Eggs?

I did a search for dehydrated eggs. Came up empty, but I'm sure someone can answer this for me.

First let me say that I can eat almost anything, something I learned in the field during a career in the military.

The only thing I've never found, though, even with all the "gourmet" dehydrated foods from specialty "camp chefs", is a dehydrated version of scrambled eggs. I love them (scrambled eggs), and could eat them in the morning, or for dinner, afther the gear's put away, but truly, the few I've found are just disgusting, even for me, a true human garbage disposal.

Let me say I won't carry real eggs. Mainly I just heat water, pour in pouch and eat. Pack out pouch, wash spork, fin.

Has anyone found dehydrated scrambled eggs that don't turn into either a gross watery mess, or a yellowish hunk of concrete?

Thanks,

J.

Most the major dehydrated brands make a egg dish. Surprisingly I think dehydrated eggs taste pretty good.

I personally dislike eggs and never eat them. However, Packit Gourmet does dried meals (and bulk foods) so well that I urge you to check out their site. Examples of their egg dishes: Here , here and here.

Let me say I won't carry real eggs. Mainly I just heat water, pour in pouch and eat.

This may not appeal to you, but I'll mention the possibility of soft-boiling real eggs, which only requires the heating of water and a fairly brief boiling time -- about 3 to 3.5 minutes. This approach is almost as simple as the boiling water poured into a bag method you mentioned, while being far cheaper than any freeze-dried eggs you could find. Clean-up is easy, too, if you eat the eggs right out of their shells with a spoon.

Egg shells should be packed out, but any dehydrated eggs you bring will have packaging, too.

I don't think there's any such thing as dehydrated eggs. I believe they are all freeze-dried. I've never seen freeze dried eggs that tasted good, or even remotely like eggs.

Powdered eggs have been around since WWII at least, so they predate freeze-drying technology. You could add water and make them as scrambled eggs, which I have done on the trail. They were ok. Not great, but not inedible. Not much like fresh eggs though. I haven't seen them sold recently, but some research should turn up a source, because they're still used as ingredient in things like cake mixes.

Thanks, Aimless.
But I don't want to be carrying raw eggs around. I can hard boil eggs at home and carry them, and they'll last for days, but I had scrambled eggs in mind. Love them for breakfast and lunch. Do them while car camping, but anything on the trail, well I just carry water to pour in dehydrated pouches. I found some from another post, but they require that you bring your own boiling bag, or add water and cook in frying pan, etc.

I've never found any of it "swallowable" (is that a word?), o.k. palatable, how's that?

Was just hoping I could find some decent scrambled eggs that I could rehydrate.

Thanks,
J.
P.S. can anyone tell me why my posts are automatically center-aligned? A setting or something?

Interesting! Your posts show up as left-aligned on my iMac!

I was speaking of scrambled eggs.

The egg mixes all need cooking, and don't taste good either. Or at least not the ones i've tried.

I take boiled eggs, or well packed raw eggs, which will actually keep pretty well for a few days if not stored at high temps.

This! I tried the Mountain House freeze-dried egg at home, and it was okay. I will not eat it again. I tried a powder Denver omelettes and it was awful! Never again.

http://www.nutriom.com/ Otherwise known as OvaEasy, made here in Washington State. They are the best out there.
http://www.packitgourmet.com/OvaEasyEggMix.html

You can make them in a bag, simmered in a pot of water, you can steam bake them in a silicone muffin liner and so on.....

"Powdered eggs have been around since WWII."

Yeah, I think I ate some of those WWII eggs - unfortunately, it was during basic training in the early 70's.

If your eggs are not up to snuff, you just need more hot sauce. [/i]Viva huevos rancheros!![i]

The last time, and first time, I had dehydrated eggs was in 95 when I was a boyscout at Philmont. There is a reason I haven't eaten them since. In 96, I moved to Seattle and went on a trip with a couple of friends. We made scrambled eggs and hashbrowns at home, then put them in vacuum sealed bags, and used boiling water to reheat them at camp. This was before I knew about freezer bag cooking.
You can also cook an egg in a plastic bag. Get a pot of boiling water, crack an egg into a freezerbag, squish it around to scramble it, then put the bag in the water. It will cook up nicely. Of course, do it at home first, to get the hang of it. I put seasoning in the bag as well (onions, pepper, etc).

For this last method, you want the special boil-in-bags, not freezer bags. The latter aren't designed for use in boiling water (note that for Freezer Bag "Cooking" the water is a bit below boiling by the time you remove it from the stove and pour it into the food).

Bad outcomes when cooking FD eggs are usually due to using insufficient water when rehydrating, or improper cooking. FD eggs actually are quite touchy and difficult to cook. I think the packets that you just add water are a lot easier. Take some real cheese and summer sausage to add to the eggs and they will taste much better. If you add salty stuff be sure to get eggs that have not already been salted. I think they taste OK (even if not like the real thing) but I really do not like cooking them - too much mess!

Well, I found some at Hawks Vittles. I've tried several meals from him, and received another batch today, with two breakfast "egg" meals.
This is dehydrated, just add boiling water, put bag into thermal "snuggie" and wait, like all other freezze dried food.

His meals are really good for FD, so I'm hoping the breakfast meals I ordered with egg are at least pleasant, if not great.

J.

I didn't know there are special bags. I have always used freezer bags. I will have to look for the special ones.

Two more ideas for you:

For small portions,cooking in a plastic baby bottle liner can work.

I carry my dehydrated/freeze-dried meals in repurposed mylar snack bags. I find they not only stand up to the boil-and-dump meals but also hold up to having that food heated in the bag, in boiling water. I do usually iron the bottom of the bag in case it has developed a leak when opened the first time.

FinallyMe....I emailed the guy that owns Hawks Vittles, about the bag issue. He is a retired professional chef and a backpacker, who said he started his freeze dried meals for backpackers at the urging of friends...So I guess he has at least some credentials. I wanted to know about leaching chemicals vs. freezing bags..etc and the issues surrounding this.
This is greek to me, but maybe someone else here knows: He stated in a reply email that he uses "Suise Vide" bags, which are specially made for cooking in, with no chemical interaction.
I don't know if that (Suise Vide) is a type, a brand name or what, but I guess there are special bags for cooking in, at least according to him....

J

I believe the word is French and means boil in bag - it is a style of cooking. -- oops, it is French but means under vacuum

The bags I buy for my vacuum packer are labled as usable in that type of cooking - aka boil in the bag.

I'll see if I can find a link online. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide

I believe the zip lock style freezer bags release "bad" for us chemicals when boiled.

All plastic releases chemicals into the near environment as well as adsorbing same from near as well. You can easily test this on your own using your sense of taste. What is coming out depends upon how old it is (as well as the type of plastic). I think it is better to match the plastic to the purpose that closely matches what it was made for like Reynolds cooking bags.

In my mind, there are two kinds of food; food for sustenance alone (most store bought energy bars fall into this category for many people), and food for enjoyment and sustenance. For myself, freeze dried eggs always need something added to them. In fact the more added the better. Plain fd eggs is sustenance, but make a Denver omelet out of them and I start liking 'em. Like Oldranger said...need more hot sauce!

Actually, all Food Vac bags are is THICKER MIL than freezer bags, which are thicker than sandwich bags. They are ALL made of the same plastic, folks! Food Vac bags, which are what is used in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide method, wether or not they are called vac bags. The key is that they are thick and rated for submerging in simmering water. Freezer bags are thinner, so shouldn't be submerged in boiling water - they can soften.
All are rated for use in microwaves, opened, as well.

The food vac bags are nylon lined with the same ol' PTFE plastic.

can't speak for all manuacturers, but Ziploc food bags are made of polyethylene (LDPE. HDPE) and their vacuum freezer bags are laminated with Polyethylene teraphthalate (PET, Polyester, "mylar") for extra strength. No nylon, no polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)