What is Freeze Dried Food?
Last summer, a friend of mine invited me on a camping/backpacking trip with her and her fiancé. I had never been much of an outdoors person, but I was intrigued and really excited to go! I spent several days packing for this 4-day excursion. I was confidant I had everything I needed…extra water, toilet paper, food, bug spray, etc. for a 4 day trip.
We met at a place in town and drove to a very secluded area meant for backpacking. I felt good about the fact that we had trails to follow and wouldn’t have to worry about getting off course or lost. Needless to say, on our fourth day we ended up heading the wrong way. While we were supposed to be heading back from where we came, we were actually heading farther and farther away.
I had a little food left, but only enough to last me for another meal or so. I felt a little panicked, but didn’t want my friends to notice since they seemed somewhat relaxed for being in the situation we were in. All my friend’s fiancé could tell me was, “we’ll get back, it just may take awhile.” Needless to say, after walking for another couple hours I finally ended up breaking down and crying. I had never been in this kind of situation before and felt helpless.
My friends felt bad, but assured me there was nothing to worry about. I was pleasently surprised when my friends took pouches out of their bags, which they informed me were freeze-dried foods. They explained to me that freeze dried foods were meals (like lasagna and pasta primavera) that had gone through a dehydration process to minimize the size of the food and to preserve it.
Immediately, I began to relax knowing they were prepared for this type of thing. Since then, I’ve become an avid backpacker and always make sure I have a 7-day supply of the freeze-dried food with me. They’re very light weight, easy to store in my backpack, and healthy and nutritious to boot! I’m so thankful to my friends for showing me the outdoors and introducing me to this incredible emergency-related item. Never again will you find me in the outdoors without being prepared!
