Hello from Ontario

[L'il Cal]

Hey L'il Cal, welcome to the forums! There are several brands available through Outfitters in Canada… Mountain House, Backpacker Pantry… I've tried most of them but can’t get over the high sodium content they put in the product to extend the shelf and storage life. Even “reduced salt” meals have 350 to 400 mg’s in the bag. Last year, I gave up on commercial products completely, bought a dehydrator and I’ve been DIY’n meals ever since, just mentioning it as an alternate option??

350 to 400 mgs of sodium?! Yikes! Thanks for the heads up. I am shaking my head in mild amusement...now I may have to start dehydrating my own food...does this madness never end?

[[o]TTeR]

350 to 400 mgs of sodium?! Yikes! Thanks for the heads up. I am shaking my head in mild amusement...now I may have to start dehydrating my own food...does this madness never end?

Haha...not based on my experance but you learn to love the madness quickly! Welcome aboard

[BrknArrow]

Some might consider this sacrilege just because of the amount of weight that we carry, but depending on how many and how long the portages are the first day out, we tend to eat like kings -- steaks, baked potatoes ... some sort of a vegetable because we still strive to make our mothers proud and a bottle of wine. And I usually bake some sort of dessert in an Outback Oven -- brownies are a popular treat. After that, we usually switch to something from Harvest Foodworks because they are tasty AND made in Canada -- you can find those on the shelf at MEC. I like the Oriental Sweet and Sour and like to add in some dehydrated chicken on top of that. I'm not sure how the HF meals would work with an alcohol stove because these tend to require a simmer for a good 20 minutes or more -- but we usually bring along an MSR Dragonfly just for dinner duty and weight isn't a huge issue when it is sitting in your pack at the bottom of the canoe for most of the day.

A lot of canoeing folks dehydrate their own meals -- I have never tried it, but it certainly is one way to control what you are eating on the trail. I had no idea that these things contained that much sodium. WOW!

I had a few tasty meals from Backpacker's Pantry this September and yes, the Mountain House stroganoff is tasty. What else have I tried from MEC that I like?? Oh yeah, the black bean hummus from Mary Jane's Farm always, always disappears -- we usually serve it up with some soft tortillas as an appetizer.

http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Hiking...ean-hummus.jsp

Their stuff is also organic and just involves adding some boiled water -- perfect for an alcohol stove. I'd try some of their other meals just based on how tasty we find the hummus to be every year! Lots for you to taste and explore before you head out next year. But again, check out the sodium levels -- yikes! If you see a spike in your blood pressure, you'll at least know why.

Cheers -- and thanks to everyone else for the many greetings!