Instead of going out to eat, I nipped round the corner for a couple of take-away curries: a Chicken Tikka Mosala for her, Vegetable Dopiaza for him. Both served with pilau rice of course.
You know how it is, we only got half-way through our meals and found that we couldn’t eat another mouthful. The leftovers were put in the fridge and would have likely been forgotten about…but I had a cunning plan.
Next morning I finely chopped up all the lumpy bits of the left-overs and put the resulting mush into my dehydrator. 8 hours later all the moisture had been driven off and the resulting crunchy bits emptied into zip-lock polybags. Along with Tesco’s garlic and something-or-other naan bread, I had two excellent backpacking meals.
Dehydrated Chicken Tikka Mosala Whilst my neighbours were tucking into their rehydrated cardboard (with added MSG) I was enjoying my excellent curry. Stormin’ was the only exception I was aware of – he dehydrates his own meals and was enjoying a similarly delicious evening meal.
If you fancy making your own meals all you need is a dehydrator. I use an American Harvest Snackmaster, similar to this one. I’d suggest a bit of experimentation, but it won’t be long before you’re making your own backpacking meals.
I have heard tell of this dehydrating business, but know little about it, except that Mick and Gayle are enthusiasts. Presumably if you make something like a bolognese you will then end up with several meals of the same thing which might be a bit boring.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to hear how you use this system in practice, if, say for instance you intended to feed yourself through the whole of a TGO this way.
Hi Conrad.
ReplyDeleteI generally build up a stock of meals over a period of time. If I make a bolognese / curry / hash or whatever, I'll make extra and dry the remainder. That way I end up with a variety of meals - little chance to get bored!
My favourite so far: beef hash followed by rhubarb & custard: excellent, lightweight and easy to dehydrate & rehydrate.
JJ
Had we been a day later into Tarfside (or you a day earlier) then we would have swelled the home-dehydrators contingent significantly. I enjoyed a chick pea stew that night, whilst Mick had a Shepherd's pie (although 'pie' may be a little bit of a generous description as the instant potato was mixed into the meal).
ReplyDeleteTo answer Conrad's point about repetition, we were so disorganised this year, and our menu thrown together with such haste, that there was an awful lot of repetition for Mick. I had two lots of six different meals; Mick only had four varieties (rather weighted towards chilli and shepherd). When we are more organised, we do have a larger repertoire.