Our Story
How This Started
I’m Jenny. I started Frontier Pantry because I couldn’t believe that shitty dehydrated meals cost 15 bucks in stores like REI and Bass Pro. No flavor. No texture. Nothing. Just a hot mess in the form of a few calories. Barry, my other half, has been working in kitchens since he was 14. I’ve been in the food service world since I was 15, which included culinary
training in hotel school.
We both love to cook great meals, which is probably why our friends keep coming back 😉.
The Kodiak Moment
The dehydrated food journey really started when Barry planned a hunting trip with our friend Ed – middle of nowhere, Kodiak Island, Alaska. And I refused to pay $30+ per day for shitty food for him. On top of that, he needed gluten-free options…which aren’t easy to find. So I went on a mission and remembered the time we walked into our friend’s house and she said, “Sorry, the whole house smells like chili…we’re dehydrating some for our hunting trip.” And I was like — damnit, I can just make dehydrated meals at home.
The Rabbit Hole
I watched a ton of YouTube videos. The, I started throwing food in the dehydrator — chili, pad thai, bolognese, curry. I tweaked recipes, read blogs, taste-tested, watched even more videos…
and eventually got something that was
actually really good.
Barry and I spent a whole weekend just rehydrating meals, dialing in ratios, adjusting spices, and putting everything into a spreadsheet. That’s when Frontier Pantry was born.
When It Became Real
At that point, it stopped being just a fun experiment. Friends started asking for meals.
And we were like…
okay, maybe there’s actually something here.
We love to cook, we know what good food
should taste like -
spoiler alert: we actually use salt.
Salt is the secret ingredient! Yes, salt is delicious and good for you and your body needs it. So you will never, ever find a low-sodium meal on this website.
Ever.
What We’re Doing
We don’t want to overcomplicate it -
just good meals, done right. Not something you force yourself to choke down.
We’re still figuring things out, testing, tweaking, and improving step by step.
Not 100% dialed yet —
but that’s kind of the fun part.
Jenny & Barry