want for a supper if I did not work too hard that day.

When I did Pacific Coast trip several years ago, there were two of us and we often mixed up one pot meals in the campsite. We often put one extra brick of ramen noodles in the supper pot to boost calories for the two of us.
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Old 11-12-19, 05:57 PM
  #44  
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Originally Posted by mbusky
FREEZER BAG COOKING
When I saw the title of this thread I was thinking the exact same thing. Good to see another ground pounder over here too. I've done many meals this way as well. The key is the freezer grade bag - heavier duty.

Originally Posted by mbusky
Originally Posted by chrisx
Keep plastic away from hot food!
Boil in the Plastic bag out of business?

Because boiling water makes plastic leach into your food.
The plastic lodges in you brain, and reduces your level of brain power.
SC Johnson's Ziploc® brand Bags and Containers are BPA free. Thier products are extensively evaluated for toxicity and safety and comply with applicable quality and safety regulations. ... Many reports of this study note that this chemical is commonly found in plastic food storage containers.
Agreed.

This isn't dried food friendly, but another freezer bag trick is to use larger gallon size freezer bags to make egg omelets. Mix what ever chopped veggies you want, meats, cheeses, etc in the bottom of a gallon bag. Then either use a carton of egg (you can get it in a pint or so size wax paper carton, like a cream carton, in some stores) or use fresh eggs - 2 or 3 depending on how big of an omelet you want to make. Mix the ingredients in the bag with the egg by squishing the bag around. Then close the bag except for a little bit and press out the air. Then roll the mix in the bottom of the bag over a fold in the bag to squeeze out the remaining air before sealing the zip loc entirely. Next - unroll the bag and dunk it in boiling water. Let the egg cook through for a couple minutes. Depending on how much "stuff" you mix in your omelet it may not hold together, no matter how long you try to cook it. If you have the proportions right it generally will hold together, though. When it is cooked - pull it out of the boiling water, open the bag, and slide out the omelet on to your plate.
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Old 11-12-19, 06:01 PM
  #45  
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Originally Posted by baldilocks
What about the famous Ramen bomb? I ate one on a bike overnighter, and I'd do it again. DON'T JUDGE ME.
Do explain. What is a "Ramen bomb"? Other than just the ubiquitous Ramen noodles?
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Old 11-13-19, 01:11 PM
  #46  
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Ramen Bomb is a pkg of ramen plus a package of instant mashed potatoes plus some chopped up Spam.

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Old 11-13-19, 02:04 PM
  #47  
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Originally Posted by Miele Man
Does anyone male a boil in the bag meal anymore?
I used these regularly back in the 1980s. They were obsoleted by wide adoption of the microwave oven, and associated changes to food.
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Old 11-13-19, 02:23 PM
  #48  
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Originally Posted by schoolboy2
Ramen Bomb is a pkg of ramen plus a package of instant mashed potatoes plus some chopped up Spam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2n5A5dKOeo
Boiling water in Ziploc bag?
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Old 11-13-19, 03:20 PM
  #49  
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Originally Posted by linus
Boiling water in Ziploc bag?
It's got to be a freezer bag. It was just almost boiling. I'm not afraid of plastic.
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Old 11-13-19, 04:29 PM
  #50  
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Originally Posted by Machka
So if you go to your local grocery store, then you're familiar with pasta meals and rice meals.

https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/b...ns/pasta-meals

https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/b...ce-grains/rice

Pick one that is easy to prepare and that you like ... let's say this chicken rice for example.




Grab a canned chicken like this perhaps.



You can carry a couple of those on the bicycle and not overload yourself with food weight. Then at some point during the day, stop in at a grocery and pick up a carrot, some broccoli and cauliflower.

Pop it all into one pot ... and dinner is served!
You can find foil packed chicken here in the US in several grocery stores. HelMart carries them and that may be your only choice in large swaths of the US. The advantage is that you don't need a can opener and it's lighter.
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