Preparing
If you take a look at the shelf containing the entire stock of dehydrated foods we plan to send along our AT hike, you might think we’re some kind of Doomsday preppers. Lihat juga fdsf6. Judgment Day Preppers? Not exactly… AT preppers? Absolutely. The small dehydrator we bought on Amazon has been running non-stop for the last 2-3 months. We have less than 2 weeks until we begin our hike. I finally just finished the last round of dehydrated food.
What we eat on the road
We have eaten all kinds of food while backtracking. Most hikers are familiar with classic freeze-dried backpacking meals. We’ve had our fair share of them, however, they’ve never impressed us too much. Some were pretty good. And we’ve also prepared meals from the supermarket, such as sides from Knor, with packages of Starkist chicken packets. We’ve also focused on the types of dry foods we like to eat on the trail (i.e. summer sausage, tortillas, crackers, peanut butter, etc.). I’m sure there will be many of these types of foods we will eat on the AT as well. Although we plan to use resupply points along the AT, we will also eat some of our own meals.
Getting inspired
I was inspired by some social media through hikers sharing tips and tricks for dehydrating your own food. You may have seen them yourself through Hikers: Tim and Renee. It was your videos that brought up the idea of dehydrating my own food for our AT-thru hike. Cody and I knew we would have to send mail along the trail with dog food for Trukenna. That’s what convinced me to start preparing our own meals. If we were already going to send each other packages to Turk, I thought, «Why not have homemade food for us in those packages too?»
So I started. I researched backpacking food recipes. The sources I found useful to get started were backpackerchef.comReddit and thruhikers.co. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of quality recipes that existed and that I found quite easy to prepare. As I do when I normally cook at home, I tend to use recipes more as «guidelines» than strict rules that must be followed precisely. So this is not a tutorial on how to replicate the meals I made because I didn’t follow any recipes exactly. But I found online resources helpful for getting tips on dehydration and finding recipes for foods I thought we might like to eat while hiking.
Not that kind of blog
If I were the type-A, tutorial-making, tutorial-making kind of person, I might have kept track of how much I spent on food and supplies, maybe I would have created a spreadsheet with a menu specifying the exact measurements of each ingredient for each meal. I may have compared the cost and time of dehydrating my own meals to the estimated cost of purchasing freeze-dried meals from companies like Mountain House or Peak Refuel. I may have even recorded how many calories were in each meal I prepared or how many calories per ounce I’m racking up. And then I could I’ve written a blog telling you all about those details and teaching you how to do it yourself.
What I achieved
But I didn’t do any of those things because I’m actually NOT that kind of person. However, I’m the type of person who is willing to try something I’ve never done before and be optimistic enough to believe it will turn out pretty well. All that being said, I have successfully prepared my own version of 7 different meals. The recipes are loosely based on various recipes I found online. The menu includes: Teriyaki Pork Bowl, Mediterranean Sweet Potato and Couscous Bowl, Pesto Chicken Pasta, Taco Bowl, Pad Thai, Chili Mac and a Beef and Cheese Pasta Bowl. As of writing this post, I have prepared approximately 130 meals (for 2 people). I continue to dehydrate more ingredients every day.
Many people have asked me if we have tried any of the meals. We originally planned to try each of the meals and modify the recipes if necessary, or even reject recipes we didn’t like. However, at some point in the process I decided that I didn’t want to waste any food we could eat along the way by trying them. I guess I felt like I had put so much time and effort into preparing the meals that even if I don’t like them…I’ll probably eat them anyway. So I send it in full. Although I’m pretty sure we’ll like it. And if we don’t, we’ll just have to eat hiker garbage. Complete shipping. 
Find out what worked
Preparing these meals has been an adventure in itself. I had to do a couple of tests to determine the right time and temperature for each ingredient. I quickly learned that I could maximize my time by selecting a meal menu that shared similar ingredients. For example, I made teriyaki pork that I used in teriyaki rice bowls and pad Thai. I also dehydrated cooked pasta (to reduce cooking time by rehydration) and used the same pasta in chili macaroni, pesto chicken pasta, and beef and pasta. Tomato sauce is also used in many foods. By using store-bought ingredients (i.e. Minute Rice and couscous), I was able to make several types of meals, but I only had to dehydrate the other ingredients that make up the meal. For example, you could make a taco rice dish and you would only need beans, Rotel, tomato sauce, and ground beef. Everything else was purchased and added to each meal: dried peppers, chopped onion, cheddar cheese powder, and taco seasoning. In short, most of the meals I’ve made are a combination of dehydrated ingredients and store-bought ingredients.
Mentally preparing for the adventure ahead
Getting into the habit of changing the dehydrator every morning and night was a habit that took some getting used to. As soon as I solidified the menu, I was able to start producing ingredients and preparing meals. My favorite part of this process has been the mental aspect. Spending each morning and afternoon emptying and refilling the dehydrator has become a little meditative session. It’s a daily reminder that we’ll be hiking soon. Preparing for a hike as big as this can feel almost surreal. As if it’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that today I woke up and went to work, drove home by car, made dinner in the kitchen, watched TV, and went out to eat something sweet. Most days I take less than 10,000 steps. But in a few weeks I’ll leave all that behind and be walking all day and sleeping in the woods. Having this dehydrating project has helped me keep my mind focused on the trail, which has simply amplified my enthusiasm.
Alex from TNT
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