taking dehydrated meals into NZ

[Rob A]

....left over Backcountry meals back to Australia....confiscated ....

When you say 'leftover', you mean opened packets?
You would have to be the only person in history to lose sealed backcountries, unless they got confiscated amonst a sh it load of other stuff.
Some of mine go in and out multiple times, declared, inspecteed, passed, before they get used at all.

[Wolfix]

Matagi; pretty much. I can have cashews and some legumes but I rely on meat to make up for the nutrients I lose with all the veges I can't have.

RonK; nope, don't trust other people's jerky to conform to my restrictions. No spices, have to be yearling at least if not veal etc.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

[wayno]

how long does it take to make your own, can you make it once you're in nz?

[Rob A]

When you say miltiday?
Surely you could survive a few days on sachet sealed fish, rice, noodles, and a lump or two of cooked steak wrapped in foil, boiled eggs, breads, biscuits?
Personally Ill go seven or eight nights in kiwi and maybe its getting a bit soupy with the eggs at the tail end of that but there are so many good walks over there that are only a couple of nights out, preservation isnt much of an issue.
For the balance of your foodstuffs, kiwi isnt actually a third world country and what you buy here you buy there. There would have to be people over there with your condition catered for.
Swings and roundabouts. You dont have to carry water except over some of the passes.
Huts means you dont have to carry a tent or a sleeping mat, and if you are on the great walks you dont have to carry a cooker or fuel.
Should be able to survive without any dehydrated at all. I often bring all the backcountry I take, home again.

[Wolfix]

No one here caters for me. I make all my own food from scratch. The list of things I can't eat is ten times as long as the list of things I can eat. Basically no gluten, dairy, soy, amines, glutamate or salicylate. I'm not asking for a solution to my food restrictions, I'm just worrying about how to get dehy meals through as I know that's the only food I can hike with.

Wayno, don't know how long it takes, maybe a few days for enough meals. I would of course need a dehydrator and a kitchen too!

[wayno]

i know people who have used fan ovens on low head to dehydrate food successfully

[Rob A]

I dont know what your allergies are, Im not suggesting your diet.
All I am saying is that you can carry (what appears to be favoured in salicylate, amine & glutimate intolerant diet recommendations) unprocessed meats such as beef, veal, lamb, (fish maybe) and eggs, potato, lettuce, green beans, cabbage, celery, carrot, cucumber, asparagus, pumpkin, peeled zucchini and sweet potato over the kind of periods you would need to complete some pretty good walks in kiwi without turning it into dehydrated. It might mean huts for their kitchens instead of your tent which which I appreciate isnt everyones cup of tea.
Im presuming you cant eat out in the towns at the start finish of your walks either and would need full cooking facilities. YHA? For groups its often worth picking up a batch.
What did Biosecurity have to say by the way?

[Wolfix]

I can't carry that weight I don't think. If I do NZ I want to do the main attractions and I will be out for too many days to carry that much. I'm determined to find a way to take dehy food. I will try posting it. If it works, I can pick it up there.

[srforum112]

I had no problems getting all my dehydrated meals through NZ quarantine. What helped was a comphrensive list of the meals and food items that detailed the source and treatment. Seems quarantine are more interested in fresh and diary items. My friend succesfully brought in museli, nuts, dried fruit and homemade nut bar. I was surprised and plesaed, certainly made walk prepraration easier once in NZ.

I emailed NZ quarantine with allot of questions and this also helped, particulary when I mentioned this to the quarantine officer...also had the emails on my iphone to show just in case!

Next time I'll take packets of nuts to NZ, nuts are really expensive to buy in NZ compared to Australia!!

[Sasha]

I took 16 veg meals I had dehydrated myself into Queenstown airport from Australia in January. had no problems at all..the guy gave them the most cursory glance and I was through. They were in zip lock bags, not vacuum sealed. Some did have bits of dairy in them but by the time this had been cooked and dehydrated for many hours this was indistinguishable from everything else!

[Igorius]

As far as I know you can take any professionally packed dehydrated food. I am surprised about the self made muselis though! Good to know.

[bernieq]

I’ve taken home-dehydrated food into NZ on 3 separate occasions – most recently, Feb 2013 – and had no problem.

This time the food consisted of :
1. meals in ziploc bags – it was dry and looked it
2. scroggin mix of nuts, chocolate, confectionery, dried fruits (home-dried mango, kiwi, peach, apple)
3. commercially packed mince beef (a brand that originates in NZ)

I had a list of meal ingredients and an email trail of communications with Bio-security (as srforum111 notes, this helped by indicating that I’d taken the time to inform myself of what was permitted and what not). Ingredients included tomato, olives, eggplant, sweet potato, beans, zucchini, mushroom, capsicum, leek. The food did NOT include any meat or fish.

From a weight consideration, milk powder and cereal were bought in-country. Although I don’t know about milk powder (I assume it would be OK), home-made cereal (dry) is OK.

The Bio-security officer was actually on his first day ! Although he was very careful, the whole process was very relaxed – and he was very quick when I opened the suitcase and a spider ran out!

[pulseevents]

Has anyone had any trouble taking commercially bought dehydrated meals like Gourmet kitchen, backpackers pantry or energy bars like cliff bars or Larabar when travelling to New Zealand.
All food I have packed is shop bought and in sealed packets and will grab the last supplies like nuts and some fresh stuff for snadwiches for the first couple of days when we get there.

[wayno]

i doubt it, i travel with muesli bars in my day pack , i declare them, customs arent even interested in looking at them, commercailly sealed food that isnt raw is ok. depending on what it is some of the raw stuff they will want to look at . chances are its already being sold in nz if its commercially prepared and customs will let it through

[pulseevents]

Thats what I thought from what I had read but my bride is a little worried so thought I had better get a second opinion. thanx

[Wolfix]

NZ Biosecurity replied to my email. OK to take in commercial meals but not meat done at home. Everything else OK.

[wayno]

start "wolfix dried meats co" make up a commercial looking label , vacuum pack your stuff and stick the label on.....

[Wolfix]

Wayno I am actually planning on doing that.

[Wolfix]

I don't know what constitutes a commercial operation in their book. I mean, are they going to ask to see the business' certification for operating a commercial kitchen? I can't imagine they would bother...

[wayno]

if it looks commercially sealed with commercial type labelling on it, i dont think they will bother scrutinising further..... send a test package through...

[Wolfix]

I shall!

[JohnStrider]

Just found this thread.

For those of you who have used Strive Foods, would you be able to get their main meal options into NZ?

Don't mind loading up on Backcountry meals while I'm there, but Strive Foods look really good based on what others have said.

[hobbitle]

Just found this thread.

For those of you who have used Strive Foods, would you be able to get their main meal options into NZ?

Don't mind loading up on Backcountry meals while I'm there, but Strive Foods look really good based on what others have said.

I took Backcountry meals into NZ, can't imagine why Strive would be any different?


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[RonK]

No problem for me taking Chefsway food into NZ. I declared it and it was inspected.

[JohnStrider]

Thanks for your responses, guys

[FootTrack]

I'm looking to travel to New Zealand in the near future, and thought it would be a good idea to inquire beforehand about bringing in dehydrated meals (as has been recommended). This was the response I received.

Please do not bring any home processed dehydrated meals as these may be prohibited entry.

You may bring commercially manufactured dehydrated meals as long as the following requirements are met.

Animal product-based floss, flavouring or stock and any products containing animal product-based
floss, flavouring or stock (for example: instant foods, camping mixes and soup mixes) may be imported
from any country provided all of the following requirements are met:
a) The product is shelf-stable.
b) The product does not require further cooking before consumption, but may require rehydration
or reheating prior to consumption.
c) The total weight of private consignments of camping meals containing meat pieces is 1 kilogram
or less.

Please declare all food on the passenger arrival card along with any camping/hiking equipment such as boots and tents when you get here.

Thanks for your enquiry

I'm not sure how strictly this is enforced, but I thought I should make others aware...

[wayno]

incredibly strict, nz is free of a lot of weeds, pests and diseases that are prevalent overseas, we have a massive agricultural and horticultural industry that brings in the bulk of our overseas earnings, they'll go through everything with a fine tooth comb, they are well rehearsed in identifying produce that isnt allowed in...
we've spent a fortune in recent years eliminiating pests that have made it into the country , to stop them spreading..
they pay special attention to people from specific countries and who have recently visited rural areas especially agricultural and horticultural areas overseas... have your hiking gear available to thorough inspection, it must be clean or they will steam clean it , and that isnt good on leather boots.

[Roscoe]

Don't try and bring any left over Backcountry meals back to Australia. Ours we confiscated even though they we purchased is Aus.

Australian customs/biosecurity allowed me to bring back some Backcountry meals. I came back from NZ last week with a few unopened BC meals. I declared them, they were checked and passed. When I asked what he was looking for, the customs officer said that they wouldn't allow any meals with chicken in them, but all others were OK.
Cheers
Roscoe

[srforum112]

Just thought forum members might be interested in my recent NZ and OZ quarantine experience with importing food, that was all good!

On my recent trip to NZ I took a separate bag containing dehydrated meals plus commerical packaged food items from Australia. All the dehydrated meals were vegetarian, homemade and vacuumed packaged. Other food I imported included walnuts, miso soup, condensed milk, Aldi parmesan cheese, powdered milk, ground coffee, muesli, roobios tea and chocolate. I list everything and hand this to the Quarantine officer. Had no problems importing all the food. Over the past three years I've done this on each occassion and never had a problem.

The Quarantine Officer mentioned that there is currently an issue with importing chickpeas into NZ for some reason.

I didn't end up using all the food, particulary the walnuts, powdered milk and some dehydrated meals. And had collected some commerically packaged food while in NZ such as rolled oats, parmesan cheese and muesli bars. I decided to bring them home to Brisbane, not a problem. Quaratine checked the cheese, otherwise everything else was fine. They were more worried about my tent containing seeds, was taken away for inspection and returned.

Its great to be able to take certain food items and dehydrated meals into NZ. Some items such as nuts and powdered milk are very expensive, so I can save some money by taking these from home. Main limitation for me is luggage weight!

Sonja

[dagsands]

Regarding the tent - we had similar experience in both directions last week. Customs in Wellington and Gold Coast were more interested in the tent than the food. Was unpacked and inspected in both places. Person before us In the queue in Wellington had his tent taken away from him as it had ants and mites. His choices were pay the $70 fee for cleaning, wait at least a week, then pick it up or have it forwarded at his expense or have it destroyed for free . Needless to say we were very relieved when our tent was returned (minus a compression strap - doh!) and were especially careful cleaning it on our last day prior to bringing back into oz.
Oh and all our food was allowed back in including open packs of milk powder and staminade Etc, but the customs official made it clear that other Gold Coast customs dudes may not be so easy going.