Hunter's Pot Roast Stew
Freeze-dried beef, dried vegetables, and gravy powder built back into a thick camp stew.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 113
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 3, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 700 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
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 4 oz | or shelf-stable cooked beef tips in a pouch |
|---|---|---|
| Instant beef gravy mix | 2 packets | about 1/2 cup powder total |
| Beef bouillon cubes | 4 | |
| Dried diced potatoes | 1 cup | hash-brown style, not flakes |
| Dried carrot slices | 1/2 cup | |
| Dried minced onion | 3 tbsp | |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | replaces the fat that drained off the fresh beef |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Bring 700 ml of water to a boil. Crumble in the bouillon and drop in the bay leaf.
- Add the potatoes, carrots, onion, and freeze-dried beef. Stir once so nothing sits dry on top.
- Cover and hold at a low simmer for 15 minutes. Stir every few minutes; dried potatoes stick.
- Sprinkle the gravy powder in slowly while stirring, or it will go lumpy. Simmer 3 more minutes to thicken.
- Pull the bay leaf. Stir in the oil and pepper, then let it sit off the heat 5 minutes. The carrots finish softening in that time.
The original is a home stew: two pounds of chuck browned in a pan, cans of gravy, fresh carrots and potatoes. None of that carries. Freeze-dried beef and dried diced potatoes get you the same shape at a fraction of the weight, and gravy powder does what canned gravy did without the tin.
The order matters more than the recipe looks. Vegetables rehydrate first in plain broth, gravy powder goes in last and slowly, and the oil goes in off the heat. Browning fresh beef left fat in the pot; here nothing does, so you have to add it back or the stew tastes thin.
Packing
Potatoes, carrots, onion, bouillon, pepper, and bay leaf in one bag. Gravy powder in its own bag so it stays dry until the end. Beef and oil ride separately.
Variations
- A pouch of shelf-stable beef tips instead of freeze-dried, added in the last five minutes.
- Half a cup of instant rice added with the gravy makes it stretch to four.
- A splash of Worcestershire from a dropper bottle if you want it darker.
https://camprecipes.com/classic-recipes/hunters-pot-roast-stew