How to Make Dehydrated Backpacking Food

We are oh so excited to begin the 486 Mile Colorado Trail in just seven days! This year, we upped our trail food and nutrition diet by making our own dehydrated backpacking meals!

How it Works

1. Prepare and Cook Food
2. Spread food onto dehydrating trays in thin layers. If your food would drip through the trays, use parchment paper as a tray liner.
3. Dehydrate. Dehydrators come with instructions that indicate what temperature to use for certain foods as well as a time estimate.
4. Wait! Most of our batches took 10-15 hours to be fully dehydrated.
5. Vacuum seal meal portions.
6. When on trail, re-hydrate with water and heat.
7. Enjoy a nutritious, home cooked meal at a fraction of the price of freeze dried alternatives.

What You Need

• Food Dehydrator
• Parchment Paper
• Prepared Meal
• Vacuum Sealer and Bags
• Time!!
• A Trail 🙂

Dehydrating your own food is actually quite simple, but it does take quite a bit of time. It took us about 5 weeks to create 57 dinners for two, and we used two dehydrators! If you are making a large amount of meals, start well in advance.

Portions

We found that filling a 6 Qt Stock Pot mostly full would yield four dinners for two (8 portions). We measured out 1.5 cup portions and spread one portion per tray in thin layers. I measured the amount of food after it had been dehydrated, and noticed the volume changed by about 3/4 cup. On trail, I will start re-hydrating with less water than anticipated and add until I achieve the desired consistency.

What to Make

You can cook and dehydrate basically whatever you like. Our meals tend to be made of any bean (white, garbanzo, black, kidney, etc) and finely chopped vegetable in some sort of sauce. We added cooked pasta to some meals, and others we intend to add minute rice cooked in the back country.

While you can cook and dehydrate just about anything, here are some things to avoid:

• Oily Foods
• Nuts and Seeds
• Avocado

Note: Any food you put into your dehydrator must be fully cooked beforehand. So if you are making beans, canned beans are fine, but a dried bean must be fully cooked before it can be dehydrated.

Meal Ideas

We made 100% vegan dehydrated meals for the trail to fit our diet. I can’t speak from personal experience with animal products, but there are many sources that indicate that meat dehydrates just fine. I would assume that meats lower in fat and grease would dehydrate better than greasy meats. All of the meals below we made without any animal products.

If you’d like to know more about backpacking on a vegan diet, check out a full article on vegan backpacking here.

Note: These are not formal recipes. I included the ingredients and seasonings we use so that you can modify quantities to your liking. For us, it worked well to fill a 6 Qt Stock Pot mostly full which yielded 8 – 1.5 cup portions. I recommend making thicker soups with little broth. I also recommend over seasoning for a better flavor once the meal is re-hydrated on trail.

Powerhouse Breakfast

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Granola
• 1 tbsp Chia Seeds
• 2 tbsp Vegan Protein Powder
• 2 tbsp dried fruit

Add all ingredients to vacuum bag and seal. On trail, add 1/2 cup water. Approx 400 cal and 17 g protein per serving as is. After you add at water and the powder is dissolved, we like to add a spoonful of peanut butter for extra nutrition and to cover up the taste of the protein powder.

---

Chili / Chili Mac

Ingredients

• Canned Beans (Chili, Kidney, Black), drained
• Canned Tomatoes (Crushed, petite diced, tomato paste)
• Finely Chopped Yellow Onion, Bell Pepper, and Garlic
• Frozen Corn
• Seasonings: Chili Powder, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper, Garlic Salt, Salt and Black Pepper
• For Chili Mac, add cooked elbow macaroni

Saute onion and bell pepper in a little vegetable stock, add garlic last. Add all other ingredients and seasoning.

---

Boracho Beans

Ingredients

• Pinto Beans, drained
• Finely Chopped Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Garlic
• Canned Chipotle Peppers (Would not recommend using the whole can! 1 or 2 peppers will do it.)
• Dash of White Vinegar
• One Light Beer
• Tomato Paste
• Seasonings: Salt and Pepper

Lightly saute onion and bell pepper in a little vegetable stock, add garlic to saute last. Add all other ingredients.

---

Chickpea Masala

Ingredients

• Green chiles (jalepeno), Garlic, Cilantro
• Finely Chopped Onion
• Canned Chick Peas, drained
• Stewed Tomatoes
• Coconut milk
• Seasoning: Tumeric, Cumin, Garam Masala, Salt and Pepper

Combine chiles, garlic, cilantro, and stewed tomatoes in a food processor. Transfer to stock pot and add all ingredients.

---

Tangy Potato and White Bean Soup

Ingredients

• Potatoes
• Canned White Beans, drained
• Minced carrot, red onion, and garlic
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Maple Syrup
• Seasonings: Salt and Pepper

Simmer carrot, red onion, and garlic in 3 parts water, 1 part vinegar until onions are translucent. Add a dash of maple syrup. Set Aside. Boil potatoes in salted water until soft. Combine half cooked potatoes, half white beans, and the onion mixture you made into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Combine mixture with more cooked potatoes and white beans. Add salt and pepper to taste.

---

Curry Potato and White Bean Soup

Ingredients

• Potatoes
• Canned White Beans, drained
• Coconut Milk
• Finely Chopped Onion, Bell Pepper, and Garlic
• Seasonings: Curry Powder, Red Pepper Flakes, Salt and Pepper

Boil potatoes in salted water until soft. Combine half cooked potatoes, half white beans, and coconut milk into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Lightly saute onion and bell pepper in a little vegetable stock and add minced garlic last. Add the mixture from the food processor and more cooked potatoes, white beans, and coconut milk in stock pot. Add seasonings to taste.

---

Cajun Beans

Ingredients

• Pinto Beans, drained
• Finely Chopped Onion, Bell Peppers (any color), and Garlic
• Seasonings: Cajun Seasoning, Garlic Salt, Salt and Pepper

Lightly saute onion and bell pepper in a little vegetable stock, add garlic to saute last. Add all other ingredients.

---

Spaghetti / Goulash

Ingredients

• Finely Chopped Onion, Bell Peppers (any color), and Garlic
• Canned Tomatoes (Petite Diced, Tomato Paste)
• Jar(s) of Premade Spaghetti Sauce
• Spaghetti or Elbow Macaroni
• Seasonings: Italian Seasoning Mix, Garlic Salt, Salt and Pepper

Lightly saute onion and bell pepper in a little vegetable stock, add garlic to saute last. Add tomatoes, sauce, and paste. Cook pasta separately in salted water. Add cooked pasta to stock pot. Season to taste.