Eating Healthier in Today's World

Dried Foods for Hiking, Camping or Boating

 Any outdoor enthusiast will tell you how great it is to take lightweight dehydrated foods along on their trips.  No reasonable backpacker is going to lug a 25 oz. can of spaghetti sauce up a mountain.  Instead, he will dry that can of spaghetti sauce down to about 3 oz..  Once dry, he will fit it in a small plastic bag, add some dried spaghetti and dried parmesan cheese, and take it along to rehydrate and enjoy any time and any place.  I should mention that some of the recipes below are from our new dehydrating book by Mary Bell.  Food Drying with an Attitude. 

Quick and simple meals can be made more satisfying with the addition of dried fruits, vegetables, meat, and spices.  Dried split pea or lentil soup, seasoned with curry and served over rice and beans becomes a gourmet meal.  When camping, spiff up prepackaged macaroni and cheese with a handful of dried tomatoes.  Make tacos by rehydrating dried ground meat, dried refried beans, dried spinach, and dried salsa (yes you can even dry salsa)  and serve in warmed tortilla shells.  One of our favorite camp meals is chili that we make at home and then dry on the fruit leather sheets until crispy and then take it along in a plastic container or bag.  At camp we just put it in a pot and add boiling water just to cover it and wait 15 min.  Here is my chili recipe.  The kids loved it! 

The next time you wander the aisles of a health food store, check the price of dried split pea soup and not the texture.  Then at home dry either a can of commercial split pea soup or your own homemade and rehydrate to see how easy this really is.  Rehydrating by the way is real easy!  About an hour or so before you want to eat, put dried food and a little water in a container, then heat the plumped up food and serve.  By the way, recycled peanut butter jars with tight-fitting lids make great rehydration containers.  While in camp, you can fill a thermos with hot water.  Then anytime during your hike you can stop and add a dehydrated soup, walk another mile or so and then stop and eat lunch.

I am going to share with you a great method of drying cooking ground meat.  This method of drying ground meat if popular with outdoors adventurers who want to add a lightweight high-protein ingredient to say a dried spaghetti sauce, rice, tacos and other dishes.  One pound of fresh ground meat will dry to 5 oz. and will measure to about 1 1/3 cups.

Cooked Ground Meat

• 1 pound ground meat
• 2 Tbsp. onions chopped
• 1 Tbsp. green pepper, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. dried basil
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper, ground
• 1 Tbsp. salt

Saute meat until browned.  Press down on the pieces so they get as small as possible.  Remove from heat.  If there is a lot of fat, place the oily meat in a colander and spray with warm water to rinse the oil off.  Place in a bowl.  Saute the onions and peppers in the oil until they become translucent.  Remove from heat and add to the rinsed meat.  Stir and cool.  Place on a fruit leather sheet in your dehydrator and dry at 155 degrees F. until hard.

Click here for more great dehydrators tips and recipes

Dried Spaghetti Sauce -- At Home -  To dry homemade or canned spaghetti sauce, strain the sauce through a large-holed colander to separate out any large chunks to dry on their own.  Lightly oil a leather sheet and spoon on the sauce, smooth out, and dry until the spaghetti sauce will peel off the sheet.  Dry at 110 to 135 degrees F.  Store in a self-sealing plastic bag.

In Camp -- Break the dried spaghetti sauce into one-inch pieces, cover with water and let sit stirring occasionally with a fork, adding more water if necessary.  Jazz up the sauce by adding dried peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and spices to the rehydrating sauce.  When rehydrated, heat and serve over cooked pasta.  You can also dry things like catsup, cooked beans, refried beans and leftovers.

"Wow" Ham Curry  -  Your hungry hikers will rave about this meal!  It is best to package the items in separate labelled and numbered plastic bags and also remember to pack a whisk.

At Home- Prepare and package:

Bag #1 -    Dry 4 cups of ham cubes cut into 1/2 cubes  and   2 tsps. dried minced onion

Bag #2  -  6 Tbsp. flour, 2 tsp. curry powder, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 chicken bouillon cubes

Bag #3  - 2 cups powdered milk

Bag #4 -  8 oz. of noodles

Bag #5 - 1 cup dried parmesan cheese  and bring 6 tbsp. of butter in a separate container

In Camp - Pour contents of bag #1  in a pan.  Add 4 cups of water and let rehydrate at least 1 hour.  Drain ff and save excess liquid, adding enough water to make 4 cups.  Use this water to boil and cook the noodles.  Remove from heat and cover.  To make the sauce, melt butter in a large pot.  Add ingredients from bag #2 and saved rehydration liquid and whisk until mixture thickens.  Add contents of bag #3 and stir constantly while cooking over low heat.  Combine sauce and noodles.  Open bag #5  and sprinkle on top.  Serve immediately. 

I am also going to include a great Camper's  Goulash recipe that you make at home and dry in the dehydrator and then add cooked macaroni when you are at camp.  Dehydrating you meals at home means that when you get there you will be able to have fun and enjoy the outdoors without the hassle of spending all your time cooking.

Check out the dehydrators that we carry all year round.

Our next post will feature some great jerky recipes and meals that you can make with the dried jerkies.