Dehydrated Foods - Making the Wise Choice - Part Two

Finding dehydrated foods that not only taste good but are also satisfying can be a challenge. They must also meet your long term storage needs. Like anything it’s best to sample a product if possible to see if it will fit into your long term food storage. If you or your family won’t eat it, it doesn’t make sense to stock up on it. Let’s see if making the Wise choice is the right one.

The first thing that was checked was the packaging. It was quite durable and subjected to the normal abuse one might expect to encounter. The package was dropped, folded, stuffed in a backpack and thrown around fairly harshly. Even after this abuse, it and the contents managed to survive intact. Even so, the package was fairly easy to open by hand and my Gerber STL 2.0 was kept closed this time. The cooking directions, the list of ingredients and the nutritional facts were very clear and easy to read and understand. The cooking directions stated to let it stand for 12 to 15 minutes but experience showed it was better to let it stand for about 20 minutes after mixing the ingredients with your boiling water. You do need to stir it occasionally (states this in the directions) or it will form some lumps in your sauce. The package contained four servings with 210 calories each and required 4 cups (32 oz.) of water to cook the entire package. The packages normally come packed in a plastic pail which should make them even less vulnerable to damage.

The net weight of the package was 7.2 ounces. This is in comparison to the approximately 10 ounces for a can of chicken soup with noodles. This makes a weight saving of approximately 25 %...this is due mostly as a result of being in a dehydrated form with no significant added weight due to water content. 

The cost per serving is around $1.74 and is about the same as a can of chicken noodle soup which normally has about two servings per can. This is offset by the fact that the dehydrated food packet has a 25 year shelf life as compared to approximately a year for the canned item. The nutritional content was also very good but it does contain a fairly high salt content.  You don’t need to add any salt to the ingredients. One serving will give you almost have the daily amount of salt you need. On the plus side it had a very low fat content and no cholesterol. It could have had more chicken flavor and would have made an excellent meal if you added a little real chicken.

The one thing that was added to it was pepper. Both RW, Jr. and I had to add a little pepper to it. We like our food well seasoned and a little black pepper always seems to help in that department. Otherwise, the taste was quite good and the serving portion was very satisfying. 

Overall, this product gets a rating of 4 out of 5 stars and would be more than satisfactory for most anyone’s long term food storage. The only drawback was that it could have had more chicken flavor and it would have been nice if they included a seasoning packet with some pepper.

Staying above the water line!


Riverwalker