J M wrote:When I'm walking with dehydrated food, I tend to bring along a small screw top container to rehydrate food in. It's really handy - I just put my dinner in with some water at lunch time (or later) and by the time I'm ready for dinner, the meal is already fully rehydrated and only takes a few minutes to heat up. Works well for me!
corvus wrote:Over the years I have found that adding hot water at your camp stop( which if well planned) will be before you need to eat is normally adequate to start rehydration of most meals especially if you are gramme counting
corvus
J M wrote:When I'm walking with dehydrated food, I tend to bring along a small screw top container to rehydrate food in. It's really handy - I just put my dinner in with some water at lunch time (or later) and by the time I'm ready for dinner, the meal is already fully rehydrated and only takes a few minutes to heat up. Works well for me!
corvus wrote:I have found that a 20 min minimum hot water soak was adequate for most of my "minced meat meals" however you do need to be able to simmer them for a good result.
corvus
corvus wrote:I have found that a 20 min minimum hot water soak was adequate for most of my "minced meat meals" however you do need to be able to simmer them for a good result.
corvus
Tortoise wrote:corvus wrote:I have found that a 20 min minimum hot water soak was adequate for most of my "minced meat meals" however you do need to be able to simmer them for a good result.
corvus
I think it depends a bit on what size the bits and pieces in it are. I've gone smaller than i used to.
Yes, simmering for a bit would be ideal, but i've decided i'm usually quite happy with the using less fuel version. Probably because I'm trying to get my pack weight down, and food/fuel has been the easiest part for me so far!
Tortoise wrote:Oh, and I now use whipped peanut butter for lunch - lighter weight, spreads easier. I like the combos - PB and jam, veg and cheese, cheese and jam etc. Not keen on veg and PB myself, though.
And I often use rice vermicelli for the carb bit of my meal - just toss it in with everything else when the water boils, and it's done by the time it's sat a while. Light, cheap, very easy.
Drew wrote:There are numerous ways of rehydrating.
It's preferable (if you get to camp early enough) to put your meal in the pot and add cold water and leave to sit for an hour or two. Just check on it occasionally as it might need more water than you think. Then you just heat it up and it's done.
If you don't have time for this then you can just add water and heat, simmering for a while. You might end up with more dry chewy bits this way depending on the meal.
If you can't simmer well then make a pot cosy (just google it, plenty of pages out there with instructions I think - a windscreen sunshade is good to use if you can't find other materials). Bring your meal to the boil, turn off the stove and put the pot in the cosy. It will stay warm a long time. You can then just give it a bit more heat if needed before eating.
If you want to save weight (and washing up) you can use the freezer bag/zip-lock bag approach. Have your meals divided into portions in sturdy zip-lock bags. Add almost boiling water, seal bag and put it in a cosy (or a sock, beanie or whatever else). You might need to give it a massage to break up any chunks. After a while it will be rehydrated and warm. Just eat it out of the bag. (Yes, sometimes bags leak.)
It all just takes a bit of practice to get right.
Meals that I've found dehydrate and rehydrate well are bolognese sauce (I use roo mince, but any lean mince should work), risotto, ratatouille, dahl, putanesca sauce. General rules are to cut things smaller than you normally would, don't use too much oil, don't use fatty meats or chunky meats. I often do the ratatouille with brown rice. I cook the brown rice at home and dehydrate it. It rehydrates well. I normally cook pasta at camp as you get a better texture, but if you need to save fuel/weight/time then it can be pre-cooked and rehydrated too.
I haven't invested in a vacuum sealer but I normally cook not long before a walk and keep things in the freezer until the hike. Once a friend made beef bourgignon with big chunks in it. It was also quite oily and didn't dehydrate well. If I'd been keeping it for a few days in warm weather I would have been worried about eating it - I never got all of the moisture out and it could have turned rancid. However we just ate it on the first night of the hike and it was great.
For no fuss lunches I often fry up some veggies (onion, garlic, carrot, capsicum, corn, mushroom) in a little oil, some spices (curry powder, chill, turmeric etc) and some water. I dehydrate this and put it in a zip-lock bag with cous cous. Before leaving camp in the morning add some water (can be hot or cold, doesn't matter) to the bag and by lunch time you have a nice cous cous veggie curry salad thing.
Drew wrote:No worries Danny.
I'm not sure if the pasta cooks quicker when it's been rehydrated. But it does make your meal preparation a lot easier if you have dehydrated pasta and sauce all together and you can just whack them in the pot. Brown rice is definitely quicker.
If you like a bit of extra oil best just to bring some in a little nalgene bottle to drizzle on top.
Drew wrote:I would expect that, provided the meals are well dehydrated, they should be fine. BUT, I don't want to give you any guarantees! I've never left food for that long out of the fridge or freezer. You might want to ask around a bit more. It might be worth investing in a vacuum sealer.
If there's any moisture left in your food and the weather gets warm then it could spoil. I would advise you to really dry the hell out of your food.
Drew
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