Dehydrating Meals for Hiking (Backpacking)

[@chrisharmon5453]

I have major food allergies and this was super helpful. Made me realize I can do long hikes (eventually want to do long thru hikes but have to wait until I get my finances together) because I can’t rely on finding things I can eat while away from home. This made me feel like I can do this!! Thank you. 😊

[@jenniferknowles2023]

Same for me with the food issues, this is an amazing idea for travel. I could even do this for plane trips too. It's nice to have a hot home cooked meal at an b&b or even hotel room.

[@paulbrown7369]

I hope someone from the Army is watching. It would be like winning the lottery to pull one of those amazing meals out of a MRE box!

[@KrystaNorwick]

Haha that's so kind of you!! I would love to know what the process is to make the MREs.

[@barbieminimalist3109]

Thanks! This is really helpful!

[@MK-cc5ve]

As someone who had mediocre success dehydrating a banana, I found this really inspiring. It occurred to me this food is an excellent addition to the emergency kit we’re all supposed to have on hand. In case of earthquake break plastic and add water.

[@KrystaNorwick]

Very true!! All you need to do is add water, ideally hot water. I actually heard banana is particularly difficult to dehydrate.

[@annehindley-norwick9997]

These meals would be awesome for “car campers” and to have on hand ready for a west coast emergency! ❤

[@KrystaNorwick]

Totally!! It's nice to not have to do any chopping and minimal clean up when car camping!

[@Coandersson]

Thanks for the video, I'm about to start dehydrating my own backpacking meals as well. I was watching multiple times to see what ingredients went into which pot, but then I red the description and found the recipe on your blog. 😄

[@jackieniddrie1789]

Thanks for the recipes! I made the Thai curry and took it on the Juan de Fuca trail, enjoyed it while sitting by a fire at Bear Beach :) Delicious!

[@NatureSoundsandSights]

Awesome! I'm hoping to dehydrate at least some of my meals for the hiking this summer, was going to reach out to you on recipes and processes then found this video. Thanks for sharing!.

[@KrystaNorwick]

That's awesome!! I hope you have some success! I really want to publish my recipes on my blog, but sadly haven't had time to yet. But my biggest tips are to cook the meal with no or low added oil and cut all the ingredients in uniform sizes.

[@StephanieHughesDesign]

This is awesome. So good for you, tastes great, takes up less weight in your backpack and you save a ton of money! Thanks.

[@KrystaNorwick]

Exactly!!

[@joanaribeiro7068]

This is so great. The step-by-step really helps. I can’t wait to try your chili recipe.

[@tanyabindernagel7257]

This is super helpful!! I have started to make my own backpacking meals but it has seemed like a lot of extra work. Love how you break it down by steps - doesn't seem so difficult!

[@filmic1]

Thanks for showing your whole process. (I have the same dehydrator from CDN Tire.) I've tried a can of Campbells Pad Thai just for fun cause it's a bit fatty. It's bagged in the freezer. Yet to try.. (Liked and saved. TY, Story.)

[@modelrogers.19]

Thank you!!

[@isabelcastillo2394]

Great video. Thank you for the great ideas. I’m going to try a white chicken chili. For the pineapple and watermelon, it that like a leather? Thank you!

[@johnshellenberg1383]

We take "regular" meals and adapt them to dehydrating for backpacking. I hate freeze-dried meals and I hate the cost even more than the sugar-laden taste. We do things like Jambalaya, curry dishes, butter chicken, chilis, stews, pad thai, and more.

[@KrystaNorwick]

Yes, exactly! It's a great way to go about it. I haven't tried Jambalaya before, I'll add it to my list!! I find the store-bought ones okay in smaller doses, but I find most of them quite salty.

[@erinandsi4963]

So helpful! Thank you for sharing your process. Do you have any more info on how you decided how much food per serving? Is it by dry weight, or portioned out while wet? Please show us your rehydration steps some day xx P.S. Can you dehydrate your food in your bathroom, or run an extension cord to a balcony? haha BIG hiking season and many more meals to make

[@KrystaNorwick]

Glad you enjoyed!! I originally figured out serving size by how many scoops I would normally eat and then seeing how many fit on the dehydrator. And then I figured out while hiking I basically need to double that. I think there are calculations for dry food weight and serving size, and I plan to look into that one of these days! I plan to show you the rehydration process soon ☺️ Good idea about the set up! I will have to try those options as well!

[@lindablack7438]

I may try the recipes.

[@ldirk58601]

This was very informative. I agree this is great for prepping or in my case I have a traveling spouse so it would be nice to dehydrate some of the items we dont eat when he is home. TY! Also, as far as the noise I wonder if you have a plug in on the balcony/patio it could perhaps run out side? Im a new sub and enjoying your channel.

[@oshiforb7445]

Thank you for sharing your video. I have a question, please. How much water is needed to rehydrate 100 grams of food? I always seem to mess this up. I'm so used to eating military MRE meals no water needed for these, only to warm them up. Rehydrating is a new concept for me.❤

[@FoammeFatale]

Is there any way your soap brick dish/holder come from Ottawa? Random i know...i used to sell those at local markets and it looks IDENTICAL to the cedar holders my fella made for my dish bricks! I came here for the dehydrator recipes but HAD to ask about the dish brick lol!!

[@bertreket6666]

Great instructional video! We have a dehydrator but haven't tried meals like this before. One question that we did not see answered here was how much waster to add when you rehydrate. Can you elaborate on this? Many thanks!

[@brendanwhite3731]

Hi can you store in container or is it best to freeze the dryed food and have them ready for your trip IRL

[@sorchaniclochlainn5564]

Brilliant info thanks. Wondering how you know what constitutes a serving size? Do you weigh it or just estimate?

[@KrystaNorwick]

I found information online and then weigh the food. I generally do well with 150-200g dry food weight per meal.

[@sorchaniclochlainn5564]

@@KrystaNorwick Thank you. A friend has severe allergies so I am going to make a batch of safe meals for her, for travel and for sick days so I will go with 150g.

[@CaribouDataScience]

What dehydrator do you use?

[@KrystaNorwick]

Hamilton Beach

[@jenniferknowles2023]

How do you know what a serving size is once it is dehydrated?

[@elizabethclark4722]

Make a certain number of servings and divide by that number after dehydration

[@jeffg3895]

Did the coconut milk turn out fine? I keep hearing high fats don’t dehydrate well.

[@KrystaNorwick]

Yep it turns out just fine! I do get the lighter version of the coconut milk for dehydrating