Cassie's Backpacking meals

WOD:   9/24/15

6 rounds for time of:
Run 400 meters
25 Burpees(to a 12”/9” target)

Set up under a bar that is 12”/9”above your reach for the burpees. Jump and touch the bar for each burpee rep.

Paleo Backpacking Meals! - Brought to you by Cassie Finer

So FULLY intended to photo-document this entire process, but then I ended up having too much fun (aka tried to avoid being struck by lightening on night one and ate half-asleep on night two) and completely forgot. So I have no pictures for you, you will just have to read this post and imagine the noms in your brain.

I love making my own food when I go backpacking and since going Paleo, this has become the only way for me to eat well (and on a budget) while out in the wilderness. The process is so easy and the outcome is so delicious I feel I would be doing you all a grave disservice by not sharing my secrets with you. 

On my most recent trip I made chili and salmon "curry" for dinner, and dried mashed yams for breakfast. The chili and curry fed three people, and the yams fed two people over two breakfasts.

I dried the food using a food dehydrator ("http://www.amazon.com/Nesco-American-Harvest-FD-37-Dehydrator/dp/B003I4F7AS"). Alternatively, you can dry food in an oven set to 140* with the door propped open.

If you want to be precise about this process, you can weight the food before and after drying. Then take pre weight - post weight (in grams) and divide by 215. This will give you the cups of water you need to rehydrate the food with. 

For instance, if your chili weighs 1430 grams before dehydration, and 1000 grams after then you would need to add [(1430-1000) = 430/215] = 2 cups of water to your pot when rehydrating. I've done this in the past and found that it's not entirely necessary, but it will ensure a "perfect" re-hydration. 

For the chili: I followed this recipe ("http://crossfittrain.com/blog/2014/11/17/time-for-some"). Once the chili was cooked I spread it out on parchment paper that I'd cut to fit my trays (alternatively you can use the fruit leather inserts, I couldn't find mine) and dried the chili overnight. This resulted in mostly dry chili, but if I needed it to last more than a day or two on the trail I would have needed to dry for closer to 36 hours.

Once on the trail I put water and chili into my pot, brought it to a boil, and then let it simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Voila! Chili! 

For the Curry: I cut and dried one zucchini, half a pound shiitake mushrooms, and two red peppers red peppers. These only need 12 hours to dry. I also brought a pack of salmon for each person (like this one) ("http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Sea-Premium-Skinless-Boneless/dp/B003RWVFEI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435641135&sr=8-1&keywords=salmon+packets"), an 8oz can of coconut milk, ginger, garlic, a small onion, and curry powder along (you could dry the ginger and garlic and dried coconut milk exists on the internet ("http://www.amazon.com/Coconut-Milk-Powder-1-Lb/dp/B00821LQSE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435640800&sr=8-1&keywords=dry+coconut+milk"). I also brought the pre-cooked rice that you boil in a bag, you can find this at Trader Joes. No, rice isn't Paleo, but the carbs are good when backpacking!

Once on the trail I sautéed the garlic and onion, set them aside, then added the dried veggies and ginger to the pot along with water, coconut milk, curry seasoning, and salt. I brought this to a boil and then simmered until the veggies were rehydrated. My friend also brought a stove and cooked the rice at the same time. Once the veggies and rice were ready to go we divvied out the rice and soup and each person put their packet of tuna on top! Yum!

For the Mashed Yams: I baked three large yams, mashed them fully and spread them out on parchment paper as thinly as possible. I dried these overnight. In the morning they weren't perfectly dry so I flipped the yam "leathers" over and finished drying them for about two hours. 

For breakfast I divvied out the dried yams into our bowls and then covered with boiling water. Be careful to just *barely* cover with water... I was a bit too enthusiastic with the water the first morning and we ended up with yam soup. I let the mixture sit for a few minutes then stirred until rehydrated. At this point I added a tablespoon of butter and some salt. Coconut oil also works, but it is advisable to add fat to the yams since otherwise they're a HUGE sugar bomb. 

Pro Tip: cooked bacon goes well with the chili and yams and survives quite well on the trail! 

Brought to you by Cassie Finer