A Homemade Backpacking Food Trick
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 11:12 pm
Y'all might already have heard of this, but here goes:
I got the original idea out of June Flemmings excellent book: "The Well Fed Backpacker".
I utilized a homemade food deydrator made out of peg board and a tiny space heater(careful!) with some window screens for food trays. (The bugs get in now but I don't care!) The whole schebang only set me back 80 bucks.. it has since paid for itself many, many times over!
I take bags of pre-cut frozen vegetables found cheap at the supermarket.. (look for sales) PEAS, Diced Mixed Vegetables, and cut CORN work well for this trick.
I put them in the dehydator.. if they overlap at first it is fine, but generally the thinnest layer possible dries fastest.
After a day of so and when they are more or less bone dry I remove them and put them in a paper luch sack for a week. This insures that any bits the might still retain moisture get a chance to finish drying.
After the week in the sack, I then pour them into the blender, about four cups at a time. Grind them to where they are almost powdered but leaving enough bits to provide "texture".
Then I bag the powdered veggies or mixed veggies ,as the case may be, and bag em in a big zip lock baggie. If you get static cling in the plastic bag with the bits of ground veggie you can be sure the mix is dry enough to keep.. indeed almost indefinitely if you then put it in the freezer.
I have found that just putting the plastic bags of veggie powder in a paper grocery sack(eliminates light) and storing it in the back of the deepest cupboard provides adequate storage for up to a year( I always end up eating it all up so I have never had any longer than that).
When planning meals for a hike I then pour out the amount I need and spice it as I wish and bag up the individual portions for the trail. At meal time in the backcountry the powdered veggies and water are then added to the pot and brought to boil(thats it.. stove off!) it only needs a few minutes to be slightly crunchiy for texture.. want 'em softer, then let stand another five minutes.
The amazing part is that a large bag of frozen cut corn that weighs 4 lbs and has 2000 calories can be reduced to a pound dry and if you keep the dehydration temps below 140 degrees maitains much of it's nutrients and all of it's flavor.
Much cheaper that freeze dried meals, and in my subjective experience, twice as much go power.
"Freeze dried" lightness but REAL food value.. at a fraction of the cost. The varieties are endless and all of them super easy to cook up on the trail.
Enjoy! Hetchy
I got the original idea out of June Flemmings excellent book: "The Well Fed Backpacker".
I utilized a homemade food deydrator made out of peg board and a tiny space heater(careful!) with some window screens for food trays. (The bugs get in now but I don't care!) The whole schebang only set me back 80 bucks.. it has since paid for itself many, many times over!
I take bags of pre-cut frozen vegetables found cheap at the supermarket.. (look for sales) PEAS, Diced Mixed Vegetables, and cut CORN work well for this trick.
I put them in the dehydator.. if they overlap at first it is fine, but generally the thinnest layer possible dries fastest.
After a day of so and when they are more or less bone dry I remove them and put them in a paper luch sack for a week. This insures that any bits the might still retain moisture get a chance to finish drying.
After the week in the sack, I then pour them into the blender, about four cups at a time. Grind them to where they are almost powdered but leaving enough bits to provide "texture".
Then I bag the powdered veggies or mixed veggies ,as the case may be, and bag em in a big zip lock baggie. If you get static cling in the plastic bag with the bits of ground veggie you can be sure the mix is dry enough to keep.. indeed almost indefinitely if you then put it in the freezer.
I have found that just putting the plastic bags of veggie powder in a paper grocery sack(eliminates light) and storing it in the back of the deepest cupboard provides adequate storage for up to a year( I always end up eating it all up so I have never had any longer than that).
When planning meals for a hike I then pour out the amount I need and spice it as I wish and bag up the individual portions for the trail. At meal time in the backcountry the powdered veggies and water are then added to the pot and brought to boil(thats it.. stove off!) it only needs a few minutes to be slightly crunchiy for texture.. want 'em softer, then let stand another five minutes.
The amazing part is that a large bag of frozen cut corn that weighs 4 lbs and has 2000 calories can be reduced to a pound dry and if you keep the dehydration temps below 140 degrees maitains much of it's nutrients and all of it's flavor.
Much cheaper that freeze dried meals, and in my subjective experience, twice as much go power.
"Freeze dried" lightness but REAL food value.. at a fraction of the cost. The varieties are endless and all of them super easy to cook up on the trail.
Enjoy! Hetchy