When it comes to backpacking and spending nights out on the hills – there’s no better morale booster than a good hearty, tasty meal.
Freeze dried food is where it’s at if you want to save space and weight in your pack. Essentially, it’s food with the moisture sucked out of it – of which you then replace at camp.
Such meals can be iffy in their quality, taste and nutritional value and there’s no shortage of companies out there that claim to have the tastiest meals. Often you’ll find some meals in a range fit the bill and score top marks – and at other times, they are bland in flavour and just do not live up to their supposed description.
It’s a bit hit and miss in all honesty and even then it can be subjective to taste. Even so, you can’t deny quality of ingredients, preparation and taste when it comes to good food.
I’ve been fortunate enough to test some of up and coming Fuizion’s freeze dried range of meals. The diversity in flavours and ingredients they offer is apparent when you take a look at their website menu.
Fuizion are professional caterers who’ve begun branching out into the freeze dried food market – albeit with a difference.
And I have to say – on initial taste testing, they do not disappoint! They may cost slightly more than other well-known brands such as Expedition Foods and Mountain House – but my golly! You get what you pay for.
Anyway, I’m off now to test some more of their range and will be back next week with a more in-depth report on the food and the company- including a video….
P.S
The photo’s shown here of one product were taken on my mobile phone. The image showing the food freeze dried in it’s pouch is the Kung Po Chicken
TERRY ABRAHAM 
Terry – They look really tasty meals. Unfortunately there is only one main meal I could have – as my dietary requirements mean I cannot have protein with starch. So although I do eat meat and fish, I can only eat them with vegetables. I can have rice or noddles with vegetables but with no protein. Perhaps I will try the King Po Vegetables.
Enjoy your tasting sessions.
Mark
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Hi Mark,
They do provide bespoke meals for folk like yourself.
My missus is a coeliac and they cater for her, too.
Might be worth a pop sending them an email?
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They look tasty. Tai Green Curry looks great. Thing is on a five night stint in the hills weight and calories matters. 635 kcal for the currie. Expedition food curry is 800kcal for 185g pack. Less fat in the Fuizion pack. A comparison of kcal to weight ratio would be good Terry. Taste wise just looking at that Tai curry makes me hungry. Nice find and shows how bloggers can find things and share them long before a mag can.
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Good to see another brand on the market Terry, I definitely agree with what you say about inconsistant quality across any given range, they can go from pretty good to utterly disgusting. Trial and error seems to be the order of the day.
Look forward to your recommendations 🙂
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@Martin – Oh yeah, I'll be supplying the info. Just wanting to test more of them first but so far for camping gourmet food it's top drawer.
It reminds me of Look What We Found Meals. How they are tastier than Wayfarers, if you know what I mean.
Some of the other meals have good carbs for the weight (Fuizion), mind.
They do bespoke stuff for expeditions so I don't expect these meals to change.
The packaging is to change, too but I'll explain more next week.
@Mac E – it is good to see another brand on the market and a British one, too. They do look tasty in the pics – but believe me, when cooked? My gosh! It's heaven at home – imagine what it'd be like on a wild camp!!
But let's see, eh? I don't think the others will dissappoint – and to be honest all the meals I have with me I'd pick and eat at any other time.
I'm looking forward to munching on Chicken Jalfrezi in my tent somewhere up on the tops in the Peaks this Friday 😉
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Terry – that's interesting about bespoke meals. Is there a minimum quantity to buy or extra cost ? By the way – my missus is a coeliac as well and my son has a dairy intolerance – You should see meal times!
Mark
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Hi Mark,
Allergies can be a pain, eh?
You'll have to ask Fuizion, mate about the bespoke stuff. They do do them.
I can tell you, they are very friendly and customer focused. They're a small company.
Send them an email.
I'll have more info about the company next week in a blogpost.
I just want to taste all the meals first – I am glutton for punishment 😉
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Its a hard life 🙂
Mark
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What have you found Terry! Looking at their website there is CHOCOLATE AND ORANGE RICE PUDDING. 1233 kcal. Mental cal for the weight and I bet it taste great. I am getting some. A good evening meal of that stuff and you will have all the Kcal you need bar a fine breakfast for the next day. Lets assume we need 3500 – 4500kcal a day on a big walk like the TGO Challenge. Beef and ale stew by them is 723 and a choc pudding at 1233 = 1956. Half your total for not a lot of weight I hope. What a nice job you have there trying that food.
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Have you tried the all day breakfast yet Terry? i think that would be my first try, beats carry those rump steaks up the hill.
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Look interesting. Cheaper than Real Turmat, which is the gold standard so far. Are they prepared the same way, i.e. boil water, add to pouch, leave to stand for a while then eat?
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@ David – Unfortunately, the all day English brekkie didn't come in 😦 I must admit I was looking forward to trying that one. You can't beat a good English brekkie in the morning eh?
@blogpackinglight – yes, prepared the same way mate. Boil water, add to pouch, stir well, seal pouch and leave for 10 mins. There's no fill line though – but Fuizion have informed me the packaging is about to change to make it momre suitable for folk like us.
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I am not sure why but whenever I eat freeze dried food I need to make an emergency exit from my tent an hour later with trowel in hand!
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Just had an email exchange with Alison at Fuizion. I suggested that the portions might be a bit small at 300ml (Real Turmat is 380-400ml). I've ordered some meals to take to the Lakes at the end of next week. They had better be good, Terry!! I'm taking some Real Turmat as a back up.
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@blogpackinglight – LOL They are very good. Some of the portions could be larger, granted.
But I'm more than happy with them so far. The portions when hydrated are a little larger but no smaller than Be Well, for example. They taste and look better than Mountain House. Expedition Foods have the best portions but lack the consistency of these meals.
They're really good. You'll see.
They are a new company so be gentle with them 😉 Folk like us are a new market for them.
Alison appreciates any feedback you have, by the way and is only too happy to help out with any queries.
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Terry gave me the Thai curry to try at camp.
Now, I'm a self-confessed gourmet, I think nothing of carrying a kilo of food as long as I eat well and I have little time for that lightweight, dried stuff so baring in mind the limitations of that kind of food, I was rather pleased with what I ate (I fucked up the water amount so it was a bit watery but that's entirely my fault), the consistency was good, even the chicken chunks weren't like a blob of fibers, the veg reconstitued nicely and it was very tasty, better than some fresher options I have tried from supermarkets. Lovely coconut scent, just enough heat to make it pleasant and some nice background flavours of various thai spices.
Thumb's up if weight is an issue.
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Glad you liked it, MLS 😉
I will require a wee write-up of the meal from you to post on to this blog, mate.
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Terry – just an update on my weird diet requirements.( see my comments 29th Sept) I e mailed Alison and she came back to me the next morning. We had a chat on the phone today and she is going to email me some suggestions. Looks like I need to take a min of 10 meals and I guess that is not too bad, considering the short run. Always good to hear from companies who go the extra mile 🙂
Thanks Terry for the contact.
I will let you know in due course.
Mark
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@Markswalkingblog – Excellent. I told you they'd be helpful.
It's nice to hear and it just goes to show how places like this and more can help further raise awareness of any small company with what they have to offer.
I certainly don't imagine any of the well known media outlets taking any notice – but they may well do, now!
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If you want to be prepared you need to stock up on freeze dried food.
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