Favorite dehydrated meals! Purchased or Homemade?

“I'm looking to expand my menu's on the trail, without breaking the wallet or my back.I need some idea's to pass on to the boy scouts in my troop.Already learned not to carry MRE's. So far i've mostly been carrying Mountain House meals,trail mix,bagels,and a few Power Bars.”

“The best commercial trail meal I have ever encountered is Mountain House Spanish (or Mexican) Chicken and Rice with pimentos and spices.

This package (about 5 or 6 $) will definitely fill and satisfy you. Goooooood, tasty and filling stuff.”

“I dehydrate all my food. Assembled a number of books to help me with the recipes. Went this way because we got tired of the "chemical" taste of the commericial freeze-dried stuff. Only downside is the preparation and drying time--but certainly was worth having GREAT meals on the trail.”

“anyone got a good lentil recipe?”

“Mountain House "Chili-Mac" Rules especially when you don't have any Spam to fry!!!!!!!”

“I've tried the mexican style chicken and rice by Mountain House, and your right , it is very good.The sgaghetti and lasagna meals arn't bad either.The problem is when we plan a trip, the closest place to buy our meals is about 30 miles one way.Some of the scouts just bring the Ramen noodles, but they lack the nutrition they need after a long day.
I'm looking for some home recipes I can try and pass on to them.”

“Does anybody know where in south eastern KY I can find Mountain House dehydrated food or any other brand. Maybe theres A mail order company someone knows of.

any feedback will be very helpful. Thanks PHILLIP”

“Just go to their website and order.
MountainHouse.com

They now offer discount pricing to Boy and Girl Scout units.

The hot ticket is sometimes the sell what they call a "Just in Case." It's enought food for one person for all meals for seven days. Last time they did it the price was like $60. I got three of em this spring and I'm still eating several trips later.

You are right, ramen isn't enough for kids. I would suggest adding a can of chicken or some other meat to it.

You might want to search the threads as there are several that discuss this in depth.”

“Oh yeah, I have dehydrator and flip between using it, buying freeze dried and just hitting the grocery store.

It all depends on how crunched I am for time.”

“LDPCampingfoods.com is much cheaper.

Lentil Soup
1# lentils
lg can tomatoes
1 tomato can full of water
one onion chopped
couple of cloves of garlic
ham (if rich) or
3 slices bacon (if poor)
1 T. parsley
1 t clove
1 t basil
1 t oregano
salt and pepper

1c. barley (or rice)

Cook all this stuff except barley on low heat with a lid for awhile. You may need to add more water. When it is getting done add barley and cook another hour. Remove the meat if you are drying this.”

“thx”

“MH Seafood chowder rules! Add tobasco and several crushed saltines and you are in business.

This place Globalmart generally has good prices on thier food. And every so often send coupons for discounts.”

“I make a killer lasagna, 5 layer, 4 cheese, homemade tomato gravy, hime made pasta...the real deal. I just bought a dehydrator, I took a slab of my lassagna (5x5, and sliced it down so that the slices were 1/2" thick and dehydrated it. worked great, I rehydrated it in 1 cup of water in a freezer ziplock sandwich bag...it was GREAT! I just dehydrated a bowl of fried rice with hama nd shrimp...haven;t rehydrated it, but I'm sure it will work and be just as good as it was when I cooked it.”

“Hey stikmon,
that sounds good. how long did it take to dehydrate the lasagna.
Hey fasttimes,
thanks for the link.Gotta learn how to do that.”

“I take a 2 person Mountainhouse dinner and repackage in 2 freezer bags. Then add corn or peas or carrots. Chili Mac (or Lasagne)with corn after a 14er is the best! Get rid of the "O" ring and extra stuff because its trash and you'll just carry it back out.”

“Hey steiny,
Thanks for the email. lots of info.
I wouldn't have thought to vaccumn
seal a ziplock bag that way, but it sounds like it will work great.”

“We finally got the boys is our troop to add a can of chicken and some mixed vegtables to ramen noodles.

I carry minute rice, instant potatoes, and stove top stuffing along with gravy mixes. I bulk order dehydrated chicken and carry it in seal a meal bags.”

“MaryPhyl, thanks for the lentil recipe, I'm going to try it (but with turkey bacon since I don't have the other two right now).”

“Who makes the best dehydrated eggs?”

“best eggs? hMm.. good question.. but i have had good luck with bakcpacker's kitchen, and mountain house omelets..”

“Well the lentil soup was very good, but makes enough for an army. I froze a lot of it. I would make a half recipe next time. That would still give me some to freeze and some to dehydrate.”

“I dehydrate the lasagna for 6-8 hours, I watch it closely afterh the 6 hours to make sure that I don;t over do it. Make sure it is entirely dry because of the cheese issue, It rehydrates great, and i drink the juice out of the bag...great. I also just tried dehydrating Fried rice, it rehydrated very nicely and was extremely tasty, I'm gonna like eating my own food out on the trail... What should I dehydrate next...hmmmmmmmm...roast peking duck...yummy...her is a suggestion...go to a chinese grocery market and you will be amazed what products you can by, freeze dried, vaccum packed. soups, vegi's, seafood (shrimp, water chestnuts. lotus flower...neat stuff...the trick is to know what to do with the strange ingredients. Come camping with me sometime and eat like at a resturant...curried chicken over saffron rice...not too shabby.”

“Glad you liked the lentils Splash--that recipe was from when we were poor college students with three hungry kids.

I used to do gourmet meals on the trail. It was fun and it tasted good too. You can do a filet the first night out. I took something like frozen asparagus to keep the meat cold and I boiled little red potatoes. We just reheated the potatoes in a little butter. mmmmm good.

I like the lentil soup because it rehydrates easily. I have been meaning to try some spicy red beans and rice--I bet that would be good too.”

“Well, sure enough I just got a 20% off coupon code for anything fromGlobalmart, so if anyone's interested in using the coupon code,”

“Oops, my email didn't show. It's fasttime@bellsouth.net , email me if you are interested in the coupon code.”

“Could you please try posting that again? I am interested but it doesn't work. I got the address, I just need the coupon code if you please. Thank You ¦ )
.”

“I didn't get a reply to my email. Can you just post the code?”

“Ok, here's the coupon code, EGMW2432, but since some may have already tried it I don't know what will happen if it's used by more than one person. Enjoy.”

“A can of dogfood
IAMS

oops, that's not dehydrated”

“There are many just-add-water-and-microwave meals out there now. They also work if you add boiling water and let set for a while.

Ramen is OK if you fortify it with some dried vegetable soup, or just some dried mixed vegetables. Add some rice, beans, or other grains for variety.

Make your own trail mix and leave out the candy. I mix honey nut cheerios, multigrain cheerios, nuts, and dried fruit -- no chocolate. More nutritious, more filling, and more energy. It's just not as tasty as the candy mixes. Try different cereal and dried fruit combinations. Just leave out the candy.

Fill out lunch with some different power bars and powdered Ensure. Ensure tastes like liquid chalk but I can feel the energy boost afterwards.

Take a daily multivitamin supplement, too. Most trail meals are heavy to carbs and light on overall nutrition. You can get away with a sloppy diet for a 2-3 day trip. But after a week a poor menu will catch up to you and you will feel it.”

“You might want to check out a thread on Ima's board also..

http://www.imahiker.com/yaBB/YaBB.pl?board=general&action=display&num=1010068797

My comments were, "You can eat anything on the trail you want with the proper planning. There is not one thing that you like eating at home that you can't bring with you. If you are tired of eating Ramen noodles, then you haven't given the preparation of 'trail food' much thought. Go to the salvage grocery, because it is WAY cheaper. What do you care if the boxes are messed up a little? You are going to repack everything in ziploc bags anyway. When you walk down the aisles, look for stuff that you can prepare. There are all types of hamburger helper, tuna helper and other sorts of rice things that are awesome on the trail. Bringing dehydrated meat is easy. You can buy it (at $5/oz) or make your own. It is so easy. Get ya a dehydrator at Wal-Mart for $40, and start bringing anything on the trail you like. Face it, the only two issues with trail food are 'preservation' and 'weight'. With a little planning, you can easily bring anything on the trail that you happen to like normally. I bring lots of the stuff mentioned above, plus all sorts of Zatarain stuff, and even some home-cooked recipes of my own. Piece of cake, dude. There is no need to starve yourself on Ramen noodles ever again. You can buy so many things now at your grocers that it is stupid to even consider buying the commercial dehydrated stuff -- but I gotta tell ya, some of it is really good, if you take your time, ask around and pick the better brands and varieties -- but for the record?.. I have gotten where I can completely outfit myself for an extended backpacking trip by just going to the salvage grocery, and bringing along some meat (dehydrated, and then stored in my freezer). Trust me, I do not eat the Ramen noodles, unless I just happen to want some for lunch."”

“Several years ago there was a powdered beer on the market. The alcohol was in small water soluble capsules, some crystals added carbonation, and the rest was a fine powder.

As I recall it tasted like crap.”

“I got an email from globalmart with the same code.

I bought a bunch of Mountain House freeze dried foods and got 20% off. I have a whole duffle bag of freeze dried food. When I want to take a trip I just grab a couple meals and go. I mix in some regular grocery items usually, but I don't spend a lot of time planning meals.”

“Ostrich jerky Mmmmm MMmmmm”

“TD's dirty rice burrito's”

“Hey stikmon,
If I ever get down your way I will be sure to look you up.I most always shed a few pounds on a good hike, and thats not really a bad thing, But it sounds like you could change that the way you make those meals of yours sound. My mouth was watering just thinking about the roast duck and chinese vege's.”

“Hey stikmon,
If I ever get down your way I will be sure to look you up.I most always shed a few pounds on a good hike, and thats not really a bad thing, But it sounds like you could change that the way you make those meals of yours sound. My mouth was watering just thinking about the roast duck and chinese vege's.”

“Sorry ,I guess I hit the submit button twice!”

“Last weekend I took some homemade dehydrated hamburger on a hike - first time I've made it.

It was totally excellent! I put it in soups, noodles, and rice. I'll never hike without it again!”

“One thing y'all should try is "Idahoan" instant mashed potato varieties. Just add two cups hot water and stir. About .99 at almost any supermarket. The Four-Cheese variety is great!”

“your on for dinner anytime...home or trail. I eat like a horse and cook like Emeril. And weigh in at a meeger 140lbs. I have dehydrated a bunch of smoked Turkey breast cubes. Put them in mixture of spices and herbs and instant rice, viola`!!! Gourmet meal on the trail. TD is right, anything that you can eat at home, you can take on the trail. I have freeze dried all types of vegi's and can make any type of one dish meal. from rice to pasta, to potatoes.

I want to learn to make corn bread on the trail on my wisperlight...anyone have any suggestions...this would be a one person amount.”

“Stinkmon, the recipe you need is for hoecakes. Very easy to make and very tasty.

Hoe Cakes (AKA fried cornbread)
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Cornmeal
1 cup hot water (more or less)
2 dashes butter flakes
1 dash salt
3 dashes powdered milk
camp spoon of olive oil

Calories: approximately 550-600

Mix all ingredients in a bowl to a consistency that isn't runny but isn't a paste either (similar to pancake batter). Rub a light coat of oil on your frying pan, then pour the batter into pancake sized cakes. Heat until brown, then flip and heat until brown on the other side. For a variety, try adding a packet of opinion soup mix, taco seasoning, or beef stew flavoring. I like to eat mine with a packet of honey from McDonalds. Make double recipe in the morning and have cornbread with breakfast and lunch.”

“They all suck IMO.”

“Thanks a bunch...sounds good. Will give it a try at home to make sure it works...”

“I just received a box of food from Enertia Trail Foods (www.trailfoods.com). I'll report back on them after I try them out next week.”

“I can't wait to try some of these recipe's out. Can't thank all you guy's and gal's enough. I'm going to put together a booklet for the scouts. This will giive them some variety in their trail meals.Keep them coming, I'm listening.”

“WingDing,

Super Troll had some Enertia Foods on a hike we went on a few weeks ago. He bragged on them and said he would get more.

I think he talked me into ordering some ... let us know what your opinion is.”

“I tried my hand at dehydrating some homemade veggie soup..It actually turned out better than I thought it would..all hydrated pretty well except for the lima beans. Town Dawg and Smoky Girl ate their bellies full and it didnt kill them..so it was a success
I dehydrated some leftover lasagna and a cassarole..havent rehydrated them yet..”

“They have several noodle and rice mixes at the grocers in the rice a roni section. Just boil water and mix. If it calls for milk that just makes it sweeter and isn't needed. Stick to your ribs stuff for about a buck and a half. If you can fit a can of chicken or shrimp it perks it up two notches.”

“If it calls for milk, used powdered milk. I use it all the time for instant pudding.”