View Full Version : Rehydrating meals
Has any of you tried mixing some unheated water with your dehydrated dinner items around lunchtime to give them a head start on rehydrating? I hear complaints about some things that don't rehydrate easily (ground beef, corn, peas) and it seems like giving them a few hours head start on rehydrating would help. Of course it would require an extra container, but a pint-sized plastic mayo jar doesn't weigh much. Too much hassle? Good idea? Thoughts?
coach lou
07-15-2016, 02:54
I would think carrying extra fluid in an extra container defeats the purpose of going dehydrated in the first place. I FBC for weight savings and quick cleanup.
Tuckahoe
07-15-2016, 06:20
I find that a pot cozy really takes care of rehydrating a dehydrateded meal. A cozy saves on fuel consumption while allowiing plenty of time for rehydrating and keeping the meal hot.
A container to rehydrate during the day is just one more things to carry, and personally I would hate to have something happen that it opened up and spilled into my pack.
I used North Bay Trading Co. freeze and air dried veggies (love their hot veggie blend). I mix them with pasta and then boil everything together. They rehydrate nicely. I then strain it, mix in some olive oil, garlic powder, black pepper and parmesan. My favorite trail meal.
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DuneElliot
07-15-2016, 11:00
I am actually curious about this since I want to make pasta salad type meals for dinner...no cooking. I hate cooking after hiking but want something substantial. Rehydrated pasta then add shelf-stable things at camp. I can't find anywhere that explains if this is even possible...how long does it take to rehydrate regular pasta with cold water?
I am actually curious about this since I want to make pasta salad type meals for dinner...no cooking. I hate cooking after hiking but want something substantial. Rehydrated pasta then add shelf-stable things at camp. I can't find anywhere that explains if this is even possible...how long does it take to rehydrate regular pasta with cold water?
Open the box of pasta salad. Put the pasta in a ziplock bag and cover with water. Close the bag. Check in 6 hours. Add water if needed. Try eating the pasta in 10 hours which should approximate a day on the trail. Tell us how it worked.
You don't need to be on a trail to test things like this.
Wayne
Old. Slow. "Smarter than the average bear."
DuneElliot
07-15-2016, 13:07
Open the box of pasta salad. Put the pasta in a ziplock bag and cover with water. Close the bag. Check in 6 hours. Add water if needed. Try eating the pasta in 10 hours which should approximate a day on the trail. Tell us how it worked.
You don't need to be on a trail to test things like this.
Wayne
Old. Slow. "Smarter than the average bear."
They make pre-boxed pasta salad? Hmm, will have to check that out. I will do some testing and let you know...I'm laid up with an achilles tendon strain so need to fill my time anyway.
Has any of you tried mixing some unheated water with your dehydrated dinner items around lunchtime to give them a head start on rehydrating? I hear complaints about some things that don't rehydrate easily (ground beef, corn, peas) and it seems like giving them a few hours head start on rehydrating would help. Of course it would require an extra container, but a pint-sized plastic mayo jar doesn't weigh much. Too much hassle? Good idea? Thoughts?
I have gotten a head start in camp (with cold water in my pot) while setting up my shelter or just hanging if I get in early. Prefer not to carry the extra water weight on trail. I also use a cozy after heating water to avoid bottom burning during simmering, to avoid cooling off of my food, and to avoid incomplete rehydration of food.
DuneElliot
07-15-2016, 13:19
Looks like the only suitable pasta for rehydrating with cold water will be Ramen (since it is pre-cooked). Apparently others have tried this and it doesn't work...the starch needs cooking to be edible.
I am actually curious about this since I want to make pasta salad type meals for dinner...no cooking. I hate cooking after hiking but want something substantial. Rehydrated pasta then add shelf-stable things at camp. I can't find anywhere that explains if this is even possible...how long does it take to rehydrate regular pasta with cold water? I have taken many stove-less pasta meals. I have not had luck re-hydrating dry, "raw" pasta from the package, including ramen. I have experimented with mac and cheese, and angel hair and ramen. It all turns to disgusting, unappetizing goo. People have said that you can rehydrate ramen in cold water... but it was gross, to me.
However, I have had good success with Minute (Brown) Rice (for making a rice salad or just cold rice and beans). I have also have great success cooking pasta and dehydrating it at home. Couscous would probably work, but I don't like it. I don't know why. I should like it. It is just tiny pasta bits. Oh well.
Minute rice and home dehydrated pasta re-hydrate just fine in cold water. It depends on the water temp and the air temp... but angle hair pasta or rice generally take 1/2 to 3 hours to re-hydrate. I have not had a problem with it over-hydrating. The only brand I've used is Barrilla Plus Angel Hair Pasta. YMMV with a different brand or a different shape pasta.
To the original poster: I have also pre-hydrated food to be cooked on a stove, as I hate the crunchy crumbles.
Usually, 30-90 minutes is enough - depending on the crunchy bits in the meal and how cold/warm the water is and how cold/warm the weather is.
I had to add more water before heating to prevent the food from burning and sticking to the pot. This probably depends on on your pot and stove.
I didn't take an extra container. I used a pot with the lid held on by a rubber-band in a couple of Ziploc bags. Put it in a side pocket. It isn't leakproof, but if you are sorta careful, it it will stay upright.
DuneElliot
07-15-2016, 13:48
I have taken many stove-less pasta meals. I have not had luck re-hydrating dry, "raw" pasta from the package. It turns to disgusting, unappetizing goo. I have not had luck with any pasta straight from the package, including ramen. People have said that you can rehydrate ramen in cold water... but I didn't like it at all.
However, I have had good success with Minute (Brown) Rice (for making a rice salad or just cold rice and beans). I have also had great success cooking pasta and dehydrating it at home.
Minute rice and home dehydrated pasta re-hydrate just fine in cold water, for me. It depends on the water temp and the air temp... but angle hair pasta generally takes 30-90 minutes to re-hydrate. I have not had a problem with it over-hydrating. The only brand I've used is Barrilla Plus Angel Hair Pasta. YMMV with a different brand or a different shape pasta.
To the original poster: I have pre-hydrated food as I hate the crunchy crumbles. The extra water doesn't weigh that much.
Usually, 30-90 minutes is enough - depending on the crunchy bits in the meal and how cold/warm the water is and how cold/warm the weather is.
I had to add more water to prevent the food from burning and sticking to the pot. This probably depends on on your pot and stove.
I didn't take an extra container. I used a pot with the lid held on by a rubber-band in a couple of Ziploc bags. Put it in a size pocket. It isn't leakproof, but if you are sorta careful, it it will stay upright.
Thanks for this. I have been looking at buying a dehydrator...looks like this is the incentive I need.
I rehydrate veggies at lunch time. Only takes half a cup of water or so. At supper I add my rehydrated veggies to whatever im cooking that night, pasta, rice, potatoes, instant soup, or whatever. On a three or four day trip, the extra four ounces of water weight isnt going to kill me.
Thanks, everyone. FYI, I wish we could edit posts. Now I have a permanent record of a grammatical error in my OP. :eek:
Thanks for this. I have been looking at buying a dehydrator...looks like this is the incentive I need. I've been dehydrating it outside in the sun. I'm in CA most of the time and the humidly is low and the sun is hot. I'm thinking of buying a dehydrator but sort of hate the thought of another appliance.
Thanks, everyone. FYI, I wish we could edit posts. Now I have a permanent record of a grammatical error in my OP. :eek: Donate to the site. Then you can edit. :)
Donate to the site. Then you can edit. :)
Good to know. The information I've gotten on here is worth it for sure.
DuneElliot
07-15-2016, 14:20
I have taken many stove-less pasta meals. I have not had luck re-hydrating dry, "raw" pasta from the package, including ramen. I have experimented with mac and cheese, and angel hair and ramen. It all turns to disgusting, unappetizing goo. People have said that you can rehydrate ramen in cold water... but it was gross, to me.
However, I have had good success with Minute (Brown) Rice (for making a rice salad or just cold rice and beans). I have also have great success cooking pasta and dehydrating it at home. Couscous would probably work, but I don't like it. I don't know why. I should like it. It is just tiny pasta bits. Oh well.
Minute rice and home dehydrated pasta re-hydrate just fine in cold water. It depends on the water temp and the air temp... but angle hair pasta or rice generally take 1/2 to 3 hours to re-hydrate. I have not had a problem with it over-hydrating. The only brand I've used is Barrilla Plus Angel Hair Pasta. YMMV with a different brand or a different shape pasta.
To the original poster: I have also pre-hydrated food to be cooked on a stove, as I hate the crunchy crumbles.
Usually, 30-90 minutes is enough - depending on the crunchy bits in the meal and how cold/warm the water is and how cold/warm the weather is.
I had to add more water before heating to prevent the food from burning and sticking to the pot. This probably depends on on your pot and stove.
I didn't take an extra container. I used a pot with the lid held on by a rubber-band in a couple of Ziploc bags. Put it in a side pocket. It isn't leakproof, but if you are sorta careful, it it will stay upright.
I also wonder if the pasta #10 cans from Mountain House would be the appropriate kind of dehydrated pasta. I'll have to email them and find out as I do have some.
nsherry61
07-15-2016, 14:22
My experience with re-hydrated pre-cooked pasta coincides with DLP's comments above.
I have found that couscous actually re-hydrates quite well in cold water, unlike all other noodle options I've tried, including ramen that re-hydrates sorta okay in cold water.
I've found brown minute-rice to re-hydrate okay in cold water, but it continues to maintain a bit of crunchiness.
Instant mashed potatoes re-hydrate great in cold water. I actually don't think there is a difference (other than maybe a minute of time) between hot and cold in instant mashed potato re-hydration.
It's easy and cheap enough to buy a few packages of the above mentioned starches and just experiment at home some afternoon. That way you can also get a handle on how much time each needs to reach what you consider acceptable levels of re-hydration. Except dried veggies and/or meat, most foods take significantly less than an hour to re-hydrate, even in cold water.
DuneElliot
07-15-2016, 14:27
I've been dehydrating it outside in the sun. I'm in CA most of the time and the humidly is low and the sun is hot. I'm thinking of buying a dehydrator but sort of hate the thought of another appliance.
Good to hear...Wyoming...hot, sunny and very low humidity. I might try that next week when the temps are expected to be 90. Can you PM me with how you do it, or even post it here if you think it's of interest to others in the thread.
Alligator
07-15-2016, 15:04
I presoak dehydrated meals in camp before boiling to lessen rehydration time. I do this when I first get to camp and if I have enough water to do so. (I generally do.) I don't usually do this if the meal has dehydrated pasta in it. I find that the dehydrated pasta gets gooey if I do that as the pasta is easy to rehydrate.
Good to hear...Wyoming...hot, sunny and very low humidity. I might try that next week when the temps are expected to be 90. Can you PM me with how you do it, or even post it here if you think it's of interest to others in the thread. 1. Boil up 12 oz (dry) angel hair pasta. I use Barrilla Plus. I usually break it in half or thirds or something.
2. I put a silicon baking mat on a sheet pan, so that the pasta doesn't fuse to the pan.
3. Divide up the cooked pasta into 6 nest/piles on the silicon mat on the baking sheet. (Each pile/nest is about 200 calories worth of pasta.) I cover the sheet with a picnic mini pop up net tent so keep flies off of it.
4. I baby sit it and make sure that it stays in the sun. I also turn the piles over every hour or two.
5. If it isn't 100% dry in one day, I bring it in at night and put it out the next day. It has never taken more than 1.5 days to dry.
I put the dried pasta in a plastic bag and put a cutting board on top of it and step on it to crunch it down as small as possible. This will poke little holes in the bag, but isn't an issue.
The only bad part to me is the nest shape. I usually use a bear can, and it is more efficient to pack uncooked straight angel hair in the bear can verses the nest shape with lots of air holes. I've thought of buying an old fashioned pasta drying rack so it will dry straight. But I don't know if I have the motivation/patience to line up hundreds of strands of pasta to dry.
It might be more weight efficient to bring a stove and uncooked pasta if I can get it all in a small 2 lb bear can vs a large 3 lb bear can.
Fantastic Foods tabouli salad also rehydrated well with cold water.
Ditto the dehydrated beans.
Mountain House Chicken and White Bean chili plus some rice was excellent cold with crushed Fritos.
PS... I've discovered that I'm happier swapping lunch and dinner. I've started eating my rehydrated meal at lunch and slapping PB&J or cheese into a tortilla for dinner. But that's me.
Vegan Packer
07-15-2016, 17:45
I have rice and pasta dishes all of the time, and nothing that I make ever takes more than about ten minutes to rehydrate with hot water in a freezer bag placed into a cozy. My worst outcome has been that a few pieces of pasta are a little underdone, but that is just a few small pieces out of the entire meal. I don't see the sense in trying to rehydrate while carrying extra water weight during the day. For lunch, I eat a full meal, but I make something that rehydrates with just using cold water. Below is my meal plan for an upcoming trip.
35469
DuneElliot
07-15-2016, 19:34
I have rice and pasta dishes all of the time, and nothing that I make ever takes more than about ten minutes to rehydrate with hot water in a freezer bag placed into a cozy. My worst outcome has been that a few pieces of pasta are a little underdone, but that is just a few small pieces out of the entire meal. I don't see the sense in trying to rehydrate while carrying extra water weight during the day. For lunch, I eat a full meal, but I make something that rehydrates with just using cold water. Below is my meal plan for an upcoming trip.
35469
Do you dehydrated your own food?
I think I have succesffuly cooked and dehyrdated my pasta in one afternoon....now just need to add cold water tomorrow and try it out
I think I have succesffuly cooked and dehyrdated my pasta in one afternoon....now just need to add cold water tomorrow and try it out
Did you dry it outside? That was fast.
DuneElliot
07-15-2016, 22:31
Did you dry it outside? That was fast.
Yes. It was hot and dry with direct aun and a breeze. It might not be completely done so will put it out again tomorrow and try to rehydrate at the beginning of the week
Wise Old Owl
07-15-2016, 23:02
This was covered here about a year ago when someone mentioned Pasta - Barrilla Pronto. No dehydrating, no mess, no birds nest. My understanding is you bring it to a rolling boil add the Pronto and wait ten to fifteen if you are using a alcohol stove and cozy.
https://www.barilla.com/en-us/product-results/pasta/brands/pronto/?sort=alpha
..and thin rice noodles are available in little whispy bird's nests, in a package.
Vegan Packer
07-16-2016, 02:23
Do you dehydrated your own food?
Yes. I had been using a Nesco dehydrator, but I increased the capacity by switching to an Excalibur nine tray model. Both work well. It was just a question of capacity.
DuneElliot
07-16-2016, 10:59
This was covered here about a year ago when someone mentioned Pasta - Barrilla Pronto. No dehydrating, no mess, no birds nest. My understanding is you bring it to a rolling boil add the Pronto and wait ten to fifteen if you are using a alcohol stove and cozy.
https://www.barilla.com/en-us/product-results/pasta/brands/pronto/?sort=alpha
We were talking about no-cook pasta (and not carrying a stove) though and whether you could use cold water. It does have to be cooked and then dehyrated, then you can use cold water.
Tipi Walter
07-16-2016, 11:14
I would think carrying extra fluid in an extra container defeats the purpose of going dehydrated in the first place. I FBC for weight savings and quick cleanup.
Exactly. Carrying extra water defeats the purpose of using dehydrated food.
I find that a pot cozy really takes care of rehydrating a dehydrateded meal. A cozy saves on fuel consumption while allowiing plenty of time for rehydrating and keeping the meal hot.
Totally agree with this. My pot cozy enables me to home-dry a wide variety of backpacking meals and rehydrate them in the field. I bring a pot of water with the dehydrated food in the pot to a boil and immediately place in the pot cozy with lid. Wait 30 minutes. For tough items like home dried brown rice I wait 90 minutes.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpack-2016-Trips-171/24-Days-in-the-Pisgah-Holyland/i-LnVBWc9/0/M/TRIP%20174%20499-M.jpg
My pot cozy sits ready to use as my dehydrated vegetarian chili comes to a boil.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Backpack-2016-Trips-171/17-Days-with-the-Cranberries/i-vc6Z5bk/0/M/TRIP%20173%20004-M.jpg
Home dried organic brown rice after drying and before ziplocking. Most dried brown rice on the market sucks and so I have to do it myself. I use brown rice to augment my home dried soups like broccoli soup, butternut squash soup and tomato soup.
It doesn't seem to me that 8oz of water for a few hours would be all that cumbersome, but then again it seems like everyone gets by just fine without the extra rehydration time. I don't have experience with dehydrated foods, and I had read about some foods that don't rehydrate very well. Just thought that for those hard-to-rehydrate items that it might be a good idea.
Experiment at lunch today.
I had no idea what to expect and erred on the side of caution.
Barilla Spinach and Cheese Tortellini. 2/3 cup uncooked. 2 cups cold water. 1 quart saucepan. Medium heat on kitchen stove.
Important: Water and pasta in pan when the burner was started.
I was aiming for boiling 2 cups of water in 10 minutes which is the time I have aimed for with my backpacking stoves to conserve fuel.
At 10 minutes I had a boil. At 12 minutes I removed the pan from the stove. I let the pan sit covered for ~ 8 minutes.
The tortellini was well cooked. Almost over cooked.
I should have checked the pasta at 10 minutes. It was probably ready then.
Bottom line: Start pasta in cold water. Check when the water boils. Add a few minutes of sitting time as needed.
Cheers!
Wayne
Old. Slow. "Smarter than the average bear."
I used 2 cups water for 2/3 cups pasta. 1 cup would have been fine. Shorter time to boil and consequently, some cozy time would have been needed.
Wayne
Experiment at lunch today.
I had no idea what to expect and erred on the side of caution.
Barilla Spinach and Cheese Tortellini. 2/3 cup uncooked. 2 cups cold water. 1 quart saucepan. Medium heat on kitchen stove.
Important: Water and pasta in pan when the burner was started.
I was aiming for boiling 2 cups of water in 10 minutes which is the time I have aimed for with my backpacking stoves to conserve fuel.
At 10 minutes I had a boil. At 12 minutes I removed the pan from the stove. I let the pan sit covered for ~ 8 minutes.
The tortellini was well cooked. Almost over cooked.
I should have checked the pasta at 10 minutes. It was probably ready then.
Bottom line: Start pasta in cold water. Check when the water boils. Add a few minutes of sitting time as needed.
Cheers!
Wayne
Old. Slow. "Smarter than the average bear."
Old. Slow. "Smarter than the average bear."