Camping meals

[bryanchurch06]

As some of you know I have a trip coming up that May last 21 to 30 days depending on routes and travel to and returning from beginning and end of the CDT. As part of my plans I've been looking at meals I can carry easily and cook with boiling water only, partly for convenience mostly for ease of cleaning up after meals. This brought me to dehydrated meals many of which I've used in the past but prices and availability being what they are I decided to spend 120 on a small dehydrator and make my own, I have researched some of the basics like spaghetti and other various form of pasta dishes, to include hamburger helper, as I see it if I successfully make 12 to 15 meals the machine pays for itself and I know what I'm eating and if they don't turn out so good its McDonald's with Sneakydingo.

 

[dmonkey]

Nice! Something as simple as adding dehydrated peas to ramen really boosts it to a gourmet level when you're in the bush. I look forward to seeing what you end up preparing with it.

 

[SneakyDingo]

its McDonald's with Sneakydingo.

There will be no golden arches the route is amazingly sparse on Maccas on route. I'm also keeping a close eye on any outdoor supply stores along the way, and what Walmart has to offer in this space, because they'll offer some options like Mountain House or equivalent.

I also have a dehydrator, but due to me modifying it to be a filament dryer for 3D printing, I can't dry very much at once anymore single tray at a time so I haven't used it that much. Additionally, the other thing I have which can be useful is a vacuum sealer (great for storing steaks in the freezer without them getting freezer burn, also great for sous vide, but also just generally good for packing things down).

 

[bryanchurch06]

There will be no golden arches the route is amazingly sparse on Maccas on route. I'm also keeping a close eye on any outdoor supply stores along the way, and what Walmart has to offer in this space, because they'll offer some options like Mountain House or equivalent.

I also have a dehydrator, but due to me modifying it to be a filament dryer for 3D printing, I can't dry very much at once anymore single tray at a time so I haven't used it that much. Additionally, the other thing I have which can be useful is a vacuum sealer (great for storing steaks in the freezer without them getting freezer burn, also great for sous vide, but also just generally good for packing things down).

The 3D printer strikes again, I have a vacuum sealer as well, plan on jerky from me and maybe some pemmican and dried fruit.

 

[Cardinal Direction]

Check out backpacking forums, they have great advice on light weight meals. I’ve done a few trips in the big horn mountains around 4-5 days and found that it’s hard to beat knorr meals with a small bottle of olive oil and single slice vacuumed sealed spam. Plenty of calories and do really well with a jet boil!

 

[bryanchurch06]

Check out backpacking forums, they have great advice on light weight meals. I’ve done a few trips in the big horn mountains around 4-5 days and found that it’s hard to beat knorr meals with a small bottle of olive oil and single slice vacuumed sealed spam. Plenty of calories and do really well with a jet boil!

Thanks for the reply, that a beautiful area to hike in, I've used the knorr, mashed potatoes and a few others as well, I was hoping to make some of my homemade soups and stews and dehydrat those. Just need to figure out the water ratios for rehydration.

 

[Cardinal Direction]

Thanks for the reply, that a beautiful area to hike in, I've used the knorr, mashed potatoes and a few others as well, I was hoping to make some of my homemade soups and stews and dehydrat those. Just need to figure out the water ratios for rehydration.

You’ve got the right idea, good on you for putting in the work. I’m just super lazy so I cheat!

 

[bryanchurch06]

Ok this is 1 cup of beef stroganoff dehydrated for 12 hrs, it's completely dry and ready for sealing. I am going to try to rehydrate it and measure the water needed. Of course after going through the process I realized all I needed to dehydrate was the hamburger, the other ingredients were already dehydrated, oh well I've never claimed any great intelligence so the struggle continues. Btw one of my favorite quotes is from Bruce Lee when he said to" find the cause of your ignorance " this is a daily search for me and I always seem to find some.

 

[Volant1006]

Not so much on topic of dehydrated meals but just meals in general on the road/camping. Definitely check out backpacking meal searches for ideas. The infamous Ramen Bombs are good and have many variations. I'm a big fan of the Idahoan powdered mash potatoes, eat them a lot at home. Most of them all you have to do is boil 2 cups of water, add potato mix and stir. This can be done in a gallon ziplock bag. Make sure the bag says freezer on them, they can handle the heat/hot water. Or just boil the water in a pot and add the potatoes. They have many flavors, pretty much all of them are good & they're cheap. There are a couple that call for adding milk so look at the instructions, I usually just avoid them. Canned tuna, canned spam (or single serve) as previously mentioned are all good. You can take canned chicken or beef (roast beef) and add it to the Velveeta skillets (one pan dinner kits). Chicken & Broccoli and the Chicken Alfredo were both pretty darn good and will stick to your ribs. Probably not the most healthy but filling. For breakfast check out the Hungry Jack or Idahoan Spuds hashbrows. These things are great. They come in a little milk carton and all you have to do is add hot water and wait 12 mins. They cook inside the carton and are ready to eat. I still to throw them on the girddle for a little to brown them. *Pro tip if you're cooking the hash brows in a pan, once the bottom browns if you try to flip them with a spatula they all just fall apart and it's a pain. Get a sturdy plate (heavy paper plate) and put it over the pan like a lid. Then flip the pan upside down while holding the plate on top and the entire hash brown will come out onto the plate brown side up. Then just slide the uncooked side back into the pan and cook until that side is brown. The end result is pretty good. Not as good as fresh potatoes but a lot less work. I love hash browns but hate bringing potatoes, potato peeler, towels to extract the moisture/water, and a cheese grader (to shred the potato into hash brows) to the campsite, especially if I'm packing light. Also I can't say enough about the Firebox Stove for cooking. People who run it are awesome and I've bought so much quality gear from them. I'll warn you though it's addicting if you buy something from them and start watching the plethora of videos/reviews online.

 

[bryanchurch06]

Not so much on topic of dehydrated meals but just meals in general on the road/camping. Definitely check out backpacking meal searches for ideas. The infamous Ramen Bombs are good and have many variations. I'm a big fan of the Idahoan powdered mash potatoes, eat them a lot at home. Most of them all you have to do is boil 2 cups of water, add potato mix and stir. This can be done in a gallon ziplock bag. Make sure the bag says freezer on them, they can handle the heat/hot water. Or just boil the water in a pot and add the potatoes. They have many flavors, pretty much all of them are good & they're cheap. There are a couple that call for adding milk so look at the instructions, I usually just avoid them. Canned tuna, canned spam (or single serve) as previously mentioned are all good. You can take canned chicken or beef (roast beef) and add it to the Velveeta skillets (one pan dinner kits). Chicken & Broccoli and the Chicken Alfredo were both pretty darn good and will stick to your ribs. Probably not the most healthy but filling. For breakfast check out the Hungry Jack or Idahoan Spuds hashbrows. These things are great. They come in a little milk carton and all you have to do is add hot water and wait 12 mins. They cook inside the carton and are ready to eat. I still to throw them on the girddle for a little to brown them. *Pro tip if you're cooking the hash brows in a pan, once the bottom browns if you try to flip them with a spatula they all just fall apart and it's a pain. Get a sturdy plate (heavy paper plate) and put it over the pan like a lid. Then flip the pan upside down while holding the plate on top and the entire hash brown will come out onto the plate brown side up. Then just slide the uncooked side back into the pan and cook until that side is brown. The end result is pretty good. Not as good as fresh potatoes but a lot less work. I love hash browns but hate bringing potatoes, potato peeler, towels to extract the moisture/water, and a cheese grader (to shred the potato into hash brows) to the campsite, especially if I'm packing light. Also I can't say enough about the Firebox Stove for cooking. People who run it are awesome and I've bought so much quality gear from them. I'll warn you though it's addicting if you buy something from them and start watching the plethora of videos/reviews online.

Thanks for the great info, I have several versions of stoves, I'll probably just bring my old msr kettle and stove that came with it, I have the new version but I like the old one better, may bring my alcohol stove as a backup. I think for the trip all my cooking is going to be in a vacuum bag adding boiling water just for ease of clean up. Not a lot of water in the NM section until you get closer to CO

 

[SneakyDingo]

Yup, car camping is a different beast to bikepacking/backpacking. I'm solidly committing to, "If it can't be prepared using boiling water then it's not happening" because I don't think we will have THAT big of a problem resupplying or getting food if we're opportunistic about it. Unfortunately due to COVID shuttering stores, I won't be able to get the dried sausages I prefer before I leave, they must be at least 75% cocaine they're so addictive.