Fast Food for the Backcountry

[Steve]

[Wildebeat.net] This skills program is a look at the dehydrated food options for backcountry travelers. What goes into making these things? Are they real food? Are they good food and good for you?
Steve talks to three manufacturers of dehydrated meals:

• Don Gearing, president of TyRy, Inc. They manufacture Alpine Aire, Richmoor, and Natural High brands of dehydrated meals.
• Melanie Cornutt, assistant manager of retail products for Oregon Freeze Dry. They manufacture the Mountain House brand of dehydrated meals.
• John Garrett, a co-founder of Enertia Trail Foods.

Mary Howley Ryan, the nutritional advisor for NOLS wraps up the story with her take on the value of fast food for backcountry travelers.
Other dehydrated food manufacturers include (in alphabetical order):

• Adventure Foods
• Backpacker's Pantry
• Cache Lake
• Mary Jane's Farm

Many of these companies use the freeze drying process to preserve their foods. It's a rather complicated, energy-intensive process requiring expensive equipment. Other manufacturers use a more simple heat and dehumidified-air dehydrating process.

• Show number 64 [MP3 format; length 9:34; 2,298,381 bytes]
• Show number 64 script

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