Making a Mushroom Pot Pie Bulk Pack Go a Long Way

You might have missed it, but we have joined forces with the great team at Fernweh Food Company, a local backpacking food company (made in Portland, OR) to make some bulk meals. We all are very used to the disposable, one off, backpacking meal (add water and eat) but Fernweh were happy to work with us to reduce packaging and offer a bulk option of 5 meals that can work with the Buc bag.

* Please Note: we offer a Buc&Fernweh Kit where the Buc is 50% off

If you haven't heard about the Fernweh meals, let me tell you that those are not your standard backpacking meals: all the ingredients are fresh going in, vegan and gluten free (so a great base for many options), tasty and in a truly, hiker-hunger level, filling. Personally, with most backpacking meals I need to eat 2 servings to feel full, but not with Fernweh's, those are a true 1 hiker size serving.

Since I usually go hiking solo, I was trying to find ways to make the Mushroom Pot Pie bulk bag go in a variety of ways since sharing is not needed. Of course I can just take a single serving, stick it in a Buc (the lines match exactly for volume matching) and eat it as is, but I wanted more. When I was planning a long weekend trip of two nights, I was thinking that maybe I can just take one bulk pack and make it the main source of food. Of course, I also, like most, enjoy variety, so I wanted to make it into a multi meal options.

From there came the idea: 6 meals (2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners) from one bulk Mushroom Pot Pie and some additions. Yes, taking a 5 servings bag and make it into 6 meals. Actually, the servings are so big that I think it can be a 5 meals for a couple in a similar way. So below are my two options: 6 meals for 3 days for a hungry solo hiker or 5 meals for a couple. All recipes and amazing pictures and input from guinea pigs (the rest of the team) below.

At the very bottom of the post you will find a price breakdown of what we compiled. 

6 Meals, 3 Days Trip, For the Hungry Solo Backpacker

Lets start with some assumptions: you will probably have breakfast at home before heading to the trail head and pack a nice sandwich for the first day's lunch. This means you are looking at dinner day, 3 meals for day 2, breakfast and lunch for day 3 and then out to home.

The menu:

• Dinner day one: Lemon Tuna with Wasabi edamame (and Mushroom Pot Pie)
• Breakfast day two: Moroccan style sweet breakfast
• Lunch Day two: tacos with avocado (and Mushroom Pot Pie)
• Dinner day two: Pepper sausage with smoked almonds (and Mushroom Pot Pie)
• Breakfast day three: Eggs crumble (on Mushroom Pot Pie)
• Lunch day three: Cheesy Mushroom Pot Pie with tortilla chips

This all, of course, can be mixed in any way you choose.

Lemon Tuna with Wasabi edamame (and Mushroom Pot Pie)

Ingredients: 1 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, packet of Lemon Tuna, half handful of wasabi edamame (or peas).

Make the Mushroom Pot Pie as advised, when ready, just mix in the tuna and edamame and start chewing.

Moroccan style sweet breakfast

Ingredients: 1/2 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, half packet of raisins (snack size), 2 chopped medjool date (add to the raising box), snack pack of honey roasted almonds.

Add all the ingredients to your Buc, add water to cover and let soak for 15-20 minutes.

Avocado and Mushroom Pot Pie Tacos

Ingredients: 1/2 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, 1 small avocado, 2 medium size flower tortillas

Make the Mushroom Pot Pie as advised, when ready, split into each taco and then add 1/2 of avocado to each taco. Can add or replace avocado with sour cream packets and add taco seasoning.

Pepper sausage with smoked almonds

Ingredients: 1 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, pepper sausage (shopped), snack pack smoked roasted almonds

Make the Mushroom Pot Pie as advised, when ready, just mix in the sausage and almonds and eat.

Eggs crumble (on Mushroom Pot Pie)

Ingredients: 1 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, 3 spoons of eggs crystals (freeze dried eggs) in a small ziplock

Add 3 spoons of cold water to the eggs powder and mix well, put the bag in the pot of boiling water for the Mushroom Pot Pie until stable. Make the Mushroom Pot Pie as needed and add the egg crumble to it.

Cheesy Mushroom Pot Pie with tortilla chips

Ingredients: 1 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, snack size of cheddar cheese cubes, handful or tortilla chips (crushed)

Add cheese to the Mushroom Pot Pie in your, add water to cover and let sit for 20 minutes. When ready, add the crushed tortillas and enjoy.

5 Meals, 3 Days Trip, For the Two Backpackers

Alternately, the meal plan above can easily become a two people kit, making it a very affordable option for a couple heading out for the weekend. Since the Fernweh meals have such big portions, a slight adjustment of the extra ingredients along with cutting one meal is all you need.

The menu:

• Dinner day one: Pepper sausage with smoked almonds (and Mushroom Pot Pie)
• Breakfast day two: Moroccan style sweet breakfast
• Lunch Day two: tacos with avocado (and Mushroom Pot Pie)
• Dinner day two: Cheesy Mushroom Pot Pie with tortilla chips
• Breakfast day three: Eggs crumble (on Mushroom Pot Pie)

This all, of course, can be mixed in any way you choose.

Pepper sausage with smoked almonds

Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, 2x pepper sausage (shopped), 2x snack pack smoked roasted almonds

Make the Mushroom Pot Pie as advised, when ready, just mix in the sausage and almonds and eat.

Moroccan style sweet breakfast

Ingredients: 1/2 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, 1 packet of raisins (snack size), 3 chopped medjool date, 2x snack pack of honey roasted almonds.

Add all the ingredients to your Buc, add water to cover and let soak for 15-20 minutes.

Avocado and Mushroom Pot Pie Tacos

Ingredients: 1/2 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, 1 small avocado, 4 medium size flower tortillas, 1 sour cream in a bag

Make the Mushroom Pot Pie as advised, when ready, split into each taco and then add 1/4 of avocado to each taco. Add sour cream packets and can add taco seasoning.

Cheesy Mushroom Pot Pie with tortilla chips

Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie, 2x snack size of cheddar cheese cubes, 2 handfuls or tortilla chips, about a snack ziplock bag full (crushed)

Add cheese to the Mushroom Pot Pie in your, add water to cover and let sit for 20 minutes. When ready, add the crushed tortillas and enjoy.

Eggs crumble (on Mushroom Pot Pie)

Ingredients: 1 serving of Mushroom Pot Pie,5 spoons of eggs crystals (freeze dried eggs) in a small ziplock

Add 5 spoons of cold water to the eggs powder and mix well, put the bag in the pot of boiling water for the Mushroom Pot Pie until stable. Make the Mushroom Pot Pie as needed and add the egg crumble to it.

A note about Egg Powder

Egg powder is an odd product for many and when I made the testing menu of the above meals to our team, most have never seen nor heard about eggs powder. I've been using egg powder for years, mainly since it is my son's favorite food (the real ones), so eggs in the backcountry are a must for him.

I'm using OvaEasy Egg Crystals which are made from, well, eggs, and only eggs. It comes in a powder that you mix with water (1 to 1 ratio) and then cook like regular eggs. If you are not a pan user but only boil water for your meals, like me, you can make the liquid egg mix in a small zip-lock bag and just submerge it (closed!) in boiling water for 20-30 seconds. You will get a great egg that is between hard boiled and scrambled. 

Costs, is this solution really better?

Time to talk money, because as great, healthy and filling as all this food is, if it's going to cost and arm and a leg it is just not going to work.

The total for all of the ingredients is $90.51, which is not cheap, but many of the ingredients come in multi packs, so the cost for the meals is much less.

The 6 meals single hiker food costs $67.54, making each meal on average $11.25, cheaper than the usual $13ish per meal of nice backcountry meals. Some companies do offer $10 (or even $8.5) meals, but I find that they both are not enough and you always need 2 at dinner time, and give you the hiker "runs" after a day or two of them.

For the couple, this deal is very, very good. Again, all the ingredients were $90.51, but the actual meals are $14.87 per meal (for a couple!), this makes it a $7.44 per person per meal. For $74.39, a couple can eat in luxury for a whole weekend in the backcountry, this is cheap even for some date nights...

The real benefit of building meals this way, is the quality of ingredients. You can pick and mix item as you want and also decide to have Tacos for dinner and Cheesy PotPie for breakfast, the caloric intake is big enough either way. 

A few reviews from tasters (aka, the warehouse team..)

Emily on the Lemon Tuna and Mushroom PotPie:

I'm a big fan of tuna/salmon pouches for backpacking already, so this option made sense to me, in an easily imagined "Let's mix it up" + "I've got this random pouch of tuna left on Day 5" situation.

Admittedly, I would've made some personal adjustments. If you prefer plain-Jane tuna like me, bring along a lemon juice packet (or just a little seasoning salt) for a toned-down version. And I would have gone with another kind of seed/nut (maybe pepitas or pistachios, since I have a mostly-just-annoying soy allergy) but I took one for the team and the crunch factor and non-overwhelming flavors of this combo was excellent.

Devo on the Cheesy Tortilla Potpie

All you need after a long day of hiking through the woods! It's got cheese, crunchy bits and a really tasty base!
So good I would willingly eat this in the comfort of my home.

Nathan on the Tortilla & egg with Fernweh Mushroom Pot Pie

First off, the Mushroom Pot Pie from Fernweh foods is one of the best warm meals I’ve had out in the woods. It is delicious all by itself. 

One way to spice it up is to add some rehydrated egg crystals to it and wrap it all in a delicious, carb-filled tortilla. Saving a couple of bites of the previous evening's dinner of Mushroom Pot Pie for morning breakfast is a perfect way to get going in the morning. A couple of spoonfuls of the Mushroom Pot Pie - reheated and mixed with re-hydrated eggs, then wrapped in a tortilla provides the perfect warm, yet portable breakfast. No more cold bars for breakfast! 

I can’t think of a better way to start a day on the trail.