RE: 2012 what worked and what didn't, food

Bill- Dried veggies- They never seem to be the same reconstituted once dehydrated.  You mentioned green beans and peppers.  Yep, add to a stew or soup.  Wax beans and most other veggies would need the same treatment.   Dried parsley is readily available. I add it to most meals for a nutritional kick.  Dried tomatoes are also fairly available and can be eaten as-is or added to many dishes. Spinach I add to one-dish meals such as beef Stroganoff or spaghetti.   Try adding a blend of Asian spices like garlic, ginger, and soy sauce to a bag of frozen Asian blend veggies, cook, cool, and dehydrate.  Add these to soups or a "casserole" of similarly seasoned proteins to serve over/mixed into rice or noodles.  Cooked ground beef, chicken, or mock crab worked for me in this concoction.  Cooked ground pork or turkey should work as well.  Even TVP might be nearly palatable.  I do add some to most main dishes, relying on other ingredients to mask it. Look up colcannon or champ.  Each is touted as "Irish comfort food."  Basically it is any green mixed into mashed potatoes, liberally seasoned with butter, salt, and pepper.  I've gotten kale and cabbage into my guys at home this way, and used it as a base for cabbage/potato/corned beef when camping.  If you like garlic or onion, add them.  Cheese might work, too.  I can see combining dried cabbage or kale to instant mashed potatoes, dried garlic and onion, Butter Buds, and maybe some TVP in a baggie, adding hot water and either some sort of sausage, jerky, or one of those little packages of chipped beef or "Buddig" corned beef trailside.  The last is probably best used the first day or two of a trip. Also consider a version of Portuguese kale soup: a basic adaptive mix might be instant potatoes, dehydrated kale, bouillon, onion, garlic, and hot sausage. If you like turnips, try cooking and mashing some with potatoes or carrots and dehydrating.   Mashed sweet potatoes or squash dehydrate and come back well.  They are, of course, more work than purchased instant potatoes, but sweet potatoes are nutritional powerhouses and orange squashes are loaded with flavanoids.  Consider kicking up the taste and nutrition with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, orange zest and juice, or a combination to your preferences. Celery and carrots can be dried and added to soups, stews, chicken, fish, or pasta salads.   Zucchini and cucumber can be dehydrated.  They will not be the same reconstituted, but some zuch added to a tomato-based pasta dish works well enough,  Mince the cucumber and add to rice and fish for a mock sushi.  Glop rice, cucumber, maybe some shredded carrot, and mock crab, all dehydrated at home and rehydrated on the trail, onto a sheet of Nori and enjoy a "hand roll."  Hubby was pleasantly shocked when I pulled this one out in Yellowstone some years ago.  I used dehydrated canned salmon for that one.   If you want the kick, bring some dry mustard and wasabi powder, or see if you can score some packets somewhere.  You MIGHT be able to crush some dried wasabi peas to add for some more green veggies and kick. I also eat the zuch and cuke as chips for a trailside lunch with some sun-dried tomatoes, cheese and pepperoni or sausage.  I've added some dried shredded cabbage to tuna salad to up the nutrition.  No complaints when fresh, and I liked the reconstituted version while hiking. If you have tried to dehydrate peas and find they remain petrified rocks or buckshot when you want to rehydrate them, try whirling some through a blender at home.  Breaking them up gives less visual appeal, but might make them edible again. Good Luck! Rosaleen      2012 what worked and what didn't, food
    Posted by: "Segraves" andrews9000-/[email protected] andrews9000
    Date: Wed Dec 26, 2012 2:39 pm ((PST))
 
As usual, trying to find new things to eat that are tasty, nutritious, calorically dense, and easy to prepare (ideally no-cook). 
 
New (for me) things that worked:
 
Dehydrated refried black beans - good enough to eat at home, nutritious, easy. Can even snack on them dry. In principle, could rehydrate in cold water, but that worked poorly. With a little heat (not even necessarily boiling water), they rehydrate a lot more nicely. Especially good with some dehydrated peppers added.
 
Dehydrated mashed potatoes - excellent super-easy trail food. Rehydrates just fine in cold water. Tastes better mixed up with a little Nido. Delicious with generous helping of grated Parmesan-Romano cheese and dried chives.
 
Powdered coconut milk - easy-carry fat source and potential base for creative cooking. Much easier to carry than liquid oils as concentrated calories. Not bad to drink, can mix in with potatoes, makes an interesting "soup" when mixed with powdered hummus (your taste may vary). With a few spices, can make some really tasty curries and stews if ready to do some cooking.
 
Dried veggies - had hoped to find some good, easy green stuff to eat, but only half-satisfied with results. Dried carrots take some cooking and only tasted ok. Dried spinach rehydrates easily but tastes like grass. Both best in a stew with beans and peppers. Roasted seaweed was probably my top new pick for taste and ease of prep (none required, or can be added to a bean stew), but it tended to disintegrate in my pack.
 
Chocolate - who doesn't love chocolate on the trail? I just wish it didn't melt so easily in a hot car on the way. Major mess, had to repackage several things that got covered in melted chocolate. :(
 
Easy cooking - usually, I use Esbit if available and otherwise alcohol, but for very light duty cooking, a bail handle pot can be used to warm things over an ultra low impact fire made with just a few twigs (where permitted and appropriate). Snow peak titanium bowl with an MYOG titanium wire bail handle worked great for this.
 
Hope some others will find one or more of these things to be worth a try, and happy to have suggestions/comments, as always!
 
Cheers,
 
Bill