Strive Food?

Food topics, including recipes.

Re: Strive Foods

Postby corvus » Sat 16 Apr, 2011 5:54 pm

Thanks for that d,
I have emailed them regarding their "beef" TVP or not ? that will determine whether I buy any.
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Re: Strive Foods

Postby shazcol » Sat 16 Apr, 2011 8:31 pm

Hi Corvus,
We had their Spag Bog on a recent trip to Pine Valley and it was great, very tasty and a huge serve. The meat was 80% Australian lean beef and TVP. We also bought a Creamy Vegetable Pasta but unfortunately it contains HVP which I'm sure is MSG which gives me a monster a headache so we didn't eat it. Luckily we had a spare meal with us. We are planning to do our first overland trip in June and will get the spag bog again but will be checking ingredients carefully before we buy any other meals.

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Re: Strive Foods

Postby corvus » Sat 16 Apr, 2011 10:18 pm

Sharon ,
Thanks for that info and interesting to read about HVP and what it is ,will have to check out the contents of all packaged foods now .
Backcountry Spag Bol contains HVP and it is amazing how many other packaged foods contain it in one form be it derived from corn or soy.
Guess I will be dusting off the Dehydrator and doing my own meals again where I have control of the amount of MSG I put in :lol:
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Son of a Beach » Fri 06 Jan, 2012 2:15 pm

More than 3 years after initially posting this topic, I've finally got hold of some Strive Food products to try out. Well, more than just try out. I've just received 13 double sized main course packages and 1 double sized desert package.

As far as I can tell just from looking, the pasta, lentils, and such like in some of them are not cooked-then-dehydrated, so I guess that's why they require a substantial amount of simmer time, as others have already stated. The vegies all look a lot like the vegetables I sometimes dehydrate myself at home.

They look like they should be good - here's hoping. Actually, they'd BETTER be good, because I'll be dependent on them for 2 weeks! :-)

Strive Food.JPG
Just received these 14 double sized Strive Food packages in the mail.
Strive Food.JPG (175.85 KiB) Viewed 49205 times


NB: I'm hoping that Strive Food will eventually become a site advertiser, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. However, advertiser or not, I've been wanting to try out their food for more than 3 years, and will likely write up a (hopefully) unbiased report on the products afterwards.
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Strive Food?

Postby Malbena » Fri 06 Jan, 2012 6:26 pm

Make sure you read their new cooking instructions if they haven't updated the packaging. Rather than simmer for X minutes, they say you can bring to the boil, sit, covered off the heat for the same time, then return to boil and serve. This will save substantially on fuel.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Strider » Fri 06 Jan, 2012 7:34 pm

To those that have tried these, are the single serves enough? Or is a double a better sized meal?
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Strive Food?

Postby Maelgwn » Fri 06 Jan, 2012 8:19 pm

Strider wrote:To those that have tried these, are the single serves enough? Or is a double a better sized meal?



Single is just enough for me as long as I have soup with a wrap or similar before the meal. Serving sizes ate pretty reasonable.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Strider » Fri 06 Jan, 2012 8:42 pm

Maelgwn wrote:
Strider wrote:To those that have tried these, are the single serves enough? Or is a double a better sized meal?



Single is just enough for me as long as I have soup with a wrap or similar before the meal. Serving sizes ate pretty reasonable.

Thanks :)
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Strive Food?

Postby Son of a Beach » Sat 07 Jan, 2012 2:43 pm

I might have to save left overs for lunches the following days, or share with other people every second night. Or just eat like a horse.

Thanks for the advice on the alternative fuel saving cooking method. I just bought six gas canisters this morning. Hopefully I won't need them all.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Miyata610 » Sun 08 Jan, 2012 3:03 pm

I'd like to try these, mainly to support a Tasmanian business, but I have a preference for the "no wash" technique of adding boiling water to the bag - wrap in beanie - wait twenty minutes - eat out of bag. Will this method work?
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Strider » Sun 08 Jan, 2012 4:06 pm

Miyata610 wrote:I'd like to try these, mainly to support a Tasmanian business, but I have a preference for the "no wash" technique of adding boiling water to the bag - wrap in beanie - wait twenty minutes - eat out of bag. Will this method work?

Suggest sending them an email direct:

sales@strivefood.com.au
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Son of a Beach » Mon 09 Jan, 2012 8:05 am

Son of a Beach wrote:I might have to save left overs for lunches the following days, or share with other people every second night. Or just eat like a horse.


Well, I just did my first ever white water rafting trip yesterday, as a practice for my big trip in a few weeks. It was a great day out, but I was soooo knackered at the end of it. I don't think I'll have much of a problem eating a double serve of this food each night, so long as I've still got enough energy to cook it.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Gusto » Wed 18 Jan, 2012 9:56 pm

We use these for work. I've probably ate about 30 meals in 2011. The double servings are VERY generous. More often than not we have left overs that people refuse to eat any more of. As a staff team of 3 we usually just use the one double serving with extra bread wraps/soups. When students cook in groups of 3 I would normally recommend that they just cook up a double serve on the first night as that would usually be enough. I've only had 5 or 6 flavours of it.

The daal is tasty but would be better with added vege. (Strive sell mixed dried vege. I'd think for a personal walker that these would be good to get aswell)
The laksa is good. The risottos and pastas are simple and reasonable. The Beef massaman does use beef, it's tasty, but texture is a little strange sometimes.

They don't have any meals without dairy in them. It would be great if they did.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Strider » Thu 19 Jan, 2012 3:17 pm

I ordered a few of these the other day. Looking forward to trying them :)
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Son of a Beach » Tue 14 Feb, 2012 2:09 pm

OK, I spent the last two weeks living off Strive Food for dinners, so I thought I should update this topic. Please note, however, that Strive Food adverts are about to appear on this site, so I may be unconciously biased, but will aim to be objective.

I used only double serve meals, and I found them too big for me. With most other brands I've used, a double serve would be about right. I still think that a single serve alone would be too small, and would need to be supplemented by some other snack or dessert. However, I'm led to believe that they will do custom sized meals depending on your requirements, so that could be the ideal solution (but I can't find any reference to that on the website after a quick look now). As it is, I usually gave my left overs away to others who had small single serves from other brands, and were still hungry.

This was a white water rafting trip, and being that the packaging looked tough, and should have been airtight and waterproof, I did not put them in a drybag. They survived very well, but after a few days of being dunked in the river, and crammed in and out of packs, the labels started coming off. By then, I'd got a good idea of how they all worked, anyhow, so I managed to cook them all about right.

I generally simmered them for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, then put a lid on, and turned off the stove, and let them sit for about 10 minutes. This seemed to work very well, and used less fuel than simmering for the full times recommended for each meal.

As with any brand of dried prepared meals, there are some that are better than others. Here's some of my personal opinions on the ones that I tried:
  • Vegatable Laksa - EXCELLENT! This was the favourite of all the packaged meals of all 3 brands that were brought on the rafting trip by all of the team members.
  • Pasta Bolognaise - EXCELLENT. Actually, I didn't get to try this one, but one of the other team members had all Strive Food for dinners as well, and he had 3 or four of these and always raved about them each time.
  • Creamy Vegetable Pasta - Very Good. I think it's all the cracked black pepper in this one that makes it so good.
  • Cheesy Corn and Vegetable Risotto - Good. Tasty and a good variety of ingredients makes it feel healthy and balanced.
  • Mushroom and Herb Risotto - OK. Not bad, but I liked the other risotto better.
  • Hearty Minestrone - OK.
  • Beef Massaman - OK. Not bad, but my own home cooked and dehydrated curries are better. I guess we know (and cook) what we like, when we're doing it ourselves.
  • Asian Chicken Noodle Broth - Not Good. Nobody in the group liked this one at all. It's not that it tasted bad in any way at all, it's just that it didn't taste much of anything. Needs more stock, or something else to give it more flavour.
  • Butterscotch Apples (dessert) - Not Good. Nice flavour, but also had too much of a powdered milk flavour in it (or something that has a similar taste/feel).

I didn't try their Lentil Curry (Dahl), because I do one of those myself at home that rehydrates almost instantly, and which is very tasty.

They have a variety of snacks and other meals available too, and I suppose that if you didn't want to think about organising food at all, and you didn't mind paying for it, you could just buy one of their 24 hour ration packs for each day of your walk, and not have to worry about anything else (they include all meals and snacks for a single day).
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Strider » Tue 14 Feb, 2012 3:45 pm

I tried the Pasta Bolognaise and Lentil Curry Dahl on the weekend - both were very good :)
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby TerraMer » Mon 28 May, 2012 6:56 pm

I have spent the last 12 days trying out 3 different trek food company's vegetarian options and have found Strive to be the best for flavour. It may take a bit longer to cook the pasta and rice but they really do taste better. (next trip I will be soaking the meals for an hour or two before cooking and hopefully that will use less fuel.)
Also found the other brands have a diminshing range of imported vegetarian options so Strive also have a good range.
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Strive Food?

Postby Son of a Beach » Mon 28 May, 2012 8:20 pm

I don't think soaking in cold water would help much, but I found that they cooked fine after simmering for only a short time, and then leave them soaking in the hot water for a while (with lid on). Cooked perfectly without using excessive fuel.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby TerraMer » Thu 31 May, 2012 8:52 pm

Son of a Beach wrote:I don't think soaking in cold water would help much, but I found that they cooked fine after simmering for only a short time, and then leave them soaking in the hot water for a while (with lid on). Cooked perfectly without using excessive fuel.

I'll try that :)
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Strider » Thu 31 May, 2012 9:29 pm

Son of a Beach wrote:I don't think soaking in cold water would help much, but I found that they cooked fine after simmering for only a short time, and then leave them soaking in the hot water for a while (with lid on). Cooked perfectly without using excessive fuel.

This is now a recommended cooking method on their website/products.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby corvus » Fri 01 Jun, 2012 7:14 pm

Strider wrote:
Son of a Beach wrote:I don't think soaking in cold water would help much, but I found that they cooked fine after simmering for only a short time, and then leave them soaking in the hot water for a while (with lid on). Cooked perfectly without using excessive fuel.

This is now a recommended cooking method on their website/products.


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This is how I read it from their site.

" Cooking Method 2:

This method allows you to use less fuel and requires you to add water to your meal and bring to the boil. Let the meal sit for the time specified on the packet and then bring back to the boil. It will be ready to eat."

In my experience with Freeze Dry and home Dehydrated meals I have always added boiling water for soaking never cold water :)
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby ULWalkingPhil » Tue 19 Jun, 2012 2:12 pm

I've decided to give Strive Food a try, ordered 4 of the Pasta Bolognaise, 1 Mountain Muesli and 2 Fruit Custard Crumble.

I'm going to try one of the Pasta Bolognaise this weekend on a overnight hike and the rest is for a 7 day hike next week.

I plan to use Method 2 in there cooking instructions to minimise fuel consumption.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby ULWalkingPhil » Wed 27 Jun, 2012 2:41 pm

I tried one of the Pasta Bolognaise yesterday on my Esbit Titanium stove. Am I reading the instructions correctly? Use 2 and a half cups of water? Tasted great, but was a bit to much liquid I thought.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Strider » Wed 27 Jun, 2012 5:57 pm

Phillipsart wrote:I tried one of the Pasta Bolognaise yesterday on my Esbit Titanium stove. Am I reading the instructions correctly? Use 2 and a half cups of water? Tasted great, but was a bit to much liquid I thought.

I spent nearly an hour one night at Lake Vera hut trying to boil the water off one of these. Gave up and ate it as the soup that it was. Tasted good at least!
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby ULWalkingPhil » Wed 27 Jun, 2012 6:18 pm

Strider wrote:
Phillipsart wrote:I tried one of the Pasta Bolognaise yesterday on my Esbit Titanium stove. Am I reading the instructions correctly? Use 2 and a half cups of water? Tasted great, but was a bit to much liquid I thought.

I spent nearly an hour one night at Lake Vera hut trying to boil the water off one of these. Gave up and ate it as the soup that it was. Tasted good at least!


I find it very unusual cooking method. Traditionally with Pasta, you cook, than drain the water and add the sauce. With Strive Food you don't drain the water. I've never seen pasta with so much liquid when It's served. I think it's way to much water. Next time I'll try cooking with less water. Pasta meals should not be saturated.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby peregrinator » Thu 28 Jun, 2012 1:06 pm

Phillipsart wrote:
Strider wrote:
Phillipsart wrote:I tried one of the Pasta Bolognaise yesterday on my Esbit Titanium stove. Am I reading the instructions correctly? Use 2 and a half cups of water? Tasted great, but was a bit to much liquid I thought.

I spent nearly an hour one night at Lake Vera hut trying to boil the water off one of these. Gave up and ate it as the soup that it was. Tasted good at least!


I find it very unusual cooking method. Traditionally with Pasta, you cook, than drain the water and add the sauce. With Strive Food you don't drain the water. I've never seen pasta with so much liquid when It's served. I think it's way to much water. Next time I'll try cooking with less water. Pasta meals should not be saturated.


For volume measurements there are "cups", English and "cups", American. Then there are "cups", whatever you have in your kit. Because I didn't know which "cup" Strive referred to in their instructions, I asked them and was told that one cup should equal 250ml. I've found this works well.

Note also that because Strive's components have been dehydrated, they absorb a lot of water. Therefore you can't compare this method with what you've described as a traditional method.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby ULWalkingPhil » Thu 28 Jun, 2012 3:47 pm

I found with 600ml it was to liquid. I'm going to try less water next time, which will have to wait till next week, when I am on my 7 day hike. I don't have any spares I can practise on.

Also seeing so many rave on about the Vegatable Laksa, I decided to order a few yesterday, which hopefully will turn up tomorrow just in time for my hike.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Strider » Thu 28 Jun, 2012 6:21 pm

peregrinator wrote:Note also that because Strive's components have been dehydrated, they absorb a lot of water.

Only the sauce is dehydrated. Pasta is uncooked.
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby Gusto » Sat 30 Jun, 2012 10:37 pm

The Minestrone is good. I'd stay away from the Chicken Noodle meal though
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Re: Strive Food?

Postby neilmny » Thu 14 Feb, 2013 6:59 pm

Well I'm really disappointed by the lack of customer service.
On the 2nd of Feb I sent a message to "sales" and "enquiries" at strivefood.com.au and there has been no response what so ever.
I recieved a bolognaise, a minestrone and a butterscotch apples about a week earlier. I stored them in the box they came in awaiting an
opportunity to try them out "in the field".
When examining them on the 2nd I found that the vacuum seal had broken on the bolognaise. At the time I thought the meat bits might have punctured the bag
and mentioned this in my email but it seems that the seal had just let go and the vacuum was lost.
Basically a throw away I have kept it should they want it back to look at but as I said they have not even acknowledged my emails.

I wasn't cheesed off but I am becoming fairly cheesed off. I would prefer that they just said tuff luck rather than just ignored the complaint.

Very poor customer service for what promised from all accounts to be a good product.
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