I've been dehydrating my own meals at home for easy trail prep for my last few group backpacking trips. I now have a few core recipes that I'm really happy with and that people have enjoyed. There may be more experimentation later on, but for now these are my go-to meals.
On request, I'm sharing my favorite recipes that I serve on my guided trips. Apparently I've been too busy cooking and eating the food to take many photos, but more are to come!
Breakfast
I'm not much of a breakfast eater myself, but I have three breakfast recipes that I typically use. Bagels, sausage, and fruit is a tasty, convenient, and filling basecamp option; Hot Breakfast Medley was adapted from another site (and renamed from 'Oatmeal' on request 😂) is great for getting an early start, and I created Mediterranean Hash to be a veggie-packed savory alternative.
For lunches, I like to do something that's easy to eat on the trail. Cheese, crackers, and salami is my favorite, but tuna is also good.
Dinner & Dessert
If evening meals are done well, they can be something to look forward to at the end of a long day. I like to prepare something tasty, warm, and filling, and prefer meals with lots of vegetables. Both of these two dinners are vegetarian, but meat could be a nice addition. Pasta Primavera was adapted from another website, but Sausage & Rice was my own creation. Of course I always like to have a dessert. Although I'm a big fan of chocolate, fruit desserts can be fun and delicious as well. For the crumble, any dehydrated or freeze dried fruit could be used.
Tikka Masala is one of my favorite meals, backpacking or not. I love this recipe, from Home on the Trail. I triple the recipe to make a big batch. I've tried it with paneer but wouldn't recommend it, cheeses don't dehydrate well because of their fat content. Dried canned chicken works well, or dried canned lentils. I bag up the powders, rice, protein, and dried sauce, by weight per person, listed below.
Making tasty food is definitely worth the time and effort! What's your favorite backpacking recipe? Do you have ideas for future meals?
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-Lisa
