Home-Dehydrated Bean Chili with Rice
A tray of chili and a tray of rice, dried at home, rebuilt in a bag at camp.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 19 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 2 min
- total time
- 7 min
- water
- 400 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
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Backpacking
- Thru-hike
- Canoe / raft
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Dehydrate ahead
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Cooked bean chili, dehydrated | 1 cup dried | spread thin on trays, 135F until it snaps |
|---|---|---|
| Instant rice | 1/2 cup | or leftover cooked rice, dried alongside the chili |
| Dried corn | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried pineapple | 2 tbsp | chopped small so it rehydrates with everything else |
| Chili powder, cumin, salt | 1 tsp total | in its own small bag, added at camp |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | never dehydrate the fat, carry it separately |
Method
- Boil 400 ml of water.
- Pour it into the meal bag over the chili, rice, corn, and pineapple. Stir once so nothing sits dry against the seam.
- Roll the top down and set it in a pot cozy or a spare sock for 12 to 15 minutes. No flame during this part.
- Open it, stir in the spice bag and the oil, and check a bean. If the middle is still hard, seal it and wait another five.
- Eat out of the bag.
The whole point of drying your own is control. Store meals are built around a sodium number that has nothing to do with you, and they cost four dollars an ounce. A pot of chili you already made, spread thin on trays overnight, becomes the same thing for the price of the beans.
Fat is the one thing that will not go on the tray. Oil does not dry, it goes rancid in the bag and takes the rest of the meal with it, so the chili gets dried lean and the calories go back in at camp from a dropper bottle. The pineapple is there for acid and sugar against a long stretch of salty dinners, and it rehydrates at roughly the same rate as the corn.
Packing
Everything but the spices and oil goes in one heat-safe Mylar or quart freezer bag. Write the water amount and the date on the bag with a marker before it leaves the kitchen; in four months you will not remember either. Oil rides in a dropper bottle.
Variations
- Swap the rice for instant mashed potato flakes and it thickens in two minutes instead of fifteen.
- Dry a jar of spaghetti sauce instead of chili, skip the pineapple, and pair it with couscous. That version is no longer gluten-free.
- A foil packet of chicken stirred in at the end adds about 20 g of protein.
https://www.hoosierhiking.com/trail-foodies.html