Introduction
We live in a golden age of trail cuisine. Freeze-dried and dehydrated meals are better-tasting and more nutritious than ever before. Producers have responded to hikersâ needs by filling nearly every food niche and style. You can still get old standbys like chili-mac, but now you can get them vegetarian, vegan, organic, or gluten-free. You can eat American, Mexican, Indian, Italian, Asian, or any other style you like. Best of all, these meals actually taste good.
But not good enough. You can do better.
And I very much mean âyouâ. My thesis is that the best backcountry meals are the ones you prepare yourself. In this article, I will tell you how to dehydrate food for backpacking.
Individual Taste and Quality Ingredients
The âwhyâ comes down to two factors: individual taste and quality ingredients. Despite the unprecedented variety of backpacking foods available, the chance that any particular meal is made precisely to your preferences is vanishingly small. This isnât a knock on the freeze-dried food industry. Even within a niche, they must create a flavor profile that is broadly acceptable. They have to sell to many thousands of customers in order to stay in business, and canât risk offending anyoneâs palate.
You, on the other hand, have only to satisfy yourself (and your hiking partners). Do onions give you heartburn? Leave them out. Addicted to that jalapeño burn? Bring it on. Not a vegetarian but want to cut down on meat consumption? Use a third of the meat called for in a recipe. When you tailor your meals to your individual preferences, you have taken a big step on the trail to hiker food heaven.
Ingredients are the other big step. Great ingredients make great food. Every skilled cook knows this. You know it too, which is why you spend time at the market picking out the best tomatoes, apples, and cuts of beef.
Mass food producers canât do this. They might use the highest grades of food, but that high grade is only an average. They also are restricted to varieties that are amenable to industrial mass production. You wonât find heirloom tomatoes in mass-produced freeze-dried sauce.
But you will in mine. I make my tomato sauce with a variety called Corne de Bouc, a plum tomato that has extremely thin skin. Even though they grow well in Coloradoâs challenging climate, their thin skin means they canât be trucked anywhere. That thin skin also means no bitter flavors even though I donât peel them. I whir them up in a blender, cook them down with a bit of olive oil, garlic and salt, dry it into fruit leather, and then spend evenings on the trail eating amazing pasta dishes. If you are a gardener or live near a farmerâs market or a good grocery store you donât have to make any compromises with your trail food.
Hiker food heaven is a real place. But it is not filled with instant mashed potatoes or ramen. Instead, it is full of easily prepared top quality ingredients combined together to make delicious meals.
An Ingredient-centered Approach
My approach is ingredient-centered rather than meal-centered. I build up a pantry full of dehydrated ingredients: onions, peppers, tomatoes, carrots, peas, beans, sweet potatoes, corn, eggs, chicken, beef, ham, etc. I combine those ingredients into a variety of meals, changing the composition and proportions according to whatever seems tasty (and calorically appropriate) at the time.
But you donât have to do it that way if you donât want to. The good news about dehydrating food is that it saves money, improves nutrition, and creates stellar flavors at any scale. Whether you make just a few snacks or prepare dozens of meals for a long hike you will come out ahead.
Fruit
If you are new to dehydrating food, start with fruit. Dried fruit is crazy expensive at the store, and can be hard to find at any price. Fruits are calorie-dense and are great sources of vitamins, electrolytes, and fiber. They should be a major player in your hiking food game.
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The best backcountry meals are the ones you prepare yourself. In this article, I will tell you why and how to dehydrate food for backpacking.
I am dehydrating pinto beans right now.
Microwave – power level 2 (of 1 to 10) – maybe a couple hours
Just experimenting with, I think this will work
Anyone else try this?
Jerry;
I have never tried to dehydrate in a microwave but have dehydrated beans. I usually make bean leather by taking canned beans adding some southwest spices and blending the mixture. I then pour it on parchment paper in my dehydrator. I have done the same in the oven set as low as it will go ( 120-130 deg F ). I also will buy santa fe bean company instant refried beans as they are very good and not too expensive.
I have also cooked Beans and Rice (Zatarains red beans and rice) and then dehydrated that and it rehydrates in just 10 minutes using freezer bag cooking or just in your pot.
Chef Glen’s book is highly recommended as mentioned in the above article. My go to backpacking meal is based on his Chili recipe.  Spiced to your taste any low fat content chili dehydrates very well.
that’s a good idea, spread on parchment paper to increase surface area so it dries faster
I buy dry beans. Usually I boil, let sit an hour, drain, rinse, saute some onions, cook beans with onion, salt, pepper, maybe siracha – maybe 2 hours. I’ll smash them and cook a little longer – I like the consistency of refried beans.
This time I put them in instant pot.  I’m long on dehydrated onions so I added some of them. 30 minutes. smash and stir. 5 more minutes. Less time.
Dehydrating them in microwave took a couple hours rather than overnight as usual. They’re still damp so I’ll let them dry the afternoon at 170 in oven. I’d microwave except Brenda said the noise was annoying.
When they’re all done – 1.2 ounces dehydrated beans, 0.25 ounces each of dehydrated onion, tomato, peppers, and carrots. Throw into 1 cup boiling water and let sit for 15 minutes.
It wasn’t clear on the ground meat and bread trick. Do you add the bread while cooking the meat or after?
@bestbuilder
Apologies for not being more clear. Mix the bread crumbs with the raw meat, kneading it in until it is thoroughly mixed. Â Brown over medium heat, chopping it up into crumbs with a spatula.
IMO, one of the biggest reasons to create your own meals is to increase calorie content. For most freeze dried meals, it is hard to get the calorie count much above 375 calories. When you make your own food you can almost double the count. Additionally, Freeze Dried food tends to bother my digestive system after afew days. FYI- I like big chunk (I can not lie) so I leave my pieces large. I cold soak chicken & ground hamburger on the trail for several hours prior to a meal. Additionall, I pre-soak pasta as well.
Green Onion & Leek Quiche
Fully Loaded Lasagna
a reason for me is to get vegetables
I try to eat 50% fruits and vegetables. Hydrated fruits and vegetables are too heavy.
I also eat dried fruit like raisins, dates,…
I’ve been procrastinating opening up my dehydrator box (got an Aldi dehydrator 12 months ago…used to have one when I was much younger and used with great success). Seeing a wonderful BPL article right at the start of my mid year break might be the breaking point!
I’m going to dehydrate rice first I think. I’ve done that in the past, its wonderful stuff. This time though I want to use Basmati… it will probably take longer to rehydrate but its also lower GI than say a medium grain white rice.
Then I want start on my favourite red and black lentils.
These are all things I cook with at home on a weekly basis and eat in bulk. So I know they’ll work well for me. (I’m a simple man)
If you cook these at home, why don’t you cook them on the trail? I usually have at least 1 basmati rice dish (starting woth uncooked rice) while backpacking. Lentils don’t take that long to cook. When I make 1/2 cup of rice, I only use about 9-10 grams of fuel. My 2 cents.
For a 6-day backpacking trip through the Yosemite Clark Range, I am interested in adding some ground beef to a recipe. I usually only make vegetarian meals, but my hiking buddy stated he would appreciate some meat.
Will the ground beef hydrate as well if i added Panko flakes (rice flour based) to the beef? One of the hiking blog thru-backpackers, Wanderlust, meantioned the proportion is 1/2 cup bread crumbs to 1lb. of 70% lean ground beef.
Any suggestions to the portion of Panko flakes to add?
Does anyone add their spices to the ground beef while cooking before dehydration?
Any advice on “blotting” with paper towels the meat after cooking? Will that take the seasoning out or reduce it significantly?
Thanks. (I know how to cook, I just have very little experience dehydrating. I’m older now so can’t carry all the yummy fresh foods that I did when I was a newbie backpacker in my 20’s.)
I can tell you what I do. BTW, if your partner wants to add meat consider dehydrating chicken.
Hamburger – I buy bulk hamburger a Costco in the Meat Department, ask for a tube of ground hamburger. Dirt cheap and it’s 85/15 but it is a big tube. Brown the hamburger until it is cooked (no pink). Pour boiling water over the top & bring back to a boil. Strain all the water off. Place it on parchemnt paper and dehydrate.
I leave my ground hamburger in bigger chunks so I cold soak for several hours before use. I add seasonings afterwards as it is easier to get the flavors right. I use chicken bullion as salt to enhance the flavors.
Chicken – buy Costco Canned Chicken Breast. Drain & dehydrate.
Best wishes
I believe Nestle Nido is a full-fat milk that is often readily available at many grocery stores, in the Hispanic aisle.
@rmatt00
Re: vegetarian/carnivore – I’d suggest keeping the meat separate when you are making up the meals. Pack the meat in a resealable bag and add water to it at some point in the afternoon. After you’ve cooked your meal your friend can add the rehydrated meat separately.
Re: Panko – I’ve used this (but bread-based, I think) and it doesn’t work quite as well, probably because of the bigger crumb size. You could always crumble the Panko with a rolling pin or mortar. For that matter, it is not very hard to make your own bread crumbs. All you need is stale dry (not moldy) bread. A food processor will turn it into crumbs in no time. You could make gluten-free (or any other variety) bread crumbs this way.
I’ve never tried rice-based bread crumbs, but I think they should work. 1/2c per lb is reasonable. Try it and post the results here, I’d be interested to know.
Re: spices and blotting. You might lose some of the fat-soluble flavors (like capsaicin, the spice that makes peppers hot) this way. I use 90% beef to minimize the mess. If you use 70%, I’d wait until it is almost done cooking, drain off the fat, then add spices and cook a few minutes more.
Have a great time on your trip. I hiked the TST last summer and Fernandez Pass had some of the best views I’ve ever encountered in the Sierra.
Iâve always been wary of anything other than extra lean ground beef for fear of going rancid. But I do have some most excellent recipes involving ground beef…the lean stuff…brown as normal, season liberally with salt and pepper, break up as small as possible. No need to rinse, but blot aggressively. The dehydrate until âgravelâ consistency. Rehydrates easily with whatever else is in there.
What a great article. This is why I spend my money here at BPL. Thank you for the real world, practical strategies to make food at home! I’ve only just dipped my toe in so far, but now I have a better framework to get deeper in home dehydrating!
Leaving in a couple days with dog for treeline and above in the Rockies so I’ve been a dehydrating maniac. Appreciate the article as there were some new ideas to consider. Several years ago I found backpackingchef and took serious note of the idea to dehydrate foods separately and then combine into meals. It really does allow for greater creativity in meal planning. Pic attached is my stash of 32 meals for trip. Won’t need to carry total weight of 5.8 lbs as over the 12-14 days I’ll be returning to base camp.
HW, 32 meals for 5.8 lbs sounds astonishing to me! Care to share? Are these all dinners, or mix of b/l/d? What is your general caloric load?
It’s a mix but more lunch and dinner than breakfast. I have oatmeal, couscous, and grits with ham and peas for breakfast but don’t mind something more hearty and caloric (650-700 c) for early morning -like 3 AM- 14er summit.
I’ve 6 meals each of green lentil chili and kitchiri, an Indian dish which is very filling. Both pair nicely with fish I might catch along the trail. The rest are various beef, chicken, rice, pasta, bean, veggie combos in the 500-700 calorie range. I supplement with bars and trail mix if hunger sets in. I will also do an occasional fast. It’s odd but my experience at higher altitude leaves me less hungry, maybe because I drink more water. The big plus is the $$ I saved, about $250-$275, over going retail. Plus, it’s fun.
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