Trail Recipe

When backpacking season comes around I begin to think about all of the delicious food that can be brought. I'm not big on dirtying dishes while out and about, so I take advantage of freezer bag cooking. Here's one my favorites that is easy to prepare before the trail. All you'll need to do is add boiling water, eat, and enjoy!

Pasta w/Meat Sauce
At Home
Dehydrate your favorite pasta sauce to the point it looks like leather. Be sure to put plastic wrap on your trays, or a rather large mess will be made.

Dehydrate 1/4 pound lean hamburger or turkey per person. Brown meat, rinse until as much of the grease is gone, pat dry, and your ready to dehydrate. I suggest using the plastic wrap trick here also, as the meat dries it turns into gravel and falls through the holes of the trays.

Cook pasta until aldente (use your judgement on amount, remember when it dries it looks like much less than what it will reconstitute to). I like rotini or penne pasta.

Rip sauce into smaller pieces and place in sandwhich baggie. In a gallon size freezer bag put dehydrated meat, noodles, and sauce pouch together. I also like to add a packet of parmesean cheese.

On the trail
Remove sauce pouch, add about 1/3 cup water, not boiling, mush around. Water from your bottle is fine.
Boil aproximately 1 1/2 cups water. Add boiling water and sauce mix to meat/pasta mix. Stir well, place in foil cozy and let sit for 10 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir well again, add your parmesean and have a delightful dinner on the trail.