PCT Dinner Details - Adventures in Food Dehydration

-
In my last post I explained my overall strategy for food supply on the PCT. Working on the dinner plan has been a very tasty experience, as it includes cooking a wide variety of foods and then trying them before and after dehydration. 

Chris thinking about dinner near Alaska Lake.

This doesn't always go according to plan. Last week, for example, my friend Cheryl gave me a batch of masala that her mom prepared, along with a recipe for chicken. It was absolutely amazing! I devoured most of it immediately and ate all that remained the following day. There was nothing left to dehydrate and I decided that it was simply too good to take on the trail. The subtlety and depth of the dish would likely be lost. 
Cheryl's mom makes the best masala.

This week I finally cooked and dehydrated the last batch of dinners for my trip. This is the culmination of several months worth of work, as I had already started this process in October. First I was cooking small amounts for tasting and fine tuning portion sizes, then I started preparing bigger batches that I would actually use during my hike.

Peeling large quantities of potatoes requires special support.

In addition to making the food, I also investigated storage options. I decided to use heavy duty Mylar bags for carrying the dinners. These are very similar to the pouches that the commercially produced hiking meals come in. One advantage is that they can actually be used for rehydrating the meals as they can withstand high temperatures. Instead of pouring the meal and water into a cooking pot and heating it over a camping stove, I can just add hot water to the bag itself, wait 15 to 20 minutes for the food to be rehydrated and dig in. That saves time and work, as I don't have to clean the pot afterwards. These bags also have aluminum lining to block out light which helps to prevent certain foods from spoiling. As this is a mayor concern, I also add oxygen absorbers to each meal.

The finished product.

Here are the weight statistics on some of my favorite recipes that I will bring on the PCT:

Potato Stew With Ground Pork: A satisfying dinner portion of my mom's recipe weighs about 850g. Dehydrated it is only 170g.

Chana Masala: A portion of 450g together with 255g of rice (total 705g) is enough to send me to the couch for an after dinner nap. After dehydration it weighs just 200g (115g for the Chana Masala, plus 85g for the rice).

Chana Masala coming out of the dehydrator.

Goulash: Another favorite recipe from my mom. Meat heavy and dense, a hearty portion of 400g along with 300g of rice or pasta for a total of 700g should be enough to replenish the energy lost during a long hiking day. It weighs in at 215g after dehydration (115g Goulash, 100g rice).

Daal: Easy, tasty and nutritious, I needed about 500g along 210g of rice to feel satisfied after a long ski day (should be equivalent to a long hiking day). Weight after dehydration: 225g (150g daal, 70g rice)

Rice And Beans: A hikers staple, I cooked my version with a curry spice mix to add some extra flavor. A hearty meal of 755g dehydrated to 187g.

Not only humans worry about provisions...


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Finally Made A Bucket List

-
Image
 It actually turned out to be exactly five buckets, 20 gallon each. I hope I'm doing this right... Planning the types and quantity of food was relatively easy as I could draw from my experiences preparing for and completing the Pacific Crest Trail and the Arizona Trail. I estimate the Hayduke to take about two months. Unlike for the much longer PCT, I decided not to do any cooking and dehydrating and will rely on commercially available foods only. The Buckets And The Stuff That Goes Into Them My breakfasts will be based on overnight oats, just like during my previous thru-hikes. I add chia seeds, different kinds of nuts as well as dried cranberries or raisins to create variety. The mix goes into individual ziplock bags that I will also use for overnight soaking. The moistened mix is a favorite for rodents, so the bag goes into my cooking pot during the night and will be firmly secured with a metal lid. I eat directly out of the ziplock bag, eliminating the need for cleaning any dis...
Read more

Hello, Hayduke!

-
Image
 Today I received a long awaited email from a backcountry ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. "Hello Michael, I drew up a permit for you...". That was the moment my next thru-hiking adventure started to feel real. It's been two and a half years since my last long hike, the Arizona Trail. Back then, I had added roughly 100 miles through southern Utah, more out of convenience than anything else. By starting my hike in Bryce Canyon instead of the Arizona border I could just take a bus from Las Vegas instead of scrambling to find transportation to the official terminus. I ended up liking this part of the hike more than most sections of the official trail and started looking into hiking the complete route. Overlooking Grand Gulch in Capitol Reef National Park At first, it sounded too daunting. The Hayduke is an 800–850-mile, mostly off-trail route linking Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks across the Colorado Plateau. All my...
Read more

The Route

-
Image
One of the skills I had to improve on while preparing for the Hayduke was making routes on maps. While the route exists on CalTopo and AllTrails, updates and alternates are missing. Many underlying maps are pretty old and do not reflect developments in recent years or even decades. I found, for example, that a rockslide closed part of the Zion route and I had to look into detour options. I’m sure I will discover more changes as I continue my preparations and also along the hike.  I started looking into my preferred route last year already, but worked out most details in the last few weeks. While the process of working on those maps can be pretty tedious, I enjoy imagining hiking the routes I created. Current State Of My Route With Some Alternates I learned the hard way during the hike in 2023 that marked water sources like springs can be really unreliable. Luckily I found a spreadsheet online that showed known water sources along the route, but the last updates were from 2022. I su...
Read more