Asylum on a sea of rock: - The Mountaineers

educe spoilage, cost and waste (continued from page 17)
meal preparation—was for naught and that
the results were great. My wife and friends
ate every last bit!
When preparing my recipes for the dinners
at home, all i had to do was make a higher
number of servings than i would for myself
on the trail, and then dehydrate what was left
over for the hiking season.
There are just a couple keys to
perfect meal design for the trail.
1) Cook your pasta and grains al dente first
and then dehydrate them. They will rehydrate
and be fully cooked by just adding water (sav-
Try this one!
Couscous primavera
(Adapted from “A Fork in the Trail” and courtesy of Laurie Ann March)
Ingredients
• 1/2 C cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 small green zucchini, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tspn olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tspn thyme
• 1/2 C frozen broccoli florets (or fresh)
• 1/2 C frozen peas
• Whole wheat couscous*
Preparation: Preheat oven to 400˚ F. Place the tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, carrot, red
pepper, and onion into a baking pan and toss with the olive oil. sprinkle the vegetables
with the seasonings, toss to combine, and roast about 35 minutes, stirring every 10 to
15 minutes. remove the pan from the oven when they are done and set aside to cool.
Arrange the vegetables on lined dehydrator trays and dry for 6 to 10 hours.
Store in freezer bags in a cool dark place until ready to package for your trip—putting
3/4 cups of the vegetables and 1/2 cups of the couscous into each baggie.
Rehydrate by pouring contents into a thermally-insulated mug or other container.
Add boiling water to a level of 1-1/2 inches above contents. Place lid on container. Wait
30 minutes for the food to rehydrate.
*This recipe is very versatile. You can use any base grain with the primavera. I use
quinoa with this recipe frequently.
18 the mountaineer » july/august 2011
ing precious stove fuel as a result).
2) Choose foods that are low in oil and
fat, which cause foods to spoil much faster.
For instance, if you are using ground beef to
make chili, you should brown the beef, drain
the fat and then pour boiling water over it to
maximize the removal of fat. Then blot it with
paper towels as it dries in the dehydrator. But
better yet, use turkey breast as a substitute
to ground beef. You can buy whole turkey
breasts, cook them, and then grind them up
or chop them up finely to add to your foods.
if you are going to do this, you need a good
Do you have some delectable, dehydrated recipes or tidbits to
share with Mountaineers? Visit www.mountaineers.org, log on,
go to “Connect” and then “Communities.” See “View all other
Communities” and find “Tacoma Hiking
and Backpacking” archives.
dehydrator. Things to look for include the
ability to set a temperature, a fan, mesh-lined
trays, and sheets to contain liquids (like soups
that would fall through the mesh). The ones
i’ve used and like are the Excalibur and Nesco
American Harvest, in that order. Though
fairly expensive, the dehydrator will eventually
pay for itself. You can buy large quantities
of ingredients on sale and in season to
preserve them for later use and you don’t
have to buy freeze-dried meals off the shelf
for $8 or $9 a pop.
More importantly, you are cutting your
garbage volume. After my last ten-day trip,
i was able to deposit all my garbage in a
single sandwich baggie, and it wasn’t even
full—weighing about an ounce. And the baggies
didn’t smell because they had nothing
wet inside them. i took the “garbage” home,
washed it and used it again.
Surf the cyber kitchen
Cheryl Talbert, Mountaineers hiking leader
and a fellow ‘foodie,” suggests these online
resources:
www.nutsonline.com
www.maryjanesfarm.org
www.packlitefoods.com
www.justtomatoes.com
www.packitgourmet.com
www.purcellmountainfarms.com
About the author
Jim Hansen has been hiking and backpacking in
the Northwest since he was knee-high. He has
been cooking since he was a teenager and loves
good food as much as sharing it with others.
When not cooking or backpacking, Jim works
as a computer scientist, hits the gym, plays the
piano, scuba dives, bicycles, runs, scrambles, and
takes both leisure and adventure trips abroad.
His next long backpacking trip will be the John
Muir Trail.