I have been toying with the idea of dehydrating my own backpacking food for quite some time . Sure, I love Mountain House, Ramen, and oatmeal, but I really wanted to find a way to make delicious backpacking meals that didn’t make you question what you were really eating. The only problem was, I wasn’t sure where to start. I love cooking, but dehydrating can be a little intimidating in that it requires special knowledge and equipment.

Don’t fret! I’ve put lots of hours into researching and experimenting for you, and have to say that my first finished product turned out better than any prepackaged meal I’ve had. A couple of things before I get to that recipe. To start, you’ll need a few things:

Dehydrator – Not knowing if I was going to even like dehydrating or not, I went for a less expensive dehydrator that still had good reviews. This one is about $60. As for my personal experience with it, so far, so good! I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it definitely does the job. Link below with the one I purchased.

Vacuum Sealer – To store your dehydrated meals, you could use a zip top freezer bag, or you could use a vacuum sealer. The benefits of using a vacuum sealer is that the food will last much longer in the fridge, pantry, or in your pack. Like the dehydrator, I went with this one that was less expensive. It works for what I need. If one day I decide to vacuum seal 10 bags a day, I might opt for a more expensive version.Heavy Duty Vacuum Seal Bags – Of course, these are only required if you go with the vacuum sealer option. These bags are heavy duty, hold boiling water, and are BPA free.

Oxygen Absorber Packets – Lastly, to make sure your well-prepared food has the absolute best shelf-life, I recommend you throw in an oxygen absorber packet like these.

All the above will cost you a little over $120 to get going. In the long run though, you’ll distribute those costs out over your meals and end up saving, compared to what you would pay for the expensive freeze-dried, sodium-laden, premade meals you could buy elsewhere. Not to mention, preparing your own food and then sharing it with friends and loved ones in the wilderness is just that much more enjoyable.

After I got everything I needed, I was excited to try it out for our backpacking trip into Desolation Wilderness this past weekend. This trip was only one night, so I made sure that our dinner and breakfast were something that would be a good start into the world of dehydrating.

The sloppy joe recipe I made for dinner below was so good that I plan on making it a backpacking dinner staple. It was easy to make at home in the dehydrator and even easier to rehydrate at camp. Not to mention, totally hit the spot after a long hike. For breakfast the next morning, I made some cheesy loaded potatoes, which I am excited to share in an upcoming post. Can you say nom na na nom nom! Stay tuned!

Dehydrated Trail Sloppy Joes make for the perfect backpacking dinner.

In a couple of short weeks, I’ll be heading out on a 7-night backpacking trip and can’t wait to experiment more with my dehydrator. I have some ideas like beef stroganoff, cheesy pasta with veggies, quinoa chicken pilaf, and more. What else do you think I should make?? Leave a suggestion in the comments section below!