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One of the toughest obstacles on the trail is finding food, particularly if you're going on a lengthy backpacking trip. Planning how much and what kind of food to bring into your pack takes time and effort. You also need to think about how you will cook your meals while hiking. You can make the tastiest, healthiest, most portable, and lightweight food for hiking, camping, and backpacking on the market to lessen this burden.
Whether you're organising a multi-day hike on the Appalachian Trail or fancy meals for an overnight camping trip, a range of dehydrated veggies, freeze-dried fruit, and premium soup mixes will infuse your trail diet with much-needed taste, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Check out these options for dehydration.
7 Dehydrated Foods For Camping
1. Onions
Many cuisines use onions as a main ingredient. However, how often have you realised you were out of onions when you grabbed for them to dice? Your supply of dried minced onions will ensure you never experience that issue again. You can make the tastiest onion powder ever with your dried onions! To take it to the next level, consider trying dehydrated caramelised onions!
2. Herbs
Have you ever noticed the colour of most herbs purchased from stores? They are usually all different tones of brown. But dried herbs at home are amazing! They keep more of their aromas and flavours! Herbs can be dehydrated by air drying or using a low temperature, which preserves the nutrition, colour, and essential oils that give them their delicious flavours.
You can buy or grow herbs to try. After attempting one, play with your preferred herbs: Mint, parsley, dill, basil, and more. This recipe will show you how to dry dill, one of my all-time favourite herbs, but the method also works for most herbs.
3. Greens
Greens can be difficult to store for longer than a few days, even though they are easy to grow throughout the year's cooler months and are always accessible in stores. To help those learning to tolerate greens, eat them a little more palatable, dehydrate your greens and store them whole or slightly crunchy. You can also make a fine powder to add to almost anything you cook, from brownies to eggs and everything in between. Any dark, edible, leafy green (not nightshades) can be dehydrated, including all types of lettuce, spinach, kale, carrot, radish and beetroot tops, collard and turnip greens, squash greens, broccoli and cauliflower greens.
4. Tomatoes
Dehydrated tomatoes are a pantry essential that can be sliced, diced, halved, dried from tomato paste, or used with tomato skins left over from canning projects. Tomato powder is an easy way to keep a tonne of tomatoes (and replace canned tomatoes) in a little space, and it can be used for anything from preparing ketchup to creating sauces and boosting flavours in meats and soups.
5. Chillis
Having a variety of peppers in the pantry is great! They keep nicely in the freezer, freeing up space for more essential items like ice cream! You should always keep peppers on hand, whether sweet, spicy (for making chilli powder), or anywhere between! Peppers: Discover how to dehydrate bell peppers for year-round salads, sauces, and pizza usage!
6. Mushrooms
One of the simplest foods to dehydrate is mushrooms. All that is required to create a shelf-stable food everyone should have is a quick wipe down or rinse, slice, and dry. You can quickly add mushroom chunks to any meal through my veggie processor. It's so simple to toss a few into a soup, stew, or casserole, powder it for my preferred umami spice, or rehydrate it for use in meatloaf.
7. Vegetables
One of my suggested first tasks for a new dehydrator is frozen vegetables. Produce is prepared, sliced, and prepared for drying. Blanching is not necessary! Vegetable blends or single veggies can be used. Adding these dried vegetables to soups, stews, casseroles, and other dishes is a breeze. Vegetable blends or single veggies can be used. Here is a simple handful, beginning with carrots, peppers, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, and more. Watch for frozen veggies with sauces, as they often include oils and fats that might not be suitable for long-term storage.
Utilising materials you can buy in bulk to make dehydrated meals very easily. It also reduces the amount of single-use packaging waste. You can usually purchase dehydrated or freeze-dried meals in large quantities to give them a try if you appreciate the convenience of pre-made camping food but dislike the waste. Perfect for camping!
