Help! Did I just mess up two weeks of food?

[Jen T]

Hi All-

Yikes!   Im having a little bit of a problem here tonight and hoping this forum can help.   I prepped all of my food for a 16 day trip three weeks ago, dehydrated it, rationed it by day and vacuum sealed it.   Since my trip isn’t until Sept, I stuck it all in the freezer and left one of each meal out to taste test before the trip.   I assumed that the testing food would be great, but as it turns out, I messed up the seasoning so badly that I needed to open up 9 meals to fix them.

Unfortunately, I realized too late that I should have let the bags come to room temp first, now the condensation is forming…I put the dehydrated meal bags back in the dehydrator with the tops open…but I’m worried about resealing with the other items that were in the bag. I leave in two weeks and will be on the trail for 2.5. So everything would be out for a total of a month. I did see a related post to this from a few years ago but it did not address resealing a vacuum sealed bag with items that may have moisture on the packaging (snacks, etc)

Wondering if:

1> I should leave the vacuum bags open now knowing that condensation may have gotten in there.

2>dry everything and re seal?

Thanks so much in advance for your help. 16 days food is spread around my kitchen tonight.

THANKS in advance!!!

[Matthew / BPL]

Ugh. That sucks.

Probably not helpful but I wouldn’t risk a major hike on with dehydrated food that might be moldy in a month.

[Erica R]

If I am reading this correctly you have dehydrated meals which were vacuum sealed along with individually wrapped snacks. You are concerned about the condensation on the snacks.

Dumb question, but why not dry the dinners and reseal. Keep the individually wrapped snacks separate?

[Jerry Adams]

bummer

I think what you’re doing is good – leave all the individual bags that just got condensation on the outside in your kitchen for a day or so to dry on the outside, dry the dinners, then reseal everything

You can leave dehydrated food at room temperature for months without problem, so it shouldn’t matter they were out for a total of a month.  Like you, I put them in freezer just as a precaution.

you are very organized, nice picture : )

[Jen T]

Thanks for the tips everyone.   I think I have it figured out.    I was a little worried when I posted this, (pre-trip jitters).   I ended up putting the dehydrated meals back in the dehydrator for about 15 minutes with the zip tops open just to be sure they were dry.   There was no visible condensation on the food inside the ziplock bags, but since I left them slightly open with a paper towel before vac sealing the big bag (per the Backpacking Chef Glen method), I was a little worried they were exposed to moisture.

Next, I let all of my snacks, etc dry out..

Finally, I moved everything back to ziplocks instead of vac seal bags because I want to be able to open them up as they thaw again in two weeks (just in case) vs having everything sealed up together.  Should all be fine now since all of my meals are fully zipped inside the bag instead of slightly open (per the Chef Glen method).   I’m assuming y’all know who Chef Glen is…but if you don’t, his book is my favorite backpacking cookbook for easy techniques and his website is helpful too.   I just hadn’t done the daily portion vac seal method or frozen meat meals in advance before.    Learning experience!

Again, I realize I was a tad frantic when I posted this (who wouldn’t be?)   Ha!  But I’ll add that in my panic, I messaged Chef Glen on his Facebook page that night and he wrote me the NICEST response back and figured I would be ok with plan B.

I’m relatively new to the BPL Forums, but appreciate the resource!  If you would like to read about my great intentions for the food prep for this trip, you can check it out here.    https://wanderingpine.com/2018/08/19/making-your-own-dehydrated-backpacking-meals-part-1/

Thanks again!!

[Matthew / BPL]

glad it’s working out. enjoy your trip! (and please post a trip report)

[Jen T]

Thanks!   Will do!

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