DEHYDRATED RECIPES
From the kitchen of yours truly
Here are several recipes I have found work the best while in the bush! This list will keep growing so stay tuned!
CHICKEN ALFREDO
Feeds 3-4
Ingredients:
-1 can of your favourite Alfredo sauce
-1-2 cups of pasta
- seasonings of your choice for chicken
-1-2 chicken breast
-1/4 cup skim milk powder
-small amount of oil and salt
Directions:
Using a liquids tray, empty half to all of your Alfredo sauce to create an even layer about 1/2 a centimetre thick (give or take a bit). You’re going to dehydrate this layer of sauce, checking every few hours, until it’s like a leather. You should be able to roll up the layer once you are done. Repeat till you have used the whole can. Then cook your chicken breast with your preferred seasonings. I cook mine low and slow so it can pull apart easily and with some Italian seasonings, red pepper flakes, rosemary, olive oil, basil, and lemon. Once your chicken is fully cooked you can shred it and get it into your dehydrator to fully dry it out. Make sure you dehydrate it till it’s fully crispy and brittle (about 9-12 hours depending on your dehydrator).
Once you have all of your dehydrated items ready, get a medium to large ziplock and add your pasta. Then put your chicken in a small sandwich bag with a preservative pack and add to the medium bag. Take your rolled up sauce and get it into a sandwich bag as well with a preservative pack. Your skim milk powder can go in its own bag as well and then all the small bags can be added to the pasta bag.
When you’re ready to cook it you need to soak your chicken for 4-5 hours before eating it. You’ll want 2 pots for this recipe. Then when you are ready to eat, add your sauce and skim milk powder and start with 1/2 a cup of filtered water. Bring it to a boil and stir frequently. Add more water to bring it to the consistency your are after. Add your chicken and pasta to another pot and boil to fully cook the noodles. Once those are done and drained, add your sauce to the noodle and chicken pot and stir. Add some parmesan cheese if you want an enjoy!
TEX MEX CHICKEN
Feeds 2-3
Ingredients:
-1/4 red pepper
-1/4 cup of corn
-1/3 of a medium onion (finely chopped)
-1/4 cup of kidney beans or peas
-1 cup of rice
-3 tablespoons of salsa
-1/2 tsp cumin
-1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper
-1/2 tsp of chilli powder
-1/4 tsp of salt
-1 tablespoon of taco seasoning (optional)
-1 chicken breast
*Note: all ingredients are measured before being dehydrated
Directions:
Thinly slice red pepper and onions and lay them on separate dehydrating racks, peppers on the lowest because they will leak. Onions on the top because they will soak in everything. You can also do you corn, and kidney beans or peas if you have space but make sure the racks go onion at the top, then beans or peas, then corn, then peppers. That will need about 6-9 hours depending on your heat setting and dehydrator. You want to make sure there’s no moisture left in the food when you pack it away or you will have mold. Once your racks are free again you want to cook your chicken. I love to cook mine low and slow with taco seasoning and either franks hot sauce or bbq sauce so that it is extremely tender and easy to shred. Once you’ve cooked it all the way through you can start pulling it apart and shredding it. You can dice it into cubes if you prefer but you have to make them very, very small so they can dehydrate and rehydrate after completely. Cutting it into any bite sized chunks will make it take 24 hours minimum to dehydrate and in my experience they never fully re hydrate which makes it taste a bit like dog food. Shredding it makes its very easy to dehydrate and rehydrate while still giving you big enough pieces to chew. Once you’ve shredded the chicken you can lay it out on the drying racks and let it run for 9-12 hours again depending on the style of dehydrator and the heat level. Once it’s done it will be brittle and a bit crumbly. The chicken will go bad before you eat it if you don’t fully dehydrate it.
Now that all your dehydrating is done you can package your food. I take small sandwich bags and add your veggies to one bag and add a preservative packet, do the same in a separate bag with your chicken. Then put your salsa in it’s own bag as well. The rice I tend to put in a medium ziplock that can hold all smaller bags. Your spices can be on their own or in with the chicken or rice. I recommend the rice as there’s more flavour that way but everyone’s got their own thing. Then add all your smaller bags to your medium one and label it.
For rehydrating you are going to want to let your chicken soak in a pot of filtered water for 4-5 hours before you cook it so it can rehydrate fully. At the last 2 hours, throw in your veggies. Once you are ready to eat you want to start your rice and add you seasonings and salsa. Once the water is warm add your veggies and chicken, stirring frequently till the water is gone. Let cool and and enjoy!
*Note: rice can also be swapped out for Quinoa if you need more protein!
CHILLI
Feeds up to 10
Ingredients:
-2lbs ground beef (cooked)
-2 cans of stewed, diced tomatoes
-1-2 cans of kidney beans
-1 can of brown beans in tomato sauce
-1 carrot shredded
-1 package of mushrooms chopped
-1 onion, fine chopped
-2-3 tablespoons of chilli powder
-franks red hot sauce
-1 tablespoon of salt
-2 tsp cumin
Directions:
Add all ingredients to crockpot and mix. Let the mix cook for 6 hours on low. Once you have it ready, you can portion it out into bowls and let them cool. Once cooled, pour 1 serving on a liquids tray for the dehydrator, spread evenly, and let it dehydrate for approx. 13 hours depending on your dehydrator. The final result should be a very breakable sheet of chilli. Break it into chunk and seal in a baggie with a preservative pack.
When you are ready to eat simply add the contents of the baggie to a bowl and add 1/2 to 1 cup of boiling water (depending on the serving size) and let it sit for 15 to 20 minutes to re-hydrate fully. Stir and enjoy!