Okay boys and girls---A new pair of boots arrived in the mail---gear is getting squared---and the home dehydrator is running overtime.

Here are some of my food preparations for the next backpacking trip---



My core dinners revolve around brown rice---and the best way to rehydrate cooked brown rice in the field is to cook up a big pot (with salt and plenty of olive oil)---let cool---then put in blender and add water (or whole milk) to get it to blend up into a liquid that can be poured on silicone sheets of the dehydrator. This way it reconstitutes quickly like oatmeal. Plain cooked and dried brown rice kernals are generally too hard to rehydrate properly etc.


Once dried the rice becomes like a big potato chip and is easily crushed into a Hefty zip bag. In the field I fill half the cook pot with rice and add water and bring to a boil and shut off the stove and place the pot in the cozy for 30 minutes. Many things can be added to this base rice stock---see next pics.


I came up with this idea several years ago---as I really like these burritos so why not slice them up and dry them?


Once dried you can either snack on it raw or add to your brown rice mix.


I really like these vegetarian refried beans and once dried that make an excellent addition to the brown rice.


Beans smeared on the sheets and ready for drying. It all crumbles up and is easily bagged.


Finally, your standard dried fruit, in this case pears.

Just some ideas.