Freeze dried food for long passage

[Loco Gato]

I'm going to do a delivery from Raiatea to San Diego, around 5,000 miles. The 1st leg, Raiatea to Oahu may take 18 to 21 days, depending on weather and the 2nd leg Oahu to San Diego about the same. So I was checking out Mountain House pouches to add to our fresh food supply. Since I will be provisioning in Raiatea, and am working with a budget, Ican get fresh veggies and fruits there. Oahu, well it's like being in L.A. but at a lower latitude sp everything is there. We walked to Sam's Club from Kewalo Basin and taxied it back for one delivery. The main question is.( finally after all the run up), have any of you used freezed dried foods on a long passage? And what are your thoughts?

[Stumble]

I never have. Typically the problem on long passages is water not food stores. Freeze dried foods tend to require more water to cook, and since they can't be cooked with salt water tend to deplete fresh water supplies.

Personally I look more towards canned, bottled, and pasta for really long passages. Though if you have a sufficient fresh water supply (like a water maker and plenty of diesel) they maybe a reasonable option.

[s/v Beth]

Matt Rutherford just circumnavigated the Americas used some type of freeze dried food- I think he was sponsored by them. He reported the food was pretty good- and he went about 8 months on just that food I think. I would check out his blog. I read it a while back but don't remember the specifics.
Solo Around the America's Under Sail | An audacious attempt at sailing the Northwest Passage and circumnavigating entirety of both continents, to benefit Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating

[Stumble]

Matt was sponsored by a freezed dried food company. The food defiantly works, and depending on the brand can be pretty good (I lived on it for a month doing some cold weather training), but without a water maker you may have a fresh water problem.

It just depends on the amount of water required for each package of food.

[bobconnie]

It would not hurt to have some aboard , but it's not to hard to have 30 days of food aboard! onions, bananas, squash, even potatos will keep that long with proper stoarge. if you use the raidated milk it will last a lot longer then that!! eggs will keep a couple of weeks if ya just turn them ! and this stuff needs no cold, or freezer to keep if ya have that I cant see any problems to have enough food stores to make Hawyee LOL you could store enough to make the whole trip if you wanted to !! have fun

[JanetGroene]

Pro: convenient, tastier than many alternatives, quick and easy in heavy weather.
Con: high cost, most portion sizes way too small for hard working sailors, bulky to stow. Some freeze-dried foods (meats, eggs) reconstitute to raw, so you still have to cook them. As pointed out they also require water, which may be in short supply.

[Snowpetrel]

I got given some old army freeze dried packs for my trip to antarctica. They were great, but needed to soak for a while to taste at their best (I think we soaked them for an hour). Good for those nasty days when you can't be bothered cooking.

But freeze dried always seem far to expensive to use for normal trips, I mostly stock up with tins, rice, pasta, rolled oats, beans and long lasting vege's.

[daddle]

Freeze dry is useful when weight is a consideration. Which is rare on a delivery. Fresh, frozen or canned is the easy way. 20 odd days is no challenge whatsoever.

[JimmyP]

I regularly use some freeze-dried food while sailing/voyaging...Although much shorter than yours. I find it convenient and tasty. I usually doctor it up by adding in onions, peppers, cheese, meats etc.
Combination of fresh food, freeze dried & prepackaged (as well as an occasional fresh fish) makes for good eating.

Water for prep should Not be a concern as noted in a previous response.
If the amount of water used with freeze-dried food is a primary concern....you got the wrong boat & water storage capacity for sure!

[harmonytek]

Originally Posted by Stumble

Matt was sponsored by a freezed dried food company. The food defiantly works, and depending on the brand can be pretty good (I lived on it for a month doing some cold weather training), but without a water maker you may have a fresh water problem.

It just depends on the amount of water required for each package of food.

Re: Stumble, freeze dried food not only defiantly works, but it also definately works

[sv Winterlude]

We've tried it, but we found it easier and tastier to use cans as our backup - I can make lots of tasty stuff from cans. The biggest key is not to mix in the canned meat when you're starting to cook something. it's already cooked, so no matter what the recipe says, mix the canned meat in at the end - you're really just wanting to heat it up. Have a great trip!