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For detailed recipes and nutrient breakdowns, head here.
We’re doing stuff today. Today we’re making dehydrated meals.
I’ve got a big backpacking trip coming up. Me and a bunch of friends that I met on the AT are going to go do the Wonderland Trail in a couple of weeks and I don’t want to pay $20 for a dehydrated dinner every single night, and I also don’t want to eat a bunch of ramen and honey buns and a bunch of stuff that’s going to make me feel like crap. So I looked into the world of dehydrated foods, I bought myself a dehydrator, I looked online and found a bunch of stuff that I could just toss together and heat together with water and then I wrote up a bunch of recipes with a bunch of nutrients and a bunch of macros and today we are going to do the hard work of putting together eight nights worth of backpacking meals.
Ingredient List
I’ve got all sorts of goodies in these bags so let’s just go ahead and dump everything out and take inventory.
We’ve got some cheap Vietnamese rice noodles that I got at the Vietnamese market, we’ve got some instant brown rice, we’ve got some coconut milk powder, we’ve got some PB2, we’ve got a huge thing of dehydrated vegetables, we’ve got some protein powder, we’ve got some black bean flakes, textured vegetable protein, chia seeds, some chickpeas I dehydrated straight out of the can, we’ve got some couscous, we’ve got some oats, we’ve got all sorts of seasonings, Thai red curry seasoning, cinnamon, Mexican fiesta seasoning, salt, sesame seeds, some Mediterranean seasoning, and of course we have a bunch of mylar bags and some oxygen absorbers. I’ve also got some measuring cups and measuring spoons and a Sharpie.
So I know that this looks like a lot and it is.I would say I probably spent about $200 on all this, but if you think about that in terms of dehydrated backpacking meals you might get from Peak Refuel or Backpackers Pantry or any of that stuff, those usually go anywhere from $10 to $20 a pop and I’m going to get way more than 10 to 20 meals out of all this together. So at the end of the day, I think I’m saving a lot of money, and I’m going to have a nice variety of dinners when I’m on trail.
Thai Red Vermicelli Noodles
So the first thing we’re going to do is start with the vermicelli noodle recipes.
The first recipe I’m going to start with is the Thai red curry noodle. For this I’m going to need a mylar bag, some vermicelli noodles, the Thai red curry seasoning, TVP, some dehydrated vegetables, coconut milk powder, and some sesame seeds. So I’ve made this recipe once before and I did really like it.
I added too many noodles the first time though and I feel like all the good stuff sunk to the bottom so by the time I was done with all my noodles I had to like eat all the mushy tofu and whatever that had sunk to the bottom. So this time I’m going to do less noodles. I’m going to do a better job of mixing it up and when I do go backpacking I’m going to bring a collapsible folding bowl with me so I can dump it all out into the bowl and eat it that way instead of just like digging through the bag for dinner.
So let’s get started. All right so first things first we’re going to go in with one serving of vermicelli noodles and I’m going to break these up so that they’re easier to eat. Listen to that ASMR.
We need half a cup of soy protein and again you don’t have to use TVP. If you eat meat feel free to add any sort of dehydrated meat to this or just bring like a chicken packet or a tuna packet with you on your trip and just add that to the finished product. In it goes.
You need a couple tablespoons of dehydrated veggies. Now I like these because these are already pre-seasoned so they already have a good flavor to them. You got peppers, carrots, potatoes, onions, cabbage, and celery in here and I like it because I can basically just add vegetables to anything and they’re all super neutral flavors so no matter what I put it with it’s going to taste good.
So we’re going to do about three tablespoons of veggies. Four tablespoons. Now we’re going to throw in some coconut milk powder and I like coconut milk powder because it’s super calorically dense.
One tablespoon is 50 calories so if I put three in here that’s an extra 150 calories. It’s got some sugar in it, it’s got some fat in it, so lots of good stuff. And finally we’re just going to toss in some seasonings.
First the Thai red curry seasoning. This is from iSpice. This stuff is spicy but it’s so good.
Just tossing in a healthy amount there. Some sesame seeds and some salt. Now we’re just going to shake it up.
That’s it. We’re going to toss in the oxygen absorber. We’re going to label it and then we’re done with it.
Now when it’s all said and done this meal cost me about $2.75 and of all of the meals of this series I would say that this one is probably the least calorically dense and has the least amount of protein. However if it is a later hiking day or I just don’t have much of an appetite I’m going to be happy that I have this in my kit.
Thai Peanut Vermicelli Noodle
Next up is Thai peanut noodle.
For this one we’re going to need all the same stuff. We’re going to add PB2. PB2 is literally just dehydrated peanut butter.
So we’re going to add all the same stuff but this time we’re going to add four tablespoons of PB2. We’ll give her a shake and she’s done. Now the Thai peanut vermicelli noodle bowl comes out to $3.43 and that is just because we added the PB2 so it’s a little bit more expensive.
This one comes out to 636 calories and nearly 40 grams of protein.
Thai Peanut Instant Brown Rice
Next up is Thai peanut rice. It’s going to be all the same stuff except we’re just adding rice.
I feel like you guys are probably catching on by now. A lot of these are just the same recipe but we’re switching up the grains or we are switching up the flavor profile but this just means that we can be really modular with our recipes and we don’t have to be locked into one flavor. So I’ll be honest with the brown rice I’m not a hundred percent confident that it’s going to rehydrate the way that I want it to so I’m going to cold soak it for a little bit before I even get to camp to give it a chance to really soften up and then I’ll go in with the hot water just to really guarantee that it’s soft and I’m not stuck eating crunchy brown rice.
I’m just going to go ahead and save you the time. Literally this is the exact same recipe as the Thai peanut nudes but we’re subbing noodles for one cup of instant brown rice. Seriously literally everything else is exactly the same.
Now this recipe comes out to three dollars and 23 cents when it’s all said and done and this one has quite a bit more calories than the vermicelli noodle recipes at 810 calories and a whopping 42 grams of protein.
Mexican Fiesta Rice Bowl
Now we are going to switch it up and we’re going to make a like Mexican black bean fiesta bag situation. So I got rid of the coconut milk powder, I got rid of the PB2, the Thai curry seasoning, the sesame seeds, all that stuff and now we are left with some brown rice, some black bean flakes, the veggies, and some salt, and some Mexican fiesta seasoning. So for this recipe we’re going to start off with about a quarter cup of dehydrated veggies.
So a serving size of the black beans is a third cup which is it seems a little bit light to me so we’re going to go for two-thirds cup for 240 calories. I’ve never used these before they look pretty good. Hopefully they rehydrate well.
This one is super easy. We’re basically almost done. This seasoning has chili peppers, onion, tomato powder, paprika, cumin, garlic, cilantro, oregano, cayenne, lemon peel.
I’m just going to toss a healthy dose in there. Add some salt. Give her a shake.
I’m actually going to add a little bit more black beans. And we’re done. And I’m actually going to be bringing two of these on the trip so let’s make another one.
Now the Mexican fiesta black bean instant brown rice bowl with only the black beans in there comes out to $3.79, 770 calories, and 34 grams of protein. And if you halve the black beans and add half a cup of the TVP you’re going to come out to $3.09, 700 total calories, and 36 grams of protein.
Mediteranean CousCous Bowl
All right now we’re going to put all this away because we are going to be making something with couscous.
And again we’re going to be making two of these. One cup of couscous. The nice thing about couscous is that it also can cold soak pretty well so if I’m running low on fuel which I don’t expect to happen or I just don’t feel like cooking maybe it’s raining outside or I’m feeling lazy I can just toss a bunch of water in here and it’ll do the work for me.
Now we’re going to divide up these chickpeas into both of these bags. About a half cup of dehydrated chickpeas in each of these bags. Now half a cup of TVP per bag.
Now a quarter cup of veggies. Now these are likely going to be my most calorically dense meal of the entire trip. Both of these are.
So my plan is to bring one on each leg of the trip because we’re going to do resupply in the middle so first half I’ll bring this bag second half I’ll bring this bag so that way if I have a particularly taxing day on either side of the trip I can smash one of these and they’re also I’d say probably the heavier of all the meals so that way I don’t have to carry all the weight. Now we’re just going with some Mediterranean seasoning and we’re all done. Mediterranean seasoning is onion, spices and herbs, garlic and sea salt.
You’d think they would tell you what herbs. Smells good. Party.
And that’s two meals down. Now the Mediterranean chickpeas are by far my most calorically dense and protein-packed meals of the trip. Each of these is going to come out to 1170 calories and 56 grams of protein, 170 grams of fats and 55 carbs.
They are pretty heavy but they are definitely going to help me rebuild my strength and keep my energy high for the next day of hiking.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Chia Seed Protein Instant Oats
All right and this one is just for funsies. I thought it would be fun.
I’m going to be making like a oaty, chocolatey, coconutty, protein-y sort of dessert style dinner. My thought is I’m probably going to get to a point when I’m hiking where all I want is dessert like a Snickers bar or like a big piece of cake or something and this hopefully will satisfy the craving. It also will be filled with protein so hopefully I can make up for all the protein I likely will not be eating over the course of the trip.
We’re going to need salt, PB2, cinnamon, some quick oats. This is not old-fashioned oats and this is not steel-cut oats. These are instant oats. Very important. Chia seeds, protein powder, and coconut milk powder. Now if you’re the kind of person who likes to make a big breakfast before you get out and start hiking for the day, you could definitely do this for breakfast.
I’m not really a cook-my-breakfast kind of gal. I like to drink instant coffee cold or just eat the coffee packet or start walking and then immediately start eating candy. So I’m not the best example for breakfast.
So if you’re better than me, definitely you can have this breakfast. I will be eating this as like a dessert style dinner. Okay so to start off with, we’re going in with one full cup of oats.
Yeah, we’re going to do two scoops of coconut milk powder. We are doing four tablespoons of powdered peanut butter. Doing one scoop of chocolate protein powder.
Now I like to use Orgain but honestly you could use whatever brand you want. And two and a half tablespoons of chia seeds. I like chia seeds because they have a lot of fiber and they’re also really calorically dense.
Two tablespoons has 130 calories. There’s a lot of healthy fats in here, five grams of protein, so good to have some chia seeds. Now some cinnamon. They say it helps with inflammation. I just like how it tastes.
All right, so now that everything is in there, I’m going to give her a little shake.
Now this whole thing I think is about like 900 calories, so I have a feeling that I’m probably going to eat half of this at night and then throw it in the bear box and then eat the rest in the morning. So the chocolate peanut butter coconut chia seed protein oats come out to about $3.30 for one bag. That is 830 calories and 53 grams of protein.
All done!
And we’re done. And that is everything. We got our oats, we got our Mediterranean bowls, we got our Fiesta bowls, we got our peanut rice, and we have our Thai peanut noodles and our Thai red curry noodles.
So when it’s all said and done, I want to say that all this together costs me about $20 when you take into account price per serving and the amount of servings of each ingredient and all these bags, etc, etc. I’m going to include a link to the nutrient breakdown, all the price breakdowns, whatever, in the description just so you guys can reference it if you want to. I got kind of nerdy with it.
And I’m really proud of all this. I’m excited to see how it turns out. I think I’m going to be eating really, really well on the Wonderland Trail.
I would love to know which of these recipes you’re going to try or if you’re guys eat when you’re on trail, let me know. Anyway, my name is Sassafras. I’m with the Trek.
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And that’s all for today. Happy hiking.
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