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Dinner in a bag?
Mike was paddling around the coastal US...; what a great opportunity for me to learn
about dehydrating and packaging food. What better person to try it on - Mike eats almost anything.
There are many types of dehydrating methods. I used an electric American Harvester.
It’s round, stacks up to 8 trays, is heated and has a fan. The vacuum sealer was purchased at Sears,
as well as the bags needed for sealing. That’s it. Those were the only appliances used. A food
processor and meat slicer would have been handy.
At the start, the preparations for the first two months was chaotic at best. Over
time the organization and time spent got better. The dehydration and preparation of meals evolved into
something more easily managed. The feeling of being overwhelmed went away.
I’m not hard core when it comes to preparing meals. Convenience is #1 with me.
(Never could understand why people spend money for convenience foods and for eating out; but when it
comes to kayaking, backpacking, etc. all of a sudden it has to be made from scratch and inexpensive. A
meal is a meal whether eaten kayaking , backpacking or at your kitchen table.)
Two months of food was prepared to send to food drops along the coast. Mike took the
first 2 months with him on his drive across the US to Washington. At first I prepared Monday meals,
breakfast and dinner, then Tuesday meals, breakfast and dinner, etc. It took a month of preparation
before I realized that was insane. " Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day" - remember that
advertisement? I learned preparing the same meals for 8 Mondays, 8 Tuesdays, etc. made life and
preparation a lot easier. Mike had 7 different dinner menus and 5 different breakfast menus. After a
week of 7 different dinners, the same 7 dinners started again and the same breakfast menus started again
after day 5. Breakfast and dinner were packaged separately and then put together in a single bag. Double
bagging was used on all meals. (It would have been awful to have meals leaking and rehydrating at the
same time. Mike has a big appetite....but not that big.)
Mike’s 5 breakfast menus were:
1. scrambled eggs (made from powdered eggs) with spinach, black olives, bacon bits,
grated cheese, drymilk and cinnamon toast
2. pancakes and syrup with a side of jerky and dried fruit
3. cream of wheat with dry milk and dates
4. shredded wheat with dry milk and dates
5. alpen cereal with dry milk and dates
3 - 5 could be eaten from the bag
Dinners:
1. chicken and instant potatoes with veggies
2. pasta primavera with fish/meat and veggies
3. rice and black beans with chicken broth and veggies
4. herb and garlic sauce with fish/meat and veggies
5. pesto sauce with fish/meat and veggies
6. spaghetti sauce (takes a long time to dehydrate, but tastes good) with black
olives and spinach
7. Ramen noodles
Coucous and instant brown rice were substituted for pasta occasionally. The pasta
used was cappellini #9. It cooks in 2 minutes.
What was dehydrated?
Veggies: Lots of spinach, black olives, summer squash, zucchini, red and green
peppers, black beans, lentils, frozen mixed veggies - anything. Fruits: apples, pears, kiwis, oranges
and some canned sliced fruits like peaches and pineapples.
Bananas, coconut, raisins, and dates were store bought. Meats: top round steak and
turkey breast were dried for jerky. Canned tuna, shrimp, chicken, and salmon were dried to add to meals.
When the dinner meals were being prepared I added any veggies and meat/fish that were
dry and ready to go. McCormick’s prepackaged sauces were used. Packages were opened and divided in
half. Grated cheese and dry milk were added to as many meals as possible. Directions for preparations of
meals were included in every package. Most recipes Mike just had to combine contents of packets and add
water. Very simple.
A general food supply went along and lunch came from this supply. General food supply
included: gorp (homemade), Powerbars (Sam’s sells them by the case, 25 bars for $l6.00), maple syrup,
sugar, coffee, creamora, jerky (beef and turkey), Slim jims, Starbuck’s chocolate covered espresso
beans and dried fruit. Lunch was taken from the supply in the morning and eaten on the water. At least,
that was the plan.
It seems dehydrated food shouldn’t weigh very much. Much to my chagrin two months
of food was HEAVY. While preparing and packaging it it seemed that it should all fit - all two months
worth. Everything would be easy. Mike would paddle down the West Coast and meet his friend Desmond and
get the next two months supply for the Gulf Coast; portage across Texas and away he goes. Well, the boat
was so overloaded with food that Mike had to give up some essential gear to fit in the food. It took two
guys to get the boat into the water. The day he left it was sunny and calm. That lasted about 12 hours.
The weather had come in hard and furious - rain, rain, rain, and 15 foot seas. Not good for a overloaded
boat. Cooking food in the vestibule of a tent fills the tent with smoke and more importantly attracts
animals; bears in particular. (There were actually bear tracks around Mike’s tent.) So...here’s Mike
on the Washington coast with a overloaded boat and no place to go but down the coast. (This is not a
good idea. #1 on things to rethink.) Other than lunch and some breakfast, all meals had to be cooked.
This was not good. I had no idea. What a hard lesson to learn. (That would be #2 on things to rethink.)
Mike has done expeditions before and survived on rice with black beans and macaroni & cheese. He did
not have such an enthusiastic friend (me) that was weighing his boat down with a ton of food.
Back to the drawing board. After much discussion with Mike, it was decided that he
come home so we could organize more food drops to lighten the load. We now had some very different ideas
of how things should be handled. I’m thankful Mike is an experienced/expert paddler. There’s not too
many paddlers out there that could have handled the situations that occurred during his paddle down the
Washington Coastline. Check out his story on our website: www.uekayaking.com.
So...once we get the food drops in place and send along more food that doesn’t have
to be cooked, (even though lunches didn’t have to be cooked, there were only enough for 2 months, no
extra), he’ll be on his way again and I’ll be back in the kitchen.
Nancy Lovelace
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