360° Situational Preparedness Survival Skills
Dehydration Recipes!
Border-to-Border MEXiCAN Burritos
(makes 3qts = 6 servings)
Ingredients:
(2) Whole boneless, skinless chicken breasts
(2) Large green/red Bell peppers
(2) Large yellow cooking onions
(1) 4.5oz cans green chili peppers
(2) 14oz cans refried beans (black or pinto)
(1) 650ml jar of salsa (spicy to taste)
Frozen corn (1-2 cups)
Fresh cilantro (1/4 cup)
Garlic (1 tblspns)
Chili Powder (1 tspn)
(1) 250ml tub sour cream
At Home:
Boil chicken breasts in water until cooked and tender (approx 20 minutes), set aside to cool. Dice and saute Bell peppers and onions in a saucepan with some butter or oil till tender. After chicken has cooled to the touch, shred by hand into a large stewing pot. Add sauted Bell peppers and onions to stewing pot. Add jar of salsa to pot. Stir and put on low heat. Add chili peppers, corn and sour cream to pot. Heat cans of refried beans and add to pot. Add spices. Heat till simmering. Put onto dehydration trays ... (1qt of sauce onto two FD50 fruit leather trays = 1 serving per tray).
Packing:
Label a small (18cm x 13cm) Ziploc freezer bag with the date and meal name. Fill bag with dehydrated sauce (each bag will hold approximately 2 trays of dehydrated food, equivalent to 1 quart of pre-dehydrated meal, or 2 servings). Also package 2 servings of minute rice and (optional) 4-6 tortillas.
In camp:
Rehydrate meal by adding water, stirring and heating. Bring meal to boil and set aside. (Do not add too much water to start off. Add a bit, see how the food absorbs it,then add a bit more. It is impossible to recommend a set amount, as each meal is differenct. You'll soon get a feel for how much to add. The goal is to not make the meal "runny". Generally, you add a bunch of water to start off, then gradually add more as the meal rehydrates. Note: 1qt of pre-dehydrated meal makes less than a quart of reconstituted meal. You may be tempted to add enough water to make a quart. Don't! The meal will be very runny if you do.) Cook the minute rice in a separate pot. Reheat the main meal again, adding water to get the consistency you desire. Mix rice and sauce. Serve onto a tortilla and roll the tortilla to make a burrito (if you are packing tortillas), if not ... then just eat out of the pot.
Beef Stew
(Makes 3 quarts = 6 servings)
Ingredients:
2 lbs stewing beef
1/2 cup flour
2 tspns salt
1/2 tspn pepper
3 tblspns shortening
6 carrots 1 cup celery
2 large onions
1 clove minced garlic
(1) 28oz can diced tomatoes
3 bay leaves
1/3 cup water
At Home:
Cube the stewing beef into dehydrator-sized pieces (no larger than 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch). Mix the flour, salt & pepper together in a bowl and dredge beef cubes in this mixture, coating them. Heat the shortening in a skillet and brown the beef. Cut celery into 1/2 inch pieces, cut carrots into 1/4 inch thick 'rounds' and then combine all ingredients into a stewing pot or crock pot. Add water to the skillet, scraping the brown bits from the bottom into the mixture. Add this browning to the stew. Simmer for several hours. After stew is cooked through completely (driving you nuts because it smells so good), set aside to cool. After it has cooled, spread onto dehydration trays (1/2 quart of stew, or one serving, per dehydration fruit leather tray). Dehydrate thouroughly (about 24 hours on "high").
Packing:
Label a small (18cm x 13cm) Ziploc freezer bag with the date and meal name. Fill bag with 2 trays (2 servings) of crumbled, dehydrated stew (use a smaller bag if you are making single servings). We also recommend packaging (separately) 2 servings of instant potato flakes (or Minute rice).
In Camp:
Rehydrate meal by adding water, stirring and heating. Bring meal to boil and set aside. (Do not add too much water to start off. Add a bit, see how the food absorbs it,then add a bit more. It is impossible to recommend a set amount, as each meal is differenct. You'll soon get a feel for how much to add. The goal is to not make the meal "runny". Generally, you add a bunch of water to start off, then gradually add more as the meal rehydrates. Note: 1qt of pre-dehydrated meal makes less than a quart of reconstituted meal. You may be tempted to add enough water to make a quart. Don't! The meal will be very runny if you do.) Cook the instant potato flakes (or minute rice) in a separate pot. Reheat the main meal again, adding water to get the consistency you desire. Mix potatos (or rice) and stew, or eat separately. You'll make all your camp-mates very jealous because this meals smells as good in camp as it did at home. Yummy! And with a full belly, it's time to kick-back and watch the sun set over the nearby peaks. Listen to the wind whistle through the pine needles. Ahhh. What could be better?
Spaghetti Sauce
(We're not sure how many servings this makes, but keep
in mind that a quart-sized ziploc container of sauce = 2 on-trail servings)
Ingredients
2 lbs. lean ground beef
3-4 medium white/red/[yellow onions]
Several celery stalks (chopped from tip to toe)
1 [green]/red/yellow bell pepper (we don't discriminate)
Heck ... make that 2 bell peppers!
Garlic (fresh is best) 2,3 or 4 cloves - minced
2-3 carrot sticks (1/4-inch rounds, plus chopped greens)
1-2 lg (28 fl Oz / 796 mL) can diced tomatoes
1 med (680 mL) can tomato sauce (or pasta sauce)
1 sm (5.5 fl Oz / 156 ML) can tomato paste
3 tbsp oregano
scott kimler sierra spaghetti recipe' title=
2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme
3 tsp [sugar]/molasses/honey
OPTIONAL - dash cinnamon
OPTIONAL - 2-3 tbsp hot-sause/[salsa]/picante-sauce
At Home:
Brown hamburger and drain fat. Combine following ingredients into a large (6 qt. or greater) pot: hamburger, can (or two) of diced tomatos,
can tomato sauce and can tomato paste (rinse tomato paste can out with water and add that, to get every drop of the good stuff). Put the pot
(now mostly liquid stuff) on medium heat. Now dice up your onions, mince the garlic, chop the celery (mind the fingers), cut the carrots (and tops)
and the bell peppers (whichever colored versions you choose). Transfer all the cuttings into the big pot and reduce the heat to 2/10 or something like that.
Stir and add your spices: a goodly amount of oregano, some rosemary, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and sugar (or other sweetener, which takes the tartness
out of the spices). For variety, try a dash of cinnamon. Not enough to notice, but enough to make people say, "Hmmm. What's that? Can't quite tell."
If you like your spaghetti on the spicy side, consider adding 2-3 tablespoons-worth of [HOT] salsa. Stir all ingredients, reduce heat to simmering and
allow to simmer for several hours, stirring occassionally. When done, remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Transfer food onto the dehydrator trays (we use Ziploc or Glad 1-Quart containers to measure - one level quart = two servings).
Depending on how liquidy your sauce, you may need 3 dehydrator trays (solid plastic fruit leather trays) per quart.
If not, you might fit one quart onto two dehydrator trays. Dehydrate until dry and crumbly. (Usually 24-hours or so).
Packing:
Label a small (18cm x 13cm) Ziploc freezer bag with the date and meal name - "Scott's Sierra Spaghetti Sauce" (or something like that)
Fill the freezer bag with dehydrated sauce (each bag will hold approximately 2 trays of dehydrated food, equivalent to 1 quart of pre-dehydrated meal,
or 2 servings). Also package 2 servings of spaghetti into a separate Ziploc bag. (We found that by breaking the spaghetti noodles in two, they fit
nicely into a Ziploc bag). ALSO ... after the PCT knowledge ... you might want to consider using Orzo or spaghettini noodles, instead of regular
"spaghetti" noodles. Reason: the smaller/thinner noodles cook faster! Don't forget to add a small Ziploc sandwich baggie of grated parmesean cheese too,
for that little extra "trail add-on". (We just put ours inside the noodle bag, which meant it was "double-bagged" and further reduces the chance that
the parmesean cheese bag will break, spreading parmesean cheese throughout your gear). ;)
In camp:
Rehydrate meal by adding water to Scott's Spaghetti Sauce. You'll get a feel for how much water to add, but keep in mind that you can always
add more, but you can't take any away! Bring the cold mix to a boil, stirring and keeping it from sticking to the bottom of the thin pot. Add water as
necessary. Once it's boiled for a bit and started to soften, turn off the stove and set it aside. (Note: 1 qt. of pre-dehydrated meal makes a smidge
less than a quart of reconstituted meal. You may be tempted to add enough water to make a quart. Don't! The meal will be very runny if you do.)
Go about your camp chores and let the HOT spaghetti sauce reconstitute. When the smell gets to you and you can no longer stand it, spark up the stove
again, boiling water for the noodles/orzo. Once they're done and the water drained off, put the spaghetti sauce back on the stove to get it hot again.
Then, shut off the jet engine of a stove (we used the whisperlite, which anything but a whisper). Combine 1/2 of each - noodles and sauce ...
sprinkle with parmesean cheese ... ENJOY!!
Pork Daal Gosht
(We're not sure how many servings this makes, but keep
in mind that 1qt -not including rice- equals 2 trail servings)
Don't be piggy!Ingredients:
2 lb. lean pork (the other white meat!)
3 tbsp. butter
2 cups red, white, or blue (ack yellow) onion
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. ginger (fresh or dry powdered)
1.5 tsp. tumeric
2 tsp. garam masala (curry ... hot or mild,
depending on your taste)
1 cup lentils (we use green, cause they're
cheaper, but the original recipie calls
for brown)
5 cups boiling water
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1.5 tsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. coriander
At Home:
Dice pork into dehydrator-sized cubes (about 1/4" by 1/4" ... this will help them dehydrate & rehydrate in a reasonable time). Chop the onions fine to medium-fine and using a sauce pan, saute them in the butter until golden brown. Crush the garlic and add that to the mix, along with the ginger (which is grated, if fresh), tumeric and garam masala. Add the diced pork, stirring constantly, until the meat uniformly changes color from pink to light brown. Transfer the sauce pan contents to a stewing pot and add the lentils, water and salt, bringing it all to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the meat and lentil mixture becomes 'creamy'. You can adjust the liquid as necessary, add more water if it becomes too thick, or uncover the pot to let water evaporate if it is too runny. After it has thoroughly cooked, add the brown sugar, lemon juice and corriander. Taste test your meal, adding more or less spices to your taste. Transfer food onto the dehydrator trays (we use Ziploc or Glad 1-Quart containers to measure - one level quart = two servings). We can generally fit one quart onto two dehydrator trays. Dehydrate until crumbly.
Packing:
Label a small (18cm x 13cm) Ziploc freezer bag with the date and meal name. Fill bag with dehydrated sauce (each bag will hold approximately 2 trays of dehydrated food, equivalent to 1 quart of pre-dehydrated meal, or 2servings). Also package 2 servings of minute rice into a separate Ziploc bag (adding salt for the rice).
In camp:
Rehydrate meal by adding water to the Daal Gosht mix. You'll get a feel for how much water to add, but keep in mind that you can always add more, but you can't really take any away! Bring this cold mix to a boil, stirring and keeping it from sticking to the bottom of the thin pot. Add water as necessary. Once boiling, turn off the stove and set aside. Note: 1qt of pre-dehydrated meal makes less than a quart of reconstituted meal. You may be tempted to add enough water to make a quart. Don't! The meal will be very runny if you do.)
We cook the minute rice in a separate pot by bringing the right amount of water to a boil, adding the minute rice, stirring and then setting it aside to absorb the water. We then reheat the main meal again (just cause the stove is on and we can add heat). Add water to get the consistency you desire. Mix rice and sauce. Eat!! (Note: If you're solo-hiking, you may want to make both rice and meal at the same time, in one pot. The reason we use two pots is because our one pot is too small for both meal and rice AND then we each have a pot to eat out of).
We subscribe to the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" philosophy and trail meals are no exception. After a long day of hiking, who wants to fiddle with exotic ingredients, simmering, frying and all of that? We don't. We want a quick, nutritious, filling, hot, tasty meal. Admittedly, dehydrated food is more work than "heat 'n eat" freeze-dried food, or Ramen noodles. But we feel the larger portions, better quality and cost-savings is worth a bit more time.
Drying Jerky
Jerky is a staple in the packs of today’s outdoorsmen: backpackers, skiers, and campers. It’s a popular snack for armchair sportsmen, too. Jerky can be made from almost any lean meat, including beef, pork or venison.
If made from pork the meat must be treated to kill the trichinella parasite before it is sliced and marinated. This parasite could cause trichinosis. To treat the pork, freeze a portion that is 6 inches or less thick at 5°F or lower for 20 days. Poultry is not recommended for jerky, because of its texture when raw.
PREPARING THE MEAT
The first step in preparing the meat is to slice it into long, thin strips. Trim and discard all the fat from the meat, because it becomes rancid rapidly Partially freezing the meat before cutting makes it easier to slice evenly Slice with the grain into thin strips approximately ¼ inch thick; if a chewy jerky is desired. Slice across the grain for a more tender, brittle jerky A tenderizer can also be used on the meat. Simply follow instructions on the package for tenderizing meats. The meat is marinated for both flavor and tenderness. Ingredients for marinades include oil, salt and an acid product such as vinegar, lemon juice, teriyaki, soy sauce or wine.
JERKY MARINADE
¼ teaspoon each of pepper and garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder1 teaspoon hickory smoke-flavored salt1
½-2 lbs. of lean meat (beef, pork, or venison)
¼ cup soy sauce1 tablespoon worchestershire sauce
Combine all ingredients. Place strips of meat in a shallow pan and cover with marinade. Cover and refrigerate 1-2 hours or overnight.
DRYING THE MEAT
Remove meat strips from the marinade, and arrange on dehydrator trays or cake racks placed on baking sheets. Place the slices close together but do not overlap. Place the racks in a drying oven preheated at 140°F Dry until a test piece cracks but does not break when it is bent (10 to 24 hours). Pat off any beads of oil with absorbent toweling and cool. Remove strips from the racks. Cool. Package in glass jars or heavy plastic bags.
STORING THE JERKY
Properly dried jerky will keep at room temperature 1 to 2 months in a sealed container. However, to increase the shelf life and maintain the flavor, refrigerate or freeze the jerky.
