Strive Food?

[proskub]

Use them all the time at work, they're awesome! The Laska and the dahl are the besh IMHO! Ignore the cooking instructions, just stand them in boiled water and they're fine. Way better then the commercial freeze dried and much cheaper!

[nathanbritton77]

Loved the spag bowl.i was impressed with the single serve spaghetti bolonese on a cold night on the overland track last year.I will defineately be buying again

[ChrisJHC]

Maybe it's just me, but I have real trouble getting their risotto to reconstitute properly. The rice stayed rock- hard even after 20 mins in hot water (initially boiling then occasional bursts of heat).

The instructions say to simmer for a while, however it's almost impossible to simmer over a metho stove.

On my next trip I'm going to try separating out the rice and getting that reconstituting for a long time before adding the rest.

Anyone had a better experience?

Note - I love Strive, particularly their laksa, so I really want to get this to work!


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[RonK]

Note - I love Strive, particularly their laksa, so I really want to get this to work!

Sorry, can't help with the risotto.

Yes I do like the laksa very much. But I'm not a vegetarian and I want my meal to be a little more substantial. The single serve is kinda small. So I add a small can of chicken and a small can of prawns. Delish.

[Mountain Rocket]

If I'm hungry I add rice noodles to the laksa, light and filling.

Have tried the risotto once, cooked it for ages on a gas stove. Ended up being impatient and eating it not fully cooked, but close enough.

Both were yummy!

[peregrinator]

Maybe it's just me, but I have real trouble getting their risotto to reconstitute properly. The rice stayed rock- hard even after 20 mins in hot water (initially boiling then occasional bursts of heat).

The instructions say to simmer for a while, however it's almost impossible to simmer over a metho stove.

On my next trip I'm going to try separating out the rice and getting that reconstituting for a long time before adding the rest.

Anyone had a better experience?

Note - I love Strive, particularly their laksa, so I really want to get this to work!


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Maybe it's just me, but yes, the risotto has always been fine. Different people have different criteria when it comes to textures. I prefer al dente over soggy.

But two points you might want to consider. Apologies if they are too obvious. If possible, put the food and water in the pot as early in the day as you can and let them sit, in direct sun if there's any to be had. Watch out for ants. Then, once you get it simmering, turn off the fuel and let it sit again. As I eat directly from the pot, I find that the food needs to cool down a bit anyway, and as it does so it continues to absorb water and to soften.

[wildwanderer]

For those like me, who prefered not to pay postage costs. Strive is now available from Paddy Pallin stores.

Spotted the other day, apparently been available for a while..

I haven't tried strive yet, looking forward to seeing what the fuss is about.

[Dexter]

Awesome! Thanks for the heads up! That's great to know.

[ChrisJHC]

For those like me, who prefered not to pay postage costs. Strive is now available from Paddy Pallin stores.

Spotted the other day, apparently been available for a while..

I haven't tried strive yet, looking forward to seeing what the fuss is about.

Start with the curry laksa - particularly if it’s a cold day!

I also find that the plastic bags make great rubbish bags as they are pretty sturdy.

[Dexter]

I loved the pasta bolognese as well. The only one I've had that I didn't really like too much was the Gnocchi in spicy tomato and basil.

[CBee]

I make now my own pasta bolognese, dehydrated. Far better than strive foods, to the point that I can't wait to reach the end of the day to prepare and eat my meal. I have no words.

[Heremeahappy1]

@cbee, agreed. After going homemade, never go back. Dinners, jerky, dried fruit, pestos, dips and spreads. However you must enjoy cooking, don't indulge if time in the kitchen is a chore. Pot cosy does work when rehydrating, also saves fuel. I get 2 days extra burn than mates over 2 week walk, using same stove and food.

[CBee]

Pot cosy is THE WINNER!

[wildwanderer]

Strive 24 hour ration packs.

Does anyone know the total calorie/sodium count of these? Enough for a full days walking?

https://strivefood.com.au/products/rati ... 8387483719

[CBee]

Not sure about numbers, but for me enough for a 8-9 hrs walking day, if I add a supplement for dinner, such extra meat or veggies.

[Zapruda]

Surely that’s not enough calories for a full day. Pricey too.

I’d just get that stuff form the supermarket myself.

[wildwanderer]

Surely that’s not enough calories for a full day. Pricey too.
I’d just get that stuff form the supermarket myself.

From reading the inclusions that's what I thought as well. It would be nice if strive provided a nutritional panel so we can make more than a educated guess.

These sort of packs are convenient if buying for a group.. if they cut the nutritional mustard.

[wildwanderer]

Not sure about numbers, but for me enough for a 8-9 hrs walking day, if I add a supplement for dinner, such extra meat or veggies.

Thanks Cbee. Thats good to know.

[matagi]

Surely that’s not enough calories for a full day. Pricey too.
I’d just get that stuff form the supermarket myself.

From reading the inclusions that's what I thought as well. It would be nice if strive provided a nutritional panel so we can make more than a educated guess.

These sort of packs are convenient if buying for a group.. if they cut the nutritional mustard.

The sheer volume of those meal packs would be problematic, depending on the size of your group. I would have thought it would be easier to cook group meals.

[headwerkn]

After going homemade, never go back.

So true. Alps and Amici is the only pre-prepared hiking food I find truly palatable (it's actually genuinely delicious, being freeze dried) but at over $25 a serve these days it's pretty darn pricey. Ok if you do a week-long trip once a year or so, but expensive if you're heading out every month or more. A dehydrator and a weekend in the kitchen pays for itself quite quickly

Personally I found Strive inedible when we tried half a dozen variants a couple of years ago. Took forever to rehydrate too. Not sure if they've improved since.

[CBee]

Strive is dehydrated not freeze dried. So it'll take longer to re-hydrate, but not by much. Some of their ingredients are going to take longer such the rice, but spag bol and laksa, take around 12 minutes. 2 minutes longer than Backcountry. Surely bushwalkers can allocate a couple of spare minutes to prepare the meals. I personally think dehydrated food taste better, but will not necessarily look better. Strive food have all nutritional panels of different meals on their website and third party addition can be found on Coles and Wollies websites.
IMO, if Backcountry taste is 5/10, Strive food is 7/10 and my homemade dehydrated meals are 9/10.

[headwerkn]

Strive is dehydrated not freeze dried. So it'll take longer to re-hydrate, but not by much.

This wasn't our experience. One of the Strive curries we tried was barely rehydrated after 40 mins of boil-sit cycles. While we froze our butts off in a tent being slammed by wind, snow and sleet on the way to Recondite Knob. Not good. The remaining meals we had were promptly gifted to people who didn't know any better

Backcountry usually good in 15-20 mins (depending on the meal) and Alps freeze-dried about 15 mins. Can shorten the rehydration time a bit by keeping it in the pot and giving it a second heat cycle, but these days I much prefer to simply dump boiling water into the bag, stuff the lot into a thermal pouch and let it sort itself out while I do other things.

Our home made dehydrated meals manage this fine in 10-12 mins, but we do put a lot of effort into steaming/par boiling/pressure cooking everything first before dehydrating, and keeping the pieces small... especially with meat.

Freeze drying does help a great deal when it comes to maintaining more satisfying chunks of food. We seriously looked into home or DIY freeze-drying when Alps' prices went through the roof (not their fault, for the record, the freeze drying operation significantly increased their charges) but the smaller, vaguely affordable domestic units aren't known for their reliability. DIYing something from scratch requires either lots of dry ice on hand, or some serious engineering chops. Maybe one day...

[Son of a Beach]

That sounds like an unusual anomaly. I've used Strive quite a few times (mostly several years ago), and they consistently took about 10-12 minutes.

Mind you, these days I usually dehydrate my own meals. And they take a similar time, but taste even better. Chicken curry, spag bog, shepherds pie. Yum!

[Dexter]

I've gone through a number of their meals end of last year to start of this year and didn't find they took particularly long to prepare. I only followed the packet directions anyway, which I think was about 12-14 mins.

[ChrisJHC]

The only one I’ve had problems with was their risotto.
All the others have rehydrated in a reasonable time.

[Son of a Beach]

hmmm... I enjoyed their risottos (several times on a two week trip). And it always rehydrated in the expected time frame. This was using both the continuous simmer method, and the simmer, then soak, then re-heat method.

I wonder what is the factor that has been causing the anomaly for some people?

[peregrinator]

hmmm... I enjoyed their risottos (several times on a two week trip). And it always rehydrated in the expected time frame. This was using both the continuous simmer method, and the simmer, then soak, then re-heat method.

I wonder what is the factor that has been causing the anomaly for some people?

This may not be an anomaly concerning the product. More likely is that people's taste preferences vary widely. Especially in regard to risotto. Some like it with a firm texture, others want it to resemble porridge.

Cooked in the traditional manner, it must be al dente. But the traditional cooking method requires a kitchen, not a camping stove sitting on a patch of grass in the bush!

[Son of a Beach]

hmmm... I enjoyed their risottos (several times on a two week trip). And it always rehydrated in the expected time frame. This was using both the continuous simmer method, and the simmer, then soak, then re-heat method.

I wonder what is the factor that has been causing the anomaly for some people?

This may not be an anomaly concerning the product. More likely is that people's taste preferences vary widely. Especially in regard to risotto. Some like it with a firm texture, others want it to resemble porridge.

Cooked in the traditional manner, it must be al dente. But the traditional cooking method requires a kitchen, not a camping stove sitting on a patch of grass in the bush!

Yes, you may well be right. I've cooked proper risotto the long way at home only a couple of times. It can be a bit fiddly! These days we cook it in the Thermomx. It's sooooo much easier and still very good (although perhaps not as gourmet-perfect as the traditional method). Even after finishing cooking in the Thermy, I like to let it sit for a good 10 minutes extra before serving otherwise it's a little too al dente for my taste.

I didn't have this problem with the Strive risotto, but perhaps some people like it even more mushy than I do.

[CBee]

I remember cooking a strive risotto in Pine Valley hut. Took me 25 minutes for a decent tasting risotto. Maybe the portion was a little small. At home a cook a risotto properly in 25 minutes too. By inspecting strive risotto at the time, the rice look uncooked, hence the long time on the stove. My risotto I dehydrate at home, takes 10-12 minutes to prepare, resting in a cosy. I first cook the rice in a nice stock to make a pilaf, then I dehydrate. I add different dry ingredients to the bag, such mushrooms, vegetables, porcini, bacon, ecc. And a bag of "chef table" grated parmesan for the sprinkle. Definitely, a meal I look forward after a long day.