The dehydrated backpacking meal thread.

[Dubious]

With hunting season approaching and not being a big fan out the high sodium content of mountain house meals I’ve been dehydrating my own meals for a few seasons now. One camp favourite is the classic taco Mac everyone likes it especially with a a pinch of dried Sriracha powder for a little heat. What is everyone else’s go to back country recipes?


Taco Mac and Cheese


Serves 1

Ingredients:

¼ Cup ground beef, dried
¼ Cup mixed vegetables, dried (bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms)
2 slices dried jalepeno peppers
½ Cup macaroni
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp cheddar cheese powder
1 Tbsp powdered milk
½ tsp taco seasoning
Pinch red pepper
1¼ Cups water
At Home:

Combine vegetables, macaroni, and red pepper in a 4 x 6 plastic bag.
Combine cheese powder, instant dry milk, and taco powder in a 2 X 3 zip style plastic bag. Enclose the smaller bag in the larger bag and seal.

On the Trail:

Add all ingredients except the cheese/milk mix/taco seasoning to your pot with water. Allow contents to rehydrate for five minutes.

Light stove, bring to a boil, and continue cooking with the lid on for two minutes.

Stir in contents of the cheese/milk/taco powder mix, put the lid back on, and place pot into insulating cozy. Wait ten minutes for the meal to continue rehydrating and cooking inside the cozy.

[Springer]

Good Job, I used to dehydrate all my meals a long time ago. Kinda getting back into it again.
Also I have noticed with everyone enjoying the backcountry this summer that lots of places were getting sold out of mountain house...

[Dubious]

Originally Posted by Springer

Good Job, I used to dehydrate all my meals a long time ago. Kinda getting back into it again.
Also I have noticed with everyone enjoying the backcountry this summer that lots of places were getting sold out of mountain house...

The wall of mountain house at Calgary campers village was down to 2 large buckets on Saturday it was all sold out. The pandemic has people
Gone crazy hoarding food. Mixing some breadcrumbs into my beef and building pot cosys for my pots have been my biggest game changers. My Titan kettle can Now hold water for almost an hour that’s to hot to drink.

[jpohlic]

We've created a number of dehydrated meals for our paddling & back country adventures. Everything gets vacuum sealed in as small of a package as I can get it in.

For breakfast we make a mess with fried dehydrated Costco hash browns, dehydrated onions, peppers, smoked pork loin and powdered eggs. Seasoned salt & pepper, maybe some spices and its good to go.

For lunch our favorite is roasted veggies and hummus on a pita (pitas pack well, usually last the whole trip and can be steamed in a hot fry pan with water if they need to be softened). Take some sliced eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, red onions, etc and spray with olive oil, salt & pepper, and/or your favorite herbs and roast in the oven for 15-20 min until fork tender and starting to brown. Cool and dehydrate. We buy the red pepper hummus at Costco, spread 1/4" thick on parchment and dehydrate. To re-hydrate use cool water for the hummus and boiling water for the veg, spread hummus on a pita, add veg and enjoy.

I've also made a spinach & artichoke dip with a blended cashew base that dehydrates well and makes a quick lunch with some crackers or snack bread.

For dinner, the easiest and most satisfying is probably macaroni with some sort of sauce.

Sauce 1: alfredo (we use powdered mix from Bulkbarn and some powdered milk) and either dehydrated canned Costco chicken or dehydrated canned tuna & peas. Cook the macaroni and add some boiling water to the sauce mix, combine the two and simmer for a bit until ready.

Sauce 2: blend jars of pasta sauce til the chunks are gone, spread 1/4" thick on parchment and dehydrate. Then we fry extra lean ground beef and rinse it well before dehydrating, add some dehydrated mushrooms, onions, peppers, etc. Place in a nalgene bottle with some water and rehydrate for a few hours while paddling to your next campsite, cook the macaroni and then add the sauce and simmer til ready.

Chili also dehydrates well as does butter chicken sauce. I haven't tried cooking and dehydrating rice, we use minute rice instead.

So far I've only had a couple failures. I've dehydrated low fat yogurt successfully numerous times but can't get it powdered fine enough to rehydrate well - it ends up pasty with tiny, hard chunks.

Another failure was beef stew. I make a pretty mean beef stew and would love to take some in the back country. After I cooked the last batch I separated the meat, potatoes, veg, and gravy. The meat and potatoes were chopped to uniform sizes and then everything was dehydrated. After rehydrating and simmering til hot the gravy was fantastic, the veg were good, but the potatoes never softened completely and the meat was really chewy.

[wildwoods]

We’ve decided to take weight penalties to get fresh food into base camp. Sure, we’ll pack MH like everyone else too but man is it nice to eat fresh when you’re working so hard.

[kujoseto]

I’m going to follow this as there are so many things I shouldn’t eat and those store bought options are loaded with them. I’ll feel like trash any time I’ve tried them and have been meaning to try making my own but still haven’t picked up a dehydrator

[calvin]

Originally Posted by kujoseto

I’m going to follow this as there are so many things I shouldn’t eat and those store bought options are loaded with them. I’ll feel like trash any time I’ve tried them and have been meaning to try making my own but still haven’t picked up a dehydrator

i was recommended to try Peak Refuel meals.. the ones i tried i quite liked. i bought a salmon chowder from Heathers choice that i really like. The breakfasts i can't eat as the quinoa and chia seeds make me gag. i feel very good afterwards though. Briden Solutions in Springside just west of Calgary has had fairly good stock for the most part the last i heard.

[FCLightning]

Originally Posted by jpohlic

Another failure was beef stew. I make a pretty mean beef stew and would love to take some in the back country. After I cooked the last batch I separated the meat, potatoes, veg, and gravy. The meat and potatoes were chopped to uniform sizes and then everything was dehydrated. After rehydrating and simmering til hot the gravy was fantastic, the veg were good, but the potatoes never softened completely and the meat was really chewy.

Try cold soaking the stew. Put your evening meal in a container, pour in some water and seal up. Leave it sit for the day and then it will be more fully rehydrated after cooking.

We take stew regularly.

[FCLightning]

Originally Posted by jpohlic

and powdered eggs. .

Where are you getting the powdered eggs?

[WinefredCommander]

What do you need meals for? You're just going to ride your ebike in and out of prime sheep country anyway DUBIOUS

[jpohlic]

Originally Posted by FCLightning

Where are you getting the powdered eggs?

They are hard to find. I got some at https://purechoicefoods.ca/, the price wasn't too bad but the shipping costs were up there

[FCLightning]

Originally Posted by jpohlic

They are hard to find. I got some at https://purechoicefoods.ca/, the price wasn't too bad but the shipping costs were up there

I put some in the dryer for this last trip - they were a little tough when I fried them but tasted like scramble. I think I dried them too hot though and they were a little cooked before they dried - am going to experiment with lower temps.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by FCLightning

Where are you getting the powdered eggs?

Order online.

https://ovaeasy.com/

Some good recipes for homemade dehydrated meals.
https://www.trail.recipes/recipe-col...packing-meals/

[nimrod]

Im a picky eater, I don't like peppers or onions, most companies add these to there meals, so I repack # 10 cans from mountain house into single meals, at least the ones I like, then everybody carries there own food, then they can add what ever to the meals, if there is dry stuff available

[Dubious]

Originally Posted by WinefredCommander

What do you need meals for? You're just going to ride your ebike in and out of prime sheep country anyway DUBIOUS

Someone’s rattled. It’s good to have fans. i don’t sheep hunt and on this hunt I actually have volunteer non hunters being used as porters there also isn’t any bike trails in this spot. Should be a fun trip.

The dehydrated hummus works really well that’s going into regular rotation thanks jpohlic!

I’ve been dabbling with dehydrating ham to eat as ham chips or added to Mac and cheese. It rehydrates really well if you let it sit in a pot cozy for a few extra min before you add the cheese sauce.

[OL_JR]

Has anyone tried pemmican for backpacking, have any good recipes? Seems like a great option for some lightweight high energy food but don't have any experience with it.

[slough shark]

I usually just take a bunch of Lipton sidekicks, jerky, trail mix and granola bars and porridge. The freeze dried meals always seem to not agree with me, I’ve tried a number of different brands with the same result, it’s turned into a bad scene numerous times.

[teberle]

I've been enjoying this one for rice and beans:

70g dehydrated re-fried beans
70g minute rice or similar brand
35g sharp cheddar cheese
25g crushed up Doritos
1/2 tsp taco spice
about 200-250ml of water, depending on how soupy you want it

Mix the water, beans, rice and taco spice in the pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes or however long your brand of rice is supposed to take. Then break up the cheese into bits and add that. Stir it until it's melted. Finally, add the Doritos at the end and eat.

This is a variation of a recipe from Andrew Skurka's website: andrewskurka.com

He's a long-distance hiker and guide who also hunts elk. If you sign up for his newsletter you'll get a PDF of several recipes. This is the only one I've tried.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by OL_JR

Has anyone tried pemmican for backpacking, have any good recipes? Seems like a great option for some lightweight high energy food but don't have any experience with it.

I made some once, it’s not fun to eat but it sure keeps you going.
It really is the ultimate travelling food.

[Dubious]

Bull barn has Mac n cheese sauce and powdered Alfredo sauce at about 5~$/lb way cheaper than amazon or importing it from the us. they also have skim and whole milk powder for spicing up those granola breakfasts.

There also now on instant cart or cube side pick up if you don’t want to go in person to push around an empty cart and have someone scoop all the things for you.

[oneshotkillshot]

Very cool, thanks for sharing guys!

[hunterngather]

Jerky.
Dehydrated fruit.
Water.

Oh and skittles, cant walk anywhere in the bush without my little buddies.

[stickflicker]

I'm interested in dehydrating my own food for the backcountry, good info here.

Also I'm looking for a good compact stove for the backpack-any recommends?

[upongrassy]

MSR Whisper Lite universal. It’ll burn multiple fuels sources, function in cold or high altitude settings.

[Stinky Coyote]

you can go a long ways on a pita loaded rolled up with thick peanut butter, jam and crispy bacon, they aren't super light but they sure work a long time, mix in a good size bag of trail mix and a half dozen of those pita's and your good for a few days, don't forget the starbuck via, i'd have no issue heading afield with just that if i couldn't get ahold of some mountain house or other dehydrated meals

other things, cliff bars, oatmeal packets, some jerky is nice too, in case you're not down to eat only a couple things a day

[Stinky Coyote]

Originally Posted by slough shark

I usually just take a bunch of Lipton sidekicks, jerky, trail mix and granola bars and porridge. The freeze dried meals always seem to not agree with me, I’ve tried a number of different brands with the same result, it’s turned into a bad scene numerous times.

rotflmao, oh that's good man, ya and sometimes the sodium rush isn't that welcome either, i'm pretty much done with the freeze dried stuff, once i use up the few things i have left i'll go more the route you said here and what i said above

stove i have a little tiny ti Soto stove, its like 2.5 oz or something, and use gsi halulite minimalist for the cook set combo, aquatabs for water if in deeper and solo

[Dean2]

Hunting is supposed to be fun. Eating stew and dehydrated food for 2 weeks is so far from my definition of fun it isn't even funny. I will pay to have food packed in by horse or dropped by a chopper before I would ever eat dehydrated for more than a day. I have a lot of respect for you guys that can get along on that stuff for extended periods. The only stuff we took that was dehydrated is fruit, apples, apricots, prunes etc. We made then at home.