Thrive Freeze Dried Potato Dices - Good!

[HOOP]

I just received my first shipment of Thrive freeze dried (FD) foods from Bridens Solutions Canada. http://www.bridensolutions.ca/
I ordered # 10 cans of FD: potato dices, onions, green onions, TVP "bacon" bits, and raspberries. It arrived in 4 days after internet purchase - Impressive.....But....they have not returned my voicemail nor email yet about consultant (broker) services for getting the elusive Thrive meat products (sausage crumbles) and egg products that they have to get from the States. So I am reserving judgement on their customer service for now (maybe Bridens staff are out canoe tripping right now, in which case I cut them some slack ).

My main objective was to experiment with the potato dices, as I do not have any potato components to my various dehydrated meals, and I was really hoping to develop a fried hash brown component to my excellent OvaEasy eggs and olive oil breakfast fry-up. My requirements for dehydrated or freeze dried food is that I cannot tolerate any long pre-soak time to rehydrate, nor have to carry extra containers for pre-soaking. I don't do that on my trips. It must rehydrate as its cooking in the pot (e.g. my home dehydrated flaked chicken rehydrates in the same pot on simmer as does rice, so it fits my criteria), or in a bowl in 2-3 minutes.

http://www.bridensolutions.ca/potato-dices-freeze-dried-thrive-10-can

I am happy to report that the Thrive FD potato dices met all my requirements and work very well for hash browns with the OE eggs. Rehydration was an amazing 2-3 minutes before going into the fry pan. No overnight soaking, no simmering for excessive time in a water slurry. In fact I found that rehydrating with cold water works better in 2-3 minutes than the warm water they recommend on the label. The cold water rehydration seems to keep the dices firmer in my trials so far.

My best breakfast eggs and hash browns test recipe so far:

Add the following to a bowl:
- 5 teaspoons of Thrive FD potato dices
- 1/2 teaspoon Thrive FD onions
- 1 teaspoon of Thrive FD green onions

Add cold or room temp water to just flood it completely so that the water comes to the top of the mix, and let it sit 2-3 minutes. Don't worry about having too much water, as long as you just flood the mix to the top of it, the process will reduce or absorb any excess water.
Meanwhile get a frypan with generous amount of olive oil starting to heat, and sip your first hot coffee of the morning.
After 2-3 minutes, add mix to frypan and oil and sauté. Turn a few times with spatula.

In the same bowl, add 4 heaping teaspoons (or whatever portion you want) of OvaEasy eggs, and add COLD (not hot) water and stir to mix. With OE eggs you don’t have to worry too much about adding too much water, just get it to dissolve the crystals thoroughly and to a medium pouring consistency. If it's a tad watery don't worry, the frying process with work wonders with OE eggs.

If you want, add Thrive TVP "bacon" bits. In my experiments I have been adding a teaspoon to the eggs mix, and it adds wonderful texture, colour and flavour, so I like them.
(I know, I know, its fake bacon unworthy of the sacred "bacon" name. But with all my experience with black and grizzly bears, I have learned its not good for me to carry fresh or dried real bacon, because its just too aromatic and it will smell up the whole barrel, and cooking bacon has been known to attract bears frequently, so I only cook real bacon on winter camps, never summer. I travel solo and have no group deterrent. Bear sees me alone and smells bacon, and its just not a good scenario. When traveling solo in bear season, my advice is don't advertize to the bears with carrying or cooking real bacon, because bacon as we all know, is irresistible.)

Pour OE eggs into sizzling pan of potatoes and onions.
Fry up and sauté as desired. I sprinkle Club House "Tex-Mex" seasoning into the frying goodness, and this herb and spice and salt mix totally makes it.

The whole prep and frying process takes maybe 10 minutes with practice. For clean up you have 1 bowl, 1 teaspoon, spatch and fry pan.

You almost cannot have too much olive oil. I find OE eggs and Thrive potatoes soak up just about all the oil you can give them, fueling your bio-furnace for serious paddling or portaging for the morning. mmmmm

This was one of my holy grail breakfast recipe objectives of eggs + hash browns that has now been realized. In various experiments I have tried to dehydrate pre-cooked frozen hash browns (patties, cubes), but they seem to take forever to rehydrate, and its too much time for a morning. These various frozen hash browns also ooze out gobs of undesirable oil products for my tastes (e.g. corn oil, canola oil, mystery oil, etc). I want olive oil, I use olive oil.

So Thrive FD potato dices are now a staple in my menu planning. The FD onions and green onions also are amazing for quick rehydration, right in the pan. I may replace my dehydrated onions from the bulk food store with the Thrive FD versions.

My next experiments with the FD potato dices will be in one pot meals for dinner, diversifying my current carb staples of rice and pasta. And I am still trying with Bridens to see if they can get me the Thrive FD sausage crumbles which I plan to add to the breakfast eggs and hash browns.

 

[wgiles]

Do you not have Hungry Jack dry hash browns in Canada? I've used them in breakfasts. I have taken the dried hash browns and browned them slightly in oil before prepackaging them with eggs, bacon and bell pepper. My goal was to make something that could be rehydrated with boiling water and eaten and it was OK. I worked out the serving sizes and water volumes for each batch and vacuum bagged the individual meals. I don't see any reason that you couldn't rehydrate the hash browns and cook them. Just a suggestion, I don't see anything wrong with what you have done. It's just easier for me to get the Hungry Jack Hash Browns at the store.

 

[HOOP]

Do you not have Hungry Jack dry hash browns in Canada? I've used them in breakfasts. I have taken the dried hash browns and browned them slightly in oil before prepackaging them with eggs, bacon and bell pepper. My goal was to make something that could be rehydrated with boiling water and eaten and it was OK. I worked out the serving sizes and water volumes for each batch and vacuum bagged the individual meals. I don't see any reason that you couldn't rehydrate the hash browns and cook them. Just a suggestion, I don't see anything wrong with what you have done. It's just easier for me to get the Hungry Jack Hash Browns at the store.

Thanks Wgiles. Those Hungry Jack dry hash browns sure look good, but I have never seen them in Canada in my travels (they may exist in Costco stores, but we don't have a Costco anywhere near where I live). Their website does not list any Canadian grocery chains that I recognize, and it appears they do not do mail order from the internet? However their website instructions say to rehydrate with hot water for 12 minutes. That's a long time in the morning to heat water then soak something.

The only grocery store hash browns we have here are frozen. As I mentioned, I have tried dehydrating several of these, and they ooze oils that are not my preference (corn, soy, canola, mystery oils). The dehydrated bits get quite hard and they take too long to rehydrate with my cooking system in the morning, and I will not be soaking them overnight in an extra container. The freeze dried Thrive potato dices with their 2-3 minute cold soak time are just what I was looking for. I hope Hungry Jack will start retailing in Canada. I like the shredded bits better than the cube dices for hash browns.

 

[redoleary]

I just returned from a trip to Algonquin and we tried for the first time some Ovaeasy eggs with Harmony House dehydrated potatoes, onions, and green peppers. Even tried the shelf stable bacon.... what a treat after a few days! I'm a little on the fence about the dehydrated potatoes, but the onions and green peppers were great, the potatoes were neither bad nor particularly good, they just were. They made a nice filler tho'. We used coconut oil as our oil of choice instead of olive, but that's just personal preference I doubt it makes any difference.

Is Thrive a subscription based buying club or can anyone buy the stuff?

 

[HOOP]

Is Thrive a subscription based buying club or can anyone buy the stuff?

I don't know about Thrive main website. I bought through Bridens Solutions Canada, which they say is a "consultant" (broker) for Thrive in Canada. http://www.bridensolutions.ca/
Bridens has their own website with the Thrive line that they carry. No memberships, no password or anything, I simply bought items direct like a normal website, in Canadian dollars, listed online in Canadian dollars so there are no surprises.......

BUT.....there are several other Thrive brand items that Bridens does not carry, and you have to call them or email them to arrange a shipment from the warehouse in the States. Click on FOOD and it opens up the menu, and you can see the special "US Shipped" category. Go to the details on this and this category of food requires a minimum bulk order, unlike the regular Canadian stocked....and this category is listed in US dollars . I was really looking at the freeze dried "sausage crumbles" to add into my fried breakfasts, but these are in that US shipped category. I left a voicemail with Bridens, and they returned my call on my voicemail machine today. So when we get the phone tag solved, I will report back on how the US shipping thing works. It is in US dollars, so the exchange right now is brutal, so I may hold off for a while, we'll see. I can make plenty of my own dried ground beef and dried flakes of chicken that keep me in protein.

 

[wgiles]

It's odd how some things that I'm so used to don't travel internationally. I would never have imagined that Hungry Jack Hash Browns, which I can find in practically every grocery store and supermarket, would not be available in Canada. We have any number of dried potato mixes to choose from, some of which are good, some I don't care for. What about Zatarain's? How can we survive without Red Beans & Rice or Jambalaya mix? Or Near East Couscous and Rice Pilaf. I often make my own mixes from scratch, but it is convenient to have these mixes available locally.

 

[Mama]

Do you not have Hungry Jack dry hash browns in Canada? I've used them in breakfasts. I have taken the dried hash browns and browned them slightly in oil before prepackaging them with eggs, bacon and bell pepper. My goal was to make something that could be rehydrated with boiling water and eaten and it was OK. I worked out the serving sizes and water volumes for each batch and vacuum bagged the individual meals. I don't see any reason that you couldn't rehydrate the hash browns and cook them. Just a suggestion, I don't see anything wrong with what you have done. It's just easier for me to get the Hungry Jack Hash Browns at the store.

Are you putting eggs in your food dehydrator? How do they come out? I love bringing those little cartons of dehydrated Hungry Jack canoe tripping, but wow, with bacon and eggs it sounds fantastic.

 

[wgiles]

No, I've been using commercially dried eggs, lately Ova Easy. Other than the eggs, everything comes from the local store. I do dehydrate the bell and chile peppers that I use. As long as you don't over hydrate the eggs, they come out OK. My standards for trekking food are not as high as my standards for home cooked. I value easy over great. I have recently resumed carrying a few hard boiled eggs, when the weather isn't too hot. Natures own packaging works very well, but I do use a hard case to keep from crushing them.

 

[Pbutkovich]

New people and all of these old posts start resurfacing. First of all for Thrive in Canada, you can find a Thrive representative in most communities. I found one here in Barrie. They can either order the products in for you or set you up with an account. I am about to order some chicken bits in the next week or two.
A sore topic for me is the Ova Easy eggs. As far as I know they have stopped importing them into Canada. My local sources can no longer get them. Any Canadian leads on where I could now buy them would be appreciated!