Rehydrating meals

[DLP]

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.

[DLP]

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]

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.

Meal Plan - Eagle Cap_1.jpg

[DuneElliot]

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.

Meal Plan - Eagle Cap_1.jpg

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

[DLP]

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]

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]

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/produc...to/?sort=alpha

[Connie]

..and thin rice noodles are available in little whispy bird's nests, in a package.

[Vegan Packer]

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]

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/produc...to/?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]

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.


My pot cozy sits ready to use as my dehydrated vegetarian chili comes to a boil.


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.

[Maydog]

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.

[Venchka]

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."

[Venchka]

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."