View Full Version : What to do with my dehydrated veggies!!!
Live the Journey
12-25-2008, 20:21
This morning I opened one of my christmas presents to find that my parents bought me a variety pack of dehydrated veggies from Honeyville Grains to pre-pack in maildrops for my 2009 thru attempt. The tubs consist of dried carrots, celery, peas, onions, potato flakes, and corn. I'm thinking that there must be some great ways to prepare these items, but most of my experiments end up looking and tasting pretty horrible! Any ideas that will keep my bear bag light and my tummy full?
max patch
12-25-2008, 20:32
Whenever I came across freeze dried veggies on my thru I just a package of them in with my liptons.
Dehydrated or Freeze dried? THe time and fuel to reconstitute/cook are very different.
Past threads will have some good suggestions. Another poster named "Sarber" has a book of recipes for the trail that gets good reviews.
When hungry enough it will taste just GREAT!!!
Pedaling Fool
12-25-2008, 22:38
Just mix them in with your dinner, i.e. lipton, ramen, rice... I dehydrate my own veggies (type you have and more) and they will reconstitute by the time you finish cooking your ramen noodles.
BookBurner
12-25-2008, 23:19
Like everyone else suggests - simply plan on throwing them in with your Lipton's or mac-and-cheese. Any fancier plans will likely go by the wayside after a week or so. That's why I chuckle everytime Backpacker Magazine does a spread on 7-grain-granola-yogurt crunch pancakes or anything else that requires more than 2 ingredients and boiled water. They certainly aren't writing for thru-hikers.
brooklynkayak
12-29-2008, 20:11
Dehydrated veggies tend to expand much more than starches and proteins when rehydrated. Keep that in mind when preparing your meals.
This is not so with freeze dried veggies as the freeze dry process doesn't shrink them as much as dehydrating.
There are so many good dehydrated food books and articles out there.
You can mix veggies with rice, pasta, cheese, meats, ... to create a lot of one pot meals.
My most recent experiment:
Jerky Gulasch with Dumplings
--
4 parts jerky
2 parts dehydrated veggies. I used onions, peppers, peas and celery.
1/2 part olive or other oil
Biscuit mix (flour, baking powder, powder milk, oil and salt)
--
Try to soak the meat and veggies in a small amount of water well in advance, if possible.
Drain before cooking to get rid of some of the salt from the jerky.
Simmer the jerky, veggies, oil and seasoning(no salt) in a enough water to keep them covered.
While the meat and veggies are simmering, mix the biscuit mix with just enough water to make a stiff dough.
When the meat and vegetables are tender (a matter of taste), spoon the dough into the gulasch, cover and cook for a few more minutes till the dumplings are done.
Experiment.
This is one of those dishes that only uses one pot and is easy to clean.
Dehydrated or Freeze dried? THe time and fuel to reconstitute/cook are very different.
Past threads will have some good suggestions. Another poster named "Sarber" has a book of recipes for the trail that gets good reviews.
When hungry enough it will taste just GREAT!!!
That's "Sarbar", and you're right, she is quite a culinary backcountry expert.
Me, I just throw any "extras" in my Knorr/Lipton dinners. I used to carry dehydrated onions and garlic on every trip, but I usually just carry black pepper now, figuring that I'll enjoy "real" food that much more when I hit a road.
You can always take any of the dehydrated veggies and presoak them in cool water for 30 minutes to and hour in a small bag or cup, then add them to your meals if you are doing say Mac N' Cheese or Liptons :)
Corn and green beans in particular do well with a long soaking.