Making Healthy Dehydrated Meals for Backpacking

Eating healthily is extremely important to John and I. This attitude doesn’t change when we hit the trail. We have learned it isn’t always the easiest, and preparing to eat healthily in the wilderness is even more difficult.

Essentially, we try to eat whole, unprocessed foods. If it is processed, we will only eat it if we know and can pronounce the names of all the ingredients. We have managed, over time, to find ways to avoid unhealthy ingredients. We spend lots of time reading labels in the grocery store to make sure we are avoiding:

• Processed oils
• Preservatives
• Excess salt
• Refined sugar​

​The reasons we cut out these foods are thanks to Catherine Shanahan M.D.'s book, "Deep Nutrition". It changed our lives to the way we eat. We HIGHLY recommend you read it!
Find it on her website, here: https://drcate.com/books/

When preparing for backpacking trips, we have compared the ingredients of multiple brands. We have found that some are much better than others. 

You can see which brand is our FAVORITE in the “Dehydrated Food Breakdown” post here!

Our chessman dehydrator.

​Buying dehydrated meals can be expensive, so we can’t do it for every trip we take. Instead, my parents bought me a dehydrator for my birthday a few years ago, and we use it to create our own meals.

​Check out our Chefman Dehydrator here, and buy one for yourself!

The dehydrator is much easier to use than I ever thought it would be. At first, I was hesitant and played it safe--only dehydrating fruits and making fruit leathers. I knew I couldn't really go wrong or make myself sick on the trail with fruit.

Once I found some recipes and recipe books, I learned that you really can’t over-dehydrate something, so now I’m always thinking, “How can this be dehydrated?”

​Thanks to books like “Lip Smackin' Backpacking" and internet recipes, I have made everything from eggplant parmesan, to trail tacos, fruit roll ups, and even seasonings and herbs. Most have been good, but I have learned quite a bit through trial and error.

Here are my top 3 lessons for beginner dehydrated food preppers:

3) Think Ahead

Choose easy recipes to start. As nice as a luxurious meal with sauce and toppings sounds, it’s usually not feasible on the trail. Consider how things will have to be cooked including how many pots and pans the recipe will take versus how many you can carry.

​Also think about how much water each recipe and each piece of the recipe needs. I say this, because my dehydrated milk takes extra water to rehydrate, and I always forget!

I like one pot recipes - like my pasta primavera!

2) ​Parchment paper is your best friend

Before I received my dehydrator, I dried a lot of things in the oven. Every time, I would use parchment paper to keep my food off the cooking sheet. For some reason, it took me a while to consider using parchment paper in my dehydrator.

I learned my lesson when I attempted to dehydrate some basil and parsley, and the majority of it fell through the racks and onto my fruit roll ups on the bottom!

1) Separate meats and fruits.

Eating breakfast tacos on the trail.

​This might seem like an obvious lesson, but it is one I do not recommend learning on your own. I once dehydrated taco meat and apples at the same time, and let's just say that the taste of the apples was very interesting.

Take time to plan out your dehydrating schedule based on how many shelves you have, every item you need to dehydrate, and how long each will take to dehydrate. You do not want to end up with spicy-flavored apple slices for breakfast on the trail; I promise.
​

I have discovered some of my backpacking meals are easier, more nutritious, and way more delicious than some of the store-bought packages. My friend Doug even said that my dehydrated breakfast tacos were better than the four days of dehydrated meals he had eaten!

Here are my favorite recipes to date:

Trail Tacos  from Camp Kitchen
(Find the recipe, here)

•        Cook taco meat as normal on the stove. Drain then dehydrate.
•         On the trail, use 1 portion water to 1 portion of meat​
•         Pack tortillas and any toppings​
  • I found these remade beans pair PERFECTLY with the taco meat! Find them at your local Whole Foods, here.

Pasta Primavera from Fresh Off The Grid
(Find the recipe, here)

•  Dehydrate chosen veggies. I chose leftover squash and zucchini
• Create a mix of butter powder and seasonings
• Throw it all in the pot and cover with water and boil until cooked
• One pot recipe, and cooks in under 10!

Couscous with Vegetables
(Recipe found on Reddit)

• Dehydrate chosen vegetables
• Use one cup of water with one cup of vegetables and boil until rehydrated
• Add in couscous and let sit for 5 minutes!
• Another one pot recipe ready in less than 10 minutes.
  

Fruit Roll Ups aka "Fruit Leathers"
Recipe from Lip Smacking' Backpacking

•  Blend up fruit into a puree
• Dehydrate until not gooey in the middle
• Cut into desired shapes! That’s it!

There you have it. Lessons, recipes, and all the gear you need to make the healthiest dehydrated meals possible.

​I will continue to update this post as I find new, easy, and healthy backpacking meals that I enjoy. I cannot wait to hit the trail and try out some new recipes!

Share your favorite recipes below in the comment section!

See more from our other backpacking trips:

Snowshoeing to Conundrum Hot Springs in Aspen, Colorado
Spending Spring Break in Rocky Mountain National Park
Hiking Colorado's TALLEST Mountain - Mount Elbert