Homemade Mylar Meals??

Is it possible to combine all the dry ingredients all together in a bag?

Example:
Soup... combine all spices in a small Mylar bag and like all the freeze dried vegetables together with noodles and bouillon cube in a large Mylar bag???

In short, yes, although the only time I would use mylar rather than mason jars is for travel on foot, like camping.

The bug-out theory of what to do if SHTF champions sealed mylar bags, but I think the bug-out theory is dumb.

But yes, you could have dehydrated, freeze-dried, or otherwise dessicated food ingredients, including powdered egg, bacon, potato flakes, mushrooms, peppers, whatever you want. People assemble these sorts of meals in mylar packages and sell them for a pretty penny to the backpacking crowd, and the same thing is done by local (and not so local) food enterpreneurs, combining the dry ingredients for many different soups in mason jars. Just dump into eight cups of water, bring to a boil, simmer for however long the specific recipe indicates, and you're golden.

-CK

Yes of course you could, but I have extensive experience with using dehydrated foods, and I find I prefer to pick and choose and vary my meals.

The reason is, the roads from elsewhere to my cold-winter region close for several months of winter, so there are no fresh fruit and vegetables available in the market all winter long. Of course onions, potatoes and carrots are stored and sold all winter. So I dehydrate vegetables in autumn, and buy some dried fruit and vegetables, and then use these all winter. The things I use most tend to be those that rehydrate nicely along with pasta. So for probably one meal a day in winter, I'll put pasta in a pot with only just enough water, and add local dried cheese, dried vegetables like tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant, nettles, or anything else, and some spices, or some tasty leftovers to make a soup. I either saute some onions or throw them in the water raw. I like to boil pasta in the pressure cooker here, because our high altitude means it takes a very long time at room pressure; so I bring the cooker up to pressure and then turn it off and let it cool naturally, by which time everything is cooked. It means I can use only "just enough" water, and nothing burns or sticks to the bottom. In cold weather I might insulate the pot with kitchen cloths after I turn it off.

I like to have a variety and make it a little different every day.

Those mylar bags always seemed super wasteful to me. Am I missing something?

I do things similar to Rebecca's suggestion. I like to mix and match, and don't want to be stuck with whatever's in the bag. If I was doing something up for my lazy husband to (maybe :D) make for himself, I might combine required ingredients in jars.

Is there a huge benefit to mylar I don't know about that negates the waste of it?

Jan White wrote:Those mylar bags always seemed super wasteful to me. Am I missing something?

I do things similar to Rebecca's suggestion. I like to mix and match, and don't want to be stuck with whatever's in the bag. If I was doing something up for my lazy husband to (maybe :D) make for himself, I might combine required ingredients in jars.

Is there a huge benefit to mylar I don't know about that negates the waste of it?

Portability.. if one is going to be trekking for a few days or weeks, mason jars are not really optimal. This is exactly why the commercial options use mylar.

Sustainable? Well, not ideal, but if the alternative is storebought food in the same sort of packaging...

Yeah, glass jars aren't light. I think, though, for backpacking I would use ziplock bags, that can be washed and reused many times.

I use mason jars and vacuum seal them. I mainly do this for the coastal area. Rice, coffee, sugar, cream of wheat, and grits are common as I need them moisture proof. Its very handy as I pack them for needs. 1 jar of rice to 2 jars of water. Enough coffee for our 3 day trip, etc.

At home the closest example I can think of to the soup scenario is I make my own taco seasoning. This is stored in a mason jar but i don't vacuum seal it. I make my own to prevent the purchase of mylar packed seasoning.

When I buy a lot of my dehydrated and bulk foods, they come in  resealable bags that look a LOT like mylar. I'm pretty sure they ARE mylar. Couldn't someone buy some of those bags (or use the ones they bought freeze dried/dehydrated/etc) food in, and just wash them and reuse them?

Nicole Alderman wrote:When I buy a lot of my dehydrated and bulk foods, they come in  resealable bags that look a LOT like mylar. I'm pretty sure they ARE mylar. Couldn't someone buy some of those bags (or use the ones they bought freeze dried/dehydrated/etc) food in, and just wash them and reuse them?

My understanding is that yes, if you can get them thoroughly cleaned, and you have a means of fusing the mylar together, like a seal-a-meal-type machine, they can be reused. The questions become 1 - how many times? 2 - how many times would you feel it took, to 'justify' using them, if you have to buy the machine, to reseal them and replace them, if they prove to be something you really like(not much of an issue for me, when I am thinking of the space jars suck up, their breakability & weight, in transport, etc.)? 3 - can you even get a good, stable supply of them? 4 - does the cost per use make them economical, for your specific purpose? 5 - does the convenience make up for any lacks, in other areas of consideration?