Here are some ones we used many tiems with my own youth when I was a youth and taught when i was working with OB.
They have been tested in scouting and were given to my brother in law part of BC West Coast Search and Rescue.
Hope you enjoy them I have many, I am thinking of putting a book together. I created a new one at Linking camp, that was well loved.
Scouter Jos
Trail CakeIngredients
* 2 1⁄2 c all-purpose flour
* 2 1⁄2 t baking powder
* 1 t baking soda
* 1⁄4 t salt
* 1 1⁄4 c sugar
* 3⁄4 c unsweetened applesauce
* 1 t vanilla extract
* 3⁄4 c egg whites
* 1 c nonfat milk
Instructions
At home:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Very lightly grease a 13x9" glass pan.
Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.
Mix together the sugar and applesauce, stir in vanilla, milk and eggs.
Add dry ingredients until well blended. I used a hand mixer for this.
Spread batter evenly into pan, using a spatula.
Bake for 27 to 35 minutes on middle rack, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Depending on oven and humidity it may take up to 40 minutes for it.
Now onto the drying:
I got the dehydrator out but did not line the trays. As much airflow as you can get is needed for this project. I cut strips of cake, then cut them in half, then diced them up, to large crouton size.
I dried them at 135* for 12 hours or so. What you want is crouton style. Hard and crunchy. Think of it this way, you are making cake biscotti.
Rehydration:
I tried two ways. First was doing it chunk style, the second was after running the chunks through my chopper into smaller pieces/some large powder (you can use a blender). Each bag had 1/4 cup dry cake.
I brought a cup of water to boil, and started with 2 Tbsp in each bag, working it in by carefully kneading the bag. In the end the bags took nearly a 1:1 ratio of water to cake. I was happier with the smaller pieces, as it rehydrated almost instantly.
Now you might ask, what does it taste like? Well, it tastes like warm cake. If you watch the water carefully as you add it, it won't be too wet. Even if you do, it is still good. The crumbs come together and it feels like a piece of smushed cake. L has said chocolate cake would be great with some adult beverage drizzled in as part of the water......
Come day 3, you pull cake out, you could be the coolest person in camp
Notes
Now, you might have noticed something. There is nearly no fat in this recipe. And that is the trick you need to follow. Most cake mixes can be made with applesauce or baby prunes (there is also a commercial baking prune mix you can get in the baking aisle). Use a 1:1 ratio of it to oil called for. For eggs, either use egg whites or buy Egg Beaters and use 1/4 cup per egg called for. You may have to bake your cake a bit longer, but that is fine. The applesauce you want unsweetened, as it adds enough sweetness on its own. What I feel is that next time I make this yellow cake, I am going to make it a spice cake. It would be great for a blustery evening.
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Pasta:Dry at 135* for 8-12 hours till brittle hard. Smaller types of pasta dry fastest and recook in bags at a faster rate. Rehydration is equal amounts of water to pasta. As a tip, under cook your pasta by one to two minutes, as it will finish cooking while being rehydrated. In camp use boiling water, and let sit in a cozy for 5-15 minutes.
Drying 1 serving of pasta (4 ounces before cooking): 1 6 oz box of Mac & Cheese pasta:
Rice:
Commercial instant rice is easy to use, cheap and can be found almost everywhere. So what does it lack though?
Simply a deep taste and as well the texture that good quality rice has. Sadly with commercial instant rice you do have a major trade off. In burritos or used in soups on the trail it isn't so noticeable. But if your rice is the focal point it can come up very lacking.
Drying your own rice can open up a vast array of choice from Jasmine, sticky rices, brown, black, red and even wild rice. If you can buy the rice at the store you can dry it up! Considering you can find only white and a not-so-great brown rice in the majority of grocery stores, this allows you to have many more gourmet meals - and it only takes an hour or so total of your time to do it.
In most cases you will want to double whatever is the "serving size" on the rice package. That is often 1/4 cup dry rice. Figure 1/2 cup per serving of uncooked rice for trail appetites.
Cook your rice how you prefer making sure you don't add in oil or fat. For white rices I often bring 3 cups water to a boil and add in 1 1/2 cups rinsed rice, bring it back to a boil, stir well and put the lid on. Turn it down to low and let it simmer gently for 20 minutes. When done fluff the rice up well.
A great way to make brown rice was featured on Alton Brown's Good Eats show. Just leave out the fat (and it doesn't need all that salt either!)
Spread the cooked rice on prepared dehydrator trays - if you have fine mesh screen use them, if not line your trays with parchment paper. 1 1/2 cups uncooked rice takes up about 2 trays when cooked. Dry at 135-145*.
If you are drying using your kitchen oven spread the rice on cookie trays and set the oven to it's lowest setting. Put the trays in the oven and prop the door open a tiny bit with a wooden spoon.
Either way, check on your rice every hour and stir it breaking up any clumps. As the rice gets dry it will become very easy to get single grains.
The time depends on the humidity and if your dehydrator has a fan to help move off the moisture. Expect to take 4-12 hours (this isn't an exact science!)
Jasmine rice:Once the rice is brittle dry (no flexibility) turn off the dehydrator and let the rice cool to room temperature. Pack in freezer bags in serving sizes. While you can leave your rice in bulk storage, by splitting it up you will have ready to go bags. I ended with 3 bags of 3/4 cup cooked and dehydrated rice each. (This was based on 1/2 cup uncooked rice per serving)
For rehydrating use a ratio of 1:1. For 1 serving from above add 3/4 cup boiling water to the 3/4 cup dried rice. Stir well and put in a cozy for 15 minutes. Serve as usual!
The texture of the rice tastes almost the same as when it came out of the pan. Try drying your own and you most likely will never go back to using commercial instant rice.
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Spaghetti/Pasta Sauce:
For jarred or can sauces (24 to 32 ounces), spread evenly on two parchment lined trays. Dry at 135*. Half way thru, when tacky (but not gooey wet), pop off paper and flip over. You want pliable dry with no sticky, wet or tacky spots. It will be similar to fruit leather. Run thru a blender to make small pieces or to powder. Store in your freezer in quart freezer bags till trip time. Do not vac seal the powder, as it will become a hard lump.
1-4 servings (based on the average 3 cup size of most jars).
To rehydrate:
For each serving (1/4 of the powder), add 1/2 cup boiling water, stir well and put in a cozy for 5 minutes. Add up to another 1/4 cup water to reach the right mix. Toss with pasta!
Notes:
Homemade sauce is also nice to do. If it is a chunky sauce, process it a bit to make smoother. Excellent with lean hamburger, mushrooms, onions, etc. added.
"Vodka" sauces are not a good choice for drying due to the higher fat content from added cream.
To make a really good creamy sauce, pack in a small packet of cream cheese (1 ounce or less) and add it to your sauce. It gives a creamy sauce! You can use the foil one serving packets for overnighters, and you can also find shelf stable cream cheese by Rondele Cheese, sold in some grocery stores near the fresh bagels.
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"Instant" Guacamole:1 package guacamole mixspan
2 large avocados
Cut your avocados in half down lengthwise. Take a chefs knife and whack it gently into the pit. Twist your knife and the pit will pop out. Meanwhile take a spoon and go under the lip of the peel all around. The avocado meat will pop out for you. Discard pit and peels.
Put the avocado meat into a glass bowl and mash up with a potato masher or fork with the dry mix.
On parchment lined dehydrator trays take 1/4 cup servings and spread each serving thin with a spatula on its own section of paper.
I dried it 135* for 7 hours. At 4 hours in I flipped the parchment paper over so the other side would get heat. At 5 hours I came back and peeled the paper off. This allowed the back side to get free air movement.
When dry I let it cool to room temperature then ran each section through my mini grinder to powder it. I then packed it into snack size bags and marked it. Each 1/4 cup of fresh became about 2 Tbsp dry mix. To rehydrate add 2 Tbsp cold water, seal bag and kneed gently. Let sit for 15-20 minutes. You may need to add a bit more water to your texture preference.
Due to the natural fat you would want to store it in your freezer and use up in 3 months or so. I would not recommend carrying the dried guacamole for extended periods in hot weather due to said fat - it could go off. Otherwise it works great and tastes fabulous when done!
PS: If you use a recipe for homemade, be sure it contains lemon juice to prevent browning. Once you cut the avocado do not stop or wander off until it is all mixed. Avocado browns fast if you do not treat it!
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Ground Hamburger:
Dry at 155°
This is a very easy one to do. Buy the leanest hamburger you can get. Cook it 100% done, breaking it up as much as you can , you want it tiny. When done, pour off as much grease as you can. Then rinse the meat in a strainer with hot water. Drain well, blotting with paper towels. At this point put it on your dehydrator and dry till rock hard. Figure 3-6 hours. Stir every 30 minutes or so.
You want to make sure there is no moisture left. Store in freezer bags. Store this in your freezer till you go backpacking. In camp add equal amounts of boiling water (or cover) and let sit 10 minutes or so, then add to your meals. You can also add the meat directly to your meal-adding the water for the meat at that time. How much will you need? Figure 8 ounces of hamburger per meal before you dehydrate is a good start. This will be around 1/2 cup dried. That will work well for two people, for one person, 1/4 cup is a good amount of dried hamburger.
about 3 1/2 lbs of hamburger being cooked in a large skillet.
Fully cooked, drained and rinsed, on a lined tray.
3 1/2 lbs of hamburger fully dried, and ready to be stored in the freezer till needed for trips.
Canned Meats:A lot of people don't realize that you can dehydrate canned chicken easily-and it comes back to life simply. While pop-top cans and the newer pouched versions of canned chicken are convenient, and easy to get (and affordable if bought at Metro, Costco, or Walmart), it can be heavy to carry, and you also have to hump out empty cans/bags. Which tend to have a strong smell. And not everyone wants to use the broth in the cans, draining it in the backcountry is not a good choice in bear country.
And you can also use the same way to dry canned turkey, tuna, or ham...which usually do not have pop top lids. You can also find lower sodium versions sometimes, and this is a great way to watch salt if you need to.
I use one dehydrator tray per can. Since there is usally two of us per meal, I use the 10 ounce size cans (or use a 7 ounce pouch). If doing for one person, you could use 5 ounce cans, or just split the 10 ounce can up after drying. I prefer to line my trays with parchment paper (or use fine mesh screens if you have them).
Open the cans, and drain well. Put on prepared trays. Using clean hands, smush up the meat, till it has no big chunks. This will will help with the drying and with rehydrating.
Spread each can evenly over one tray. Dry at 155° till dry. Expect 4-8 hours, this will vary by the temp/humidity in your house.
When dry, store in freezer bags, in your freezer till trip time. This helps the meat stay fresh. Since canned meat has some fat left in it(though if you buy chicken breast versions it is usually 99% fat free), you do have some chance of it going rancid if stored in less than optimal conditions (ie. in a hot kitchen, in summer).
As a note, canned meats work in drying as they are essentially pressure cooked. Boiling chicken at home and drying it will sadly give you chicken jerky. Though if you pressure cook chicken, it will work usually. Canned meats though tend to be safer overall.
"Burger" crumbles:No cooking involved and in a couple short hours you have a bag of ready to use "hamburger" that is vegetarian friendly and great for carrying in a food sack on longer trips due to their low fat content. The crumbles are a great source of protein as well.
Go to the frozen foods section of a well stocked grocery store and look for the section of veggie burgers. Here you will find "burger" crumbles in 12 ounce bags. The bag is equivalent to one pound of uncooked hamburger.
Spread on lined trays. A bag takes two trays up. Set on 135° and check back in 2 hours to stir and break up any big pieces. The crumbles will dry fast so keep an eye on them - they take only a couple hours.
The crumbles are dry when you rub a piece between your fingers and it is dry all the way through. Like actual hamburger, the crumbles will darken considerably as they dry. Don't worry about that! Once dry, let cool down and then package into a tightly sealed bag or canister. For best long term storage, store in your freezer till trip time.
Serving size: to add a bit of protein and make meals more filling add in 1-2 Tbsp per person. Rehydration ratio is 1:1 product to water.
Tue May 19, 2009 5:27 am 
