Dehydrated Meals - Make Your Own

I used to spend a lot of money on dehydrated meals when I went camping. Don’t get me wrong, they taste good after a hard day and I never really thought too much about them. Then a good friend told me about the whole make your own meal thing, I have to say I wasn’t convinced at first and figured all of the extra effort it takes would negate the benefits.

Then he gave me one to try and as soon as I tasted it I was converted. So, I started making my own and its really not that hard, plus when I looked at the ingredients of the store bought meals I realised that I wasn’t getting anywhere near the level of quality ingredients that I could pack into my own meals by cooking them myself.

Then there is the cost, an average hike for me is 4 days which means around 10 meals and at $16 for a store bought your up for close to $160. After doing a few meals like stroganoff and spaghetti bolognese I did some calculations and they averaged out at $6 per meal, that’s a HUGE difference and I save $100 PLUS its real meat, fresh vegetables and they taste sooo much better.

Yes, you will need a dehydrator so there is some outlay. I also use my dehydrator to make jerky and lots of other tasty treats so I think they are a good investment. I have a 9 tray Excalibur, its the Rolls Royce of dehydrators but I got it cheap on Gumtree and the cheaper brands do just as good a job so you don’t have to spend big dollars.

Mashed Potato Chips

Ingredients:

  • 2 kg potatoes

  • 500g fat free vegetable, beef, or chicken broth

  • Salt and/or Pepper to taste

  • Optional: Garlic Powder to taste

At Home

Peel and boil 2kg of potatoes until soft. Drain and mash potatoes with 500g of the broth. Because fats and dairy products don’t dehydrate well and can go off, do not add any milk or butter. If you do it will affect the drying process because the fatty oils do not dry out and sit on top of the dried potato. Add your salt and then run the mashed potatoes through a blender until creamy and lump-free.

Dry It

  • Cover dehydrator trays with non-stick sheets or baking paper.

  • Pour potatoes onto the covered tray and spread thinly (about an eighth inch) with a spatula. 2kg of mashed potatoes will take up about 6 trays in an Excalibur Dehydrator.

  • Dehydrate at 135° for approximately eight hours or until potatoes form a brittle sheet. Once they are done you can store them in the fridge or freezer, they make a great snack or can be added to any dehydrated meal.

On the Trail

These are tasty as a chip and make a great snack or you can add it to your dehydrated meals as they turn into mash again once hydrated.


Wilko’s Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:

Measurements will depend on how much you need but I find it easy to use 500g of mince as it works well with a whole jar of sauce. If this is too much the leftovers can be stored in the freezer for a long time.

  • Instant rice

  • 1 jar of beef stroganoff sauce mix

  • olive oil

  • Fat free mince

  • Mushrooms

  • Gravy powder

At Home:

  • Brown the meat in a saucepan and add your chopped mushroom. Once the meat is brown add the sauce and allow to simmer until cooked, stir regularly

  • Microwave the rice and combine with the cooked stroganoff

  • Spread the stroganoff thinly across the dehydrator tray making sure the mince has been broken dow and there are no big clumps

  • Dehydrate for about 6hrs or until dry and then add to a ziplock bag in serves of 150-200g depending on how big you like your serves

On the Trail:

  • Bring 1/2 cup of water to the boil, add to the ziplock bag and stir

  • Add 2 tbsp of gravy to the mixture and stir well

  • Place in a cozy for 10 minutes or until dehydrated

Delicious Dehydrated Muesli

Making a great dehydrated backpacking meal isn't just about making food that tastes alright. The challenge is to make a good meal that has the right mix of calories and nutrients needed. This recipe produces 670 calories per meal, with 23 grams of fat (most of that from omega-3 fatty acids, which are great for you), and 25 grams of protein (from good sources, not whey). The cinnamon and blueberries have natural anti-inflammatory properties, and the salt helps replenish electrolytes. The fat and protein contents alone are pretty incredible and will make this meal feel more hearty than standard instant oatmeal.

This recipe is nothing short of killer and it works like rocket fuel. It tastes amazing. It has the right calories and nutrients for high exertion days when you're backpacking. It is easy to make, and most importantly it reconstitutes well when you are in the field within just a few minutes. Try this recipe out if you're looking to save some money and make an amazing breakfast that doesn't take up much space in your backpack.

To get started you'll want a medium to large saucepan depending on how many servings you plan to make. The recipe I will give you here is for one cup of dried steel cut oats, but I usually do 3 times this amount to make my breakfasts in bulk.

You don't have to use the exact ingredients I use here, but whatever you use be sure to get a high quality steel cut oat as that's the backbone of this recipe.

Ingredients

  1. 1 cup steel cut oats

  2. 6 tbsp Hulled Hemp Seed Hearts

  3. 4 tbsp Maple Syrup or Honey - get the good stuff

  4. 2 tbsp finely shredded cocnut

  5. 1/4 teaspoon Salt

  6. 2 teaspoons Cinnamon

  7. 1/2 cup Dehydrated or Freeze Dried Blueberries

  8. 2 heaping tablespoon dehydrated peanut butter

  9. 1 cup brown sugar

  10. 1 cup milk powder

Steps

  1. Bring 3 1/4 cups water to a boil

  2. Add oats and hemp seed hearts and let cook for 15-20 minutes

  3. Remove from heat and add in Cinnamon, salt and maple syrup and stir well

  4. Remove oatmeal from pot and spread onto a hard plastic sheet in your dehydrator (your dehydrator brand should have these available for sale), spreading it as thin as you can

  5. Dehydrate at 155 degrees for 4-6 hours or until the oatmeal is completely dried. This dry time will vary depending on the type of dehydrator you have and how thick you spread out your oatmeal. There isn't much science here, just make sure the oatmeal is completely dehydrated

  6. Remove Oatmeal and put it into a large mixing bowl. Your oatmeal will come out in large chunks resembling bark. I like to crush it down so the final product is compact and takes up minimal space in my pack. Using a mashed potato mashing tool, or some other hard object, crush the oatmeal until it is in small chunks

  7. Separate dehydrated oatmeal evenly into two ziplock bags

  8. Add half of the coconut, peanut butter powder, brown sugar, milk powder and blueberries into each of the two bags so they each receive an even amount of the ingredients

To Eat: add 1 cup of hot water and let it sit for 3-4 minutes. I add the hot water into the ziplock which is stored in a heat proof bag to help hydration and minimise spillage/drippage.

Note on Serving Size: Each batch of this recipe makes 2 servings for me, but since everyone's appetite is different, I would suggest playing around with the serving size until you reach your desired size.Makes two hearty bowls of muesli - try adding some milk powder