Cooked beef crumbles in a pouch

[slbirdnerd]

In my endless quest to find easy, lightweight food that doesn't taste like garbage, I stumbled upon this at WalMart.com and can't wait to try throwing it into my pasta dishes: Libby's Seasoned Beef Crumbles. It looks like a 6 oz pouch for $2.74, available in stores. Looks like there is a spicy version too. Just thought I'd share! (Not a fan of gravel...)

[HooKooDooKu]

But does it have to be refrigerated? I can't tell for sure based on the information provided at WalMart.com.

I ask because that reminds me of the Jimmy Dean Sausage Crumbles we buy for use at home... but the Sausage Crumbles are found in the refrigerated meat section of the grocery store.

[illabelle]

But does it have to be refrigerated? I can't tell for sure based on the information provided at WalMart.com.

That's what I was wondering too. But I don't eat meat, so it's not like I would use this product anyway.
TVP is very lightweight and versatile.

[Hikes in Rain]

I found them down here in Tallahassee (in a Walmart) with the rest of the "canned" meats, so my guess is no, they don't have to be refrigerated. Unless Walmart messed up. I thought they looked interesting, too, and some day Real Soon Now, I want to do a side-by-side comparison with dehydrated hamburger "rocks".

[Venchka]

I picked up a bag of instant refried beans awhile back. I have been meaning to try them. I think some kind of precooked meat would be the perfect addition.
Thinking...

Wayne

[Starchild]

I used both of them on my thru (spicy and normal), as I recall they were both OK, typically salty food taste, spicy was nice, no refrigeration needed. Better heated also (I just placed the pouch in hot water).

[Old Hiker]

If this was the product from Argentina (?), then I thought it was pretty bad. Not sure if it was Libby, though. May have to go try them. Thanks for the info.

[slbirdnerd]

I imagine it's in the aisle with the canned meat or the Hormel stuff. I've looked at gravel online, but the quantities are huge. Hikes In Rain, how IS the gravel? Does it come in smaller packages anywhere other than #10 cans?

[MDSection12]

I picked up a bag of instant refried beans awhile back. I have been meaning to try them. I think some kind of precooked meat would be the perfect addition.
Thinking...

Wayne

I dehydrate my own taco gravel, refried beans, and salsa. Then I toss in a Knorr side of Mexican rice. I take all that in a freezer bag and rehydrate it in camp. Here comes the magic... Heat a rock in the fire and throw a tortilla on it, add your filling and some cheese, then throw another tortilla on top and flip carefully... Seriously amazing tacos.

[Hikes in Rain]

I imagine it's in the aisle with the canned meat or the Hormel stuff. I've looked at gravel online, but the quantities are huge. Hikes In Rain, how IS the gravel? Does it come in smaller packages anywhere other than #10 cans?

Can't speak to the commercial varieties, since I dry my own shortly before a hike, and make the servings accordingly. A little soaking in cold water in my pot, then add whatever I'm cooking, and well, it's hamburger again. I use a cheapy dehydrator I think we got at Walmart, which works fine, but you can do it in the oven, too, at the lowest setting with the door propped open. Just cook the leanest hamburger you can find (We can get a 97/3 here), and put it on parchment paper liners on the racks. Done overnight. It's recommended to rinse the fat out and recook to dry before putting into the dryer (fat will go rancid as it gets older), but if you're just making it a few weeks before a hike, it shouldn't have time for that. At least not so far with me. And not rinsing allows you to keep any seasonings you may have cooked into it.

The packaged crumbles would be great for a short notice hike, where I didn't get or take the time to dry something ahead of time. Or to eat out of the bag, as Starchild mentioned. The home dried gravel is a little tough and crunchy to do that, at least for me. Mine gets a bit harder than normal jerky because it's so small.

[Different Socks]

I have tried this as well. It is good for hiking but it does have an expiration date, so must be eaten in the same year it is purchased.

[Rocket Jones]

One good tip I learned when making my own gravel is to mix in 1/4 cup bread crumbs per pound of ground meat before cooking and drying. The bread crumbs absorb moisture better than gravel alone and it rehydrates closer to fresh.

[Venchka]

Y'all talking about two different things. Pre-cooked ground beef, bacon and sausage are not dehydrated.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[Hikes in Rain]

Yes, you're tight, they're not. The thread split. My fault, I tend to go down rabbit holes.

[Venchka]

No worries. I like all the recipes. I just wanted to get the two different things straight.

Wayne


Sent from somewhere around here.

[Wise Old Owl]

OH... What were you all thinking.. store bought gravel? If Genghis Khan can make tartar out of ground beef so can you. The best part of dehydration is you do not need to make gravel. You can stop it short. Make hard micro meat balls, If you need long term shelf life its all about saltpeter. So do you best.

[perdidochas]

But does it have to be refrigerated? I can't tell for sure based on the information provided at WalMart.com.

I ask because that reminds me of the Jimmy Dean Sausage Crumbles we buy for use at home... but the Sausage Crumbles are found in the refrigerated meat section of the grocery store.

They don't. They are sold on the shelf close to the foilpack tuna, and you can buy seasoned beef crumbles in the Mexican food shelf area. They are shelf stable.

[al_stargazer]

I have tried the Libby's Ground Beef. It is in a foil pack and not dehydrated, but shelf stable. It doesn't need refrigeration. I thought it would be a great addition to my list of hiking suppers.
I tried this recipe a few weeks ago and my husband and I enjoyed it: I took a package of instant potatoes and poured them into a freezer bag, added hot water and stirred. I let this rehydrate as I put the ground beef in my pan with a little water. I added 2 tsp of brown gravy mix and a few sprinkles of minced onion. When it started to simmer, I took it and poured it over the potatoes. It was pretty good. When we were finished we threw the freezer bag away. I had one pan to clean up. 0003900086056_180X180.jpg

[QHShowoman]

I saw the Libby's Ground Beef packets in Walmart and picked them up, inspired by this thread.

And here's what I did:

-1 packet of Knorr's Spanish Rice
-Some julienned sundried tomatoes
-Half the pouch of Beef Crumbles

Added the above to a quart-sized freezer bag with 2 cups boiling water, squished it all in the bag to make sure it was all mixed and let it steep in my cozy for 15 mins.

It was pretty freaking yummy. There's enough salt in the Knorr's to give the beef added flavor and since the beef is pre-cooked, it just needed to get warmed up. I added a little hot sauce on top for an extra kick (a pouch of Taco Bell taco sauce would work quite nicely). For extra big appetites, you could easily roll this up in a tortilla burrito-style.


Now that I am over the initial gross-out factor of eating beef from a pouch (it actually reminded me of the Libby's canned corn beef hash, which love -- hmm, does that come in packets?), I can think of other backpacking-friendly meals ... like toss it in some mac & cheese for cheeseburger macaroni. Or mix it up with some powdered spaghetti sauce and toss over unseasoned ramen for an easy bolognese. Or add it to a pouch of mashed potatoes with some dehydrated veggies and brown gravy powder for a quick shepherd's pie...

[WingedMonkey]

(it actually reminded me of the Libby's canned corn beef hash, which love -- hmm, does that come in packets?),

Maybe not the hash, but the Libby's corned beef is in a pouch, usually right next to the crumbled beef at Walmart.

I use it with Hungry Jack hash browns.

Libby's_corned_beef_retort.jpg