This is really “Food, Part I” since I’m only covering dehydrated dinners. When I get to Vermont my mom and I will put together breakfasts (oatmeal), lunches (tortillas with stuff and gorp) and a few more dinners with canned salmon. I’ll make separate posts with each individual recipe, but will cover an overview here. The 20 meals that I’ve made are as follows:

1. Beef Stroganoff
2. Eggplant Parmesan
3. Burrito Bowl
4. Chili
5. Here I skipped from 4 to 6 for some reason so I’ll have to come back to this.
6. Red Curry
7. Green Bean Casserole
8. Rice and Beans
9. Refried Beans
10. Moussaka
11. Chickpea Curry
12. Cheesy Potatoes
13. Pasta with Red Sauce
14. Pasta Alfredo/Pesto
15. Bibimbap
16. Stir Fry
17. Chicken Pot Pie
18. Buffalo Chicken Mac’n’Cheese
19. Pad Thai
20. Peanut Satay Noodles

The first step of this operation was shopping, and I went to stores that almost everyone has access to. Trader Joe’s is my go to for all frozen fruit and vegetables, which is the easiest way to dehydrate. You can get a huge variety, they’re cheaper than fresh and you can go straight from frozen to dehydrated. The other nice thing is that you don’t need to worry about them going bad if you don’t have time to dehydrate them right away. H.E.B. (or your local grocery store) is where I go for any “health foods” or processed foods. Peanut butter powder for example, “no refrigeration necessary” parmesan cheese, canned chicken, things that make you wonder why they’re being purchased by non-backpackers. H-Mart (or any other large Asian Grocery Store) is a great source for things that I want dehydrated but don’t have the time and technology to do myself. Soup mixes, seafood, a huge variety of flavor packets, all for absurdly low prices. I also ordered ramen on the internet. I was not expecting as much as I got, I don’t know why, I saw the numbers on the order.

Last time we brought a bear of honey on a backpacking trip (here) not only was it heavy but it leaked and made a sticky mess. I was thrilled to find honey powder at H-Mart, which we’ll be trying out this year.

I improved on my barks by blitzing them all in the food processor to make a powder. Easier to store, carry, and will rehydrate faster and more evenly. I may have inhaled some potato powder though…

And then the dehydrating bonanza began…

As I’ve been assembling meals I’ve been taking good notes so soon I’ll start posting specific recipes for all of these meals. Although clearly my notes haven’t been THAT good if I thought I made 20 meals and I really made 19.

I’m saving adding chicken, shrimp and cheese for last. Since I don’t vacuum seal my dehydrated meals I don’t want to risk any spoilage situation. I’m also going to put the shrimp in a separate bag since historically my mom doesn’t like to eat things with eyes.