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Dehydrating your food is an incredible way to add variety to your backpacking menu and improve the quality and quantity of food that you can bring along on strenuous hikes. Here’s a sample 9 day menu for the 100 mile Wilderness which gives you an idea of the variety and weights savings that are possible.
I normally carry about 2 pounds of food per day in my food bag But that would amount to 18 pounds of food for a 9 day trip. Imagine being about to slash that by 50% by eating dehydrated food. That would really lighten up your backpack and reduce the bulk of your load.
To put the weight and compression factors of dehydration into perspective, here are two bags of food that have been dehydrated. The bag on the left is a white bean and artichoke dip recipe. Before dehydration, the ingredients weighed about 30 oz. After dehydration, they weigh 5.4 oz. The bag on the left contains a green pepper, red pepper and onion medley. Before dehydration, the ingredients weighed 32 oz. After dehydration, they weigh, 2.4 oz.
9-day Backpacking Menu
Here’s a look at the menu plan for my 100 mile wilderness trip which includes recipes from the great dehydrated food handbook Recipes in Adventure. They’re all pretty easy to make if you have a good dehydrator and a little patience.
| Day | Meal | Item |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Breakfast | Rice Pudding |
| 1 | Snack 1 | Ginger Cookies |
| 1 | Snack 2 | 3 Pieces Large Toblerone |
| 1 | Lunch | Gouda and Crackers |
| 1 | Snack 3 | Sunflower Seeds |
| 1 | Dinner | Spaghetti, Sauce & Hamburger/Veggies |
| 2 | Breakfast | Pumpkin Bark and Raisins |
| 2 | Snack 1 | Cranberry Almond Gorp |
| 2 | Snack 2 | Ritter Hazelnut |
| 2 | Lunch | Gouda and Crackers |
| 2 | Snack 3 | Black Licorice |
| 2 | Dinner | Rica Canyon Spread and Rice |
| 3 | Breakfast | Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Corn |
| 3 | Snack 1 | Chili Spiced Mango |
| 3 | Snack 2 | Snickers Bar |
| 3 | Lunch | Chorizo Sausage |
| 3 | Snack 3 | Candied Ginger |
| 3 | Dinner | Ratatouille and Brown Rice |
| 4 | Breakfast | Banana Nut Bread Pudding |
| 4 | Snack 1 | Nut Mix |
| 4 | Snack 2 | 3 Pieces Large Toblerone |
| 4 | Lunch | Justin Nut Butter & Crackers |
| 4 | Snack 3 | Dried Fruit Mix |
| 4 | Dinner | Chicken Adobo (Rice) |
| 5 | Breakfast | Pumpkin Bark and Raisins |
| 5 | Snack 1 | Cat Cookies |
| 5 | Snack 2 | Ritter Hazelnut |
| 5 | Lunch | Salami and Crackers |
| 5 | Snack 3 | Black Licorice |
| 5 | Dinner | Spaghetti, Sauce & Hamburger/Veggies |
| 6 | Breakfast | Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Corn |
| 6 | Snack 1 | Cranberry Almond Gorp |
| 6 | Snack 2 | Snickers Bar |
| 6 | Lunch | Salami and Crackers |
| 6 | Snack 3 | Nut Mix |
| 6 | Dinner | Ratatouille and Brown Rice |
| 7 | Breakfast | Pumpkin Bark and Raisins |
| 7 | Snack 1 | Nut Mix |
| 7 | Snack 2 | Ginger Cookies |
| 7 | Lunch | Justin Nut Butter & Crackers |
| 7 | Snack 3 | Bulk Milk Chocolate |
| 7 | Dinner | Philip's Chicken Curry w Rice |
| 8 | Breakfast | Rice Pudding |
| 8 | Snack 1 | Nut Mix |
| 8 | Snack 2 | Dried Fruit Mix |
| 8 | Lunch | Chorizo Sausage |
| 8 | Snack 3 | Bulk Milk Chocolate |
| 8 | Dinner | Spaghetti, Sauce & Hamburger/Veggies |
| 9 | Breakfast | Banana Nut Bread Pudding |
| 9 | Snack 1 | Cranberry Almond Gorp |
| 9 | Snack 2 | Cat Cookies |
| 9 | Lunch | Justin Nut Butter & Crackers |
| 9 | Snack 3 | Bulk Milk Chocolate |
| 9 | Dinner | Rica Canyon Spread and Rice |
Survival Skills for Non-Foodies
Here are some dehydration tips that I can pass along from experience:
- If you are not the foodie in your house (I’m not), or if you live with someone who considers the kitchen their domain, they will feel threatened when you take it over for a major dehydration project. If possible, avoid cooking and dehydrating food continuously for 2-3 weeks. You best bet is to build up a supply of staples in the off-season and augment as needed for specific trips.
- Clean every kitchen gadget, utensil, and bowl immediately after using it. Otherwise they pile up and can become a real source of tension between you and a partner.
- My dehydrator sounds like a white noise generator and the sound can be irritating when it runs 24 hours a day. If you have the time, dehydrate your food at night when everyone is asleep.
- Siliconized parchment paper is an excellent substrate for drying leathers and bark made from wet ingredients. It conducts heat very well and makes it easy to peel the food from the paper after drying, or at the halfway point when you want to flip it over.
Above all, keep the peace. You never know when you’ll want to dehydrate food in the kitchen again.
Published 2009. Updated 2018.
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Philip, thanks for the great post. I've been on the brink of purchasing a dehydrater for some time now for exactly the purposes you describe. Could I suggest a reader follow-up post on dehydration machine models, tips, known gotchas and how-tos? Thanks for sharing, always a good read :)
Nice spread. I'm getting hungry just reading it!
Brian – I'll be doing a detailed review of my dehydrator later in the week. In the meantime, check out Sarah's site at trailcooking.com. She has a good dehydrator 101 section. All this is her fault!
I blame Sarah as well.
Woo-hoo! I'll take the blame in this case ;-)
Thanks Philip, I already follow Sarah on Twitter and her posts. I'll second that it's all her fault. I'm addicted to the point where the only way I can get more is to crack and buy a dehydrator – like you, I've already gone as far as I can with basic FBC. Oh and I believe I owe Sarah a blog post on making a Reflectix pot cosy for the GSI Soloist :)
*cough* If we EVER get the second book finished (we just need a week of nothing else to get the last stuff done) you will get to see FBC in a new light :-D
The second book was something I worked on for a long time. I had a lot of fun!
All the veggie, fruit, grain items sound great. I'm leery of the dried hamburger and chicken though. Even cooked it seems like a great way to be able to eventually write a blog post about the delights of food poisoning on the AT. Good/bad experiences anyone?
Hey there, I just finished my thru-hike of the AT, so if you have any questions about the Maine section, let me know! Be sure to stay at Shaws before you head out into the wilderness, and tell them 'The Dusty Camel' says hi
Oh and make sure you go to the Appalachian Trail cafe in millinocket after katahdin and check out our name on the board there and get the breakfast burrito and try to sundae summit challenge!
Sarah – I can't wait to see the next edition. I think I have a first edition copy of your first book – brown cover and you have a different last name.
Hey there Ian. Yep, I'm starting at Shaws and counting on them for a shuttle back to my car.
Couchmouse – I wish I had an answer for you about the safety of dehydrated meats. My strategy is to dry the heck out of them and to add them to my meals at meal-time instead of mixing them in at home, as a damage control strategy.
On drying meat..that comes down to how a person feels about it. For example I am quite comfortable with using dried canned chicken – it is loaded with salt, as is jerky. These preserve it.
Hamburger, cooked properly, defatted and dried at a fast high temp works well.
But, with all dried meats you will want to cycle through them in 3 months or less and as well, store them tightly sealed in the freezer till trip time.
What you need to fear most is fat going rancid – which is very obvious when it does.
Or, to not worry….get freeze-dried versions or flavored TVP which in the "hamburger" form passes well for it. That stuff is shelf stable for years.
I broke down this morning and bought some TVP beef bits at Harmony House Foods. I see what you mean about using them as a last minute FBC food supplier. I also ordered their dehydrated sweet potatoes and corn which will save me a lot of work this week.
Your menu looks awesome! Yum!!! :)
I really like the "beef" from Harmony – most people would not know the difference if not told!
Philip, I just wanted to say thanks for mentioning my site and to wish you well on your hike through the 100-mile wilderness. Looking forward to hearing how it goes. Enjoy the sweet potato bark… and the view!
Thanks for posting such great recipes! You should add more to your site – there are some really good meals and food dehydration tips on it.
I've been thinking for a while now about getting a dehydrator, so your future post on that subject will be much appreciated. Good list there on the food as well – I am sure you've seen the BPL.com article on Groovy Bioic Cooking: https://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpacki…
Hendrik – I hadn't seen that post. Thanks for the link! I hope to get the dehydrator review written sometime this weekend. Been busy this week and I'm still dehydrating stuff furiously. Thanks for your patience.
Looks like a great plan. Maybe I’ll see you on the trail — I’m also planning to do the 100 mile wilderness this summer and have been dehyrating for a few weeks now — have about 12 dinners done so far.
As for the question about dehydrating meat – I make a pasta with meat sauce (tomato sauce with hamburger in it). I have no problems with this “keeping”. Kept mine in a cupboard (not even refrigerated) for 3 or 4 months last year and it was still good. Think the key is to really dehydrate it fully.
I've been dehydrating food for a few years – last year hubby and I did 85 miles of the Northville-Lake Placid Trail in the Adirondacks in upstate NY, and it didn't take long to realize every ounce you don't have to carry is wonderful! Got our daily food down to 2.4 pounds (for the 2 of us). Instead of heavy gorp (nuts/dried fruits) we opted for beef jerky – Dried spaghetti sauce in the dehydrator (down to 2 oz vs 15)and bought 'corn pasta' with more carbs/energy. also dehydrated ground round – which was added to meals like beef stroganoff and dehydrated beef stew w/potatoes/carrots, etc. The key to dehydrating beef is to use very low fat beef, and cook it well – drain it – rinse it under hot water – and if you still see any fat after rinsing, cook it again and rinse it again – and dehydrated it on a high temperature – and when done put it in seal-a-meal bags and throw it in the freezer until you leave. Happy Hiking!
Another great article with really helpful info. Also a helpful hint that the blue names are links and now I have found Sarah’s site and the backpacking chef site.
Rice pudding for breakfast? Never would have thought of that – do you buy it premade or make it yourself?