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Freeze-dried food

Freeze-dried food for camping and survival

Freeze-dried food offers a lightweight, nutritious, and long-lasting meal solution that’s ideal for outdoor use, emergency preparedness, and everyday convenience.

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Freeze-dried food offers a lightweight, nutritious, and long-lasting meal solution that’s ideal for outdoor use, emergency food supplies, and everyday convenience.

What is freeze-dried food?

Freeze-dried meals is a smart solution for those who need lightweight nutrition, long shelf life, and convenience. They work well for outdoor adventures, emergency food supply, or everyday use. This page covers the practical advantages of freeze-drying as a preservation method.

REAL Field Meals being served for testing.

How to freeze-dry food

Freeze-drying food is the process of freezing and reducing the surrounding pressure to preserve the nutritional value of the meal. This process allows the frozen water to sublimate directly from the solid phase to the gas phase.

This method of dehydrating food removes nearly all moisture from the food, resulting in a product that is lightweight, shelf-stable, and retains much of its original flavour and nutritional value.

Read more about our freeze-drying process!
  • Preserving the quality
  • High standards
  • Experience the transformation
Read more

How long does freeze-dried food last?

Freeze-dried food, in comparison to traditional dehydrated meals, lasts much longer while retaining its nutritional value. In addition, when packed to block moisture and sunlight, the meal stays tasty and fresh for decades.

Tried a REAL meal from 1995 — no bad smell, still vacuum-sealed, surprisingly delicious!

Steffen Sund – customer

frysetørketmat fra 1995

FAQ

How long does freeze-dried food last?

The shelf life will vary depending on the ingredients used. For about half of them, the maximum shelf life is between 5 and 7 years. Some can last up to around 10 years. In extreme cases, you can safely eat a 25-year-old pouch without health risks, though the taste usually changes and shows clear sensory signs of aging.

However, it is up to the user to make a judgment when opening older pouches: if the vacuum seal is intact and the smell is normal upon opening, it should be safe to eat.

Is freeze-dried food healthy?

The stews we make are very similar to what you would cook at home in a regular kitchen. The only difference is that we freeze-dry and package the food afterwards. The freeze-drying process gently removes only the water, leaving the nutrients unaffected.

What’s the difference between freeze-dried and dehydrated food?

The main difference is that dehydration uses heat to evaporate water, which gives a chewier texture and some nutrient loss, while freeze-drying uses freezing and vacuum to turn ice directly into vapor. Dehydrated food is compact, less expensive, and has a shorter shelf-life, while freeze-dried food is lighter, more expensive to produce, has a long shelf-life, and uses less time to rehydrate.

How to store freeze-dried food?

Degradation of food happens faster the more light and moisture are in contact with it. Our freeze-dried meals are vacuum-packed rock hard, so that you, by squeezing the package, can determine if the food is stored away from moisture or light. If it’s rock hard but gives in a little bit, that’s considered normal.

You may want to store the meals in plastic or metal boxes to be extra sure that no animals smell the meal. The pouches may be coated with debris or food particles from the factory.

How to rehydrate freeze-dried food?
  1. Measure Water: Refer to the product instructions for the recommended amount of water.
  2. Add Water: Pour the specified amount of hot or cold water in the pouch.
  3. Stir: Stir well to distribute the water through the food.
  4. Wait: Allow the food to rehydrate for a few minutes.
  5. Enjoy: The food is ready to eat once it has absorbed the water.

Does freeze-drying food remove nutrients?

No, our freeze-drying method does not remove any nutrients from the meal.

Great as freeze-dried camping food

Best freeze-dried meals for camping are found in the REAL Turmat range, which includes over 20 delicious dishes This means that everyone will find a favourite. REAL Turmat’s best sellers have been the Pasta Bolognese, Pulled Pork, Beef Stew and Chicken Soup.

From extreme expeditions to family hikes

The comfort of having a quick, ready-made meal after setting up camp is invaluable. In other scenarios, REAL Turmat is mandatory to have as freeze-dried backpacking food for hiking long distances. Instead of appreciating the comfiness, many rely on REAL Turmat as a quick energy source when time is of the essence. These freeze-dried backpacking meals fuelled Børge Ousland and Kristin Harila as expedition food to the North Pole and 14 Summits. Even though that sounds extreme, our ambassadors such as Alexander Read use REAL Turmat as hiking food with their family.

Long shelf life

Perfect for longer trips, emergency food supply, or as backup food.

Balanced nutrition for outdoor energy

Meals are made to give you the necessary energy and nutrition on your outdoor adventure.

No prep or cleanup necessary

When outdoors, cooking and cleaning are often messy. With REAL Turmat you only need hot water and a spoon.

Lightweight and compact

REAL Meals are easy to pack, even for long-distance hikes, and weighs only 130 grams.

Compact and space-saving

REAL Meals take up minimal space, ideal for storing in drawers or pantry shelves.

The biggest meals has a folded dimension of approximately 16 x 12 x 4,5 cm or will take up between 300 to 500 ml of space in volume.

Flexible for any situation

REAL Meals are perfect during stormy evenings, remote stops, or last-minute meal needs when other options are unavailable.

Some need those extra calories

Many swear by REAL Turmat; however, its calorie content is sometimes not enough to sustain the energy they need. For that reason, many also turn to the REAL Field Meal range, which provides higher energy and more calories. Perfect for those needing more energy or are doing demanding hikes or expeditions. The military relies on REAL Field Meal as the main dish in field rations.

With their green-disguise packaging, these freeze-dried meals have also become popular among bushcrafters and preppers looking for practical survival food.

Rising demand for emergency food supply

Increasing conflict tensions and the effects of climate change have led countries to call upon their citizens to increase preparedness in their households. That’s why we’ve recently made small food-focused emergency preparedness kits for a family of four.

That’s why Preparedness Pack Small includes a variety of dinner meals for seven days, while The Preparedness Pack Big adds breakfasts. An excellent supply for freeze-dried food storage, ready if disaster strikes or the urge for an outdoor adventure comes along.

Freeze-dried food delivers lasting nutrition for every situation. Trusted by explorers, valued by preppers, and ready for everyday life.