I was wondering why, and maybe what to do about, the fact that a lot of freeze dried meals seem to offer 2 portions of 220 calories as a dinner meal. At 6'3" 215lb doing 20 mile days I usually lose weight eating 3000 calories a day, so this meal for example is 14.7% of my daily need.

Are there any manufacturers that routinely add more? Is it common to JUST add olive oil into the mix to bump calories? Are there any other common and lasting (2 weeks+) additives to bump the count? I've used like parm cheese in the past, but parm is kind of oily itself, so adding parm AND oil is a bit much. I could just be eating another bar with dinner or something but then that feels like more monotony.

I think I might have to break down and buy a dehydrator and starting making some of the recipes from Laurie's books. I figure knowing more cal bumping options would be good though.

I made a batch of pemmican, added spices and salt, which I plan on using to add calories to meals. I'll let you know how this works for me later! ;)

Hi Michael,
I dehydrate my own, but mostly for taste and nutritional reasons. Home dehydrated meals are not any more calorie dense than the commercial ones (most of mine average 105-120 Kcal/oz), but you can make them as big as you like.

I always add ridiculous amounts of fat to mine when rehydrating them. I generally like a good dousing of olive oil, but this past winter, I was adding 1/4- 1/3 stick of butter to each meal and loving it.

Packit gourmet freeze dried sausage is another calorie dense ingredient (like 198 kcal/oz) I'll use to jack up the calories and taste in some meals.

When it seems like it will go well with the recipe, I'll throw a couple tablespoons nido (143kcal/oz)in too.

Other than that, I try to maximize my fat calories throughout the day by munching on macadamia nuts (206 kcal/oz), artisanal sausage/salami, and hard cheeses.

A tablespoon of sprouted ground flax adds 85 calories and is highly nutritious.

Fat, fat and more fat. And Parm and oil together IS tasty ;-)

Otherwise add nuts and seeds to everything.