Beef, Rice, and Vegetable Pot
Scout dutch oven soup, stripped down to a bag of freeze-dried beef, instant rice, and dried vegetables.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 131
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 14 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 2 oz | or a 2.5 oz foil pouch of cooked beef crumbles |
|---|---|---|
| Instant rice | 3/4 cup | parboiled, the kind that rehydrates in five minutes |
| Dried vegetable soup mix | 1/2 cup | carrot, celery, tomato, peas |
| Beef bouillon | 2 cubes | |
| Dry onion soup mix | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/4 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
Method
- Bring 600 ml of water to a boil.
- Dump in the beef, dried vegetables, bouillon, onion soup mix, garlic powder, and cayenne. Stir and hold at a low boil for five minutes so the vegetables get a head start.
- Add the rice, stir once, and take it off the heat.
- Cover the pot and let it sit ten minutes. Do not stir. The rice needs the trapped steam.
- Pour in the oil and stir it through before eating.
The original is a scout dutch oven recipe: three pounds of beef rolled into meatballs, fried in oil, then simmered with canned soup for a dozen people. Cans and a twelve-inch cast iron pot are not going in a pack. Canned vegetable soup becomes dried soup mix plus bouillon, the meatballs become freeze-dried crumbles, and long-grain rice becomes instant rice so the whole thing finishes on one fuel burn instead of twenty minutes of managed coals.
Staging matters more than anything else here. Vegetables rehydrate slowly and instant rice rehydrates fast, so the vegetables go in over heat and the rice goes in after. Add them together and you get chalky carrots in gummy rice. The oil goes in last because fat coats the grains and slows absorption if it is in the pot early.
Packing
Everything except the oil goes into one quart bag at home. Freeze-dried beef will absorb moisture from the vegetable mix over weeks, so pack it for the trip you are taking, not the season.
Variations
- Swap the beef for a foil pouch of chicken and drop the bouillon to one cube.
- Instant refried beans in place of the meat make it vegan and cheaper.
- A tablespoon of tomato powder pushes it toward a stew.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/brv_soup-1789.asp