Food for hiking

Okay, so today I dehydrated 357g of bobotie to 127g, and 350g of paella to 111g.

Rehydration and taste test over the weekend, will post results.....

Report back:

Bobotie rehydrated with 230g boiling water, poured off about 10ml after 20 minutes.

Paella rehydrated with 240g boiling water.poured off 60ml after 20 minutes.

Taste:
Bobotie: slightly al dente, but very acceptable. Taste great, maybe lost a bit of sweetness in the process, but definitely worth doing. Going to be on my hiking food list. Was done with yellow rice.

Paella: No way! Rice and peas rehydrated well, but all the seafood stayed hard. Surprised cos google says that seafood rehydrates well. Try it, but I won't do it again.

So for a 3 night 4 day hike, I'll take bobotie and rice for the first night, mince and veg with rice or couscous for the second, and find something else to dehydrate for the 3rd night.

Worthwhile exercise for variety of meals on a hike.

So, my hiking larder is looking good..
Dehydrated bobotie with yellow rice, lamb with black, red, yellow and green peppers, veg and couscous. Nasi goreng which is Indonesian fried rice with chicken, mushrooms, sweet soy sauce, and Mediterranean Chicken and vegetables with couscous.

Meals dehydrate from close to 400g down to between 125 and 150g, and this is a good sized helping when re-hydrated. Re-hydrating is easy, pour on hot water, leave for a while, and then boil for a couple of minutes..

Anyone a bit handy and wants to make a dehydrator, give me a PM and I'll send some ideas..

I use a convection cooker and put some items in to dry alongside whatever I am cooking and then into sandwich bags in the freezer to take along when needed.

I found these at the health shop in Brooklyn Mall. I haven't tried it myself, thought it was worth a share

The below is really easy and cheap!

Cook 400g penne pasta at home, just past al dente. Throw the cooked pasta in a blender with 500ml - 750ml of marinara (or pasta sauce of your choice). Blend it to mashed potato-like consistency. Spread it out on dehydrator sheets. Dehydrate on 60 \ 70 degC for 8 hours, flip it, then dehydrate another 4 hours. Break apart the crunchy end product and put in a blender and pulse a few times. Put a heaped cup of the pasta bits per freezer bag. Add dehydrated veggies, parmesean, ect. Re-hydrate on a 1:1 dry to water ratio.
(From sectionhiker.com)

Back in 2012 when I hiked with Tony M for the first time, I wondered how an experienced hiker could carry tins of tuna on a hike. Funny story - tuna and salad dressing on crackers is awesome hiking food! I used to do those small sachets, I now do a full tin (with a pull open lid, of course).

Anyone else using tins of tuna as hiking food?

ghaznavid wrote: Anyone else using tins of tuna as hiking food?

For a single night out yes. It's my power food!

For more days I use those overpriced John West packets. I can eat many Pro-Vita's for breakfast with a single packet of tuna. Works the charm to get the day going, or for a lunch/snack.

Woolworths has these German Sausages which also make for an excellent starter. I guess that's the German in me and my love for sausages

Hehe ghaz, now that you're experienced in hiking you also carry tins of tuna, so the circle is complete.

I must admit to looking at your menu with some scepticism in 2012 too, and wondering how someone could hike with eating so little! Anyway, that question was answered on the first day of a certain hike in 2012, which you have since written a lot about, and I'm proud of you for persevering to the ranks of experienced hikers, and of your hiking achievements since 2012 (and that you now have the ability and experience to carry tins of tuna).

Old habits die hard, and I still amuse a lot of people with my daily tin of tuna on hikes. Besides being overpriced, the sachets just aren't enough for me, and the weight of a few tins makes little difference to my pack.

Thanks Tony

Funny enough, I still don't eat much in the mountains - but my food is much more efficient these days. I recently discovered Future Life energy bars - which are going well.

On my 3rd GT (the 5 day one), I ate something like 2kg of food on the entire trip - had a lot left over out of the 4kg I was carrying. I had not finished my first packet of chips before reaching Mafadi. When I realised that I wasn't going to make 4 days (going up Champagne), I actually said to Andrew that I needed to sit and not move till I finish eating something.

My daily food for my last hike was:
3 Future Life High Energy bars
1 Future Life High Protein bar
1 70g dried fruit
1 packet of chips
Supper: a tin of tuna with salad dressing on crackers
Desert: a piece of caramel