My meals in the backcountry. Dehydrating your own meals & foods at home for use in hiking & camping

[@joshporter5459]

Thanks for the great tips. 😁

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks for watching!

[@SparkyOne549]

I’m a noob when it comes to hiking but have learned a ton. I know what gear I need to buy for different weather conditions, now I’m learning about dehydrating my own meals. I plan on having each meal in each meal bag weighed out, calories counted, and protein counted. For spaghetti, I would include everything in the meal bag, including seasoning and everything except for olive oil. I would use small individual resealable reusable Mylar bags to have olive oil in and peanut butter.

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

That's great, good for you! It's so much fun once you really get into prepping your own food for the trail. Not only is it so much cheaper, but you also know exactly what's in it, you can better control the portion sizes and test it at home before you hit the trail. There are just so many benefits, I'm excited for you!

[@SparkyOne549]

@@JimmyBreitenstein Thanks so much.

[@vincentjackson3472]

Great tips and advice, and some absolutely beautiful footage! Thank you, my friend.

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks so much, I'm glad you enjoyed!

[@SomebodyYouKnew]

Wow great video I was expecting you to have at least 2 mill subs! Keep it up! Stay consistent. Be wild. Can’t wait to see!

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks so much! Wow, wouldn't that be nice 😁 I appreciate your kind words, have a great day!

[@Kmartyna9116]

Hi, great advices you gave. I'm doing research about making lightweight food for backpacking (from the store are sooo expensive and I have to eat at least 1k kcal for dinner, I see maybe 600 kcal in ready to use meals) and your video really helps😊

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

I'm glad to hear it. It really is a game changer making and dehydrating your own food. I hope you have success with it and get enough food on the trail!

[@mskinetik]

What a great self-portrait with the sun rise and a meal cooking! New sub!

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks so much, sure appreciate it and hope you enjoy!

[@brandonoram9050]

This is the video I’ve been waiting for! Backpacker meals are awesome but so expensive. This is awesome and helpful. Been looking into getting a dehydrator for quite a while. I might just bite the bullet and get one for summer

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it! It's definitely worth it in my mind, you can get them for pretty cheap. You can also use your oven to dehydrate food. Put it on a lower temp and leave the door partly open, it's a great alternative method to dehydrate goodies!

[@bern84]

I was wondering if you have ever tried using silicone food pouches for your rehydrating vessels? It’s also quite a sustainable option. Thanks for a great video!

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

I've only recently started looking into them and have heard good things. Thanks for the tip, have you had much experience with using them? If so, how long do they maintain heat, in your experience?

[@bern84]

@@JimmyBreitenstein I have a couple that I’ve been using for the past few months and I’m generally quite happy with them. They are very easy to wash and dry, and you can even pop them in the dishwasher which is great. In terms of heat retention, they are quite poor, so in colder temperatures you might need to pair with a reflective cosy. In terms of weight, I think they are a few grams heavier than the prepackaged food pouches. So far no leaks also. So definitely some pro’s and some con’s 😊

[@alainbrunet1654]

A great big thank you Jimmy, this will help me so much! Love your video!

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks so much, I'm glad you're enjoying them! Have a great week 😊

[@michaelslater627]

So gratifying to see someone "shooting" with a camera. Fantastic, congrats for that.

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

That's the only way to do it in my opinion! Thanks for watching!

[@keithmacdonald4805]

Another very educational video Jimmy. I always wondered how you dehydrated your food. The dehydrated food that you can buy is very expensive. I do have a dehydrater and I am going to give it a try. I also watched your recent interview on Bird Burger and I was very impressed with the interview. I really hope he continues to bring photographers like yourself and Bayou Josh. You both have a very important message with your videos. Thanks again and have a great week!!

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks Keith, always appreciated! Making your own meals is so much more cost effective than buying them, especially if you spend a lot of time camping/backpacking. As you mentioned, the meals you buy are extremely expensive. I can make a week's worth of meals for the price of 2 or 3. Give it a try, I'd love to hear how it goes! Yeah, Jeremy does a great job on that channel, I really enjoyed the video with Josh as well.

[@Raevenswood]

Nice! I've been patiently waiting for this one :)

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Sorry it took so long 🥴 I hope it was helpful!

[@laku4412]

Awesome, thank you so much for this! Definitly going to try it soon :) Could be useful for other applications, too! Like having a stash in my locker at college ^^ I wondered if it would be possible to weigh the meal before and after drying to determine the exact amount of water it needs to rehydrate... maybe it would just make things complicated? Take care of your knees! ;) Cheers, L

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks so much! You know, that's a great idea of keeping some on hand for other times as well. I usually have a few meals in my vehicle in case I get stranded somewhere and it's come in handy a few times now! That's a great idea of weighing the food before hand as well. I'm going to give it a try and see how it works. Thanks so much for the support, I always appreciate it, and the knees are just fine now 😂

[@Raevenswood]

Yes from what my research has revealed that’s exactly what you do. You weigh it before dehydration and then after and the difference is exactly how many ounces of water to add to rehydrate.

[@oldredcoonhound2182]

Weigh your food prior to dehydrating it then weigh it after and figure out the amount of moisture loss. Should be the amount to re hydrate with.

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks so much! I'm going to give that a try, sounds like a solid method 😊

[@markheatherington8367]

Helpful tips Jimmy! Have to dust off my dehydrator

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks for watching, I hope you make some yummy food!

[@Rayzer2368]

Hey, not trying to be a smart ass, but genuinely curious. You said you don’t cook food in your cook cup/pot due to smells and bears, but then you said you reuse those rehydration bags by putting food in them, what would be the difference? Great video!

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Great question, I should have clarified this point better. I don't put food in the pot so that I'm able to boil water in it wherever I need to, even inside the tent vestibule if needed. When it comes time to actually rehydrate and eat the food, that's all done away from my personal sleeping tent in the bags so that the smells don't stick to the tent and my other gear. Once I'm done eating with the bag, it's cleaned and stashed with the rest of my food items away from my tent in Bear resistant containers. It's really just a matter of convenience, if the weather is bad, I like to be able to boil water in my tent vestibule without worrying about attracting bears right to my camp. I hope that makes sense, if not, let me know.

[@hawaiiangunner]

My meals mostly consist of whey protein isolate mixed with Ghirardelli chocolate brownie mix. TONS of energy packed into a very light package!!! Mornings I put instant coffee in the mix. This combination is incredibly AWESOME in the morning!!!

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Sounds quite addicting 🤤 I think I'd spend more time in camo eating than I would out looking for wildlife 😆

[@hawaiiangunner]

@@JimmyBreitenstein its SOOOO GOOOOD!!! If I need a little more because I'm trail running, I add a table spoon of avocado oil!! It really jumps up the calories!!!

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

@@hawaiiangunner It sounds amazing, I'm gonna give it a try!

[@fernandalegeren7366]

What brand is your dehydrator?

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

It's a Nesco.

[@eprohoda]

friennd, yo~ so fantastic channel, 💫

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thank you!

[@richardpill8322]

Great information there, thanks. I do some dehydration of fruit and it is a fantastic addition to meals. Just wondering if you are wholly plant based as I am and eat similar things?

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks Rich, sure appreciate it! Dehydrated fruit is addicting 🤤 I once ate the equivalent of about 8 bananas in 20 mins, haha. I am vegetarian and it's been wonderful!

[@guykerr8111]

re: adding water - my thought has been to add more water as we tend to be a bit (or a lot sometimes) dehydrated and I add the extra water to help with that. My thoughts. Thanks.

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Good advice 👍 To go along with that, I generally drink a good amount of water after eating any dehydrated foods

[@terryroth2855]

Most enlightening, Jimmy. I do have a question or so. Myself, not being familiar with dehydrating, how does one go about physically dehydrating soup? Do you have to strain it first. Not sure how to contain it whilst dehydrating. Second, can something like chicken stew be dehydrated? Thanks for this great video.👍👍

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Thanks Terry and great questions! I should have covered this more in the video, my apologies. There are solid trays you can get for most dehydrators that aren't perforated at all, so you can put liquids in them and they won't leak. That's what I do for souls or any food really that has a higher moisture content. Chicken stew should work fine, I'd just make sure that you've cut everything into smaller chunks as they tend to dehydrate and rehydrate better that way. If there's oil, fat, or anything in the stew, you may want to freeze it after dehydrating it to give it a longer shelf life. Let me know how it works, I'd love to hear!

[@terryroth2855]

@@JimmyBreitenstein Thanks for the reply, Jimmy. This is something that could be useful for me also.👍👍

[@jabonaelwuo9703]

Are you plantbased?

[@JimmyBreitenstein]

Indeed I am 😊

[@jabonaelwuo9703]

​@@JimmyBreitenstein love that. I can't watch that ,,animal-loving" photographers showing how they love animals and eat they flesh at next scene.