Making Your Own Trail Food

It’s snowing again here.  Probably won’t get plowed again.  I’ve been experimenting with dehydrating various vegetarian foods.  30 days on the JMT is just too long to pay the high cost of those prepackaged backpacking meals and quite frankly there isn’t much variation for those of us who don’t eat meat.

 Last weekend I played around with mini Matzo Balls made from a mix.  They work great.  I boiled them first and then dehydrated overnight.  Put them in a cup of soup and let them sit in the hot water about 2 minutes.  You couldn’t tell they were once dehydrated.

Today I dehydrated meatless meatballs and they worked equally great.  First I pan fried them (not sure if that is necessary but seemed like a good idea), then placed them overnight in the dehydrator.  To rehydrate, I merely let them sit in hot water much like I would on the trail. 

These could be rehydrated with either ramen noodles or a flat fettuccini type noodle we found at an Asian Market.  For $1.29 you can get a package of 15 rounds of noodles which when placed in water that has reached a boil will rehydrate in 3 minutes in a closed container.  I like these noodles better, the texture is nice and they don’t taste as starchy as ramen.  They are great in soup or in a spaghetti/fettuccini type recipe.

Next week, Lentil soup. 

Canadian Bacon - The Other Vegetable

I am again reminded of why I don’t do fast food joints.  I don’t know what happened to our population but we haven’t progressed in our ability to reason.  A year ago I had the wonderful experience of going through a drive through on my way to work, having been unable to prepare a breakfast.  I’ve been vegetarian most of my life and the last time I checked Canadian bacon was still a meat. It could have changed though and I may have been not paying attention when it did.  It’s entirely possible.  I’m demyelinating so anything is possible. 

After waiting for five cars to pull through and order, I arrived at the microphone and indicate that I want a Number One with no meat.  Pretty simple, it would end up being eggs and cheese on bread.  The young man, I’m assuming here due to the sound of the voice coming through the speaker, proceeds to ask, “Will that be with Canadian Bacon?”  I’m dumbfounded.  After a second I surmise he must have misunderstood or not heard correctly.  I repeat, “A Number One  without the meat.” There is a long pause. I’m left wondering if there is anyone on the other end of this contraption.  He comes back on….”Ok, a Number One and you want bacon.”  Ok, so now I am really wondering if things have changed while I slept. 

At this point I advised this poor fellow that Canadian bacon was a meat, Canadian bacon is definitely not a vegetable and that I want it left off my breakfast. 

Needless to say, I pulled up to pay and collect my food from this guy (who I should note happened to be the Assistant Manager) and what do I find in the bag?  A slab of Canadian bacon wedged between two pieces of bread……..… and that’s it. 

Well it happened again today!  This is a year later. At least this time I got the cheese and egg with my OTHER vegetable (Canadian bacon).  The human race has not improved much.