MSG free trail food and dehydrating soups questions

[hikingfish]

Hi All!
Unfortunately, in the last year, my girlfriend has developped an intolerance to msg's (mono sodium glutamate). As I plan out what we'll be eating during our late December outing, I'm faced with a couple of problems I didn't have before...mainly cup-O-soups soups and pepperoni / salami are out of the question since they contain copious amounts of msg's.

I have a dehydrator @ home (American harvest, with 2 extra platters for fruit-rollups), so I was thinking of using it to make some dehydrated soup mix. I'm just not sure how to go about it and what to expect as far as the results go. Will it give me powder? I'll probably add a little bits of noodles or rice as well as a couple of little pieces of carrots, celery and green peas (any other ideas? Ognions would be good too I guess!).

Now my next problem is the meat for our lunches. Anyone has recommendations for that? It needs to be quick so we can eat it on the trails (duuh!).

Thanks!

Fish

 

[BorealChickadee]

In December you can take what you want without woorry about spoilage. The world is your refrigerator. (Assuming you're in the northeast) I think it's generally easier to just bring the food even with the added weight of the water. If you don't bring it "wet" then you'll just have to carry extra fuel to melt snow, or warm up icy cold water, to rehydrate anyway.

So I would just bring homemade soup "as is". But you could cook it down until it was nice and thick.

I have food allergies and always make and carry my own food. I don't follow any recipes, just dehydrate anything that I can eat. Fatty foods I freeze after drying for longer term storage.

 

[jbrown]

I've done soups in my dehydrator. (I have the same model as you.)
The last one I tried was my wife's homemade black bean soup. She boils it down until it's pretty thick anyway, so I just spread it on the fruit roll up trays and set it on high overnight. I tried to keep the amount I dried equal to one meal so I would know approximately how much water to add later. It crumbles up as small as you want it to go and rehydrates really well in a freezer bag with just boiling water poured over it and letting it sit for about 5-10 minutes. I like to add some grated parmesan to the freezer bag before the trip too.

I've also done chili like this as well as a variety of fruit roll up combinations.

(The black bean soup is very filling ans really healthy too, it's just black beans, olive oil, onion, celery, celery salt and lots of garlic.)

 

[hikingfish]

(The black bean soup is very filling ans really healthy too, it's just black beans, olive oil, onion, celery, celery salt and lots of garlic.)

Jbrown, very interesting and I love black beans! Unless the recipe is a family secret...would you consider posting the recipe/instructions on how to make it?

Fish

 

[hikingfish]

In December you can take what you want without woorry about spoilage. The world is your refrigerator. (Assuming you're in the northeast)

I was actually debating bringing steaks for our first day (the little skinny ones that cook fast). It's going to be quite cold up there (we're in the Chic-Chocs in the Gaspesie region of Quebec)...we'd probably need to leave them outside overnight so they don't thaw in the heated huts. I'd be afraid to see how much gas it would take to cook those though...might want to cook them in a pan on the wood stove.

Fish

 

[Nessmuk]

... I have a dehydrator @ home (American harvest, with 2 extra platters for fruit-rollups), so I was thinking of using it to make some dehydrated soup mix. I'm just not sure how to go about it and what to expect as far as the results go. Will it give me powder? I'll probably add a little bits of noodles or rice as well as a couple of little pieces of carrots, celery and green peas (any other ideas? Ognions would be good too I guess!).

Now my next problem is the meat for our lunches. Anyone has recommendations for that? It needs to be quick so we can eat it on the trails (duuh!).

You can dehydrate your own homemade soup or chili (which works out really well) with good results. It is important to have any pieces of meat very small, and for any veggies to be relatively small and consistent in size. Depending on the consistency of your liquid base, you will most likely end up when dry with something between a leather and a brittle. You won't get powder unless it is perfectly dry and you run it through a blender or food processor, then it will reconstitute as a soup puree. You probably don't want that unless that's what you started with. I just chop up the dried result into small chunks so it packs better. Plan on the dry soup to be 1/4 the origional weight, and 1/3 the original volume. It will keep indefinitely as long as you keep it dry. Casseroles, spaghetti and the like are nothing more than soup without most of the liquid... your favorite casserole will dehydrate and rehydrate just as well into a quick yummy trail meal.

To rehydrate, the secret is to put the dry soup in a container (you can leave it in a ziplock bag for easy cleanup, but support the bag in a rigid container), then pour boiling water over the top, to an inch or so above the level of the dry soup. Now insulate the container, wrap it in a cozy or a fleece jacket or whatever. Put it aside and go do something else. After 10-15 minutes quickly check it for dryness. If it needs more hot water, add it now. Do not attempt to eat it then as it will still have hard dry chunks and you will be dispppointed. Quickly recover to preserve heat. At 20 minutes open it up, still plenty hot and perfectly rehydrated just like fresh!

Meat for lunch can be moist pouches of tuna, or some kind of hard salami, summer sausage, or pepperoni. I make tuna sandwiches using dry hummus mix instead of mayo, and tortiallas as bread. As long as you have the dehydrator going, why not make your own jerky? It is much cheaper than the packaged store kind and just as good. Most of the time though, I don't bother much with lunch other than gorp mix of some kind and dehydrated fruit (from my dehydrator).

 

[kmac]

I found that Annie Chun's asian soups have no perservatives, msg's and are all natural. You can buy them at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Big Y and some local food markets that have a "health food section".

kmac

 

[BorealChickadee]

I found that Annie Chun's asian soups have no perservatives, msg's and are all natural. You can buy them at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Big Y and some local food markets that have a "health food section".

kmac

My son must be spoiled- my sister got him a few of these for camping and he refuses to finish them.

 

[TomD]

HF, If you go to TheLightweightBackpacker site (www.backpacking.net) and look in the forums, there is a food forum. (Click Backpacking Community from the home page.) Look for posts by Sarbar; she has a food website with online menus of all kinds that don't rely on MSG or other preservatives and she knows a lot about dehydrating almostanything. Her site is www.freezerbagcooking.com

 

[kmac]

My son must be spoiled- my sister got him a few of these for camping and he refuses to finish them.

I love the soups, but like your son, my son also prefers the msg and perservatives of the ramon noodles : )