Taste Test of Dehydrated and Freeze Dried Foods part 4

This has been an interesting experience.  Unfortunately, it does not provide an easy answer to the question of who has the best tasting foods.  Every company had something that tasted good to someone.  The scores that were given were an average of the scores made by the five panel members.  The higher the score the more panelists liked it. I think it is safe to say that if the panel gave it a score of 5 or higher the food was acceptable. It would have been nice if we could have said buy from company X their foods tastes the best, but we couldn’t.

Some of the items were complete meals, some were components.  Personally I store way more components than complete meals.  The foods my wife fixes usually suit us better.

Even the highest scoring items had someone who was not happy with it.  As a result, I think there are several things you should take into consideration when you purchase foods.  Taste, nutrition, price and size of servings are the main considerations.

Take a good look at the size of the serving, I had two #10 cans of corn, one had twenty serving the other forty, but both cans were approximately the same weight.  One had ¼-cup servings and the other ½-cup servings.  Consider the calories per serving.  The higher the better.

Take a look at the ingredients, is it real meat or TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) a soybean product.  Me, I want real meat.  Where are the ingredients from, I avoid foods from China.  How is the food packed, be sure the oxygen is below 5%, preferably below 2%.

Look at the track record of the company, how long have they been in business.  Some companies have been around for many years, some are new.  I have seen companies come and go and so has some of their food.  One company that is no longer with us had food start failing in only a few years.  I buy from companies that have been around for years and have good solid reputations.

Now I know this does not answer all your questions, take a good look at the results and the ones with the highest overall scores we thought were the best tasting.  And before you buy from a company ask lots of questions and if they can’t or won’t give you good answers run, there are others that will

My thanks to all the companies that participated and provided samples

• Mountain House
• Ready Reserve
• Honeyville Farms
• Provident Pantry
• Thrive
• Freeze Dry Guy
• Efoods Direct
• AlpineAire/Natural High
• Wise

If I have failed to answer one of your questions make a comment or email me and I will see if I can provided an answer.

Tomorrow my wife will write a post on cooking with the different samples.

FRUITS

Ready Reserve Fruit Cocktail

• Taste 6.4
• Texture 7.2
• Appearance 7.6
• Overall 6.6
• Calories per serving 90
• Sodium 9mg

Remarks, very chewy which I think is good; a little more flavor wouldn’t hurt; good hard chunks tasty; nice snack kid pleasing; ok.

Natural High strawberries

• Taste 5.6
• Texture 6.8
• Appearance 6.8
• Overall 6.4
• Calories per serving 90
• Sodium 0mg

Remarks, left my mouth dry (these were served dry);great color and consistency, taste like canned strawberries; bitter after taste; not very much taste at all; good taste.

Ready Reserve cinnamon apple strips

• Taste 8
• Texture 8
• Appearance 8
• Overall 8
• Calories per serving 100
• Sodium 15mg

Remarks, typical apples; pretty good flavor; nice quite cinnamony; tastes like a typical cinnamon apple, but not too sweet.

Freeze Dry Guy bananas

• Taste  6
• Texture 6
• Appearance 6
• Overall 6
• Calories per serving
• Sodium omg

Remarks,  flavor better with dry product, texture better reconstructed; better rehydrated; rehydrated tasted fresher; close to fresh.

Freeze Dry Guy pineapple

• Taste 7.2
• Texture 6.8
• Appearance 6.2
• Overall 6.8
• Calories per serving
• Sodium 0mg

Remarks good smell; rehydrated remarkable well, good level of sweetness; typical pineapple; good flavor, reminds me of the real thing; natural sweetness come through, good.

Ready Reserve applesauce granules

• Taste 4.2
• Texture 3.8
• Appearance 3.4
• Overall 3.9
• Calories per serving 60
• Sodium 60mg

Remarks looks like minced garlic, but has an ok apple sauce taste; just barely ok; not very much flavor; blah no flavor; bland only to be used in bread or cake.

Natural High bananas

• Taste 4.5
• Texture 5.5
• Appearance 5.7
• Overall 5.2
• Calories per serving 140
• Sodium 0mg

Remarks good texture, ok flavor; tastes similar to fresh bananas; tastes like a real banana; just ok.

Provident Panty strawberries

• Taste 7.2
• Texture 7.2
• Appearance 7
• Overall 7.2
• Calories per serving 45
• Sodium 0mg

Remarks tangy, but good; sour but natural taste; tasted good, nice and sweet; good flavor.

DAIRY

Thrive butter

• Taste 6.8
• Texture 6.4
• Appearance 8.2
• Overall 7.2
• Calories per serving 130
• Sodium 140mg

Remarks, was sweet, texture normal; texture a little off not smooth; taste good; excellent taste; perfect cream cheese; just ok.

Thrive sour cream

• Taste 5
• Texture 4.6
• Appearance 4.8
• Overall 4.8
• Calories per serving 15
• Sodium 0mg

Remarks, runny and thin; good taste and texture, surprisingly good; taste like evaporated milk; texture was flat; taste lacking, probably ok on baked potatoes.

Red Feather processed cheese

• Taste 6.4
• Texture 6.4
• Appearance 7.4
• Overall 6.8
• Calories per serving 100
• Sodium 490mg

Remarks, very impressive taste had good texture and could be used many ways; texture very very good, taste acceptable; has a wonderful drier taste; not too sweet; I am a cheese snob but I would eat this if I needed too; tasted like a processed cheese good flavor texture was good.

Red Feather butter

• Taste 3.6
• Texture 7.2
• Appearance 7.4
• Overall 4.6
• Calories per serving 100
• Sodium 65mg

Remarks, only for emergencies more like Crisco; needs more salt; it is a very impressive product until you taste it, then yuck; taste is close to shortening; tasted good.

Thrive cherry yogurt

• Taste 8
• Texture 7.6
• Appearance 6.6
• Overall 7.2
• Calories per serving 45
• Sodium 30mg

Remarks, I liked it, I thought it would be great mixed with granola; ok; tastes like a cherry starburst of cherry jello; nice tasty snack; weird but very pleasant, great snack.

Thrive Passion fruit Yogurt

• Taste 5.2
• Texture 5.4
• Appearance 5.2
• Overall 5.4
• Calories per serving 35
• Sodium 0mg

Remarks great flavor, creamy texture; terrible, sorry I put it in my mouth; good flavor and texture, ok flavor;

Long Range Patrol Rations from Freeze Dry Guy, ice cream sandwiches

• Taste 8.8
• Texture 8.4
• Appearance 8.8
• Overall score 8.8
• Calories per serving 130
• Sodium 110mg

Remarks remarkably good; good taste; great flavor, melt in your mouth; wow surprisingly good; really yummy.

Howard