DIY Dehydrated Backpacking Meals

cpd said:
Hey Nick,

I've been trying to successfully dehydrate and rehydrate ground beef and chicken with little luck. It is always very tough after rehydrating. I saw some of your example dishes and it sounds like you are having no issue getting tender meat after rehydrating. I'm eager to know the secret here. Does the meat need to be in a sauce of some sort prior to dehydrating? Is it possible I'm dehydrating the meat too long? I'm simply out of ideas and would love any suggestions!
Click to expand...

I add bread crumbs to my ground beef before dehydrating....it rehydrates much better
 
cpd said:
@Nick, I tried ground beef and chicken that I chopped into small bits. In both cases, I got tough meat. I've had particularly bad results with the chicken. It just won't rehydrate. It's been really frustrating. That is why I want to try putting the meat or chicken in a sauce next. Maybe that will help.
Click to expand...

I read the secret to chicken is to use canned chicken...
 
Just thought I'd post an update on this thread aimed specifically at those on the hunt for paleo/gluten-free backpacking meals. I tried a new freeze dried product over the weekend from Paleo Meals To Go. It was beef stew, just add water like a Mountain House or Backpackers Pantry. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was, especially coming from such a small startup. Tons of meat with good seasoning and excellent texture. Pretty much like real meat, not that funky texture normally found on freeze dried meat. My only complaint was that the seasoning seemed a little inconsistent but it's tough to tell only eating it twice. I did a side by side comparison with Mountain House beef stew which probably made me like it even more. I'll be posting a full review on the product once I can test it more thoroughly, but thought I'd post this here for anyone who might stumble on it.

IMG_0621.jpg

Paleo Meals To Go Beef Stew ready to eat: (Yum!!!)
IMG_0625.jpg

Mountain House Beef Stew ready to eat: (meh...)
IMG_0622.jpg

Compared to the Paleo Meals To Go, Mountain House felt like I was eating some weird manufactured space food, not real food. PMTG definitely won.
 
Makes me wish those paleo meals were cheaper. If I were to get one it'd be for longer trips just to mix things up
 
Wow....I looked at the Paleo prices. I'd lose weight with those.....couldn't afford to buy many for a trip. :(
 
  • Like
Reactions: Don
Bob said:
Wow....I looked at the Paleo prices. I'd lose weight with those.....couldn't afford to buy many for a trip. :(
Click to expand...
Hi Bob,
I was just reading through the review Nick did on our Paleo Meals To Go Beef Mountain Stew and noticed your comment about the price. You're right, they are more expensive! But we did a side-by-side comparison with one of our competitor's meals and Paleo Meals To Go's Beef Mountain Stew has 38% more protein, yet costs only 36.7% more. The increased cost is because of the higher level of protein, a whopping 37 grams per serving! If you'd like more info, check out the Pricing Q&A on our website or contact us directly. We sure appreciate you checking out our website and hope you'll reconsider trying one of our meals. Take care and happy hiking!
Priscilla
 
  • Like
Reactions: Don
Great thread guys thanks for posting. I learned some great stuff. I just got a dehydrator myself as I refuse to eat chemical laiden stuff some people consider food. It's hard in the backcountry to stay on a disciplined diet. So this is great like to see more ideas for meals.
 
baltocharlie said:
Sometimes you can find chicken in a bag. It is just like tuna, less weight. lately I have had a hard time finding it in stores.
Click to expand...

@baltocharlie @LoriB check in with local butcher.. they may package single (cooked!)chicken breasts with their rub. we normally carry 2 breasts stashing em in the middle of bear canister. my fave is Backpackers Pantry Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Rice.
 
This is a great post filled with creative recipe ideas! Nick, the stuffed pepper was a great idea, way to re-pourpose a great meal for the backcountry!
 
My son and some friends regularly go hiking/camping, usually for 4 or 5 days at a time, so they are very limited in the weight they can carry. He likes for me to make up many dehydrated meals for him,
One of his favorites (and now I have to make enough for his friends as well) is dehydrated rotisserie lemon pepper chicken, minute rice, chicken bullion crystals and spices. Add water and place the sealed zip lock bag in boiling water for a few minutes.
Another is zip lock bag omelets using powdered eggs, dehydrated sausage and/or ham, mushrooms, peppers, onions and shredded cheese (yes, I dehydrate that as well) All he has to do is add water to the bag, get as much air out as possible, reseal it and then put it in boiling water for 12 - 13 minutes.
He can eat these right out of the bag and no clean up.
 
I just placed an order at Packit Gourmet. Thought I would take a chance on a new brand besides Mountain House. I was hesitant since the last time I tried something besides Mountain House (Backcountry Pantry), the meals were really bad. I will report back here after I get the meals and try them out.
 
andyjaggy said:
I just placed an order at Packit Gourmet.
Click to expand...

hope you picked up some chili. good stuff! recently I added veggie pack found in ramen packs to Chicken & Dumplings - very tasty!
 
Packit Smoothies hit the spot when bonking or in the morning prepping for a big day. Berry flavor has my vote.
 
Got my order on Saturday. I made up the Gumbo this morning for breakfast (never been one for traditional breakfasts). It was good, a tad salty for my tastes, but I think after a hard day of backpacking and sweating the extra salt will be a good thing. I was a little dismayed at how small the packages looked, thinking it wasn't going to be enough food for a good meal, but I couldn't finish it.

The packets of oil, broth, and hot sauce they give you were not a pain like I was expecting, and I really think they helped in giving it a non freeze dried taste.

Also ordered the tortilla soup, chili, red beans and rice, and chicken and dumplings. Cost wise I don't think it's much cheaper than Mountain House, at least not after you pay shipping. Tastes better, but their selection isn't as good. The only ones that looked good to me were the soups. They probably won't replace Mountain House, but I think I will slip some in here and there for variety.
 
Yellowstone 1 said:
That's great! I always wondered if I could dehydrate stuff like that. Nice experiment.
Click to expand...
Nick said:
Pics from the latest experiment, gluten-free spaghetti. :) Yes, the noodles are rice-based so it's not technically paleo, but for backpacking, I'm okay with it. I'll be rehydrating these this weekend and will report back.

View attachment 4660View attachment 4661

I should have flipped/broken these up earlier. They took a long time to dehydrate!
View attachment 4662
Click to expand...
Nick said:
Ah yeah.. those Mountain House eggs are nasty, eh? I have only done one batch of my paleo DIY dehydrated omelette recipe but it turned out pretty good. I might have dried it a bit too long so it didn't rehydrate quite as well as I would have liked, but it was still delicious to the point that I was moaning and groaning as I ate it. Everything is better in the backcountry, right?

Here's what I did:

Fried some sausage, onions and peppers
View attachment 4536

And a little 'seasoning'. It dehydrates and rehydrates very well. :)
View attachment 4540

Next up, some farm eggs from happy, free-roaming, 'galavanting' chickens. :)
View attachment 4538

Plug for the farm. We pick ours up from The Community Co-op in SLC or out at Utah Natural Meat where we buy our happy, grass-fed beef.
View attachment 4537

Whip up a dozen of those eggs
View attachment 4549

Add to the mixture...
View attachment 4542

View attachment 4543
And that's the easy part! Yeah, yeah, everyone knows how to cook eggs, but how fun would it be to start this DIY backpacking food post with already cooked eggs? :p

Next up, load the eggs into the dehydrator. As usual, I do one meal per tray and weigh them before and after so I know about how much water to put in when it's time to cook them out in the backcountry.
View attachment 4544

As you can see, those are some big chunks of meat in there. Not good for dehydrating. So I let it go for an hour or two and then I busted out the stick blender with the food chopping attachment.
View attachment 4545

As you can see, running it through the chopper breaks it down into much more dehydrator-friendly pieces. I deliberately let it dry for a while first so that the chopping would be a cleaner experience.
View attachment 4546

After running it all through the chopper, I loaded the trays back up and put it back in the dehydrator.
View attachment 4547

Here's where I went a little wrong. I had read that eggs take a long time to dehydrate but I believe this is not the case when you chop them up small like I did. These went for about 9 hours but I think the standard 6-7 that I do my other meals would have been perfect. Unfortunately I was away from home from the 4-9 hour mark and couldn't watch them finish up. But luckily, they still were delicious to eat. They didn't look quite as yummy when rehydrated and they certainly took a little extra soak time, but they were excellent and I highly recommend it, especially for those seeking paleo backpacking food. Side note: if cheese is part of your diet, adding some in to this mixture after you heat it back up is heavenly. :hungry: Sorry, I didn't take any pics of the rehydrated stuff.
View attachment 4548
Click to expand...
What type of dehydrator did you use?
 
I've been meal planning for my trips coming up and feel a distinct lack of vegetables in my food list. I go pretty basic with mountain house dinners, instant oatmeals for breakfast, and some various snack through the day (sunflower seeds, cave man bars, dried coconut, etc...) but I would really like to add vegetables to the mix somewhere. Preferably some sort of snack or lunch that has a good amount of veggies. Any idea?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top