Rehydrate meals in your pot

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I know this takes planning, but pasta is SO much easier if you precook it and dehydrate it. It removes the starches that cause boiling over. I cut the time back by 2 minutes or so. Then rinse well. Then dehydrate.

All it needs is sitting in hot water to rehydrate.

I also freeze-dry cooked pasta in large batches.

Both give me “instant” noodles later on. I use them in trail meals and for at home cooking as well.

Which do I like more? Oddly…I like the dehydrated ones because they get a wee bit chewy. That is my taste. If you like Olive Garden, the freeze-dried pasta texture is better.

Less fuel, no draining, no starch causing over boils.

[Jerry Adams]

hmmm…

one could make spaghetti with tomato sauce and dry it on a tray.  Then add dehydrated vegetables like onions, peppers, and tomatoes.

[David D]

I just hot soak Cappellini (bit thicker than angel hair), works great.  No prep, just boil water to 190F or so and pour, using a cozy.  Uses least fuel possible too.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Yes, angel hair will soak/cook this way, but it uses NO more fuel than using dehydrated pasta. If your gut is at all tricky, do dehydrated pasta, as it is cooked fully. Angel hair while it can be cooked doing the sit method (so can ramen) it’s still not fully cooked, and more so….it’s very starchy. That can trigger the gut.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Jerry, it’s really tasty to deyhdrate pasta and sauce together. A great tasty meal the next year!

[dirtbag]

For what its worth.. Today I decided to try rehydrating a Peak Refuel meal, Sausage Biscuits and Gravy in my Evernew 600 ml short pot. I boiled 2 cups of water in it, which was more then needed.. took only 8 minutes in the Ti-Tri Caldera cone.. Poured out the excess water not needed and added the entire pouch of food into the pot,  put the pot into the pot cozie I made for it today,  waited 15 – 20 minutes.. and it was still HOT.  Sooo, I answered my own question about using my 600 ml pot to rehydrate and eat from! I figure that specific meal is bulky so if that fit in pot,  most, if not all my meals will be just fine.  I will make a few of my own meals, some which require 2 cups of water and try them out as well, but I’m pretty sure the 600 ML pot will be my go to from now on.

[Chris]

Here’s my £0.06 (should be $0.02 but – you know – inflation and forex fees).

I have used both an Evernew 900 and an Alpkit 750 (Toaks equivalent) for evening meals from the pot  but in a certain order.

The ‘gooiest’ or stickiest course(s) first (some form of DIY dehydrated meal like a paprikash, a curry or similar), then a soup stirred while simmering to clean the ‘goo’ and then finally a broth or Bovril cube later on.

By the time you have finished there is very little residue to clean off with a small piece of jay cloth and water before a cuppa and bed.

FWIW I use a small cube of hex (c. 7g) in a reshaped metal screw cap (from a wine bottle) to bring all this to temp slowly while I enjoy the views (or shelter from the horizontal rain).

Works for me.

Chris.

[Josh J]

Monte the foil is a great idea along with the bowl.

I’ve just boiled my water, dumped in meal put in cozy, wait and eat. I like the wood spatula idea , usually just used my spoon.

Also good to know about 600ml, I’ve always use my imusa 12cm which is 1.25qt. I’ve been wanting to go with my snowpeak bowl or get a trangia bowl just because they are wide for easier cleaning and fuel economy.

I’ve also been really wanting to play with cold soaking my meal while hiking and just heating it up when I’m ready to eat all in the same container but that requires a lid with no holes and I have a silicone band to keep it closed and water tight. I have a .7L pot that will do it but it’s skinny and haven’t tried it yet.

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