DIY Dehydrated Backpacking Meals

[JD]

Nick that looks good are you just cooking it in your kettle? Or just boil water and let sit?

 

[Nick]

Nick that looks good are you just cooking it in your kettle? Or just boil water and let sit?

Either works well enough. I don't seem to have to let it sit quite as long if I let it boil for a minute or so. I tried it this weekend and it was fantastic, especially with some cheese tossed in once it was ready to eat.

Before cooking:


After:

Dehydrators rule.

 

[JD]

Sweet looks like thats the way to go. Mostly Paleo might have to just work for the back country.

 

[Nick]

Sweet looks like thats the way to go. Mostly Paleo might have to just work for the back country.

Yeah, I figure it's not that bad given how much you're working off. The unstuffed peppers recipe I did is 100% paleo though and it's just as good.

 

[JD]

Thats good to know about the peppers. But your right about the working it off part and what your making is still way better for you than the bag crap.

 

[Nick]

Went hiking with a drclef this past weekend who opened my eyes to the joys of dehydrating sausage, jerky-style. It was seriously like crack. Trying it very, very soon.

 

[HomerJ]

Went hiking with a drclef this past weekend who opened my eyes to the joys of dehydrating sausage, jerky-style. It was seriously like crack. Trying it very, very soon.

You'll have to let us know how it turns out and post up the recipe if it's good!

 

[Nick]

I did the dehydrated sausage. It's tasty but has too much fat to be able to leave it unrefrigerated for long. The stuff drclef did was chicken sausage so it probably worked a lot better because of the low fat. But it was still pretty good to eat out of the cooler with my paleo egg salad while I was in Zion. Side note: if any of you paleo folk want to know how to make KILLER paleo mayonaise, let me know. Super easy and it's done in about 60 seconds. Hell, it's better than any mayo I've had off the shelf so I guess same goes for everyone else.

 

[Yvonne]

So far I'm not a real paleo but my diet is very similar to it. And I'm totally interested in your mayo recipe.

 

[Nick]

So far I'm not a real paleo but my diet is very similar to it. And I'm totally interested in your mayo recipe.

I filmed this last winter for another purpose. Good to finally put it to use.

Critical things to follow:
-Egg and all other ingredients should be at room temp (mustard can be cold)
-You can use a regular blender but it sucks and you have to dribble the oil in one drop at a time for about a minute before starting to pour faster. Well worth spending $15 on a stick blender.
-Regular olive oil could be used but then your mayo will taste like olive oil.

 

[nonameiwant]

What kind of dehydrater do you use?

 

[Nick]

What kind of dehydrater do you use?

I have a Nesco American Harvest. It's been great, no complaints.

 

[HomerJ]

I got the same one as nick (or nearly the same one) and it works great for me as well!

 

[Nick]

I did a big batch of eggs last night that worked out very well. This time I mixed a eggs, sausage, onions and mushrooms. I cooked them all up like an omelette and then immediately ran the mixture through a food chopper to get it into little pieces. I then put it onto the dehydrator sheets. I set it for 145˚ and let it go for 3 hours. After 3 hours, I carefully transferred the food on each dehydrator sheet onto the regular, perforated dehydrator trays. It was all kind of in a sheet at that point so it transferred well. I let it run another 4 hours and the result was perfect. I had to be careful not to let it break into pieces when removing it though.

 

[Joe]

I have never tried dehydrating before. My coworker (whom introduced me to Uinta fishing recently) brought some homemade beef jerkey in the other day that was better than any Jack Links, Samak, etc I've ever tasted. I think I'm ready to buy a dehydrator!

Nick, forgive my ignorance... In the case of your dehydrated eggs above, do you just add water and heat, add boiling water ?? How do you prepare your campsite meal? It does look like a great lightweight way to backpack, and refrigeration isn't generally required.

 

[Nick]

I have never tried dehydrating before. My coworker (whom introduced me to Uinta fishing recently) brought some homemade beef jerkey in the other day that was better than any Jack Links, Samak, etc I've ever tasted. I think I'm ready to buy a dehydrator!

Nick, forgive my ignorance... In the case of your dehydrated eggs above, do you just add water and heat, add boiling water ?? How do you prepare your campsite meal? It does look like a great lightweight way to backpack, and refrigeration isn't generally required.

Hey Joe. DIY dehydrating is particularly useful for those that have funky dietary preferences/requirements like me. I don't like eating all the preservatives, sugar, gluten, etc. that come in most backpacking foods.

If you scan through the early posts in this thread, I think I cover how to re-constitute in the field, but here's the gist of it:

I weight each tray before dehydrating. Let's say it weighs 24 ounces going into the dehydrator. If it weights 8 ounces coming out, I just do the math and put back in that much water when I'm ready to eat it. So in that case, it lost 16 oz so 2 cups of water. I usually add the food and water together and let it boil for a couple of minutes but it also works to just pour boiling water into it like a freeze dried meal, it just takes a bit longer.

 

[Joe]

Thanks. I didn't think it would be as simple as figuring the weight differential. Makes sense, though. Main thing I've noticed with the ready packaged foods is their sodium content is often really high, not to mention they are seemingly expensive.

I'll look forward to trying some of your recipes!

 

[Yvonne]

nick , this looks fantastic. Definitely worth a try.
I guess in the next few weeks I'll give it a try to create my own dehydrated scrambled eggs. Not sure how much I will need but I should be able to make egg powder or something similar which I can just rehydrate an heat while on trail.

And thanks again for the mayo recipe and instructions, I did it a few weeks ago and it was fantastic. :twothumbs:

 

[Nick]

Warming up the dehydrator for the 2013 season today. Must be time to start backpacking! Stoked!!

 

[baltocharlie]

Sarah Kirkconnell has a site that has some great recipes and methods for preparing foods for backpacking. She also wrote a book recently. She is a frequent poster to backpackinglight. Lots of good info on her site.
http://www.trailcooking.com/