A few days before you leave for a backpacking trip is not the time to start planning your menus, especially if you want to make some of your own food. Luckily I have some dehydrated peanut sauce in the freezer left over from our last Remote Spot trip to the mid-Atlantic (I freeze the greasier dehydrated foods - like peanut sauce and meat - for long-term storage) so I’m halfway there.
After a failed experience with quinoa on our last trip, I decide to cook, then dehydrate, the quinoa. When we were in West Virginia, I used just straight quinoa. I let it sit in hot water for 10 min, then 20 mins, and finally gave up and put the whole shebang back into the pot and cooked it at a roiling boil for 15 min. It was pretty much a mess. And on my birthday too!
So this morning I cook off 1 cup of dry quinoa (ends up being two or three times as much cooked), dehydrate it, add some dehydrated veggies and the peanut sauce to each bag and voila! - three backpacking meals for 1 adult and 1 foodie toddler.
Quinoa and Veggies in Peanut Sauce
I’m leaving proportions out as it depends on how much you like to eat, eaters’ ages, how many you are cooking for, etc.
- Dehydrate cooked quinoa (I cook 1 cup of raw quinoa for 3 servings)
- Dehydrate 1 bag of frozen Chinese stir-fry vegetables (I use a bag of Cascadian Farms for 2 servings, throw it right from the freezer to the dehydrator). Side note: put an extra bag in the dehydrator for snacks - tasty treats! Makes even broccoli taste good!
- Dehydrate peanut sauce (Blend 1cup peanut butter, 1/4c soy sauce, 2t chili paste, 2T brown sugar, 2 limes, 1/2 c water)
- Store individual servings in a zip-top bag and reconstitute at camp — in a bowl folks. Well, I’m not into boiling water and plastic bags but its up to you…
In a bowl?
how long do you dehydrate the peanut sauce? and, do you rehydrate it separately in camp and pour onto veggies?
thanks,
kate
The dehydration time depends on how thick you spread out the peanut sauce in your dehydrator. I dehydrate until it turns brittle and is easy to break up. It usually takes about 10 hours I think.
I pack the peanut sauce in with the veggies and rehydrate all together in one bowl.
Do you rehydrate everything mixed together in hot or cold water, how much for the recipe as you’ve prepared it her, and for how long? Thanks for a reply.
I use hot water just because warm temps bring out the flavor of foods and it is a quicker process. This particular meal only takes about 5 minutes to reconstitute. You could add cold water while you are hiking and let it sit for an hour or so — I’ve done this with bean dip and it works quite well. The how much really depends on how you like your meals. Sometimes when we are backpacking and not drinking a lot of water because its cold, water is not available, etc. I make a soupy meal. Other times I add less water for a more fluffy meal. Average amount would be 1 cup per serving.