The 2013 "No Mountain House Challenge"!

[6t4nova]

If it didn't dehydrate very well, you might want to try spreading it out next time. I dried some pasta and found that if it was "clumped" together that it didn't dehydrate very well.

 

[slim9300]

If it didn't dehydrate very well, you might want to try spreading it out next time. I dried some pasta and found that if it was "clumped" together that it didn't dehydrate very well.

Oddly it was as dry as a crisp after only 5 hours. I still let it run all night to make sure it was completely free of moisture.

 

[6t4nova]

Oddly it was as dry as a crisp after only 5 hours. I still let it run all night to make sure it was completely free of moisture.

Good to hear. I'll have to revisit my drying technique next time and see if that makes a difference. How did it turn out?

 

[slim9300]

Good to hear. I'll have to revisit my drying technique next time and see if that makes a difference. How did it turn out?

I'm going to eat some of it tonight. I will post my thoughts.

 

[slim9300]

Update: It's going up be a great rest of my life not eating backpackers pantry or mountain house ever again. This thread is my savior. lol.

The pasta tasted just like it did before I dehydrated it minus it being a little less saucy and now kind of watery. It's the kind of meal I craved over the last 8 years of backpacking. I think the trick is using extra spices when you cook the meat and as much sauce as you can get away with. The rehydrating seemed to "wash away" some of the flavor and a good portion of the spice. Now I just need a couple more recipes and I will be set.

 

[HellsCanyon]

Awesome! Sounds like I need a dehydrator... just one more thing gettin in the way of those new Leica ranging binos! ;-)

Mike

 

[slim9300]

Awesome! Sounds like I need a dehydrator... just one more thing gettin in the way of those new Leica ranging binos! ;-)

Mike

For me it's the Zeiss Victory RF binos! Someday.

On a side note: The grated parmesan cheese is the way to go. The more you can get, the better it is.

Shredded cheddar cheese is also the way to go per a few blogs my wife found for me. I'm going to have some seriously cheesy mashed potatoes, amongst other dishes.

 

[Daniel_M]

Update: It's going up be a great rest of my life not eating backpackers pantry or mountain house ever again. This thread is my savior. lol.

The pasta tasted just like it did before I dehydrated it minus it being a little less saucy and now kind of watery. It's the kind of meal I craved over the last 8 years of backpacking. I think the trick is using extra spices when you cook the meat and as much sauce as you can get away with. The rehydrating seemed to "wash away" some of the flavor and a good portion of the spice. Now I just need a couple more recipes and I will be set.

Slim what sort of ratio of water did you need to rehydrate?

I've lost the MH love myself and we spent $300 on Hawk Vittles this fall for our float hunt (3 adults/15 days). They were pretty tasty but I find myself to be a great cook and Santa did bring me a dehydrator.

 

[slim9300]

Slim what sort of ratio of water did you need to rehydrate?

I've lost the MH love myself and we spent $300 on Hawk Vittles this fall for our float hunt (3 adults/15 days). They were pretty tasty but I find myself to be a great cook and Santa did bring me a dehydrator.

That's going to be a trial and error process for me. Ideally you are going to want to rehydrate in a bag to maximize the cooking but keep the amount of water as limited as possible. I plan on vacuum packing all my meals individually and making the bags roughly the size of a mountain house. I'll try to keep this thread updated the next time I make a batch and try the bag method.

 

[Daniel_M]

Hawk Vittles recommends 1-2" of warer above the level of food using a food saver bag, maybe start there.

I will likely help contribute on this, cooking is a passion of mine.

 

[slim9300]

Hawk Vittles recommends 1-2" of warer above the level of food using a food saver bag, maybe start there.

I will likely help contribute on this, cooking is a passion of mine.

Thank you!

 

[Daniel_M]

My experience reheating dehydrated is that the water cools too quick to be effective with thick pasta, potato and chili based foods, so everything went into my MSR pot. Of course these were late fall conditions ranging high 20s - low 30s.

Might help to use a heat pouch. I'll be experimenting with making them so my goto stove is just the jetboil.

 

[ohhiitznik]

Slim, do you think you added too much water for the rehydration? I noticed that the food is usually a little better with too little water than too much. Like they say for hawks vittles, I put 1 inch above the food in the pouch and it works very well for me. Another way to do it is....

Weigh a cooked bowl or portion size that you want. Dehydrate it, then weigh that same portion again. That will give you the amount of water taken out via oz's and you can do the conversion!

 

[slim9300]

My experience reheating dehydrated is that the water cools too quick to be effective with thick pasta, potato and chili based foods, so everything went into my MSR pot. Of course these were late fall conditions ranging high 20s - low 30s.

Might help to use a heat pouch. I'll be experimenting with making them so my goto stove is just the jetboil.

This makes sense. The penne was actually perfectly cooked (I prefer my pasta al dente) after 15 minutes of sitting in once boiled water. This was indoors of course but I think if I gave it 20 minutes outside and used my down jacket to insulate, it would cook just as well. I can't tell you how good having a thick pasta is going to taste in the mountains if I can make it work.

 

[slim9300]

Slim, do you think you added too much water for the rehydration? I noticed that the food is usually a little better with too little water than too much. Like they say for hawks vittles, I put 1 inch above the food in the pouch and it works very well for me. Another way to do it is....

Weigh a cooked bowl or portion size that you want. Dehydrate it, then weigh that same portion again. That will give you the amount of water taken out via oz's and you can do the conversion!

I used too much water on purpose. I wanted to make sure that the penne would even reconstitute before the water stopped "cooking." Thankfully if you cook the pasta kind of mushy the first time it does. I could see how a heavier pasta or bean might need more water in the field to properly reconstitute. The more boiling water the longer it cooks.

 

[Daniel_M]

Good food on a hunt is the cats ass. It was what we looked forward to after a 10+ hour day rafting, rebuilding camp and hanging meat.

The constant repetition gave a whole new appreciation for a hot meal!

 

[Lawnboi]

I gave in to a rice and chicken a week or so ago.....

Id like to hear some more recipes. I just have to put my head to it and start experimenting is what it boils down to

 

[frans]

I have a few trays of chili and a few with brown rice dehydrating right now. First try at making a meal. I guess will take the dry weight content of MH as a guide when vacuum packing this, maybe nock off 20% because I usually have trouble finishing all of the (supposedly 2-person) meal.

Picture here: http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w509/FRDHUNT/image_zps63cf2274.jpg

Not sure why Photobucket turned it upside down. Must be an iPad thing

Frans

 

[frans]

My trial batch turned out a bit bigger than anticipated:

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w509/FRDHUNT/_MG_1937s_zps72448ffb.jpg

I started out being frugal with the vacuum bag roll, but then realized that the food will expand, so I ended up taking more plastic, ending up with something closer to MH package height.

The really exciting part will come in a day or two, when I will try a package.

Frans

 

[slim9300]

Keep us posted. I wonder how well those big beans will reconstitute?