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Ingredient Sourcing

Trailtopia takes ingredient sourcing very seriously and a lot of effort goes into selecting the right ingredients to make our products. We use a combination of Freeze Dried and Air Dried (Dehydrated) ingredients for the right balance of flavor, rehydration time, quality and cost.

Most of the Fruits,Vegetables and Meats that we use in our products are Freeze Dried.

So Why Freeze Dried?

Freeze Dried ingredients hold their nutrition, color, shape and texture better than Air Dried (Dehydrated) ingredients. Freeze Dried ingredients rehydrate much faster (in 10 minutes of less with hot water) than Air Dried ingredients which can take 20 minutes or longer, and some Air Dried ingredients must be simmered for 20 - 30 minutes to fully rehydrate. Freeze Dried ingredients are lightweight, 70 - 90 percent lighter than the original weight.

How are Freeze Dried ingredients made?

Simply put, freeze-drying is the removal of water from a frozen product using a process called sublimation. Sublimation occurs when a frozen liquid transforms directly to a gaseous state without passing back through the liquid phase. The process of freeze-drying consists of three phases: prefreezing, primary drying, and secondary drying.

Prefreezing:
Freeze dried food must first be prefrozen at very low temperatures for all the components in the food to be completely frozen.

Primary Drying:
The frozen food is placed in a vacuum chamber that regulates temperature and pressure to remove most of the water through sublimation.

Secondary Drying:
After primary drying, all ice has sublimated but some liquid is still present in the product. Continued drying is necessary to remove the remaining water.

Once you’ve finished a delicious Trailtopia meal, you are left with an empty pouch. While you could view this pouch as useless trash that’s lacking in further utility, that would be a waste of your own creativity! One way or another you are going to be carrying this pouch with you, so you might as well repurpose it. Need some suggestions for giving your food pouch a second life? Here are a couple fun/creative/questionably useful suggestions!

1. A dry bag: When resealed, an empty meal pouch turns into a relatively functional dry bag. Its about as ultralight as it gets (less than 1oz), it’s resealing capabilities are surprisingly strong (just don’t jump up and down on it), and can be ideal for storing things like tinder (that you might not want to store in a thin/more expensive/less “poke proof” dry bag).

2. A mug: Need an extra container for a little late night coco or early morning coffee? Pouches are designed to hold high temps, and the sides provide handles that won’t be flaming hot. Sure it might not make the most pristine and instagramable shot, but it’ll do in a pinch!

3. Pillow: Lower your expectations for this one, but an inflated pouch can create a serviceable pillow. Seal the pouch with as much air as possible, and then wrap a shirt or fleece around it. While this seems like an obvious statement, anything going into your tent (that once contained food) should be as clean as a whistle before getting anywhere near your sleeping area. In bear country? You should probably just pass on this one…

4. Stashing berries: When there are blueberries/raspberries/strawberries/serviceberries/cloudberries/etc.. around, suddenly you will find yourself in need of an unexpected additional container! Bust out an empty pouch and forage away. Want to make a trail jam? Seal the pouch, and smush the pouch between your hands. JAM!  

5. Trash bag: Maybe this one is too obvious to mention, but empty pouches also double as wonderful and resealable trash bags. Keep one/two for your general trash, and then keep one handy while you hike so that you can pick up the “microtrash” that you find along the trail. Dinner pouch for the big stuff, breakfast/oatmeal pouch for the little stuff. 

6. Hot water bottle: Chilly night? Cold feet? Fill up an empty pouch with hot water and tuck in under your puffy of in your sleeping bag. Attempt with caution. While our pouches do reseal nicely, they aren’t invincible, and could create an unhappy and wet camper if rolled upon or stepped on. 

7. Mini washing machine: Got some small clothing items that need a wash? Put them in the pouch, fill it up with water and biodegradable soap if you are so inclined (making sure to follow proper LNT protocols), and shake it like a polaroid picture. 

All of these additional uses (other than using it as a trash bag) are best accomplished once you’ve thoroughly cleaned the pouch and removed all traces of food. While we wouldn’t object to a little pesto pasta in our hot coco, your makeshift pillow could turn into bear bait awfully quickly if some Jambalaya is still wafting about. Long story short, an empty meal pouch is essentially an ultralight and waterproof container. Get creative!

Add your ideas and uses to the comment section below!